20Cm

FLICKER.

TAEHYUN

Everything seems to shift for the better after the incident at the beach. Beomgyu warms up to Taehyun quickly. It was almost like rescuing him at the beach released the floodgates and let Taehyun cross into the oasis that was a friendship with Choi Beomgyu. They follow each other on social media and send each other memes when they're sitting in the same room, confusing Mr. and Mrs. Choi in the process with their sudden laughs. Beomgyu invites him to hang out with Yeonjun and Ryujin more frequently. He comes to appreciate Yeonjun's frequent jokes and pranks, especially when Ryujin happens to be the target. Seeing her exasperated expression and hearing her curse out Yeonjun never failed to make Taehyun smile.

Two weeks into summer vacation is when Taehyun's confidence hits a high. His recent work in the gym was finally paying off. Following one of his baseball practices for his summer league team, he worked out and noticed a significant difference in his appearance. After flexing in the large mirror for about thirty minutes, he could see the outline of his abs beginning to take shape along with a bulge of muscle forming on his biceps. He could remember smiling proudly in the mirror at his progress. For all of his life, he was a scrawny kid that could be taken down within a minute. Now, he would be a force to be reckoned with.

Taehyun's confidence followed him in baseball, too. Luckily, he landed on the summer league team that Coach Choi was coaching. He was on a team with highly-skilled boys that attended different high schools across Los Angeles. None of them went to Liberty High like him, which was a blessing. He felt comfortable around his teammates for the first time in his life. He even befriended a few of them. They all supported each other to play better baseball.

The summer baseball league focused more on playing games than practice. His team only had three practices before playing their first exhibition game. Taehyun got to play each game at his favorite position of center field and found that he was playing a lot better than ever before. He thought that it was because he felt more comfortable around his new teammates, despite how much more talented they were than any of the players on his high school baseball team. Coach Choi called his transition to the summer league a 'miracle'. He didn't know how to take the compliment. All he wanted to do was play baseball in the best way he could. It was time for him to pay back Coach Choi for all of the efforts he put into coaching him.

Taehyun's fourth baseball game in the summer league is when he finally reaches an accolade he's always wanted to his name. In the seventh inning, he smacked a pitch that made his hands feel like jelly as he watched the baseball fly over the fence. His first-ever home run left him feeling on top of the world as he rounded the bases. He even managed to bat in two other runners, leading to a win. At the end of the game, Coach Choi looked at him with such pride that Taehyun wanted a picture of his expression to keep when he needed a serotonin boost.

After the game, Taehyun held the baseball he hit for his first home run tightly in his hand. He made an effort to find the ball behind the fence past center field, hoping that none of the kids watching the game took it. Luckily, he found it in the deep grass covered in the clay mix used for the infield dirt paths. Taehyun debated on framing it as Coach Choi did with his baseball artifacts. He ran his hand over the laces as he packed his bat bag lazily with his free hand.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and he glanced up to notice his new friend and teammate, Kim Seungmin, flashing a wide smile at him. "Congratulations on the home run, Taehyun," he tells him. "Are you doing anything now?"

Since it was an afternoon game, Taehyun planned on going home and taking a nap before eating dinner that Mrs. Choi prepared. Even though he enjoyed playing at night more than in the afternoon in the hot sun, afternoon games left him with time in the evening to do what he wanted. That mostly consisted of getting an extra workout in or playing video games in his room.