The Running Game

Chapter 11

Winter 2009

Love

Love is such a strong word to quickly address the feeling that she has for him. It was an intense feeling where there would be an increase of your heartbeat, or your face was glowing more than usual every time you saw him, or maybe the way butterflies in your stomach churned when he caught you stealing a glance secretly at him. But those are relatively tangled in shallow romantic attachment.

Puppy love.

It was only mere infatuation

Nothing more

Nothing less

And she tried so hard not to interpret everything he did to her ever since that night he fought those drunken men for her.

"Any man with brain would do the same thing I did."

See? It was just a normal thing any human being with any good conscience would do.

"I hate seeing someone I care about get hurt."

He cares for you as a friend

And that's how friends supposed to do

Helping each other when one is facing a trouble

And the feeling she had for him grew overnight after that incident. And she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. She had witnessed how feelings can change easily overnight, like when her father decided to marry that bitch of her step mother a month after her mother died. That happens in adulthood. Who can guarantee that it would last forever when you feel it in your adolescence?

But he held your hand when he was walking you home.

It was cold and we needed some heat to keep us warm.

Everytime she tried to find an excuse, she could never lie to her heart. The feeling officially planted there. Avoid, avoid, avoid . That's what she was trying to do every time they crossed paths with each other at school. And it's been days since she was avoiding him ever since that night. But the more she avoids him, the bigger feelings that grow in her heart for him.

The lunchtime in the cafeteria was packed more than usual, glad her friends fastly secured the table large enough for the six of them to fit in. It was ordinary as usual when Byeong Tae and Gwang Tae would joke around, and ask the girls to get them girlfriends or share some gossip in their clubs and the girls were constantly talking about blind dates and the new cafe in town. It was until the person she was trying to avoid decided to approach their table followed by his two friends behind him.

"We couldn't get a table and we're too lazy to eat somewhere else. Do you mind if we join your table?" When he said this question his face was focused on her and only her.

But her friend Gwang Tae excitedly welcomed Soo Ho, Jong Geon and Hyoun Soo to join them, as he and Byeong Tae scooted over to give them a room for sitting. Merely because they were also his basketball mates. Her female friends were delighted as they excitedly engaged the two boys with their conversation.

And the handsome chevalier who stole her heart immediately took a seat across from her.

"I hope you don't mind." He smiled as he dipped his spoon at the bowl of miso soup.

"S–sure." In the midst of rapid increase of her heartbeat all she could manage was stuttered.

My crush is here!

My crush is sitting across from me!

She felt her cheek grow warm out of nowhere. So, she avoided his eyes and turned her focus to eat her tonkatsu. Then she let out a low shriek when she felt a nudge on her right arm.