deja vu || PURINZ

chapter 3: whatever

The very next morning, Yunjin left for practice extra early, escorted by Yena and Yuri. She wasn't really in the mood for chatting, so she seized the fact that they were the first to arrive and went to warm up by herself near her favorite goal.

Yunjin always loved being a goalkeeper, she had never played nor wanted to play in any other position. She had good height, great reflexes and all the other skills one needed to be good at the job. She always felt like it was her calling, and she liked to think that she could have gone pro if that mishap hadn't happened.

She was only an eleven years old kid riding her bike home from school when a careless driver ran a red light and accidentally hit her. It could've been worse, she thought nowadays, but it still haunted her anyway. There were a few scratches and a fractured rib, but she also fractured her left foot in the accident. But the worst part was that her recovery treatment was done by a wholly unqualified professional who made damage even worse in the long run.

Yunjin only found out about it when she got older and started playing some more serious tournaments. More exactly when she broke the same foot again at the age of sixteen, while playing a match. The doctor who treated her the second time around explained that the first injury wasn't taken care of properly and the second one only made the situation worse. So because of that she was prone to that kind of injury for the rest of her life. She could still play, he warned, but he didn't see a future where she would withstand a high-performance routine for years in a row.

Obviously, that was pretty tough news for her at such a young age. She was devastated and relied on her family and friends to get through it. She and Chaewon had just started dating at that time, and the support she got from her then best friend was also crucial for her to make her next decision.

It was awful, of course, but Yunjin didn't let her dream end there. She kept playing, respecting her limitations and she was still good enough to be a starter on the university's team. The coach staff and her teammates all knew about her condition, so no one was surprised when she was benched for a game or two to catch a break from their heretic season schedule. She would've to take a break after college, she was well aware of that. Become at very most a weekend warrior since she knew she could never let go of her love for soccer altogether. But she still wanted to live the dream while she still could.

And that's exactly why Yunjin had chosen Sports Therapy as her major. She wanted to do for others what her own attendant didn't do for her in the past. Yunjin dreamed of getting her master degree so she could work as close as possible from the sport she loved since she wouldn't be able to play at a professional level as she had wanted to since she was a child.

As a goalkeeper, the privileged view of the field was one of her favorite things about the position. On this particular morning it was even better because she didn't want to be caught by surprise by the appearance of a certain person, so she kept an eye on the field's entrance, the place near the bench where her teammates were slowly arriving. They'd always sat on the grass as they put on their cleats and talked about the weekend's events. Meanwhile, Yunjin stood there, apart from everyone, warming up. Just her and the goal. Quietly and peacefully, just how she liked it.

Such peace, however, didn't last long. Way sooner than she would've liked, Yunjin saw a small girl with big eyes running towards her at full speed. 

"Yunjin!" She called out as soon as she set her eyes on her. Eunbi knew exactly where she would be.

Yunjin had been ignoring all of her best friend's texts and calls since the day before. She suspected that Eunbi was the one who snitched out her address since the younger girl also happened to be her ex-girlfriend's best friend as well.

Besides, Eunbi had also told basically the whole team about Chaewon's return - okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little bit, but still - instead of telling her first. So Yunjin just kept ignoring her as she continued to warm up. Not everyone had arrived yet. Neither had she.