love is war.

ch.4

Student-athletes are amongst the simplest types of people that you can run into at university, boiled down really to only a few simple things. Between seeing them stumbling out of a coach bus with stiff legs or shuffling to and from lecture halls with their large gym bags slung over their shoulder, there really is one thing they all have in common no matter their sport.

Athletes are adrenaline junkies — Minji has never been an exception.

The scoreboard switches its neon numbers as Minji stares at it, feeling a renewal of energy in her overworked body from the successful point. The ruckus of the stadium's crowd was nothing but ambient noise as she jogged towards her team and threw out a slew of messy high-fives, their words of encouragement lost under the buzz of excitement in her ears.

At the thumping of her heartbeat close beneath her skin, the feeling of a droplet of sweat dripping off her brow: the scoreboard reads 22 - 20 for the home team and they're finally in the home stretch. They secure this fourth set and they win this game, redeeming themselves after that loss against QCM University everyone on the team took much too personally than what was deserved. Everyone was burning to prove themselves on the court, quickly settling back into their positions as they prepared for their teammate's serve.

The whistle sounds and the ball sails over the net: the perfect jump float serve let loose with a quick snap of the girl's wrist. Everyone was quick to move into action, responding to the other team's receiving of it. The set gets played and Minji takes a quick side step to her middle blocker's side, eyes trained carefully on the movement of the ball like the thousands of times she's practiced. With a firm plant of two feet, they both jump in unison and block the strike with their outstretched hands. The ball slams down to the floor as the crowd's cheers roar throughout the space in an instant reaction.

The scoreboard switches again: 23 - 22. Two more and they won't have to run laps tonight.

"Great block!"

"Come on, two more."

A chorus of encouragement lights up from everyone and Minji joins in, but she can't help her wandering gaze that strays to the sidelines. She scowls at a familiar face that, on cue, scowls back. Finding Hanni in the cheer squad's formation was far from a reward, donning the same colours Minji was wearing herself. But seeing that Hanni was just as unhappy as she was to see her here was at least close enough to one.

It's been a week since their last meeting, days jam-packed with volleyball practice and studying. Minji and Danielle, along with the rest of the team, were swept into the rigorous regime their coach had planned to prepare for the URAO tournament now only days away. Thus meaning their lives had now regressed to eating, sleeping, volleyball, and whatever glances at their textbooks they can sneak in between.

Hanni, on the other hand, had picked up extra shifts at the café as a means to occupy herself now that her favourite form of entertainment—as much as she hated her—was actually too busy to play. On top of the back-to-back rounds of presentations she had to deliver for her courses, university was starting to be a little too much like university for everyone's liking.

In all, it meant that their little scuffles were reduced to heated arguments on KakaoTalk and the blessing of randomly seeing each other on different floors of the university's main library. Despite the reduced direct contact, Hanni's passion for hating Minji seemed to have picked up two-fold to Minji's surprise. The occasional sabotage in the locker room was commonplace if the volleyball team had run longer than the cheer team's practice, Minji often returning to her bag somehow shoved in the highest crevice Hanni could find.