The Whispers (Underworld 6) VK

19: Why Can't I Forget?

Hansol felt the adrenaline still coursing through his veins as he walked off the court, the sound of his teammates celebrating echoing in the distance. He had won the game, but instead of joining the celebration like he usually would, he felt a weight pressing down on his chest—a knot he couldn't untangle.

Seungkwan.

That name was like a buzz in his head, repeating itself over and over again. The image of Seungkwan laughing with Jinyoung from earlier in the game haunted him. It wasn't just the fact that Jinyoung's team had been winning in the first half—it was the way Seungkwan had looked so happy about it. He wasn't cheering for his own university; he was cheering for them.

The memory of how he had pinned Seungkwan to the wall after the game was still fresh. Hansol could still feel the heat in his palms, the tension between them. For a moment, it was like time had stopped. He had been so close to crossing a line he didn't even know existed before. His heart had been pounding, and Seungkwan—Seungkwan had just stood there, eyes wide, not pushing him away. Hansol had never seen him like that. And then... he had walked away.

Why did he walk away?

Hansol ran a hand through his damp hair as he pushed past the noise and headed toward the exit. The voices of his teammates calling his name faded into the background. He didn't care about the victory, not when everything else felt so unsettled.

His feet carried him straight to his apartment, where he dropped his bag by the door and kicked off his sneakers. Usually, after a game, he'd shower, lie back on the couch, and scroll through his phone to distract himself. But not tonight. Tonight, he felt like he was suffocating inside these walls. The air felt thick, too heavy to breathe. He paced back and forth, restless, like something was crawling under his skin.

He stood by the window, looking out at the city lights, but they didn't help. The thoughts swirling in his mind wouldn't leave him alone. His head was full of Seungkwan—his laughter, his annoyed expressions, the way his eyes had looked vulnerable for a split second when Hansol had been so close to kissing him.

"Damn it," Hansol muttered, stepping away from the window.

He grabbed his jacket, not even bothering to change out of his clothes, and stormed out of the apartment. He needed air. He needed space. Without thinking much about where he was headed, he found himself walking down the familiar streets of the neighborhood, the cool night air hitting his face. The quietness of the city at this hour should have been comforting, but it wasn't. It just amplified the storm inside him.

He ended up at the park, a place he often went to when he needed to clear his head. The park was mostly empty, except for a few people here and there walking their dogs or couples strolling hand in hand. Hansol stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and started walking aimlessly along the path, the sound of his footsteps mixing with the distant hum of traffic.

He couldn't stop thinking about Seungkwan—how complicated everything had become. Was Moonbin right? Did he *like* Seungkwan? That thought made his heart race in a way that had nothing to do with physical exertion. He had always been annoyed by Seungkwan, always found it entertaining to tease him, rile him up. But was that just because he liked getting a reaction out of him? Or was it something more?

"Get it together, Hansol," he muttered to himself, kicking a stray pebble on the path.

But he couldn't get it together. Not when every memory of Seungkwan kept replaying in his mind like a movie he couldn't turn off. The way Seungkwan had challenged him today, how he had said that Hansol had to win. That only made him push himself harder, made him want to prove something—not just to the team, not just to Jinyoung, but to Seungkwan, too.