Take It Slow (NCT U's TEN)

Chapter Twelve.

"This is quite a small room, isn't it?" Skye commented as Jaehyun held the door open for her. Chittaphon shuffled in after them awkwardly, dropping his bag by the door.

"Yeah, but it's alright. We're only in here for evenings, anyway," Jaehyun replied with a slight smile.

"Do you just stay here all night?" Skye asked as she looked around their room. She looked at the various picture frames the pair had displayed on a small shelf. She picked up the photo of Chittaphon and his family, smiling to herself at his own bright smile in the picture.

"Mostly, but there's some things we can do. There's a basketball court outside the back of the building," Jaehyun answered, dropping his bag without noticing Skye's particular interest in Chittaphon's photo. Skye turned back to Jaehyun, who was walking towards her.

Chittaphon sat on his bed, pulling his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through social media mindlessly. He felt awkward being the third wheel, yet he wanted to stay.

"Shall we go and shoot some hoops then?" Skye asked with amusement in her voice. Jaehyun raised his eyebrows, as did Chittaphon.

"I thought you didn't like sports," Chittaphon said, making it sound more like a question than a statement, looking up at Skye.

"Just because I don't like them doesn't necessarily mean I'm not good at them," Skye responded coolly, a slight smirk on her face. Chittaphon smiled and shook his head and returned to looking at his phone.

"I didn't know you weren't fond of sports," Jaehyun commented, slight bitterness in his voice. Chittaphon had to stop a smile coming to his face as he learned that he knew something about Skye that Jaehyun didn't.

"It just never came up in conversation, I guess," Skye replied. Jaehyun gave a low grunt which sounded like an "oh".

Jaehyun and Chittaphon had a pleasant surprise when they'd made it onto the basketball court. Skye did indeed have, at least, decent basketball skills.

After a few rounds of shooting (in which Chittaphon scored the most) and some warm up exercises, they decided to work on their stealing. Skye was exceptionally good as she didn't mind being too rough with Jaehyun or Chittaphon, whereas they were hesitant with her.

"You're both too easy," Skye whined as he held the ball in her hand after stealing it from Jaehyun. Chittaphon chuckled as Jaehyun frowned.

"We're going easy on you, remember," Jaehyun reminded her, taking a step towards her.

"Well then don't go so easy," Skye countered, taking a step towards him, too.

With that, Jaehyun suddenly lurched forwards at Skye. Skye turned around quickly enough to protect the ball, trying to lock her arms around it as much as she could and bending over to cover it even more. Jaehyun put his arms around her trying to achieve the ball, causing her to squeal loudly.

Chittaphon gave an awkward laugh as he watched the two in front of him. He felt as though he shouldn't be there and that it was too intimate a moment for him to be stood four feet away. He also felt another emotion. It was halfway between anger and sadness, but he had no idea why he was feeling those emotions. He decided to leave the court and head back to their room, hoping to calm down a bit.

After a minute of struggling, Skye finally gave up the ball when Jaehyun had begun tickling her sides. She was breathing heavily as she put her hands on her hips whilst Jaehyun smiled triumphantly.

"Where's Chittaphon gone?" Skye asked after realising he was no longer standing a few feet away. Jaehyun shrugged.

"No idea. He probably got bored," Jaehyun replied, dribbling the ball up and down the court.