happiness s.coups

[13] Comfort

"Focus on the board behind the hoop, nothing else." Seungcheol says, trying to guide me. I squint, trying to get the ball into my line of vision before attempting to throw.

With a slight jump, I throw the ball, only for it to roll around the rim and out of the basket.

"This sucks." I say with a frown, making Seungcheol laugh. He positions my hands up, placing a ball into my hands as he helps me.

With his face right beside mine, he squats down to my height and helps manoeuvre my throw.

With a slight push, the ball is out of my hands. "And.. in." He whispers.

I feel goosebumps form as his breath tickles my neck. He clears his throat and steps away.

"Last ball." He calls, pointing to the only ball left in the pit. I let out a heavy sigh as I go over and take it into my hands.

I focus on the board, squinting my eyes once more before I threw the ball forward. It hits the board and falls into the hoop. I cheer, jumping around and looking over to Seungcheol who watches me with an amused expression.

"I did it. I did it." I repeated, doing a little dance. He bursts out into a fit of laughter, shaking his head at my victory dance.

"Alright, let's go before people start judging you." He says, lifting the large teddy bear he won for me off the ground.

I nod, taking the two other soft toys into my arms as I happily walked beside him.

"Woah.. Who is he and why is she with someone like him?" I hear a girl whisper.

I couldn't help but grow a little insecure as they began whispering.

"Isn't she the new member of seventeen? Geez, what a disappointment."

I bit down on my lip as my eyes began to water, I begin to sniffle.

"Jisu?" Seungcheol questions, turning around to look at me with furrowed eyebrows. His eyes widen as he sees me, attempting to wipe away my tears.

"Who made you cry? Why are you crying?" He asks, bringing me into a hug.

I sniffle, unable to answer him without crying.

The group of girls stop their whispering after awhile and I could feel Seungcheol tense up.

"All of you are a disappointment to the Carats. How dare you say things like that? Whether you like the person or not, they're still human. She does not deserve this crap and she certainly does not need to cry over such inconsiderate and ignorant people." He spat.

I look up to him to see that he looked extremely angry. If looks could kill.

He pulls me away by the arm, leaving the girls in silence as he sits me down on the bench we sat down on earlier.

"You've gone through enough for today." He says with a sigh, wrapping an arm around me protectively as he allows for me to lean my head against his chest.

"Thank you for earlier." I said, breaking the temporary silence. "Stop saying thank you." He says with a sigh.

"You deserve to have someone be there for you, Jisu. You're a great person." He whispers, placing his chin on the top of my head.

"You deserve to be loved." He whispers.