Diaries of a Distance

Chapter 18

Dong Wook was too fast for Yoon Ho. He jumped up and slammed the ball down to Jae Wook who caught it swiftly. Jae Wook bounced the ball and managed to make it to our end when Yoon Ho and Jae Joong closed in on him. He threw the ball to me and I shot it in the hoop.

"Go Yura!" Dong Wook cheered.

Jae Wook smiled proudly. I did too.

We continued to play for 15 minutes and it was all good. No foul play like I expected. The Wooks worked well together, it was like they planned everything. I couldn't tell who was the better between them. Chae Rin, amazingly, is quite good. She can't run fast nor is she quick but she can shoot a hoop easy. I was more of the run around and save-the-ball person. The job was not easy but, I couldn't run fast wearing a skirt and low heels, and these piggy tails swinging at the front were pissing me off. Plus, Jun Su and Yoo Chun kept tagging me. They were pretty good players too.

"Yura!" Dong Wook called as he bounced the ball to me.

I got it and started running whilst bouncing the ball. First to 65 wins, the score so far was 59:56, our team leading. Almost there... YIKES!

I tripped and landed on one knee and palms in front me me. Jun Su seized the rolling ball from the ground.

"YURA!" Jae Wook shouted as he ran to my aid. "Are you alright?" he asked me as he helped me up.

I brushed him away and looked at Dong Wook and effortless Chae Rin try to block Jun Su. It's too late, Jun Su scored a 3-pointer. Their team players all screamed "Yeah!" and patted Jun Su's back.

I turned to Jae Wook who looked worried.

"I'm sorry. I know, I helped them catch up to us. It's this stupid skirt..." I said apologetically.

Jae Wook looked deeply into my eyes.

"I don't care about the points. Look at your left knee, it's ugly and grazed. Come."

I looked down at me knee. I was swelling like a tennis ball except purple and the graze was quite deep. He helped me over to the metal benches and we sat down.

"Call it time-out!" Jae Wook yelled to the other team.

They started practise shooting. Chae Rin stomped over.

"How could you fall at this time?" she asked me angrily.

I knew it was my fault so I didn't say anything. It was already embarrassing enough that I made the team miss out on 3 points.

"She fell. You shouldn't be talking like that to her Chae Rin", Jae Wook said.

Chae Rin sneered at me but kept quiet. Dong Wook rushed over.

"Is your knee right?" Dong Wook asked concernedly.

"Yeah."

"Your palms?" Jae Wook asked.

I turned my hands over. Surprisingly they were ungrazed. I showed them to Jae Wook and he nodded.

He kneeled in front of me and pulled his hoodie over his neck taking it off, revealing a fitted white shirt underneath. He tore off the right sleeve of his hoodie. Dong Wook passed him his water bottle and Jae Wook dipped the edges of the torn sleeve in it and dabbed it on my knee, cleansing it. He tore of the other sleeve of his hoodie.

"The closest place to get a bandaid around here is 10 minutes away. Put up with this for now, I'll get proper bandaging for you later", he said to me.

He placed my leg on his knee and wrapped the sleeve tightly around my knee several times. It felt good knowing Jae Wook cares so much for me.

"Ready yet?" Yoon Ho called.