Rules || J.JK

8. Breathe

The audience were shouting out their favored team, cheers and clapping could be heard around the arena

With both teams lined up at each opposite ends of the court, the first official blew his whistle initiating the shaking of hands

"Good luck" she said with a smile to each of the players she shook hands with

As captain Nari was always at the very end of the line, she was required to always be able to shake all of the opposing teams hands

With the rest of the team lined up by order in front of her, the shaking of hands quickly ended, meanig the start of the official warm ups

For the tossing of the coin she chose tails, she always chose tails, thinking of it as a habit, but  also because she barely ever lost the toss because of tails

When she won the toss she chose the side they were already in and chose to serve first

Both teams were each given five minutes to use the whole court all to themselves

When the two teams were already done warming up it was already time for the first six to go on court

Sunhee was the main setter, diagonal with Yoojung as the opposite spiker, Nari and Minji as the two outside hitters, the middle blockers were both Soo Ah and Harin, but Harin being at the back, she was first switched with Ji Ah, their official libero

The first serve of the game was Sunhee, when the official blew his whistle, signaling she could already bring the ball to the other side, the game began

. . .

You're so close

That was all Nari could think

Just hang on

The game reached to five sets, the first team to make 15 wins the game

They were leading by a point with Nari's team at 14 and the other team at 13

One point, all it took was one point to feel happy, to feel proud, to feel complete

It was their serve, Minji was at the service line, meaning Nari was already upfront

After the whistle, Minji served an easy ball, making it easy for the team to receive

"4!"

The setter shouted

Nari knew she was going to back set it to the opposite spiker

Getting the timing right, she jumped with her arms stretched above her head, they were able to block the ball, it was falling right back to the opposite court but was quickly recovered by their libero

"1!"

Their setter shouted again

It was going to be given to the outside hitter, but the block being too late at that side, the spiker was able to bring the ball directly down to their side of the court at an open spot

Maiking the score tied at 14 all

Cheers at the bleachers from the opponent were booming, they were taunting, almost threatening

Nari never let them get to her head, but this time it was different

She suddenly felt the urge to panic, she was scared

Scared to lose, scared to be a failure

Frantically looking at the crowd, there she saw her best friend shouting

But that wasn't what caught her attention

Something else did, or rather someone else did

He was there beside Taehyung, he was there looking at her

He was wearing light-colored ripped jeans and a plain black shirt

Noticing her sense of panic, Jungkook had his arms slightly bent in front of him, moving them up and down slowly, telling her to calm down

He pretended to inhale a lot of air then exhaled an exaggerated breath, telling her to breathe

She copied his actions, bringing her hand over her chest, trying to calm her frantic heart, she breathed in and breathed out

He never removed his eyes from her

"It's okay" he mouthed

"You can do it"

He smiled at her, flashing his perfect white teeth

Bringing her back to the game when the whistle went off, she was back

Her body reviving, forgetting about being tired, she was ready to win

Jungkook seeing Nari's now calm state, his smile was bigger than ever

Nari looking behind Sunhee, she had one hand at her back, she showed the number 1 with her hand, she was going to set it to her

"You can do it"

She repeated his words

When the other team served the ball over, Yoojung was able to receive it , the receive being a little short, Sunhee's set was a bit far from the net, knowing if she spiked the ball over it would be easily blocked and be brought back to their side, she quickly adjusted then lightly tapped the ball, passing over the block and dropping it to an open slot at the other side

Cheers from their side erupted

But because they were tied at all 14 they had to win two points

one more... one more

Looking behind Sunhee again, she was going to give it to Nari again

It's now or never

Soo Ah served the ball, the other team had a hard time giving it to their setter so they gave back it as a free ball

This is it, your chance

Ji Ah digged the ball, giving it precisely to Sunhee, she tossed it just as high as the antenna, giving it the way she knew Nari loved

She swung her arms behind her, gaining the  momentum, she jumped, she raised her right hand ready to bring down the ball and end the game

But then a pair of arms covered her view of the opponent's court, she was being blocked

Spiking with all that she had, the ball dropped on the floor of the court