A Thousand Times by E Janetulip

Chapter 3

"He had beautiful eyes, the kind you could get lost in and I guess... I did."

⭐

Have you ever thought of someone and wonder why everything he does looks so good?

-Aurora (오로라)

2016. 05. 06.

Another embarrassing story I have to add to my list.

     It was in my PE class, where we played volleyball. Our teacher chose who would lead each group and those leaders would decide the people who were going to be on their team. One of them was San because he is a volleyball athlete.

     When it was San's turn to choose, without hesitation he called for my name. I immediately stood up from where I was sitting and ran towards my best friend hugging him and jumping around because of excitement. Being in the same group together with my best friend is exciting.

     There were six teams in total, in each team there were three boys and three girls including the leader. Once we all had groups, we started playing immediately.

     After almost 30 minutes, the first team - our team, and the second team were done playing. We were only asked by our teacher to reach 15 points to figure out who's gonna be the winner. By the way, our team won thanks to our libero San because of him we have a perfect score in this activity.

     Since we finished playing, we had nothing to do but rest and watch the other teams play. Next up was the third group, the group Seonghwa belongs to.

     Playing volleyball was fun but it was tiring. I felt like I ran for a mile with how my heart was beating so fast. I took a seat beside Mountain, wiping my sweat all over my face before leaning my head on his shoulder catching my breath. San in Korean means Mountain in English and sometimes I call him that.

      I was enjoying the game watching them play. Their scores were close to each other but the third team was leading with two points difference.

     Suddenly I found my eyes fixated on Seonghwa. It's like everything he does looks so good and I sometimes wonder what is he? Is he even real? He was so focused on playing the game, beads of sweat were running down his face, his hair was drenched by sweat as it touched his forehead, and him, brushing back his hair with his fingers. It looks like a scene from a movie but it isn't because this is the reality.

     "잘한다 잘한다! (Jalhanda jalhanda!)" shouted my best friend who was continuously praising the third team.

     The gymnasium was full of cheers when the third team got another point.

     After a few minutes, both teams were tied. The tension was very high. Everybody was losing their mind especially the guy beside me. I admit I also clapped and cheered with him because I couldn't help myself but he was something else. Luckily, the other team failed to get another point making the third team leading in the game.

     The tension in the air died down when the third team continuously got four points in a row.

     "그는 매우 잘한다 [He's so good]."

     "누구? (Nugu?)" I asked who he was talking to.

     "성화 형 (Seonghwa hyung)."

     "어디? [Where is he?]" I questioned even though I knew where he was because I was watching him since the beginning. I was just acting oblivious to stay low-key.

     I was so focused that I didn't even notice the volleyball was already flying towards me. I saw it when I already got hit on the head.

     "Aw," I groaned putting my hands where the volleyball landed. San saw what happened to me and wrapped his arms around my head, pulling me towards him.

     "넌 왜 내 가장 친한 친구에게 그렇게 못되게 굴어? [Why are you so mean to my best friend?]"

     I looked up and they were all looking in my direction. With their action, my face started heating up. I then saw Seonghwa jogging towards us to get the volleyball because he was the closest to us.

    At that time, I wanted to disappear. Out of all people, why did it have to be Seonghwa that would get the ball? Why did it have to be him who was the closest to us? Scratch that, why did it have to be the one who got hit? Although, it didn't hurt I was so embarrassed. Hell, it's not was, I am embarrassed until now.

     Thinking about it now while writing this, makes me laugh. I can't believe that ever happened to me.

     대박 (Daebak).

     "죄송해요 (Joesonghaeyo)," he bowed and kept saying sorry even if it wasn't his fault. I did the same, bowing as he was.

     "괜찮아? (Gwaenchanha?)" I heard with a concern present in his voice asking me if I was okay while both of our eyes were on each other. There was something breathtaking about those deep brown eyes of his that I couldn't explain. I felt my face heating up even more, too embarrassed to say something so I just nodded my head.

     "확실해? (Hwagsilhae?)" he asked again making sure if I was okay.

     "네, 걱정 마세요 (Neh, geogjeong maseyo)," I said telling him not to worry.

     When Seonghwa finally left and went to continue their game, I turned to my best friend hitting him lightly, "왜 피하지 않았어? 넌 자유주의자야 [Why didn't you dodge it? You're a libero]."

     "오로라 미안 (Aurora mian) 나도 못 봤어 [I also didn't see it]," he apologized while rubbing the spot where I was hit.

     I turned to my right side where my friends were sitting, "너희들 왜 피하지 않았니? 나는 우리가 친구라고 생각했는데 왜? 왜? [You guys why didn't you dodge it? I thought we are friends but why? Why?]"

     When they saw the volleyball flying towards us, they only thought of themselves. They didn't dodge the ball but they dodged themselves away from it. They let the volleyball hit me. They didn't even let me dodge it with them.

     "미안해 [Sorry]," they told me slightly laughing, I also couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

     There was nothing that I could do. It already happened and it happened because I was focusing on him!

     "아이시... 진짜 (Aish... jinjja)," I mumbled with a small smile on my lips while shaking my head to myself before turning to face the two teams playing.

     I can't believe I did that to myself. Why was I even looking at him?

     My eyes found their way to look at him again to see his eyes looking at me and his lips smirking.