Chapter 8

The final day of exam week has finally finished, Hyunwoo and his friends walked together out of the school gate while carrying their pale white faces.

"We finally finished... the one week trial in hell..." Sungmin let out a heavy and tired sigh.

"Heck, I even reduced my time to sleep to six hours just to study properly." Jinho slumped over on Hyunwoo's back.

"Get off me." Hyunwoo awkwardly laughed as he pushed away Jinho.

"Man, you're no fun..."

"I'm as tired as you are from the exams, so I understand what you're trying to do, but don't put your weight on me." Hyunwoo balled his fist while smiling at Jinho who shrunk to a corner.

"Let's go to the park. I heard there was a new ice cream shop there nearby. I thought it'd be great to go there and try." They heard a familiar voice from behind.

They turn around and saw Hyejin with Jiyoon and Aerin, walking together.

"Ah, you three. Are you three going somewhere?"

"No, we aren't. We're probably heading home together again."

"Then, if you three have nothing good to do, let's go get some ice cream near the park. There's this new shop near there." Jiyoon invited them.

"... Well, since we've got nothing to do, maybe we could join." Sungmin hits Hyunwoo with his elbow while grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Let's go now! Other people might crowd the ice cream shop before we get there. I heard it's getting popular in town."

The six of them walk together to the park where the popular ice cream shop Jiyoon was talking about is located at.

Once they entered the shop, they found out it just opened and there weren't a lot of people.

"Let's go choose our ice cream— Whoa! They're also selling other desserts! I'll just buy cookies! No! On second thought, I'll just get ice cream and cookies with extra chocolate syrup!" Jinho shouted in excitement while dancing around.

"Haha, he sure does love sweets..." Hyunwoo scratched the back of his head.

"Do you love sweets?" Hyejin suddenly asked.

"Not really. I prefer chips. But I enjoy eating sweets sometimes." Hyunwoo smiled at the thought of a bowl of salt and vinegar chips.

"Oh? That guy looks tall. You think he plays volleyball?"

"Haha, the tall guy and I think we know each other."

Hyunwoo's group overheard a conversation a d they turn around to see a group of students from another school nearby.

"Hi! Remember me, Hyunwoo? Mind if we get to talk together after a very long time?" A boy with black hair and a bowl cut approached them.

"Ahaha, I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" Hyunwoo asked with a nervous smile.

"What? You must be joking, haha! You really don't remember me?"

"Yeah. I really don't know you."

"Cut it off already. He doesn't know you. No need to pretend like he's an acquaintance." The boy's friends started laughing at him as he grew an irk mark.

"You seriously don't remember me? You got into a fight with my team before in a highschool basketball match back at Daegu, right?"

"I don't really know who—"

"Oh, that's right. You always got into fights with different teams. There's no way you'll remember me with an explanation like that." The boy's tone in voice changed from a friendly one to a cold one.

"I'm Gang Seung-ho. A transferee student from Daegu like you, but different schools. Our teams played against each other quite a lot before so it's surprising that you don't remember me." The boy finally introduced himself as "Seung-ho."

"Anyways, I've heard you haven't played basketball in a while. Now that I've seen you here, I'm asking you to play against me, just this once." Seungho invited Hyunwoo to play basketball with him while taking a basketball out of his bag.

"I haven't really played basketball in a while... I don't think I'll agree with it..." Hyunwoo nervously looked away.

"You... You're really wasting the things you coach taught you just to fool around this clowns?" Seungho smirked as he mocked them.

"Hey. Don't ever mention him in front of me." Hyunwoo glared at Seungho and an intense aura could be felt emitting from him.

"I'm telling you play just this once against me. After this, I'll stop bothering you." Seungho invited Hyunwoo once again.

"He's pissed off... isn't he...?" Aerin asked while she hid behind Sungmin.

"I can't tell... But he's not smiling like usual." Sungmin replied, to which surprised the four.

"Alright." Hyunwoo finally agreed.

"I can finally take my revenge after all this years. That two times you humiliated me by dunking on me and breaking my ankles... While you've been taking your sweet time, I've been practicing real hard..." Seungho gazed at Hyunwoo who was eating his ice cream.

"His face is really pissing me off!" Seungho bit his lip while he clenched his fists.

"Haha... They really do seem like they know each other." Seungho's friends said in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey, let's head out and play." Seungho called Hyunwoo.

"Aight." Hyunwoo said, eating the cone of ice cream in one go, shocking all of them.

"H-Hyunwoo! Doesn't that like feel cold as heck inside your mouth? You might get brain freeze."

"No, I'll be fine." Hyunwoo said as he walked outside.

"He looks annoyed..."

"Yeah, seems like it."

The five followed him with Seungho who brought them to an empty basketball court at the park.

"You don't need to change?" Seungho asked while he puts on his shoes for playing.

"Not really." Hyunwoo just took off his blazer and neck tie before handing it to Sungmin.

"If you make this shot, you're going first." Seungho tossed the basketball at Hyunwoo.

"Yeah, sure." Hyunwoo just slapped the ball and it went in the ring.

"I'll end this quickly to 21. It won't be long." Seungho said, throwing the ball back to Hyunwoo.

Without waiting, Hyunwoo charged past Seungho and went in for a dunk, gaining the attention of everyone playing at the court.

"Hmph. You're good at dunking at 6'3. Even most 6'3 players in the NBA can't dunk, yet you're dunking here?" Seungho smirked.

"Quit babbling. Let's finish this." Hyunwoo said throwing the ball at Seungho.

As Seungho charged in to get a score, Hyunwoo stole the ball in a flash before going to the half court to shoot the ball from there. Surprisingly, the ball made it in.

"I... I need to record this. This is too good to be kept hidden." A man spectating from the side took out his phone to start recording.

Time after time, Hyunwoo was already at 14 and Seungho has only scored 2. People were already gathering to watch them play.

"I... I never saw Hyunwoo this active before."

"Neither did we. Do you think that guy said something that pissed him off?" Jinho turned his head to the four.

"Come at me." Hyunwoo taunted at Seungho as he dribbled the ball.

"Fucker..."

Hyunwoo sprinted towards the basketball ring and this time, Seungho was finally trying to catch up.

At the time Hyunwoo jumped with the ball, Seungho also jumped to try and block it. Seungho's hand managed to touch the ball, but Hyunwoo pushed it harder to slam the ball inside the ring.

Both of them collided with each other, Seungho fell to the floor while Hyunwoo just stood above him.

"Stay down. I already won." Hyunwoo said before walking away.

"Heh, you're just a pawn to your father. He didn't make it to the big league that's why he's using you to get your family name there. And yet, you're goofing around despite having all that advantages he didn't have." Seungho smirked behind Hyunwoo.

"I'm going home. I need to cool off a bit." Hyunwoo walked past his friends.

"H-Hyunwoo! Wait!" Jinho and Sungmin followed him.

"Don't follow me." Hyunwoo told them, making them stop following him.

"S-Sorry, we won't bother you further today. We'll just talk tomorrow when you're good."

Hyunwoo took back his blazer and neck tie before he heads straight home.

"I made a promise with her... I won't go on fights with anyone anymore... But he's pissing me off. I want to beat him up." Hyunwoo continued walking, ignoring everyone around him.

A sharp pain hits Hyunwoo's head and his hand grabs onto a pole before holding his head in pain.

In his head, the same memory has been coming back and has made it's return today. It was a fight he had with his father.

A younger Hyunwoo sat on his desk while sketching a landscape of the sea.

"What are you doing?! Why are you drawing?! Didn't I tell you to practice?! You're going to go to the NBA and you're here, drawing these shtity landscapes?!"

"I never wanted to go to the NBA. I'm only doing this to help Mother. I want to study fine arts—" Hyunwoo was cut off by his father, taking the sketchbook from him.

"Stupid brat... You're going to the NBA if I told you you're going to the NBA." Hyunwoo's father glared at Hyunwoo before tearing apart the sketchbook with his own hands and walking away like nothing happened.

Hyunwoo just stood there, devastated to see his sketches be torn by his very own father.

"My father... my uncle and my paternal grandparents are only using me to get the family name in the NBA because father and uncle couldn't."

Upon opening his eyes once again, Hyunwoo felt the worried gaze of many people looking at him.

"H-Hey, kid. Are you alright? You look pale and your breathing is heavy." A man approached Hyunwoo.

"You should head to the hospital."

Suddenly, a familiar figure appears through the crowd and for a brief moment, Hyunwoo saw the face of his mother, but when his eyes blinked, he saw Hyejin running towards him.

"Hyunwoo, are you alright?" Hyejin asked, wrapping her arms around him.

"This warmth... It feels calming just as mother's embrace..." Hyunwoo grabs onto Hyejin's arm and all of the people around them stood there with a smile.

"What a sweet couple..."

"This things only happen in movies and it's really happening in real life."

"L-Let's go." Hyejin grabbed Hyunwoo's hand and they escape from the crowd.

"What are you doing here?" Hyunwoo asked and it seems that he's finally calmed down from earlier.

"I just bought something from a convenience store, but I heard a commotion nearby. I never expected you were involved."

"Want some of your favorites?" Hyejin offered Hyunwoo a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

'If you don't mind. But how'd you know it was my favorite? I never really told a lot of people that I liked salt and vinegar chips."

"You're Hyunwoo. I have to know your favorites and dislikes." Hyejin laughed as she opened the bag of chips.

"About the guy earlier... Does his words really bother you that much? I'm willing to talk with you about those things if you want."

"To be honest and not that I want to look pitiable, he does. But I'll tell you about it some other time." Hyunwoo said and the slight feeling of anger was felt through his voice.

"Hyunwoo..." Hyejin stared at Hyunwoo walk away before he stopped and turned around.

"What are you doing? Let's walk together. I'll walk you home until then, let's talk about something else." Hyunwoo flashed a bright smile towards Hyejin.

"You could've smiled since earlier." Hyejin pulled both of Hyunwoo's cheeks.

"Ouchie..." Tears started forming in Hyunwoo's eyes.