3—

For the whole match JiJi would just follow behind his teammates, just that unexpectedly in the last few minutes, the ball served by the opposite team came in the direction of Jiji, which caught him completely off-guard.

But since JiJi was someone with a sense of responsibility, even whe he was terrible he didn't shy away from attacking back.

Alas, when he was trying to concentrate and trying to find a better footing to serve the ball, he lost his balance and the ball came directly for his precious face while he fell backwards.

Jiji's teammates: "...."

The entire hall: "...."

Hyun who was secretly watching: "........"

The entire hall was stunned by this unexpected course of events and they momentarily forgot to check up on JiJi who was lying half dead on the court.

Soon, they came back to themselves and some medics were called to check up on Jiji.

JiJi's injury was not much, just that his face was scratched and his hands were scratched and his ankles were twisted and his waist felt like it would break in half. In short, IT FUCKING HURT!

After the doctor was done with applying all kinds of ointments in all kinds of places on his body, the doctor had the audacity to break out in a fit of chuckles in front of JiJi who was currently heartbroken about the fact that he had lost so much face.

"Ah, how unexpected~ Youth~" the doctor sighed in nostalgia, recalling his own by gone high school days filled with youth and vigor.

JiJi who was currently holding ice to his almost broken ankle: "....."

Old man, can you not laugh and then go ahead sighing all dramatically??!

~

Even though Hyun was a little worried about Jiji's injury, he did not go ahead to make an inquiry about it. He thought that this time he really should ignore JiJi to make JiJi leave him alone.

JiJi after he was done with the treatment, went to the classroom to retrieve his back. Though it pained him to move around with his twisted ankle, he somehow made it to the classroom.

When he almost made it by the door, the door suddenly opened from the inside and out came Hyun, with his bag hanging from one of his shoulder, his face devoid of any expressions.

JiJi's downcast mood suddenly brightened upon seeing Hyun,

"Are you leaving— wait, I–", JiJi stopped his sentence as he saw Hyun pass him by as if he did not notice JiJi at all.

—I'm injured.

There's no way Hyun did not know that he was injured when JiJi was cutting quite a sorry figure and even a part of his face was scratched to the point that it was bloodied.

But of course Hyun did not care. JiJi almost laughed at his own self when he thought about how he was going to ask Hyun to help him get downstairs as it was difficult to walk.

His face paled and a familiar sense of desolation grasped his heart.

Its true that JiJi wanted to be friends with Hyun because Hyun was handsome but...that's only a small part of the reason. His main reason was that when he first saw Hyun, he saw in him a familiar loneliness which JiJi has lived with for a long time now. He thought they were very alike in this sense. He, for no reason, wanted to make Hyun less lonely, to make him know that he was there for him.

However, Hyun just made his heart ache more and more. While trying to make Hyun less lonely, he himself began to feel lonelier with each passing day.

"Where am I going with this? Does he think I'm stupid? My heart feels cold..." Jiji's mind wandered aimlessly around Hyun. His mind these days was filled with Hyun.

~

Hyun glanced back at JiJi secretly as he made it to the end of the corridor, only to stop abruptly when he saw the look on JiJi's face, which was completely blank, as he stared ahead absently.

If one looked at JiJi's face, they wouldn't be able to detect anything unnatural but the few who knew that look by heart, they would recognise it immediately. In that look dwelled despair and a sense of alienation that was not easy to notice by those who had not lived with these emotions all their life.

Upon seeing the ever sunny JiJi with that expression, Hyun's heart constricted and for a moment, he found it difficult to breathe.

Abruptly JiJi bit his lips hard, drawing blood which cause him to come back to himself and he realised that he still hadn't retrieved his bag, so he moved towards the classroom with pain spreading in his ankles and also... in his heart.

Hyun, upon seeing JiJi move ran to leave the school, as if the corridors were suffocating him.

•~•

Welp, I know nothing about volleyball or any other sport so apologies, if i got anything wrong. If I really did get anything wrong then google is to blame as well alright?!

(*￣(ｴ)￣*)

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***