ヘ^^ヘ

Football Fever

ヘ^^ヘ

One week ago

The winter sun petered out behind the giant and faded hoarding of a toothpaste brand, the brightness began phasing out from the sky, and the white focus lights coming from the same hoarding called for the local, avid spectators' attention in the arena. A few of them stood on the uneven benches while dipping their fingers in their mouths a handful of times. Krazers needed only one goal to qualify for the finals.

The referee blew the whistle and the players jumped back on the ground.
In that one last chance, the idea of accepting defeat was crushed to nothingness. Jeongguk boosted his team players' weary morale by clapping at them and asking for a pass.

His team player managed to get the ball. "Yes, yes, yes. Yeah! Give it to me."

Before giving the sumptuous pass, the snarl-head took Jeongguk's name and the words reverberated like a shout out of an exacting coach at the Olympics, "Jeongguk-ah, go for it!"

His eyes suddenly fixed at the ball that was rolling down his way in slow motion. Now, the entire game depended on Jeongguk's tactics. Just as the ball hit his right toe, a current jingled the right portion of his entire anatomy and a tear of sweat spiraled down his temple. Afterward, he felt so overwhelmed that his smile touched his burning ears. He was slaloming solo run toward the goal post, and the opponents crash-failed to stop him.

Jeongguk's attention broke off instantly when a goth from the crowd yelled his name from every fiber of his stomach. He had only taken a second to locate the source of the sound amid having the ball in his possession, when someone skidded across him, tearing a patch of grass through his studded heel and taking the ball from thereon. As a result, Jeongguk galloped so badly that he nearly avoided going in for a nose surgery the next morning.

It took no longer than a second for the loud cheers to turn into frenzied name-calling that could pierce the ears even when the gaggle was half bent over the rusted railing at a far distance. The panicked guards controlled the situation adeptly, merely because it involved touching girls.

His mouth expelled a huge amount of air as Jeongguk turned to a supine position to glance at the straight line of birds flying across the purplish-blue sky. His hands stuck at his thunderous-heaving chest, stomach felt empty as if all the air was vacuumed out.

Kino's rectangular face popped up before his eyes as he helped him get up. "Bro, just feeling bad for those girls who lied to their parents and came to see your abs when you'd take out that shirt at the victory shot."

"You aren't talking about my sister, right?" The lean boy poked at Kino's arm.

Kino blasted, "Your sister included. It's no secret that Jeongguk's name is set on every girl's tongue."

Another boomed as he stalked past them, "Krazers lost it to the Weaklings. That's unbelievable! I've lost all faith in God, sorry."

Jeongguk rubbed off the dirt staining his cheek through the back of his hand, simultaneously fixing his jaw with the same hand. Undeterred, he recovered from the 2-1 score reality very quickly, better than his friends who still mourned the shock. "Yeah, don't know what really happened out there--"

"But I know too well." Shai placed a comforting hand on Jeongguk's shoulder. He then leaned back to whisper in his friend's ear, "Kino, don't you think this time the girls' ratio was slightly more than the boys near the goalmouth. I mean I never knew that Ama Sam households had been watering so many tender buds. Now it's no longer a place famous for retired deportees."

Kino answered proudly, "Well, his personality is as such that if he happens to land in Seoul, he would attract all the deep-pocketed aunties and increase Ama Sam's population in a day."

Everyone laughed out loud.

"Whatever." Jeongguk's eyebrows met each other softly, a silly smile tugging at his lips.

Suddenly, Luhan broke their conversation as he came running to Jeongguk. He shoved a clean sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. He spoke, catching long breathes, "Mela . . . is waiting for you . . . at the sunset point since one hour."

"Since one hour? But I told her that I had this match." Jeongguk rubbed his face, anticipating all things he had to hear from her.

Jeongguk arranged his friends in a circular order and rooted himself in the center. With a cry of quirky noises, Jeongguk pulled down his half pants and laughed when he realized that Luhan even brought him brand new underwear. Realizing he had so little time left, he skipped to change his soiled jersey.

Despite the pain that pricked at his ankles from running back and forth, Jeongguk rode his bicycle as fast as possible. He stripped off the sweaty shirt and tugged the cloth between his teeth. Next, he grappled with his white sweatshirt and inserted his head in the hole after performing the dangerous stunt on the curvy roads descending along the hill.

The local market chaos stoppage didn't cause a major change in his speed, instead, his peddle remained intact and he cowered a little on the sloppy road to plunge at the casket of strawberries keep at a wooden board for the customers.

"Thank you, Ajumma!"

Jeongguk sunk in relief when he saw a tiny figure nestled between the lush leaves of tea plantations around. She was facing the other side. Jeongguk was over the moon as he admitted for the third time in the day, that she was the one he'd bring home as a bride.

After all, the girl whose high status was taller than most of the electricity towers here, waited in mild cold evening. She literally went on to break one point stated in her rule book for her boyfriend worth two cents.

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A/n: I tried my best to familiarize you ppl with the backdrop of a hill station. It's so satisfying to read your lovely comments. Keep giving me your feedback, a writer needs to process things out.
Now tell me, what do you think about Jeongguk so far?

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Keep on voting and commenting on this book.

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Love D.