Three things Jiae loves. Handball. Grounds. Food.

Three things she hates with all her existence. School. Haechan or Donghyuck or whatever. And everything related to that certain dirty blonde (excluding her brother, who happened to be one of his bestest friends). 

And right now, as she lay in silently in the infirmary on her very first day of high school, the fire of sheer hatred towards the older boy only grew inside the brunette. Jiae felt like a balloon that had been blown too much, well….so much that she could sense that a big combustion was already nearing. 

Just when the girl had finally reached the peak of the mountain of cusses she was mentally throwing at Lee Donghyuck, the door decided to open in the most dramatic way possible. Only to reveal the last people she wanted to encounter as of then.

A genuinely worried Jeno.

A calm (alternatively, just as worried but better at hiding it) Jaemin.

And dreadful enough, a surprisingly worried Lee Donghyuck. 

Jiae couldn't stress enough how she hated Donghyuck. The both of them had known each other for the last 15 years, taking up most of Jiae's 17 years of living. The girl always had strong feelings for that certain Lee, and until she turned 9, the brunette could always tell herself whether they were positive or negative, the feelings were strong.

Lee Jiae, at 9 years of age, had concluded that she did, as a matter of fact, strongly despise her brother's mischievous childhood friend when he'd decided to play foul and defeat her in a friendly one-to-one beach handball game. And not to mention the train of snarky comments he'd passed for the coming weeks. Well heck, Jiae clearly remembered him going on about it for months. Moreover, she clearly recalled her father and oh-so-supportive brother chiming in or just smiling when he did that. Family much?

As they grew up, Donghyuck turned out to be everything Jiae honestly despised. He was distractingly handsome, not really tall, way above average at everything, had an ego taller than the Burj Khalifa and lastly, the boy reeked of sarcasm wherever he went. 

Not to mention his significant fear of the word "commitment". Jiae hated how Lee Donghyuck never had his hands free when he was outside the court. The dirty blonde would always have both his arms slung over two hot (and not, he was just thirsty for female company at all times and situations) ladies at both his sides. He'd smugly smile at his mates and Jiae as the two disgusting ladies-for-the-day giggle stupidly at every syllable he mouthed, knowing that they would surely be ghosted the day after. 

Jiae hated losing, and so did Lee Donghyuck. But being in a game meant one of them had to lose, and none of them weren't very thrilled to lose to each other. At any cost. 

She wasn't sure of the boy's feelings towards her but was already very much convinced that the hatred wasn't one-sided. Then..was it mutual? She didn't know. Not at times such as at present. When he studied her condition with a genuine frown plastered on his face. 

"Hey you ok?" Jeno was the first one to wrestle his way to his sister while the rest of his friends calmly settled 

It wasn't something really major. Maybe. But guilt filled every inch of Jiae's guts to see her brother so worried that he decided to overlook his duties as a model student to come see her in the middle of the class.

"I'm fine-" 

"Says the one who asked me if I were her future boyfriend," Donghyuck just couldn't hold it back in.

"No one asked!" She snapped but ended up wincing the very next moment as an almost obliterating pain rose up to her head like fire. Exploding with a blinding whiteness.

Jiae threw her head back in pain, biting her lower lip. The previously light and slightly good atmosphere fell. Jeno tentatively reached out to place his hand on his sister's head, just to be swatted away like a fly.

"I'm fine, really."

"Jeno...let her be," Jaemin called out from the bed next hers.

And Jiae swore she would treat the boy to chicken as soon as they set foot out of the school grounds for this. Jaemin and Haechan always had an invisible yet strong control over her brother's mind. Actually, Jeno let them have it because even Jiae knew they wouldn't say anything that would harm him- or their family.

Sighing, he gave up trying to examine his wounded sister. But the feeling of wanting to check still remained. 

"She's going to be just fine," Jaemin assured the ravenette again, patting his shoulder this time.

Jiae would love to admire the sweet moment between the two males if she stopped glaring expectantly the third male who seemed to be quietly enjoying the scene. If glares could kill, Lee Donghyuck would have been dead meat for years now.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Jiae finally let out the question that had been bugging her for the last 10 minutes.

"What?" The three boys questioned in unison.

"You. Have. Nothing. To. Say?" Jiae made sure to voice out her concern loud and clear, with  four very much necessary periods between each word.

"Get well soon?" Was what Na Jaemin could manage, still very unsure about it.

But thank the Gods of handball! Jiae's deathly glare cleared his confusion at an instant.

"Donghyuck?" The name came out of her mouth as if she were naming her favourite Shakespeare books, laced with pure hatred and disgust (because she didn't have one and never intended to have one).

"Yes?"

The boy's eye finally met hers. An almost instinctive scoff left Jiae's mouth when the corners of his lips curled up into a smirk she had come to hate for years. The one he always had on when he looked at her. Not creepy, not at all but somehow very unsettling and teasing. As if he knew what was on her mind, and he would do absolutely anything but that. 

"Just say it and leave already," Jiae was losing her mind already.

"What?" Jeno urged, still very oblivious of what she could be possibly asking his best friend.

"Yes," Donghyuck feigned the most innocent tone he could manage, trying his best to suppress the sudden flush of amusement.

"What? I am curious too."

Jaemin, who was sitting quietly until now, decided to speak up before the wounded brunette blew up the infirmary with her rage. 

"Hyuck...maybe she wants you to say…."

"That I am too good for her?" The said male wriggled his eyebrows as he tucked his hands in the pocket of his pants.

"What?" Jiae let out a roar.

Overlooking the very normal war of nerves between the both of them, Jaemin calmly ended his sentence, "She wants you to say sorry."

Realisation clouded Jeno's face and he let out a snicker almost immediately, infecting the former as well. Making either one of them apologise to the other was like expecting a snowfall in Mid Summer heat. Impossible and useless. 

Jiae was readying to spit a snarky remark at Haechan as soon as he scoffed. It was always the same, so the girl didn't actually think of any instances. But the scoff or sassy comeback didn't really leave Donghyuck's mouth.

A low "Sorry" escaped the boy's mouth, catching Jiae (and the both of his friends, of course) off guard. 

"What?" He rolled his eyes. "I don't want Jiae to get a hemorrhage and die. Coach Lee would skin me alive."

Donghyuck was wrong. So wrong. He didn't need Coach Lee to skin him alive. Lee Jiae, injured or not, could and would skin the male herself. And if it weren't for Na Jaemin holding her back as of now, she would've done it right there.

"It's an infirmary for heaven's sake!" The nurse's yell echoed across the room making all four of them flinch. 

Jiae ran yet another train of curses under breath- only to receive a glare from her brother. Tired (frustrated, but she wouldn't admit) of everything, she just closed her eyes and sucked a breath. A sign all three of the males present could identify in a moment- a sign that she wanted to be left alone. Jiae had been doing it for the last ten years or so  and they would be idiots for not understanding. 

"You should go to class," she began, eyes still shut tight.

"I wouldn't want to get into the President's way, Jeno."

Jiae could hear a long sigh and some shuffling. The brunette was almost tempted to open her eyes and just see what her brother and his friends were up to. She was quite sure they were finally exiting, and the urge to say a small "Bye" was just irresistible. And then again, Lee Jiae was a person of pride. And bidding farewell when she was the one asking them to leave seemed like something to hurt her suddenly fragile ego. Well she couldn't deny that her ego decided to act up like some weird allergy whenever a certain Lee Donghyuck was involved.

Jiae was sure she had heard her brother whisper something before the door closed with a small click. She didn't know if he had muttered a "Get well soon" or something like "I didn't sign up for this" because of the muffled laugh she'd heard Donghyuck let out.

"You seriously need to stop thinking he hates you, buttercup."

Jiae's eyes flutter open at the voice, and a smile immediately replaces the frown she had been sporting for a while now. She watches the figure settle down on the chair Donghyuck had previously occupied- the one right by the bed. 

"You don't have class?" She asks, a little amused.

"Nah, free period."

Smiling, the girl moves a little on the bed before grabbing his hand and gesturing to him to sit there instead. He obliges and let's Jiae huddle closer. His hand snaked up to support her shoulders, enjoying the feeling of her resting her head on his chest.

"You do know we're gonna get into some serious trouble if your brother finds out-" he muses, although he knew what her answer will be.

Jiae lets out a breathy chuckle and it brushes past the black haired boy's ear- leaving his senses tickling.

"They don't need to find out, Na."

I finally updated after a millennia phew. There's so much going on this chapter my goodness. We caught glimpses of Hyuck-Jiae beef, Jeno's almost fatherly love for his sister and some secret tea between Jaemin and Jiae 👀

I'll update in like two hours and it's gonna be a ride haha. And a Tmi, the whole Jiae gettingvhit with a ball in the head was based on very much true events- for it had happened to me irl bahaha.