Saturday, June 4th, 2022.

1:30 pm.

'JOONHA'S P.O.V'

"Make sure you go a little faster before going for that jump," Seunggil advices me, smoking his cigarette while watching me constantly try. I leave my skateboard to get on the floor and grab it. "I'm done, it pisses me off," I drop my favorite item in front of me and sit down on the bench right next to my best friend. "You're just not distancing yourself enough from it, that's all."

"I'm hungry, so I can't do anything properly," I get hold of my bag and open it to look for a snack. "I got a banana in mine if you want," he tells me, and since I see nothing that I want, I grab his bag and take the fruit. "Are you sure you're fine with me eating this in front of you?" I smirk and pull the peel down, but he chuckles at me and pushes his silver hair back. "Shut the fuck up, dumbass."

I laugh and take a bite, and I grab my phone but check what the other guys are doing. Most of them are pretty good at skating, but they still need to practice.

"Oh, look who's there," he brings my attention to someone in particular, so I quickly check where his look is directed, but as soon as I set my eyes on them, I scoff at the memory of the scene that keeps on replaying into my head whenever I see her. "The girl who fell for you," he makes fun of the matter, so I shake my head and take another bite of the banana. "She fell on me, not for me."

He laughs but makes it quiet enough so that no one hears, and I watch the girl walk towards a group of guys, with her friend, who I often see practice here. "That was funny and cute as fuck from my point of view, not gonna lie."

"She was so embarrassed, stop making fun of this poor girl," I chew on my healthy snack and glance down at my phone, and he sits down by my side. "Aw. You're defending her, you're so sweet."

"Shut up," I stand up and shove the rest of the banana in my mouth to throw the peel out. "Let's go back to it," I grab my skateboard and jump on it to head to the halfpipe, and he follows me. "Make sure to stay away from her," he remarks, and I click my tongue. He will never stop teasing me about this.

/ flashback \

"You need to absorb your landing much better," Seunggil tells me to do as I have been attempting to ollie up a curb, and I sigh out of frustration but get closer to it again. "I'm losing my balance whenever I land on it," I run my tongue over my lips and feel it graze the ring on my bottom one. "You just need to practice a little more, you'll get used to it. Don't worry," he cheers me up, knowing I hate to fail.

"I'm gonna—"

"Y/n!" a name gets yelled right when someone bumps hard into me from the left and causes me to hit the floor with them.

"Holy fuck!" the same voice speaks from closer as I cannot even process what happened yet. I look up at the girl who brutally landed on me, and we make eye contact, awkwardly, but the other guy helps her to stand back up.

"I'm so sorry," she apologizes in a trembling and embarrassed voice, and bows to me. "I didn't mean to, I was— It's my first time getting on a skateboard...I'm really sorry..."

I hold back from laughing after getting back up as well and brush my hands past my back and butt. "It's fine."

"Are you sure? Did I hurt you?" she holds her hands together near her chest, seeming concerned. "You didn't. No worries," I do not react in a mean way since I have been there as well. She obviously feels so embarrassed about what just happened, I am not going to make it worse for her. "I should have stayed near you," the guy, who is known to be the best at skating here, looks at her and removes the dust from her top.

"I'm sorry, bro. I'll keep a closer eye on her," he chuckles, and since it is not the first time we talk, I smile. "Don't worry about it. You didn't get hurt either, did you?" I pick my skateboard up and do not forget to make sure she is alright after the way she violently tripped on the floor, even if my body was practically the floor for her. "No...I'm fine."

"Good then," I hold my precious item up, and they both leave, but once they are away, Seunggil cracks up and turns around to slap my arm and hide himself. "Don't be an asshole," I chuckle, with guilt. "Dude. I'm sorry, but that was so fucking hilarious," he does not calm himself down, having fun while laughing at her. "I feel so fucking bad, but I can't help it," he makes it hard for me to keep a straight face, and I stare at him cackling like a jerk.

"She's gonna see you and feel even more ashamed. Stop it, you bitch," I shake my head but grin, and he finally steadily breathes in and out. "I'm sorry," he still broadly smiles but tries as much as he can to conceal it.

/ end of flashback \

I peek up at the girl, who must still be affected by what happened yesterday, but her best friend notices me, and he lifts his hand up to say hi, getting her to drag her attention towards me too, so I do the same gesture to answer.

She glances away, out of shame for sure, unknowingly making me feel bad for her, but I brush it off and focus on skating.

•••

5:30 pm.

"Be careful, they're camping in the yellow house," Seunggil warns me about the enemies, both playing online. Since I am the last one alive on the team, I carefully throw a grenade and wait for them to run out to shoot them and win.

"Let's go, baby!" he shouts his happiness out, and I feel some satisfaction. "I'm so fucking good."

"Yeah, chill. No need to brag," he does not express the same emotions anymore, and I chuckle but grab my phone since this game is over. I check the text my dad sent me, and I touch my chain to toy with it.

< dinner is soon ready ]

[ alright, I do one more game and come >

"I'm gonna have to leave after this one," I tell him about it. "Okay. By the way, I forgot to say something, but when you left the skatepark earlier, I got to talk with the guy who always shows off, and we both exchanged numbers, so he's probably gonna join us tomorrow."

"With the girl he was with?" I ask since they always stick to each other. "Yeah. I knew you'd ask that," he acts like I wanted this. "I'm just curious."

"Sure. You want her to fall on you again, don't you?" this dumbass loses his mind, and I chuckle. "You're a moron. She fucking crushed my balls, so no thanks."

"No way, did she?! You said she didn't hurt you," he responds to this as if this was funny when I cried from pain. "I wasn't gonna tell her 'Yeah, you hit me right in the dick, and it fucking hurt so bad'. She'd have run away in tears."

"True," he agrees. "I told her not to feel embarrassed around us though, I could tell she wasn't comfortable because she could barely look at me."

"I'm gonna talk to her if she's there tomorrow. It'll maybe make her feel more at ease," I play without letting anything distract me, hoping for her to be there tomorrow so that I can clear the air, kind of.

"It'd be better, they both seem cool, so that'd be great to have new friends to practice with," he states what I think too, and I nod. "Yeah, and she's a beginner, so we could help her."

"Yes, but I don't want her to crush my balls," he goes back to this again, and I laugh. "What's her name though? I forgot about it," he asks me, and I recall the moment when it was yelled. "Y/n, I think."

"Ah yeah, it came back to my mind now," his brain works for once, and I do not speak anymore to make sure I do not get killed.

— Next day —

Saturday, June 5th, 2022.

1:20 pm.

< Tell me when you're on the way back home, I'll work until 4 pm today ]

[ I will. Have a good day, I love you >

< I love you too, be careful ]

I read my dad's text and lock my phone to gaze up at Seunggil, who shouted my name. "Hey! Aren't they here?" he checks around us to look for the guy and y/n, so I shake my head. "I haven't seen them."

"He told me they're on the way ten minutes ago, so they should be here soon," he looks at his phone screen, and I slide my hand into my pocket but move onto my skateboard to not stay still. "So she's coming?"

"Yes," he affirms. "She's gonna face you," he sneers and raises his eyes up. "I'll make a joke about it so that it breaks the glass."

"Of course, it's gonna make her feel so much more comfortable, you fucking smart boy," I sarcastically throw, and he kicks my calf. "Fuck you."

"No thanks," I smirk, and he sharply exhales, tired to hear me make everything sexual. "I can't deal with you anymore," he drops his eyes on his phone. "They're here."

I look around us at the same time as he does it, and I catch sight of y/n, with the guy next to her. She acts so much like a shy person, she seems pretty introverted.

"Hello," Seunggil initiates the contact, and the guy answers first, then y/n does it, so I do the same to not be disrespectful, and they both respond.

"Before we start, let's relax and forget about what happened," my dumb best friend chooses the wrong option. "Alright? I once fell in front of many guys here and slid on the floor, but I'm still here to joke about it, so no need to feel embarrassed about it, okay?" he directs the attention towards her, and she nods, smiling but not meaning her answer.

"Let's go then! Joonha's gonna teach you some tricks," he points his thumb at me and does not help anything at all, instead, he is worsening the situation. "What tricks, bro? She can't even stand on a moving skateboard, I can't show her tricks yet."

"Wow," he stares at me. "That was mean as fuck."

"Shut up! I—" my eyes dart towards her. "I didn't mean it that way. So don't get offended, I went through that too, but I just mean that I need to teach you to stand on the moving skateboard and keep your balance first," I clarify so that she does not get hurt by my wrongly framed sentence, but she chuckles. "It's okay. Don't worry. I know I'm bad anyway, I only started recently."

"No, don't say that. You can't be bad if you haven't learned anything, but it's gonna be easy once you practice every day," I reassure her, and she shows relief. "I hope so."

"Alright, we're leaving you alone. Don't let her fall," he adds another layer of weight on her shoulder, and I grin but gaze down at y/n. "He's not mocking you, he's just teasing," I tell her since I know him more than anyone, and she does not exude offense, which is pretty great. "So, let's start. Tell me what your friend taught you already," I do not get to it yet, the other guys making noise around us while skating.

"Well, he taught me to climb on it, stand still on it, and I learned to move without landing on people yesterday," she slips some humor into it, and I cannot help chuckling. "Alright, we're gonna work more on this then," I drop my skateboard on the ground but mention something. "Don't you have one?"

"No, Hyunjin always lends me his," she reveals his name. "Oh, alright. You can use mine then," I let her have it, and run my fingers through my hair. "You can get on it. I'll hold you if you need some help."

"Thank you," she climbs on it with ease, so I check where her feet are and see that they are properly positioned. "Perfect, now, try to go towards the bench," I tell her to do. "I'm staying near, so don't be scared."

"Okay," she pushes against the floor with one foot, and she heads in the right direction, seeming a bit more comfortable than she did two days ago. "You're doing good," I praise her to encourage her, and she quickly reaches the bench out. "Okay. Now go to the other one over there," I indicate the one that is much further from us, and she does it, so I walk by her side to not leave her alone but be there in case she trips over again.

I check her feet, her posture, and how she keeps her balance, and once she is at the end, I smile. "Girl. You're doing good, and even better than I expected."

"I'll take it as a compliment," she goes back on the floor, and I laugh. "You should. That means you're good at it. Improving is an important step, and even if I've been skating since I'm ten, I still need to improve," I find some words to make her feel better about her skills, and her features brighten. "Since you're ten? How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-one, and you?" I return the question to get to know more about her. "Eighteen."

"Oh, good. I'm the oldest, so I'm happy," I do not contain that gladness but share it, and she scoffs. "What got you to start skating at such a young age though?"

"My dad. He used to love skating when he was younger, and he let me tried it since I've always been a fan of stuff like that, and I loved it, so I never stopped," I tell it to someone other than Seunggil for the first time, and she smiles at me. "I find that so great."

"What about you?" I place my foot up on my skateboard, and she holds her hands together behind her back, getting me to peek down at her chest to read the brand's name on her sweatshirt. "My brother loves skating, and at first, he and my father didn't allow me to do it because they didn't want me to get injured, so I always watched him, but I started to like it, so now I skate with my best friend because my brother is busy streaming, so since Hyunjin is our best friend, I came here with him since my brother trusts him enough to check up on me."

"That's cute. I guess your brother is older?" I assume from what she said, and she confirms it. "Yeah. He's twenty-three, and he's very overprotective, so a bit annoying sometimes."

"I understand him, I'd be the same if I had a little sister," I do not judge, knowing how I am and act when I have a girlfriend. "Why though? I'm his little sister, but I'm still eighteen."

"I don't know, it's a guy thing. We tend to be very..." I gesture, not knowing how to explain. "Very protective with girls. Depends on the guy though, some don't care. Does it bother you that he's like that?"

"It bothers me, but at the same time, I know he does it because he loves me, and wants to make sure I'm safe, but sometimes it makes me a bit mad," she cannot decide how she truly feels about it, and I understand her, but her brother as well, for some reason. "It's because of all the things that girls have to go through because of men. You know, catcalling, inappropriate remarks or touches, sexual harassment, and much worse, so it scares us to imagine our sister, close female friend, or girlfriend to be a victim of that."

"Yeah, I know. He always talks about it because he's scared something bad might happen to me," she grazes the floor with her shoe, and I look up at her face. "Anyway, what about you? I've talked way too much about myself," she laughs, softly, and I lick my lips but grip my skateboard that I am holding against the floor. "No, I don't mind it. Like this, I get to know you more. I don't even have any siblings, so I don't have anything to say."

"And do you live with your parents?" she questions me, and I nod. "I only live with my dad, and I sometimes visit my mom on the weekend because they divorced."

"Ah, alright," she listens, with a lot of attention. "And I also have a puppy. He's called Choco, he's only three months old so he's tiny," I do not ignore my important baby, and she giggles. "That's such an adorable name. What breed is he?"

"He's a Keeshond, so he's a big, tiny fluffy ball, he's so cute," I smile at the thought of him, and she expresses the same emotion. "Oh, gosh. Those are so cute and pretty. You're lucky."

"I'll come with him here one day, I'll show him to you. You'll want to cuddle him all the time," I state what I know to be facts, and she shows a lot of softness. "I can't wait."

"Do you live with both your parents?" I comb my hair back and slide my hands in my pockets. "No, I only live with my dad and brother," she does not go into details about why this is like that, so I do not try to know more about it. "Oh, okay, and what about a job? Are you studying or working?"

"I work at a store not far away from here. It's called 'Mad Pixel', and we sell video games, console accessories, and all that type of stuff," she suddenly makes me want to visit it. "Seriously? I love video games so much, I'd love to come take a look at it."

"You can come whenever you want then, I love games and gaming setups, so I'll show you everything we have," she excites me about going there. "Damn. I'm gonna come next week, I just need to know when you work so that I don't go there when you're not working."

"I work from eight to four every day of the week, and on Saturday, except for Wednesday, I leave at twelve," she gives me her schedule, and I memorize it. It is not hard to remember it, this is a pretty usual one. "Good, I'll come this Monday then because I have a day off."

"Where do you work?" she drops her eyes on my lips, and I fidget on my skateboard. "At a coffee shop just right in this street," I point at it, this one near the beach. "Oh, I went there just last week. When do you work?" she gapes. "I work from eight to four as well but only during the week."

"Ah, that's why. It was Saturday when I went there to get a coffee," she gets the reason why we did not meet on that day, and I smile. "Ah, I see. Maybe if—"

"Is this what you call teaching?!" Seunggil raises his eyes from the Halfpipe, staring at us while Hyunjin is doing some professional tricks. "Mind your own business!" I shout back. "Little bitch," I mumble, but he raises his middle finger at me. "I heard you, big bitch."

I chuckle but look away to not have to see his arrogant face and grey hair of grandpa. I set my eyes on y/n and get back on the floor. "So, do you still want to practice?" I grab my skateboard, and she nods but smiles. "Alright, let's work on some more theory first."