𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄. a feeling of strangeness

THE CROWD FLOWED DOWN THE WIDE AVENUES OF THE STADIUM, the same way they came from. The mood of the people swirled in unseen currents beneath the bright surface of their faces. In a thousand strong men and women, there wasn't a single frown or expression of doubt. The only sound was their feet on the aging stadium bleachers and the howl of the wind rising.

"You were wonderful, Jiji!" Moon sang as she complimented her best friend, Samantha LaRusso stared at her in awe, wondering how one so fragile and tiny could achieve this level of talent. She moved with feeling on that field, pouring forth an outburst of emotions through her movements, not only moving her body but moving the crowd that watched her in pure amazement. The sounds seemed dismal, her movements somber, her eyes filling with determination and motivation. Samantha, Moon, and Yasmine could feel her feelings, without her even saying a word to either of them.

Samantha didn't know what could make her so miserable, but that feeling flowed through her, reaching and touching everyone in that stadium. It was truly breathtaking.

"The best one on the field!" Samantha beamed, breaking out of her silence and thumbing forwards toward her new best friend.

"Thank you guys, it means a lot that you three came."

"So, I was thinking of throwing a congratulations party, you, me, the girls," Yasmine said as they walked down to the parking lot.

"A congratulations party?" Jieun Kang smiled with a corner of her mouth.

"Yes!"

"Just the four of us?"

"Yes, so if you don't come, it will definitely show." Yasmine said without a moment's pause, "Twilight marathon, sour patch kids, and us, your three favorite things in the world. You can thank me now or later." She cracked a smile.

Jieun was laughing, "What for?"

"What for?" Moon pursed her lips. "You like, totally kicked everyone's ass out there ―"

"― it was just a mock game."

Yasmine cocked her head and waved her off, "Whatever, you were the best player I've ever seen. Or you could just think of it as the last day of the Summer slumber party?"

Samantha and Jieun look at each other.

"Alright, Buttercup." She gives them two thumbs up. "I accept this best player, last day of Summer slumber party."

"YOU THINK MAYBE TEXTING AND driving isn't the greatest idea?" Jieun looked to the side of the road as Sam scolded Yasmine.

Yasmine shrugs. "No one's on the road at this hour."

"Oh, shit. Slow down!"

One moment the road was there, wide open and safe, the next there were loud noises, acrid smells, and slight pain from the sudden impact.

"Yasmine! I told you, you shouldn't be on your phone."

Jieun had never seen someone so ruffled, the fear that enveloped her was suffocating as the blond hair main screamed at the girls and banged on the car windows.

His voice had a husky drawl "Open the door!" He looked like his head was about to explode from the shouting.

"Drive! Just drive!" Jieun screamed.

UPON WAKING, JIEUN BURROWED HERSELF into the warm, soft sheets. She rubbed the remains of sleep from her eyes and gazed out at the horizon; its vivid light extended across a rosy sky. She supposed this was something the majority of people would consider beautiful, but she found it strange, hard even, for some reason it was hard for her to find something so meaningful in something so every day.

It's not like the sun wouldn't rise, it had, after all, been reliably happening since the beginning of time. So what was so special about it?

Slowly and reluctantly, Jieun walked over to the window. Streaks of sunlight penetrated the window and blinded her. Rubbing her knuckles onto her eyes. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned, quickly leaving the two girls ❨ she guessed Samantha left only a few minutes before her ❩ and continued her routine once she got home.

Jieun hadn't expected her father to be lounging in their home, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Jihyun tensed, and his gaze slid to his daughter. "Oh, I heard you had a game, guess I was a day too late."

"It looks like you sat there all night?"

He chuckled low and deep. "It looks like that, huh?" Then, in a split second, her father completely switched tones. "Well, you're safe and I should get going anyways, fashion week. I'll just be leaving then."

He snatched up his bag and hurried to the entrance of the home. Jieun's eyebrows rose. "Why didn't you call?"

"Jieun, you remember that promise our family made?" He whispered.

Her breath caught, he never used her real name, no one did. She stepped back, desperate to escape the awkward conversation.

"The one halmoni made us make?" Jihyun's head snapped up. "Yeah, I guess."

"I need to hear you say it again."

For several heartbeats, the two stared at each other.

Jihyun scurried towards Jieun. With a grunt, he reached out and grabbed her arm. "Say it again." He said. "Make the promise again."

"They're just a bunch of words, appa."

"I know, I just ― " He paused. "Listen, I know our bond hasn't been the same since your mom died, but I want you to have a life. I worry while I'm gone. Just promise me you'll stick to soccer and not ― "

Time slowed once more, as if Jieun's brain needed a 'photograph', a keepsake to give her strength in the rough times to come. Then, after time unmeasurable, a bird sang, bringing her back into this moment, as if this feathered friend was the clock, the only timekeeper that mattered.

"Trust me, I'm not interested in karate." Her father shot her a look as he stepped back towards the door again, glancing back at Jieun. "I'm guessing you're meeting up with Yasmine, Moon, and Sam?"

"Who?"

One thing about Jieun Kang, she hated names.

She hated remembering them, hated the way some were spelled ❨ makayla? mikayla? mckayla? God so many ways! ❩

And she especially hated when the name didn't match the looks or personality.

So to make it easier on herself she'd assign new names, ones that she sought fit. Nicknames if you will.

"Oh. You mean Buttercup, Bubbles, and Blossom?" Jieun mumbled.

Her father smiled lightly. "Right."

"Um, no." She says. "First day of school I usually meet the teachers. Make a good first impression, you know?"

"Of course, Eunie" He closed the door behind him.

The hair on her arm stood. What the hell was he on about?

"LOOK WHO FINALLY SHOWED UP!"

Jieun's head whipped to face Moon. "I just had the weirdest conversation with my dad this morning."

"Mm? What's he worked up about this time?" Moon snatched the sunglasses from Jieun's nose and slipped them on. "Don't tell me you told him about what happened with the car."

"It was nothing." She hated lying to her friends, but the conversation would have strayed into dangerous territory. Oh, how she wished she still had the shades to cover her eyes.

Yasmine and Samantha fell in beside her. "You'll tell me after school."

She handed back the sunglasses and began to chat with Yasmine, "Oh my God, you guys. You see that guy over there who looks like he went down on a lawnmower? He's literally wearing the ugliest sweater I've ever seen."

Moon snickered as Jieun stayed silent, eyes focused more on her nails than her surroundings. Sam shifted beside her. "That is so wrong."

"Speaking of wrong, check out Fug-lisha." She said loudly. "She looks like she ate a picnic table."

Jieun raised her palms to her mouth, rounding her eyes dramatically. "Oh shit, I forgot my calculator."

Sam smacked her arm slightly. "Here, you can borrow mine."

"No, no. It's okay, I need it for next period, anyways." She shouldered her lightly, pulling her phone out as Kyler and his friends surrounded them.

"Looking good today, Jiji, there someone you trying to impress?" One of Kyler's goons gave a searching glance. "Because trust me, I'm looking."

"Mhm." Jieun played along, hoisting her bag above her shoulder. "You must have no one to impress, considering what you're wearing." Low oohs came from the spectators as she left.

WHEN SCHOOL ENDED, JIEUN QUICKLY left.

Turns out, there was a soccer meeting she was unaware of ― and unfortunately, it was actually necessary. So, to make up for it she decided to take a jog.

Every time she exercised its as if sensible "Jieun" was dragging lazy "Jieun" on a rope. Sensible her wants to be in shape, ready for her soccer games ❨ doesn't help that she was hoping for the captain position in her last years ❩, lazy her wanted more and more tv time.

She used to find sweating so gross. It was the dark stain under the pits of old men while they played boules in sun hot enough to drop a cow. To a teenager that's right up there with pus and puke.

The smell of smoke invaded her nostrils. It was a kind of particulate sewage smell. She could already feel the pollution in her lungs.

"You know that shit can kill you right?"

He was lean and muscular. She wouldn't be surprised if he was the most sighed-over boy in school. He looked around her age, and he leaned against the building wall. His posture wasn't too poor, she noted, and had one hand in the pocket of his dark jeans while the other held the butt.

The boy grinned, grabbing a new one from the box. "It's a metaphor."

"Metaphor my ass." The declaration was deep and confident. Jieun leaned closer to the boy, taking a whiff. "You reek."

"You smell every stranger you come across?"

"Just the ones who apparently haven't heard that secondhand smoke kills."

The boy in front of her lets out a loud and exaggerated laugh. "What are you so afraid of?"

Jieun blew a raspberry. "Uh, cancer!" The way she said it, he knew she was implying that he was basically brainless about not knowing the dangers. "You clearly wouldn't know anything about that. It's called having a working brain."

There it was.

"So, you live here?" He leaned against his shoulder, eyes mocking her.

Locking gazes with the boy mere inches from her was like forging into an angry storm.

"God, no. But I'm guessing you do, right?" She said. She jutted her bottom lip out, redirecting the airflow to her bangs. For that brief moment, her dark hair fanned upwards before resettling just over her eyebrows.

He snorted. "What gave it away?"

"Your poor fashion sense."

"Some of us aren't so lucky to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth."

"With the path you're going, looks like your kids won't either." His usual furrowed brow furrowed even more. His gaze shifts away, running his hand through his hair.

He purses his lips. "Robby."

Jieun cocks her head and makes a come-on motion with her hand. "Robby..."

"I don't know you well enough to give away my full name." He snickered.

"You don't look like a Robby." She pats him on the shoulder.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

since robby doesn't really have many scenes in the beginning im making stuff up so that jiji and him have a lil bond before the show plot catches up to them hehe

also yes ik robby doesn't actually smoke it was the first thing i could come up with so they have a lil enemies to lovers arc <33

much love,