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“I’ll see you later, then,” Dongho said, collecting his books and stationeries before storing everything in his canvas tote bag and walking away from Minhyun.
Smiling, Minhyun waved his hand at the other while he himself closed every tab he had opened on his laptop. They just finished a lab report at one of the student corners and Dongho had somewhere else to be, immediately ditching his best friend to flee—probably to a date with Minki. It’s not the first time Minhyun got ditched for that boyfriend of Dongho’s.
Minhyun sighed and adjusted the big round glasses perched on his nose. Sometimes he wished he had someone to go on silly dates with him too. He’s not lucky in the matter of love, despite his objectively attractive face.
Shutting down his laptop, Minhyun closed it and stuffed it inside his leather messenger bag. He adjusted his straps and made sure he didn’t leave anything behind before standing up and started walking to the direction of the football field. His not-so-big campus was connected to the dormitories through the field, hence why he’s headed that way.
Walking past the bleachers and across the large field was always dreadful to Minhyun. It’s not for any important reason, but he always happened to be passing through there when the campus’ football team was practicing. They’re loud, a rowdy bunch with buff arms and obnoxious laughs. They always shouted a lot during practice gameplay, supposedly to help each other with strategies and techniques. Minhyun hated them. The team was definitely not his kind of crowd and the sport was most definitely not his kind of activity. He felt intimidated by the team also, with their incredibly handsome features and blinding smiles.
Especially their star quarterback, Kim Jonghyun.
Kim Jonghyun had a beautiful lock of brown hair and pretty eyes, accompanied by an even prettier smile when he’s happy. Minhyun admitted that Jonghyun’s laugh wasn’t as bad as the rest of the team’s. The way Jonghyun’s face and exposed collarbones glistened with sweat under the sun, Minhyun’s heart palpitated at the sight when he saw it a while back. Not to mention when Jonghyun lifted his shirt to wipe his sweat and proceeded to sweep his bangs to the side—no, Minhyun was not ogling at the abs peeking from underneath Jonghyun’s shirt.
Okay, maybe Minhyun had a little crush on the geology major quarterback of the university’s football team.
It’s not like he could ever bring himself to gather up the courage and approach Jonghyun, though. Minhyun’s a lost cause when it came to socializing.
That afternoon, the football team seemed to be on break when Minhyun walked past. Some of them were practicing passing the ball in a small group, though, while some others went over strategies and correct stances. The cheerleader team was present, sitting around on the bleachers while stretching.
Minhyun’s hold on the straps of his bag tightened when he caught Jonghyun talking to the cheerleader captain. He jutted out his bottom lip in jealousy, watching Jonghyun with sweat drenched shirt and one arm pressing an ovoid ball against the side of his body. Jeonghan, the cheerleader captain, laughed at something Jonghyun said as Jonghyun grinned.
‘Why does he look like he’s flirting?’ Minhyun’s heart asked, receiving no answer from his brain as his brain was busy being jealous and wishing he could be a part of the cheerleader team.
The walk through the side of the field was twice more intimidating to Minhyun with the cheerleader team there. It’s not like they’d care if a loser like Minhyun was walking past them, but Minhyun knew how people’s eyes had the reflex to look whenever they caught movements at the corner of their eyes; much like how every eyes would fall to anyone coming late to class because it made an abrupt change to the human sight. That second of attention felt a little too much for Minhyun.
Mulling over his little jealousy and internal struggle to stay unnoticed by anyone, Minhyun didn’t quite register when a scream and a few gasps were heard.
“Duck!” someone shouted, prompting Minhyun to turn his head to the voice.
Bad choice, Minhyun decided as an ovoid ball came flying across the field and crashing onto his face. He didn’t even get to scream when the pain seared his face and burned his nose before travelling to his neck. The world started going in slow motion as the impact sent Minhyun flying to the ground. His glasses fell off his face and broke beside him, not giving him time to mourn at the loss as he had more pressing matters on hand.
“Are you okay?” another voice shouted, sounding distorted as Minhyun’s vision started to blur, going in and out of focus while he stayed lying on the ground.
Everything started to go dark as he breathed out heavily, his hands clenching on air. The last thing he saw was a few faceless figures towering above him as his eyes gave up on keeping him conscious.
Then, all his senses shut down.
❄
When Minhyun came to, his eyelids fluttered. There’s a sound of shuffling coming from beside him. A terrible headache attacked him, his head throbbing as he relived the pain of getting hit by the ball.
Worst experience ever.
“Is he waking up?” a voice resounded through the room, but Minhyun felt like he heard it from underwater.
“I think he is.” a cold hand touched Minhyun’s wrist. “Hello?”
Minhyun tried to open his eyes, but he squinted upon seeing a bright light right above him. He groaned, closing his eyes back and trying to take control of his breathing. Everything was fine, except for the fact that his face was hurting, especially his nose.
‘God, did I break my nose?’
Upon instinct, Minhyun grabbed the hand on his wrist and held it tight to indicate that he’s awake and mostly fine. Stupid football players and their stupid recklessness—
Someone breathed out in relief, probably the one whose hand Minhyun was holding. “He’s fine.”
The voice sounded a bit familiar. Sweet, like honey. Warm, like late spring. Lovely, like—
Minhyun’s eyes shot open.
Oh God.
There, sitting on a chair beside him on the bed—the infirmary bed?—was a concerned looking star quarterback Kim Jonghyun, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he saw Minhyun blinking rapidly. Standing by the foot of the bed, one other football player was staring at him with wide eyes. Minhyun’s sight was blurry, but he could still make out the faces from this distance.
“You’re awake!” the unfamiliar football player said, beaming and letting out a long breath. “I thought you were dead!”
“Aron,” Jonghyun frowned at his teammate. “I told you he’s fine. That would’ve been a nice pass if only you didn’t aim it at this nice guy’s face.”
Aron pouted. “It’s not my fault Wonwoo’s tall ass couldn’t catch the damn ball.” then he gave Minhyun an apologetic stare. “I’m so sorry for hitting you like that. Jonghyun carried you all the way here cursing about how I hit his favorite cute-nerdy-passerby-who-happens-to-always-pass-by-during-practice and knocked him unconscious.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Jonghyun tried to hit Aron, but the older swerved and stuck out his tongue at Jonghyun.
Minhyun blinked. Did he get hearing impaired or did Aron really say he was Jonghyun’s favorite passerby? Not to mention cute… and that Jonghyun had been the one carrying Minhyun to the infirmary…. This must be the afterlife. He’s dead. God, he’s dead and Jonghyun thought he’s cute and he was still holding Jonghyun’s hand—why was he still holding Jonghyun’s hand?
Two pairs of eyes stared at Minhyun in a renewed concern, probably realizing that Minhyun hadn’t spoken a word ever since he opened his eyes.
“Are you okay?” Jonghyun asked, tightening his hold on Minhyun’s hand as his other hand reached out to touch Minhyun’s forehead.
“Jonghyun, stop taking advantage— ouch!” before Aron could finish his sentence, he crouched down and held his leg, face contorting in pain.
A flash of smug smirk passed by Jonghyun’s lips before he felt Minhyun’s forehead with the back of his hand. The moment they touched, Minhyun felt his face burn.
‘This is embarrassing.’
Minhyun blinked, feeling Jonghyun’s hand retracting back and Minhyun wanted to whine. He’d be alright getting his nose broken if that meant Jonghyun would nurse him like this.
Not wanting to say anything, Minhyun just took his time staring at Jonghyun’s nice face; the slope of his nose, the concern in his eyes, the creases on his forehead, and his not smiling lips. So what if Jonghyun was concerned for Minhyun? He felt like he won in life.
“Guys!” a sound of the door bursting open echoed throughout the room. “I got the pain meds!”
Jonghyun’s gaze went to the guy walking through the door. “Thanks, Wonwoo.”
A third figure appeared in Minhyun’s vision, a guy with fox-like eyes and bangs falling over his eyebrows. Wonwoo, Jonghyun said the name was, lifted up a plastic bag and gave it to Jonghyun.
Letting Minhyun’s hand go, Jonghyun peeked inside the bag and took out the contents; a strip of tablet medicine and a bottle of water soon landed on the bed near Minhyun’s thigh. Then, Jonghyun teared off a patch for one tablet and opened the water bottle.
“Here, take these.” Jonghyun thrusted the two items at Minhyun while Minhyun still mourned at the loss of Jonghyun’s hand in his.
Taking the two items, Minhyun sat up on the bed and immediately gulped down the medicine in hopes of stopping the throbbing pain in his head.
“Thank you,” Minhyun finally said, voice a little scratchy.
Without preamble, Wonwoo patted Minhyun’s ankle. “Get well soon, dude. I’ll get going now” then he mock saluted his two teammates before going out the door again.
Aron nodded as Jonghyun waved at Wonwoo’s leave.
“Well, they need me for practice too.” Aron grinned at Jonghyun before glancing at Minhyun, slowly backing away to the door. “Get well soon!”
Jonghyun sighed and shook his head, knowing he had to take care of Minhyun because someone had to take responsibility for what Aron did.
“So,” Jonghyun scratched the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. “What’s your name?”
Minhyun blinked. Right. They hadn’t introduced themselves to each other.
“I’m Minhyun.”
“Nice name. I’m Jonghyun.”
Minhyun had to hold his tongue to not spill an innocent “I know” and luckily, his brain was functioning enough to succeed at that.
“I’m sorry my teammates are idiots.” Jonghyun grinned, leaning back on his chair.
Minhyun shook his head. “It’s fine.”
‘It’s fine because you’re here with me now.’
“Would you like me to walk you back to the dorms?” Jonghyun fiddled with his fingers, gaze casted down before he looked at Minhyun again—to Minhyun’s surprise, Jonghyun’s face was tinged pink.
Minhyun pursed his lips. It’s his face and head that was hurting—and Wonwoo already got him some meds—so he didn’t really need to be walked home. It’s not like he couldn’t walk on his own two feet by himself. It’s not like the dormitories were that far away…. The offer was tempting, though.
Minhyun nodded before he could change his mind and back down on the offer. “Uh, sure.”
The taken aback expression on Jonghyun’s face told Minhyun that Jonghyun didn’t expect him to say yes. It soon morphed into a smile as Jonghyun stood up and offered his hand to Minhyun.
It appeared that Minhyun’s brain hadn’t worked properly yet, because it failed to identify the situation and find a solution to ‘Your stupid crush is extending a hand for you to take, what should you do?’ The question blinked in front of his eyes with answer choices in a box under it; except the choice box only displayed a huge ‘ERROR’ in angry, flashing red. Minhyun short-circuited like a pathetic little robot splashing into water.
Noting how Minhyun only stared at his outreached hand, Jonghyun retracted it and let it fall beside him. Sighing, Jonghyun smiled sheepishly.
Minhyun regretted his late reaction, but just sucked it up and shifted to sit at the edge of the bed. As Jonghyun scooted to give him space, Minhyun let his feet touch the ground and stood up.
“Careful.” Jonghyun’s hand shot up to hold Minhyun’s arm for support when Minhyun wobbled.
Minhyun felt his face heat up again at the gesture, but refused to say anything because it’s nice.
“I’m sorry we broke your glasses,” Jonghyun said guiltily—even if he wasn’t the one who did it—and took Minhyun’s bag from the bedside table, slinging it across his own shoulder.
Minhyun protested, saying that he could carry the bag himself, but Jonghyun only swatted his hands away. Could Jonghyun please stop making Minhyun’s heart flutter? Jonghyun had been so nice ever since Minhyun opened his eyes earlier.
The walk to the dormitories was awkwardly silent. Minhyun was naturally like that, while Jonghyun probably thought that Minhyun wouldn’t really speak that much yet.
Minhyun kind of hated the silence, so he said the first thing that came to mind, “Did you really carry me to the infirmary?”
“What?” Jonghyun spluttered, his face tinged pink. “Yeah, I did.”
Minhyun smiled, his brain to mouth filter gone for the time being. “Do you really think I’m cute?”
Jonghyun sighed audibly, smiling sheepishly. “I will kill Aron, but yes.” he then ran a hand through his hair. “I noticed you walking across the field every afternoon— ah, that sounds creepy, I’m sorry.”
But it only made Minhyun’s smile wider, his heart thumping in his chest as if he’d been running a marathon. “I think you’re cute too.”
“Ah.” The blush on Jonghyun’s face slowly creeped to his neck and ears. “I think the ball hit you quite hard.”
“Yeah, it did.” Minhyun pursed his lips, but said nothing else.
Minhyun walked on, but definitely felt the stare Jonghyun directed at him. He suddenly felt self-conscious, because wow, the university’s star quarterback was staring at him. The subject didn’t match the predicate and object. Was there any scar on his face from the accident? Was his nose crooked? Was he that ugly? Minhyun could only wonder, though his heart beat even faster as he pondered over some possibilities.
It surprised Minhyun when Jonghyun lifted up his hand and started stroking Minhyun’s hair. “Does your head still hurt?”
‘Better yet, does Jonghyun act like this to everyone he just met?’ the gesture made it hard to breathe, Minhyun noticed.
“No, the medicine made it feel a lot better.” Minhyun grinned, turning to look back at Jonghyun.
How was it that Jonghyun was shorter than Minhyun? Minhyun only realized it then, because he only ever stared from afar. But he thought such a handsome face and sharp features would belong to someone at least as tall as him. Minhyun didn’t mind, however, as he liked seeing Jonghyun looking tiny beside him.
He wondered how many people in this world could get the chance to be walked home by The Kim Jonghyun himself. A lot, probably, including the cute cheerleader captain from earlier. The thought made Minhyun bitter, his face souring as he remembered that he’s not even Jonghyun’s friend.
Jonghyun patted Minhyun’s head softly and suddenly Minhyun felt like he’s the small one between them. The quarterback charm wasn’t lost on Jonghyun, it appeared.
“So, we part here?” Jonghyun asked when they had reached the dormitories, stepping aside to look at Minhyun.
They’re face to face now and Minhyun could see Jonghyun’s adorable small smile on display, the world behind Jonghyun blurring from the lack of glasses Minhyun was wearing. Minhyun didn’t want the moment to end, he didn’t want to part. He wanted to watch Jonghyun play on the field for once, even if he wasn’t interested in the rest of the football team and the sports itself.
“Yes,” Minhyun said, “I’ll always walk by the football field everytime I go home, though.”
It’s a hint for Jonghyun; Minhyun’s way of saying that it would not be the last of their meetings. Minhyun could only hope that Jonghyun would catch that.
The smile stretching wider on Jonghyun’s lips told Minhyun enough. “I do like seeing you walking by, but I think it would be better if I can see you outside of that.”
Minhyun blinked, not quite believing what Jonghyun just said. The realization dawned upon him, however, when Jonghyun reached down to take a pen dangling off the messenger bag’s outer pocket and took one of Minhyun’s hands in his.
“This is for emergency,” Jonghyun said, writing a set of numbers on Minhyun’s wrist. “Or if you want my company to get a new pair of glasses. Whichever is fine.”
When Jonghyun was done, Minhyun took a glance at the numbers on his wrist as Jonghyun put back the pen and took the messenger bag off his shoulder. Gladly, Minhyun took it from Jonghyun and held onto it tightly.
“See you around.” Jonghyun smiled one last time before leaving, eyes lingering on Minhyun one second too long as if he really didn’t want to go.
“Bye.” Minhyun waved his hand, returning the smile.
He then looked down to inspect the number again.
08xxxxxxxxxx
-jonghyun kim-
text me if you miss me <3
Minhyun sighed. Perhaps getting knocked unconscious by a fucking ovoid ball wasn’t so bad after all.