CHAPTER ELEVEN ; I HAVE LET IT PASS FOR TOO LONG.

"So," Sowon looked up and saw Natty, her arms crossed. She wasn't wearing her helmet, indicating that it must've been a conversation for only the both of them to hear. The Captain leaned in, furrowing her eyebrows. "Do you remember anything from my party? You were pretty wasted."

"It's been like three days since then, honey," Sowon giggled, poking her cheek with her gloved finger. Natty squeezed her eyes shut, the two of them acting adorable. "Why did the thought cross your mind? Tell me... did I do something out of the ordinary?"

"I mean, you got pretty wasted and danced in front of everyone, so I guess that was out of the ordinary," Sowon gasped, regretting everything. It slowly came back to her–matching with Jaeyun, getting drunk, dancing with a guy, and that's as far as she can get. "I mean, people really enjoyed it. They've never seen you like that and they said you're a good dancer."

"Wow," Sowon smiled big, pushing back her hair dramatically with her hand. "I guess I can get even more famous."

"Yeah," Natty exhaled, laughing. "You also, um... were taken away from the dance floor by Jaeyun."

"WHAT!?" She screamed, attracting the attention of the other teammates, so she quickly apologized. She took a step forward, a murderous glare at Natty. "What the hell happened for him to take me away? Was I stripping? Was I fighting him? Anything justifiable?!"

"Justifiable... Define justifiable?" Natty questioned, causing Sowon to open her mouth, ready to yell. "Okay! Okay, nothing crazy. You were just getting hit on by a guy you were dancing with and Jaeyun just... swept you off your feet. He took you out, and you were with him–and then I was passing by, and he looked really concerned for you because you knocked out."

Sowon furrowed her eyebrows, a wave of guilt passing over her body. "He was like, really, really worried, Sowon. He asked me for your address but then was conflicted because he didn't want to be in trouble. So, I offered to take you back, and he waited until I took you back inside before he left."

"Did he really?" She softened, blinking profusely. "I would've never thought... Sim Jaeyun would have an ounce of care in his body."

"I didn't either, Sowon," Natty shook her head, licking her lips. "Actually, I've known Jaeyun for so long, and he's never done that for any woman he's ever dated or loved. Not for me, not for any of his special flings. Everyone considers him heartless–but last night was the first time... I've never seen him act like something that matters so much to him."

Natty wasn't lying or overanalyzing. Sowon doubted it, but coming from his ex? It had to be certain.

"Do you..." Natty began again, sticking a hand out. "Have any ounce of like toward him?"

Sowon shifted her body. "What kind of like?"

"Any kind of like, silly," She giggled. "Do you like him as a person? You've always hated him because of me or because he was cocky, but have you never had a change of heart at least for a second... that his cockiness interested you? That his words had positive weight instead of ones against you?"

Sowon had to think about it. After how Jaeyun had taken care of her at the party, her heart was surely changed. She felt like her stomach was quivering, that the butterflies took off and would come out her throat any second–but Sowon couldn't move past her prejudice...

Or maybe even, her first-year trauma.

She is reminded that no boy has truly liked her when she is faced with romance. They've only wanted to taint purity, a purity that she planned to save for the lover she'd one day find. Would it be Jaeyun? No. That thought... shouldn't cross her mind at all.

"You're confused, aren't you?" Natty questioned, lifting Sowon's gaze. "That's alright. It doesn't have to be figured out now. You guys are still enemies–but I have faith that things will soon change depending on who starts it."

Sowon gulped. Maybe she wanted to be the one to change things, but would he agree?

"Anyway," Natty exhaled, beckoning to the rink. "Let's walk back for practice. Tell me, what kind of plan did you unravel for today's Sim Jaeyun Torture?"

Sowon chuckled.

"Alright, team!" Jaeyun clenched his fist, determined to win. "Let's win today! For Seoul High School!"

"Seoul High School!"

The team disbursed, going against Whimoon's soccer team. The Captain of the team searched the eleven players, trying to remember what Sowon told him over the phone. Cinnamon hair. Kind of built.

He propped his eyes at someone far away with cinnamon hair, the boy looking at his feet. He lifted his feet back and forth, earning an odd look from the Captain. "Is that the boy that's getting the award? He doesn't look that athletic..." The Captain dismissed it though, secretly pointing him out to the rest of the team. "That's the boy we bully. Get ready."

They all nodded, the Captain of Whimoon and the Captain of Seoul stepping up to the center of the field. They gave each other an acknowledging look, now staring at the soccer ball. The referee placed the whistle in his mouth, and within seconds, the ball dropped and the whistle was blown.

Jaeyun received dominance over the ball, but Whimoon was also a competitive soccer team. They quickly took it out of his grasp, the Captain leading as he took the ball toward their net. However, he took a good look at the boy with cinnamon locks, smirking–before he launched the ball in his direction, causing the boy to panic as it hit his shin.

"You okay?" Eunseok asked the center middle, Beomgyu, who hissed at the ball being thrown his way. "Someone's fucking bad at soccer. Let's keep moving."

Jaeyun returned the ball from one of his teammates, pushing it toward Whimoon's goal. However, one of the strikers from Whimoon took it away, giving it back to the Captain. He ran toward their goal, changing the direction of the game–

But, he pretended that he didn't see Beomgyu and shoved into his shoulder, causing Beomgyu to be pushed into Jaehyun, the two holding onto one another in confusion. "Hyung, what's going on?" Jaehyun asked Beomgyu, but the boy was just as confused as the rest of Seoul.

"I don't know. Did I commit a capital crime or something? I've never dated a Whimoon girl..."

Soobin recovered the ball and shot it over to Riki who shot it over to Sohee, and since the boy was already far away from the rest of the defensive team, he scored a goal.

Jaeyun stopped in the middle of the field, exhaling heavily–before he heard the grumbling of his teammate. He saw Beomgyu holding onto his shoulder, causing Jaeyun to jog over. "Hey, Beomgyu. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah," Beomgyu exhaled, biting on his lower lip. "I keep getting attacked, though. Not so sure why."

That made Jaeyun knit his eyebrows together. Typically, it's Jaeyun getting shackled to the ground and tortured. Usually, Jaeyun was the victim, so why was it that all of a sudden, Beomgyu was the one taking all the hits?

It's different when it comes to him. He can take it.

But when it comes to his teammates, his closest friends–he would not let that shit slide, not for anyone in the world.

"Let's just keep playing," Jaeyun reassured, patting his back. "If they do it again, I'll confront them, alright?"

"Yeah, but you really don't have to worry about it, Jaeyun," Beomgyu patted him back, smiling. "I'll make it through."

The referee's whistle blew, allowing Sohee to wait for the ball. He was a second too late and the other team's striker received the ball, hitting it back to their center back. The Seoul team mixed in with the Whimoon team, blocking, defending, and interfering the best they could.

Beomgyu got a little too close to one of them and they tripped him, causing him to fall. Jaeyun shot his head around, seeing Beomgyu on the ground. He glared and sprinted toward the Captain, interfering with him and stopping the ball from moving anywhere. "What the hell are you doing to my teammate?"

"What?" The Captain snarled, smirking. "Nothing."

Jaeyun gritted his teeth as the Captain of Whimoon shot the ball between his legs, letting it fall right into the foot of their left wing.

But, Jungwon was quick to intercept after the man retrieved the ball, quickly kicking it toward Riki. The japanese student kicked the ball with a sliver of openness to Beomgyu, but another player from Whimoon caught the ball, kicking it over to their Captain.

As the Captain received the ball, he got ready to kick the ball at the goal–not the net, but Beomgyu.

So, as he powered up his leg and punted the ball right at him, the soccer ball went flying, hitting Beomgyu in the stomach, and knocking the air out of him. The slightly scrawny boy even fell, and that is where the injury occurred–falling wrongly, Beomgyu landed on his ankle, an excruciating pain surging through his leg. He groaned and held it, the Captain panicking as the referee called for a timeout, everyone rushing over.

Jaeyun saw Beomgyu, kneeling down. "Shit. Beomgyu, are you okay!?"

"Fuck. Does it look like I'm okay!? I think I twisted my fucking ankle!"

Jaeyun slowly raised his gaze, seeing the Captain in full worry. With a deep, hatred-filled flame starting to ignite at the bottom of his heart, Jaeyun was ready to let it burst out of his mouth. He shot up and grabbed the Captain's collar, shoving him to the ground and throwing a punch.

"Jaeyun! Jaeyun! Jaeyun! No!"

His teammates had to pull him off the Whimoon Captain–who already had a busted lip after two hits. Jaeyun grimaced and spat, eyes strong and abhorrent at the sight of their team. "IS THIS A FUCKING JOKE!?"

"We're sorry, dude!" One of the teammates said in fear, shaking his head. "Sowon asked us to do it to him! She wanted us to mess with him! We didn't think it would go this far!"

Sowon. The root of all his problems was Ryu Sowon. He inhaled sharply. It would've been fine if it was him. He wouldn't have cared, but now, his friend was included. Now, this meant war against her, even though he was worried about her the night after that he asked Sunoo to ask about Sowon from Narae.

Even if he cares, he's bitter. He should've known better than to trust that... virgin.

"Jaeyun," Beomgyu hissed, shaking his head violently. "Don't... Don't do anything. Seriously! I'll be okay, and–"

"Shut up," Jaeyun ignored him. He pointed at Whimoon, Coach Choi placing a trembling hand against Jaeyun's chest to stop him from throwing another punch. "I hope I never have to see you fuckers again. EVER!"

"Jaeyun, out! Off the field!" Jaeyun threw Coach Choi off him, landing the university student into Sunoo's arms. He stomped off, throwing the chair halfway across the concrete.

Sunoo was confused. Narae told me the plan was the mess around with Jaeyun, not Beomgyu. Coach Choi looked at Sunoo for answers, fixing his hoodie, but Sunoo shook his head. There was no reason for this. "Sunoo," One of the members came up to him. "We didn't mean it, we–"

"The one who punched your Captain is Jaeyun. You had the wrong guy," Sunoo reprimanded, causing that teammate to gasp. "Did you have to go this far? Did Sowon really tell you to go this far?" Sunoo doubted that Sowon would go to this length. Sunoo saw it all unravel and that the injury was practically self-inflicted, but even then, Sowon would not try and purposely hurt someone.

The teammate shrugged, flushed. "Captain didn't say."

Sunoo winced. God, if he had answers, he could alleviate this situation. But, he returned to an angry Jaeyun, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jaeyun was hot. "Calm down," Sunoo advised. "You're already going to be unable to play one game, maybe more if Whimoon's players say you did something bad. You need to take a break."

"How can I take a BREAK WHEN–" Jaeyun's voice cracked, veins popping. He was clearly upset. "Sunoo. I have let it pass for too long. I can't sit back and let her get away with this."

Then, Jaeyun began walking away, causing Sunoo to panic. "Jaeyun hyung! Wait, where are you going?! Come back! Hyung!"

But, the answer was clear: Revenge.