★ | #24 | luck
"see! you're my good luck charm."

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ nicole's radio station
is now playing...

the alchemy • taylor swift
"he just comes running over to me."

______________________

WEDNESDAY evening, Seong Haewon spent her time in the café for her first official working day. Of course, under the watchful eye of Mrs. Jeon, who was supervising her for her first few days.

“Enjoy.” Haewon let out with a smile, bowing politely towards the couple that had come in as she clasped her hands together.

Wandering away from the table, she took a deep breath as she went to clear off a table, spraying and wiping it down in preparation for future customers, although she doubted there would be much business considering it was already relatively late.

The bell chimed, sounding through the building as Haewon's head lifted, perking up slightly at the noise. Her gaze fixed on an older man, wandering to the front counter to presumably place an order.

“Hello, welcome to memorabilia! How may I help you?” Haewon greeted, plastering a smile onto her lips as she slipped behind the counter, fingertips drumming against the wooden countertop.

After the male placed an order, Haewon hummed quietly, as the customer took a seat at a vacant table. Just as she was turning around to prepare the cup of coffee he had ordered, she paused as the familiar voice filled her ears.

“Haewon, hun, it's late. Why don't you end your shift here and head on home? I can handle the rest, no worries. I'm worried that you'll be too tired for school tomorrow morning.” Mrs. Jeon chuckled, lightly patting the girl's shoulder as she came back from the break room.

“Oh, are you sure, Mrs. Jeon? I don't mind staying a little longer.” Haewon tilted her head, a bit reluctant despite the woman's assuring tone.

“Positive. You've done great today. I’m happy to have you on our team. I'll see you Friday, okay?” Mrs. Jeon raised a brow, peering over her shoulder at the teenager who nodded quietly.

Haewon bowed out of respect, a small smile gracing her lips. “Yes, I'll see you then. Thank you so much.” She let out, looking down at the watch wrapped around her wrist.

Hurriedly, the girl wandered to the break room, where she slipped her apron off and hung it on the hook on the wall. The time then leaned down, sweeping her backpack off of the ground and slipping it on with ease as she carried herself out of the break room.

“Bye, Mrs. Jeon! Have a good night!” She called out, rushing through the café as the older woman chuckled and shook her head to herself.

Haewon pushed the doors to the café, stepping out into the evening air— goosebumps spreading across her exposed skin as the temperature dropped as the sun had gone down.

It was half past eight o'clock, meaning the soccer game that was intended to start around seven thirty in the evening should be sometime in the second half already.

With hurried steps, she took the familiar route back to school, in a light jog as the lampposts illuminated each street she stepped foot on, until eventually reaching her school.

Sniffling lightly, her heartbeat began to slow down along with her pace, as she listened to the faint cheering held in the school's mini football and soccer stadium.

Haewon walked to it, catching a glimpse of the soccer game being held — now in the eightieth minute as the field was lit up by lampposts.

The girl held onto the railing of the bleachers, finding a vacant spot away from the rest of the crowd as she settled in the stands, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked out for her friends, who were currently on the field.

Her eyes then wandered to the scoreboard, taking note of the 2-2 tie between both teams.

Only, in a matter of seconds was the ball cleared up from the defense, sent up to the offensive line as Haewon's expression brightened, sitting up straight as she watched the ball reside comfortably at her best friend's feet.

Haewon held her breath, hands balling into fists as the opposing team's defenders crept up onto him as he dribbled the soccer ball further up the field.

It wasn't until Lee Heeseung finally planted a foot beside the ball, directing it to the goal as he striked it with his right foot — the ball finding its resting place in the back corner of the net.

Amidst the cheering of everyone both in the stands and on the field and bench, ecstatic at the tiebreaker, Lee Heeseung froze at the shout of his own name coming from the bleachers.

His head turned in the direction of the stands as his eyes narrowed, mid hug with his teammate as he scanned the bleachers before finally landing on her as he jogged back to his starting position for kick off.

Heeseung flashed Haewon a smile, his eyes brightening at the sight of her as he waved. She laughed quietly to herself, waving back as she folded her arms over her chest, gathering up her body warmth as she watched the rest of the game unfold until the final whistle blew, ending in a 3-2 win.

As students began to pool out of the bleachers, Haewon stepped over each row of seats carefully and slowly until reaching the bottom, where she leaned over the fence, waiting patiently for their coach to finish up his speech.

Eventually, he ended, and the team split up, gathering their things and talking amongst one another.

All whilst Lee Heeseung's first thought was to wander to the bleachers as soon as he could, wearing a big smile as he looked up at her from his position on the sidelines.

“You came!” Heeseung exclaimed, as Haewon laughed and nodded, hands resting against the chained fence running along the edge of the bleachers to prevent people from falling.

“Mhm! I didn't get to see much, though. I just got off of work a little bit ago and I saw I had time before the game ended.” Haewon explained, a smile painting her lips as he nodded.

“Oh, yeah?” He let out, tilting his head off to the side. “When did you get here?”

“Uhh, right before you scored, actually. I'm glad I didn't miss that at the very least.” Haewon replied, as he chuckled, his eyes brightening.

“See! You're my good luck charm. I swear, I need you at every game.” Heeseung snickered, arm reaching up to rest his hand on top of hers.

“Oh, please. You would've scored with or without me being here. It was just a mere coincidence that it happened once I got here.” Haewon reasoned, shaking her head.

“Yeah, whatever you believe.” He dragged out, rolling his eyes playfully as his tone resided hints of sarcasm and teasing.

“Here, come down on the field. The game's over, you can now.” Heeseung beckoned on, giving her a small nod as she hummed.

She turned her head to face the exit of the bleachers, noticing how people were still slowly walking down the stairs.

“It's gonna be a few minutes.” The girl commented, huffing out a laugh at the slowness of others, unsure of why they all seemed to take so long to leave.

Heeseung narrowed his eyes, following her gaze before shaking his head and scoffing, looking back up at her. “Nah, it's fine. Just let me lift you over the fence. Easy peasy.” He said, shrugging.

“Huh? No way. You'll drop me. I just got a job, I cannot afford to break a leg or something.” Haewon uttered dramatically, as Heeseung scoffed yet again.

“Oh, come on. I'm more than strong enough. Don't you trust me?” Heeseung raised a brow, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Yeah, sure. But you did just play a game. What if you're too tired, and your muscles give out?” Haewon joked, as Heeseung gently dismissed the idea.

“Just let me lift you.”

“Fine, but if I get in trouble or you drop me, I'm kicking your ass.” She threatened, pressing her lips together in a thin line.

“Have faith in me, will you?” Heeseung chuckled, tilting his head as he watched her prop herself up on the fence, nearly cutting her hands on the chain material of the fence.

He lifted his arms up, hands falling to rest on her waist as he lifted her up slightly, pulling her down and over the fence, landing with a small huff in his arms.

“See? Safe and sound.” Heeseung hummed, arms still wrapped securely around her as he peered down at her, in his embrace.

Haewon snickered, her hand resting on his chest as she patted it lightly before pulling away from his hold. “You're sweaty.”

“Well, duh. You said it yourself a few minutes ago. I just played a game.” Heeseung laughed, running his fingers through his dark hair.

Haewon nodded slightly, breathing out a small laugh herself as she looked around. “How was the game, though? I mean, I missed pretty much all of it.”

“Hm? Oh, it was— it was something. The other team was definitely not what we were expecting, for sure. Things were fine in the first half, but once the second half started, they started playing really dirty. Riki is hurt, actually.” Heeseung sighed out.

Haewon's features twitched slightly in concern,  her eyebrows furrowing as a small gasp fell past her lips. “Oh, wait, really? What happened?”

“Here, do you just wanna come see him?” Heeseung offered, as the girl hummed in response and nodded.

The boy reached out, taking her hand into his hand and guided her to the bench, muttering small “good game” ‘s to his teammates that brushed past him.

“Hey, Riki!” Heeseung called out softly, catching the attention of the younger boy, who rested on the bench, his leg propped up on a random cooler in front of him. “Look who's here to see you.”

Nishimura Riki turned his attention from Yang Jungwon, who stood up in front of him, talking to him and helping him pack up his things.

The boy's eyes brightened at the sight of Haewon, a smile spreading across his face as he spoke up.

“Haewon! Hi!” Riki  cheerfully, eliciting soft laughter from the girl who waved slightly.

“Hi, Riki.” She greeted with a smile, head cocked to the side as she pressed her lips together in a thin line. “What happened? I heard you got hurt?”

“Oh, right. It's my ankle. I got fouled.” Riki informed, gesturing to his left-foot, of which had an ice pack wrapped securely around it.

“Ah, I see. I'm sorry that happened.” Haewon frowned, ruffling the boy's hair as he hummed in response.

“It's okay. I'm sure I'll be back up and running around in no time.” Riki said determinedly, as Park Jongseong chimed in as he took a sip from his water bottle.

“Yeah, but you need to rest it properly, Riki. Don't push it, it'll only make it worse.” Park Jongseong, otherwise referred to as the Jay, advised strictly, earning soft grumbles from the younger.

“I will, I will, relax.” Riki snickered, waving it off.

“I’m gonna have to babysit.” Jake added jokingly, as Riki reached his arm out to nudge the older boy, who snickered and gently pushed his arm back.

“I feel like he'll use this injury to his advantage to get us to do the things he wants.” Sunghoon narrowed his eyes, hoisting his soccer dedicated backpack on.

“Yeah, probably.” Kim Sunoo smiled, shaking his head and rolling his eyes slightly.

“You guys are exaggerating.” Riki huffed out in defense, scrunching his nose up slightly.

“When we were in middle school and you sprained your wrist, you made me stay over at your house for like two days and forced me to play games with you. Your mom asked me if I just wanted to move in at that point.” Yang Jungwon recalled, earning a laugh from the other seven around him.

“Okay, fine, but I do it for good reasons.” Riki shrugged shamelessly, wearing a cheeky smile.

“Off topic, but do you guys wanna grab something to eat together? I mean, you haven't eaten dinner either, have you?” Heeseung spoke, gesturing towards Haewon, who shook her head in response.

The boy earned a chorus of agreements from the others. And although it took a bit for everyone to pack up their things and put a spare ankle brace on Riki until he was able to go get it checked out in the morning, they soon were able to leave school grounds.

Heeseung walked alongside Haewon, noticing the goosebumps spread across her skin as he shook his head.

He paused in his steps, catching the attention of the girl as he slipped his backpack off momentarily to unzip it, digging through it for a second before pulling out a dark gray zip-up hoodie.

“Here. Since you don't know how to take care of yourself.” Heeseung teased, shaking his head as he zipped up his backpack.

“Oh, thank you.” The girl mumbled, slipping the jacket on and zipping it up, creating sweater paws on herself as she rolled the sleeves up slightly to fix said problem.

“And shut up. I didn't even have time to change out of my school uniform for work, let alone go home to grab something to keep me warm.” Haewon defended herself with a small huff.

Heeseung could only smile lightly, humming in response as he threw an arm around her shoulder, following the group down dimly lit streets in search of something quick to eat.

_____________________

★﹐authors corner ．﹗﹑ 2.2k words.
finally a long chapter yayyy! i actually think this is the longest chapter so far in this story (?) honestly i don't really remember anything but yeah

anyway cutting this short. thank you for reading ^^ i love you all very much omg 🫶
april 29th, 2024 — 11:59pm.
not proofread.