"It's OK, I won't be mad at you anymore", she wrapped her arms around his soaking body and gave him a tender hug, "No matter what happens, I'm here with you, alright?"

"Hey Eun Chae..." He put his head on her shoulder.

"Huh?" She gently patted on his back.

"Can I...can I cry right now?"

"Of course you can, if it makes you feel better"

"I'm sorry for being weak," his voice became shaky and he soon bursted into tears.

"Don't worry, it isn't bad to be weak. From now on, you don't need to act strong in front of me anymore, understood? Just be yourself, I'm fine with that," she said and gently patted his back. 

Yu Jin did not respond. He just kept sobbing and embraced her tighter. He was still feeling cold because of being out in the rain. However, as soon as Eun Chae hugged, a pleasant warmth began to spread throughout his body.

"You feel better now?" Eun Chae let go of him and gave him a grin.

"Yeah, thanks a lot!" He nodded his head and wiped away his tears. 

Never had he thought that he would enjoy the feeling of being hugged by a girl like this. It was even stranger that he wished that this comfortable moment could last a bit longer. Her hug had just given him a fling of escapism from the harsh reality that he was facing, putting a bandage onto the bleeding wound deep inside his heart.

******

It was another rainy evening, Yu Jin was having his instant noodles and relaxedly watching a movie on his laptop on his sister's Netflix account. Suddenly, Eun Chae approached him and asked him a question.

"Hey Yu Jin, are you free this Saturday evening?"

"I think so."

"Nice, then do you play football? Wanna go out for football on that day?"

"I did play it in Busan, but I wasn't really good to be honest. By the way, why do you want me to go play football on that day?"

"Some of my ex-Hansung friends booked a field. The match was supposed to be five-per-side, but they booked the wrong field, which is for seven-per-side and now we need more people. You should really go, trust me!"

"No thanks, I'd rather stay home, I'm not in the mood," he shook his head.

"Come on, just go," she grimaced and wiggled her shoulders, "Make your life more vibrant! You have been on the same commute back and forth only between home and work for so long. Just go outside and socialise, won't you?"

"But I play really badly, they will probably laugh at me. And socialising is not that important either, am I right?"

"Your Wernicke area will become atrophied through disuse if you keep being anti-social like this, you know?" She raised her voice in irritation.

"Technically, it should be the Broca area instead. But fine, bio is not your major so I don't blame you," he snickered.

"You gotta stop being a nerd and go out to see the world!" Eun Chae grumbled. "There will also be a senior from SNU med playing, so if you wanna meet him, you gotta go," she came by and stood in front of him, blocking his vision so that he could not see his laptop.

"OK fine, send me the venue."

"So that's all I need to lure you in," Eun Chae gave him a mischievous smile, "Which position do you play?"

"Mainly goalkeeper, but sometimes I can play defender too."

"Seriously, with your height?" Eun Chae snorted. 

"Do you really have any problem with my height?" He glared at her and irritatedly inquired.

"I'm just stating facts. I'm a girl and I'm nearly as tall as you."

"Because you're too tall, I'm not that short," Yu Jin's face twitched because of his annoyance.

"But your friend really let you play goalie? I mean...most of the male goalkeepers in my old school were above 1.8m tall."

Sometimes, Yu Jin was also jealous of boys who had impressive height, unlike him who was just a bit more than 1.7m tall although both of his parents were not short. He had always been the smallest boy in his class from primary school to high school. In contrast, Eun Chae was always one of the tallest girls in her class ever since she went to grade one. Maybe it was the contrary in terms of appearance that somehow contributed to the difference between their personalities, one was very outgoing and talkative while the other seemed to be a little reserved.

"I couldn't attack, so my friends told me to play defence," he meekly smiled.

"Ah I see! But don't worry, my friends aren't too good either," she peered at him and puffed her cheeks out, "And yeah I forgot, Hae Rin is also watching so don't act stupid, try to impress her."

"No thanks, I'm having a date with my bio books already," he playfully said and twinkled his eyes.

"I don't care, you guys are still my OTP," she pinched his cheek.

Yu Jin did not say anything to refute her childish opinion. He just gave her a meek smile to hide his frustration and then continued eating his food.

The match day had finally come and Yu Jin begrudgingly followed Eun Chae to the field. It was a pretty nice field with roomy benches and good-quality grass. The one who booked this must have spent quite a lot of money on it. He walked around and took some photos of the field while Eun Chae was sitting on the bench and talking to her best friend Hae Rin.

"Hello, you must be Han Yu Jin, right?" A guy, who was a head taller than Yu Jin, suddenly approached him before the match started.

"Oh hi," he gave that guy a friendly grin, "But how do you know my name?"

"Eun Chae talked to me about you before. By the way, I'm Choi Yeon Jun. She probably mentioned a med senior while talking to you, right? That's me, I'm from SNU Grad school, Liver Pathology."

"Oh my God!" Yu Jin gaped in surprise and covered his mouth. "So that's you, it's really nice to see you here. If I have any question about med school then ask you, right?" He zealously asked.

"Yeah of course, I'll give you my Instagram later. By the way, you wanna be in my team for this match?"

"Yes, of course," Yu Jin profusely nodded his head.

Yu Jin had to start as a full-back, which was not his favourite position as there had already been another guy who was playing goalkeeper. However, he played quite well. There was a guy who kept trying to dribble past him on the left wing but Yu Jin managed to stop him most of the time.

"Hey Sung Han Bin, why are you playing so bad?" Yeon Jun laughed and swatted that guy's shoulder before a throw-in, "Our defender is shorter, weaker and slower than you and you cannot dribble past him? Come on bro, this is not you!"

"Stop complaining, I just haven't played for so long."

From that moment onwards, the-guy-who-like-dribbling seemed to be frustrated and began running forward like a mad cheetah, but that did not really help him score any goal as all of his shooting attempts ended up either nicely in the keeper's hands or off the pose. 

"Hey, Han Bin is playing so bad today. He is normally better, right?" Eun Chae asked Hae Rin who was sitting beside her.

"It seems so," she said while still looking at the field.

"Wait, isn't he the guy who has been flirting with you the last few days?"

"Yeah, he is," Hae Rin snickered, "And I kinda like him though, so let's see what he can do."

Just before the first half ended, Han Bin received the ball at a spot very near to the goal. However, Yu Jin made a smooth slide tackle to stop him before he could even shoot. Han Bin fell off and started diving.

"Hey, he fouled me, we should get a penalty, guys!" He spoke out loud.

"I didn't foul you, I didn't even touch your leg," Yu Jin tried to prove himself right.

"Yeah, he seriously hit the ball, it was not a foul," said Yu Jin's team goalkeeper.

The quarrel seemed to escalate so quickly that the two girls needed to intervene.

"Hey guys, what's going on here?" Eun Chae nervously inquired.

"Nah, it's nothing serious, just come back to your seat," Yeon Jun said.

"That guy, he fouled me right in front of the goal. My team want to have a penalty but they keep saying that he did not do anything," Han Bin pointed at Yu Jin.

"Hey, I hit the ball, it shouldn't be counted as a foul," Yu Jin raised his voice and rolled his eyes at his opponent.

"But he fell off, didn't he?" Hae Rin scrunched her face at Yu Jin, "If it was a dangerous tackle then Han Bin's team should still get a penalty even if you did not hit his leg."

The turmoil continued for a few minutes and went absolutely nowhere. Things only ended when Yeon Jun, the oldest one in the group, chose to speak up.

"Stop this, all of you," his yell made everyone go silent. "Eun Chae, Hae Rin just come back to the bench. It was a penalty, you all happy now?" He sighed in exasperation and looked at the opposition team, "You guys decide on who to shoot this."

Eun Chae and Hae Rin quietly came back to their seats. Meanwhile, Han Bin was chosen to carry out the decisive penalty. His shot was completely flawless. The ball flew into the top corner of the goal as if it was fired from a cannon, making it 1-0 for his team. He gave Yu Jin a smirk and then indifferently turned away, having high-five with his teammates. After that, the first half also ended.

"Hey, are you OK?" Eun Chae brought Yu Jin a towel and a bottle of water, "Here, have some water"

"Thanks," he opened it and gulped

"Don't drink too much water," Yeon Jun patted his back.

"I know...but Yeon Jun, why did you say that it was a penalty? I really hit the ball, it wasn't against the rules."

"I know that, but Han Bin is a spoiled kid. He just wanna win all the time so if he wants a penalty, then let him get it. This is only a friendly match so don't take it seriously."

"I see," he nodded his head in a mix of annoyance and confusion.

Meanwhile, on the other bench, Hae Rin was checking on Han Bin's leg. He had a small scratch on his knee which must have been caused by the fall.

"Does it hurt?" Hae Rin gently washed it with some disinfectant and put a plaster on it.

"Just a bit, don't worry," Han Bin said.

"You should have been more careful, don't injure yourself again, OK?"

"I was careful, but that stupid jerk kicked my leg, you saw that?"

"I saw you falling. Just stay away from him for the next half, understood?"

"Yes madam," he naughtily drew out the words.

A new half of the match had started, however, the tension still remained. Despite what he said to Hae Rin, Han Bin continued playing close to Yu Jin. They clashed a lot. First, Han Bin 'accidentally' hit Yu Jin's face while Yu Jin was chasing behind him. After that, Yu Jin retaliated by pulling his shirt, making him fall down near the pitch. They kept fouling and arguing with each other so much that Yeon Jun had to tell Yu Jin to stay back and play as a goalkeeper in order to avoid collisions between them.

Until the last minute of the match, when the score was still 1-0 for Han Bin's team, an even bigger drama took place. Han Bin dribbled past the whole opposing team. Facing him was only Yu Jin standing in the goal. Instead of staying in the goal to block Han Bin's shot, Yu Jin stepped forward, lowered his body and threw himself at Han Bin to get the ball. Han Bin tripped over Yu Jin's arms and fell towards the goal. His head hit the pose so hard that he instantly fell onto the ground, lying on the field with his hands covering his face. He was miserably twirling on the grass and grumbling in pain.

"Han Bin," Hae Rin shouted out loud in horror and anxiety, running at a lightning speed towards Han Bin with Eun Chae following after her.

Meanwhile, Yu Jin was dumbfounded and nonplussed. He could do nothing but gape at his opponent lying on the ground in agony.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^