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Chapter 47

The day had gone by as quick and abrupt as this whole trip itself.

After having unpacked their belongings upon arriving at their inn following an hour-long bus ride from the airport, the team along with Chaeryeong and Jisu, finding themselves with a bit of spare time before lunch, decided to head to a tangerine field to pick out fresh tangerines, much to the excitement of Ryujin, who looked as if she was in heaven when they arrived at the large fruit farm.

And after a solid few hours of picking the bright orange delights, they headed to a nearby restaurant for lunch, having ramyun paired with the best seafood the island had to offer, before they would head to the high school close by the inn they were staying at for practice.

"It's been more than 4 hours already. Do they not get tired?" Doyeon asked with a towel over her head that was absorbing the sweat she had built after their team practice that started from 2 at noon.

And it was currently 7 p.m, with the sun having gone down over an hour ago, and yet here was Yeji, Ryujin, and Yuna, engaged in a heated game of king of the court, seemingly still full of energy despite their 5-hour-long practice, with Doyeon, Tzuyu, Chaeryeong and Jisu watching from the sidelines, while the others including the coach had already gone back to the inn for dinner and rest.

"So ... have they always been like this?" Doyeon curiously asked.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Jisu answered.

"You know, this crazy about basketball."

"Always," Chaeryeong immediately answered without a single bit of hesitation, causing the others to laugh at how confident and certain she sounded.

"I'm not lying am I Jisu unnie?? As far as I can remember, they've always been like this!"

"No no," Jisu responded, trying to contain her laughter. "Chaeryeong is right. To answer your question, yes. They've always been like this."

"That's crazy...," Tzuyu chimed in.

"Why do you ask, Doyeon unnie?"

"No reason, really. It's just ... sometimes I find it almost unbelievable, you know? To think someone could love doing something so much... It ... it makes me a little jealous sometimes," Doyeon answered with an apologetic smile on her face.

"... If it helps you in any way...," Jisu said after a few seconds of thought. "... Maybe you'd like to get to know your captain a little bit better?" the girl offered with a comforting smile.

"Yeah, I'd love to."

"Hmmm ... now where would we start, Chaeryeong-ah?"

"Don't ask me unnie. You know Yeji unnie better than I do," Chaeryeong teased.

"Right," Jisu responded with a chuckle. "I guess I can speak for Yeji then. I can't say much for Ryujin and Yuna, but for Yeji ... her love for basketball huh? Let's see ... I think if we were to answer that question, it would have to go back to her childhood."

"But I thought the 5 of you only met when you were in middle school?" Tzuyu asked.

"When you've been friends for so long, there's no part of your life that doesn't get talked about unnie," Chaeryeong chimed in.

"Yeah, we ... we really do know everything about each other," Jisu continued. "But yeah, when it comes to Yeji ... I think she wouldn't admit this, but much of her childhood was to put it bluntly, ... a little lonely. Her parents often worked overseas, so she was alone most of the time, and even though she had friends at school, coming home to a house with only a caretaker, she couldn't help but feel alone at times."