Hanahaki Strings • seventeen jihancheol

Chapter 58: Of Unknown Number and Taking Chances

Jeonghan

"Are you alright, Shua?" I worriedly asked as soon as I pulled Joshua away from the ball that was approaching his direction.

He looked surprised too but upon hearing me, he shook his head and turned to my direction. He flashed a small smile, reassuring me that he's fine. "Yeah, just surprised."

"I could see that."

"Thanks for pulling me, by the way," he said.

I shrugged it off nonchalantly, "Of course I'll do that. If that ball hit you, you would most probably get a concussion."

"I wonder if that was intentional or not..." 

My brows furrowed upon hearing what Joshua mumbled. I glanced back at the direction where the players were, and I immediately caught sight of Seungcheol staring at someone with a deep frown on his face. He also looked like he was thinking of something.

I followed his line of vision since they weren't that far from where our place is. It immediately confused the hell out of me when I realized it was that bastard Hyungwon that he was staring at with a frown.

What confused me even more was that the bastard was glaring at the guy beside me— Joshua.

It made me rethink the incident a while ago.

It was Hyungwon who kicked the ball in Joshua's direction. If I'm not mistaken, the goal post he was supposedly aiming at was on the other side, so why the hell did he kick the ball right in our direction? No, right at Joshua's direction?

And I'm watching the game. I saw how he stole the ball from his own teammate. Even his own teammates were confused why he stole and kicked it in our direction.

He's a great player, I admit that. He won't be the previous captain for nothing. He knows where their goal post is, and he's great at aiming where to kick the ball.

So how the fuck did it end to Joshua? Is he starting another fight again? 

Was this because Joshua didn't talk to him before? Was he being petty? What does he need with Joshua? Why Joshua?

I had no clue at all. None of our friends seemed to notice the same thing I did, except for Joshua. I don't know if he really noticed but hearing him ask that... maybe he really did notice.

I just hope my gut feeling that Hyungwon purposely did that is wrong because if he really did that...

That means he wants another fight.

And I'll fucking make sure he would regret stirring one.

***

"What a stressful week," I mumbled to myself as I closed my eyes, feeling the cold breeze of the night air penetrating my skin.

The rooftop of our dorm building really seems to have this magic of temporarily removing all my worries and stress whenever I'm hanging out here. Aside from the marvelous view right in front of me, the breeze seemed to be just right in time to comfort me, as if it's hugging me wholly.

Unfortunately, it was just temporary. Because as soon as I opened my eyes, the reason for my stress immediately flashed in my mind.

It really pained me to see how Seungcheol acted with Joshua these past few weeks. Among all of us, he's closest to Joshua and I.  Seungcheol had told me it's because the two of us were the first ones who tried to befriend him, and because we're all the same-age.

So seeing how he avoided Joshua because he was so afraid of the consequence if Joshua finds out about his feelings just pained me.

I know he's afraid because he didn't want to ruin their friendship, especially because he thinks that Joshua likes Seokmin, but I doubt Joshua would really let it affect them.