There were three afternoon events remaining: basketball, tug-of-war, and relay race.
After eating lunch, we warmed up. Eorin and Junsu even took out the basketball shoes they’d brought and put them on. Since the kids had received smiley faces from Eorin like lucky charms for every previous event, this time too we gathered around and held out our palms. This time, something wrinkly was added, as if drawn to be a kindergarten uniform. Ah, cute. I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud and just laughed.
While looking at Eorin’s face, I carefully reached out and rubbed his cheek.
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
“…”
Eorin, who had been blinking, grabbed my hand that was resting on his cheek and bent slightly at the waist.
“Your hands are cold too. Will you be able to catch the ball like this?”
I laughed at Eorin’s joke. Even when I tried to help him relax, in the end, I was the one being helped.
“Guys, do your best. We’re counting on you!”
“Destroy them all!”
“Flame man Yoo Daeman !”
The kids, knowing there weren’t many chances left to get first place, got heated up with their cheering. I stretched and took a deep breath. Maybe because it was the finals, the opposing team’s kids were tall and looked like they’d played a lot of basketball. I could see two kids who were on the basketball team, and they stuck out their lips saying it was unfair that four people on our team were on the basketball team.
“Line up!”
We bowed to each other while facing each other, then returned to our positions. We had first offense.
The whistle blew. I rushed out as planned.
Maybe because they’d watched our games, the kids immediately rushed to block me. When I made a big loop to the outside, Woojin squeezed in between and blocked one person, and there was one person marking me. When I tried to escape, they stubbornly stuck to me, so I couldn’t even pay attention to the ball and just tussled with them. Actually, that was the goal.
Cheering rang out. It meant we’d scored. It was Junsu’s layup that went in.
“Ah!”
They glared at me with an expression of being tricked, so I smiled awkwardly. It was Eorin’s plan that since they’d be paying attention to me, the other kids should aim for as many points as possible in the beginning. At first it worked better than expected, but we gradually got caught up to, and the score kept going back and forth.
“Chiwon!”
“Here!”
Barely escaping through the kids, I ran toward the line. Yeongjin had the ball. I raised my hand to show Yeongjin. Seeing me, Yeongjin immediately threw the ball, and I caught it and turned toward the basket.
I saw a kid from the other class rushing at me. Could I throw the ball before then? I abruptly cut off my deliberation midway. I had to throw first to be able to score or do anything. I immediately jumped from my spot and stretched out my arm.
Almost simultaneously with the ball leaving my hand, I collided with the rushing kid and fell. It seemed they hadn’t expected me to jump right away. Since my arm was extended, my head didn’t hit the ground first, but my body and elbow that collided ached dully. A whistle signaling a game stoppage rang out.
“Chiwon!”
Eorin, who was nearby, rushed over. In case I’d hit my head, he tried to lay me down properly, but I shook my head and sat up.
“Did it go in?”
“…No.”
“Aah.”
When I groaned with a tone of dying from disappointment, Eorin laughed with a relieved face.
“Chiwon, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.”
“Can you continue the game?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t stop, so…”
“No, it’s okay.”
I smiled at the apologizing kid and got up from my spot, rotating my arm. It throbbed a little, but since there were only a few minutes left in the game, I wanted to run until the end.
“Does it hurt?”
“Mm, a little. But it’s okay.”
Since the game restart whistle was about to blow, I tapped Eorin and returned to the court. A foul was declared, and I got three free throws. At first it didn’t go in properly because of my throbbing elbow, but the other two went in nicely. I smiled at our cheering classmates and prepared to run again.
“Game over!”
The whistle blew. It was our team’s victory by a 7-point difference. I couldn’t control my laughter, so my mouth opened wide. Junsu, Yeongjin, and Woojin weren’t much different either, shrieking and hopping around.
“Chiwon!”
Eorin rushed at me and hugged me tightly. Startled, I stiffened for a moment, then smiled brightly and squeezed Eorin tight. This was nothing special, yet it felt a bit overwhelming.
Normally, I would have been conscious of others’ eyes. This was the middle of a gym with at least 100 people watching, and I’d been careful in case my feelings were discovered. But just for now, it was okay to hug Eorin to my heart’s content without worrying. Other kids were also hugging each other, and we had the justification of winning the game.
“You did well.”
“How much?”
“Sooooo much.”
Eorin patted my back. Along with warm heat from Eorin, a faint vanilla scent wafted over. Suddenly feeling like all of this was lovely, I lightly tapped Eorin’s head against mine with my own head.
“Thanks for drawing the smiley face.”
Eorin always lost his words particularly at thanks. Today was the same. Eorin answered by hugging me with all his strength instead.
After the game ended, Eorin led me to the temporary tent where the school nurse was. I tried not to get caught, but it seemed he’d noticed somehow. It wasn’t seriously injured, just slightly twisted, but the teacher sprayed pain relief on my elbow and applied an ice pack.
I was also supposed to participate in tug-of-war, but Eorin was strongly opposed, so I ended up dropping out. Our class’s final tug-of-war result was second place, and I thought maybe we were able to get at least second place because I dropped out.
The last event was the relay race. If we just placed in the top 4 in the relay, the grade-level championship was certain. The problem was the overall championship—since the games were held at different times, we couldn’t know the second-years’ scores. Grabbing Go Seonho and Eorin who were going out for the relay, Junsu hyped them up saying they had to come back with first place no matter what.
“Do well!”
“Let’s go to the meat buffet!”
As the sports festival was ending and we were getting hungry, our heads were gradually filling with nothing but the meat buffet. Eorin, who had been looking over us with expressions of dying from hunger, made the resolute face of a breadwinner who couldn’t let the kids starve and left the stands.
The relay was two people, but each person had to run around the field one and a half times. Since it was the last event, we left the stands and sat along the outer line of the field, banging together the balloon cheering sticks we’d received as freebies when buying our class shirts and raising our voices.
The kids who were first runners got into position. After a brief silence, when a bang rang out, the field instantly became mayhem. While the teachers broke out in cold sweat trying to keep the kids from rushing onto the field while cheering, the relay runners were going around the field trying to pass the baton to the next runner.
The kindergarten uniform was so bright yellow that it was clearly visible even on the opposite side of the field. Go Seonho stretched out his hand and passed the baton to Eorin. While the kid in the lane two over who had come in first dropped the baton and fumbled around, Eorin quickly shot forward.
“Kim Eorin!!!”
We called Eorin’s name and collapsed from emotion. I also clenched my fist and yelled. My heart was pounding, perhaps from excitement. Why is there never a time when Eorin isn’t cool?
Other kids chased from behind, but because Eorin’s start was fast, the gap didn’t narrow well. Eorin crossed the finish line as is, high-fived Go Seonho who was sitting inside the start line, then looked toward us and gave a thumbs up.
“Kim Eoriiiiiin.”
Junsu next to me was almost crying while calling Eorin’s name. The other kids weren’t much different. I didn’t know if Eorin could see, but I gave a thumbs up the same way as if answering.
The sports festival result was a grade-level championship. The overall championship was ultimately taken by the second-years, but we decided to be satisfied with having won a championship at least. The sports festival wrapped up with picking up trash on the field. Because we were too tired, we decided to set a date later and go to the meat buffet for the after-party, and we went home receiving a storm of praise from our teacher.
“Eorin, you were cool earlier.”
Before parting, I said those words to Eorin. It was very sincere, but on the other hand, I also wanted to see Eorin being awkward, not knowing how to respond to praise. It was one of the few jokes I’d learned since meeting Eorin.
However, I didn’t know I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.
“Excuse me, is Kim Eorin in the class by any chance?”
It was cleaning time. On my way back after rinsing the mop, someone grabbed my arm in front of the classroom and asked that. I was a bit flustered because it was an unfamiliar face, but looking at the name tag color, they were a second-year. A faint lime-scented omega pheromone wafted over. I looked around the classroom. I saw Eorin sitting in his seat looking this way.
“Yes, he’s here.”
“Then could you call him for me?”
As if troubled, as if shy. With a bewildered feeling, I gestured to Eorin. Whether because of my expression or because of the senior standing behind me, Eorin also got up from his seat with a face not much different from mine and approached this way.
“Why?”
Did he mean why did I call him, or why is this senior holding onto you?
“The senior was looking for you…”
“…Um, could we move spots for a moment?”
At the senior’s words, Eorin glanced back at me then nodded. When the senior led the way, Eorin followed behind and moved away from the class. The moment the senior’s shy expression flashed through my mind from that retreating figure, I suddenly realized.
“What, where’s Eorin going? Who is that?”
“…”
I think Eorin is going to receive a confession right now… I couldn’t quite answer Junsu’s question that way and just shook my head.
I hadn’t heard anything and had just seen an expression. I wasn’t particularly perceptive, but this time I could tell at a glance. Probably because of a sense of kinship.
What was pretty and good in my eyes would be so in others’ eyes too. I’d been so preoccupied with following Eorin with my eyes that I couldn’t bring myself to look at the surroundings. So I didn’t know that I wasn’t the only one looking at Eorin.
Where did they go? Is he receiving a confession right now? Is it really a confession? What will Eorin answer?
I felt impatience gradually rising. It was the first jealousy I’d felt since holding Eorin in my heart. Jealousy was an emotion much stickier and more selfish than I’d imagined. I was wishing for someone’s misfortune with all my heart. That Eorin would please reject them. That he wouldn’t become someone else’s.
