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Sometime later, I woke up again because I was tormented by thirst and my throat felt like a desert. I reached down next to my bed, half asleep and groped for my bottle, but in vain.
With an annoyed groan, I got up from the and shuffled into the kitchen. On the way there, I saw a white styrofoam box next to the front door. Kathy had painted a Smiley with a sharpie on it, which caused a week chuckle to appear on my sleepy face.
In the kitchen, I grabbed cutlery and of course my desperately needed water bottle and slipped back under the covers.
I had just snuggled in comfortably and eaten a little of my salad, when the doorbell rang. Startled, I stopped chewing and listened for any sounds coming from outside. In all the months in which I lived here, it had not rung even once. Kathy had her key, and no one else ever wanted to visit us unannounced. Not to mention that it was a few minutes past half past ten.
My heart started beating nervously, should I open the door or not?
I put the salad aside and slipped out of my room. Slowly I approached the front door and stopped a step away. I pressed my ear against the wood to hear sounds from outside. All the more I was scared when another ringing jolted through the dark apartment. As if by magic, I turned on as many lights as possible.
Why don't these damn city apartments have an intercom or camera on the door? Hesitantly, I stepped back to the door and asked in a husky voice. "Hello?"
A few seconds of silence.
"Hello back."
"Who are you?", I asked hesitantly, as if a monster was lurking behind the door and would jump at me at any moment.
"You don't recognize Santa? Shame on you.".
Santa? My thoughts rolled over briefly until I finally opened the door a crack and stuck my head out.
Heeseung was grinning in front of me, and relief flooded my body. "Gosh, what are you doing here? I was so scared.".
"I'm bored," he said.
I opened the door wider and let him enter. "You could have texted for a minute. Kathy's not here, thank goodness. She probably would have freaked out if she saw you.".
"I know. I saw her leave a few minutes ago.".
Heeseung looked around the apartment. "Nice spot you've got here.".
"Now you're already staking out my home," I complained playfully.
He chuckled and followed me, although I had no idea where I was going. Was this supposed to be an apartment tour? "Where is your room?".
My steps quickened a bit, since I knew exactly what kind of chaos was in there. "Back here," I disappeared into it a few seconds before he did, grabbing as many clothes as I could to hide under my covers. "It's small. But cozy.". He looked around briefly while I was shocked to discover a bra on the floor and inconspicuously kicked it behind the bed as well.
"You just ate?", he nodded in the direction of my bed, on which I had left the bowl of salad.
I took a seat on my mattress again and continued eating my salad. "I haven't eaten anything yet today. In general, I was VERY unproductive today," I confessed, looking down at my outfit. Sweatpants, oversized sweater, tennis socks. Hair tied up in a knot.
"I look like a homeless person.".
"What I wanted to ask.", Heeseung suddenly started. "On the way here, I saw this place.". I squinted my eyes to make out anything on his much too dark display. It looked something like a remote sports field.
"I thought we could go there, if you like.
"Now?". I stared at him in disbelief. "It's a quarter to eleven.".
"So what?", he laughed. "Come on, it will be fun!".
I sighed with a smile. "Okay fine. But let me finish this first."
***
It was shortly after 11 o'clock when Heeseung and I left the apartment and made our way to the bus stop. At this hour, it was fortunately no longer too crowded on the streets, but again freezing cold. Taking a deep breath, I could feel the cold in my lungs and warm steam escaped my mouth when I exhaled. Despite my thick winter coat, I wrapped my arm warming around my body.
"I hope we don't have to wait long for the bus," I said, and Heeseung turned around to the back as we were blinded by the headlights.
"If we don't hurry then we will," he said and quickened his steps. "Come on!", he only called out to me and grabbed my hand, as I needed to take a second to realize what was going on.
We reached the bus just in time, and stumbled inside, out of breath. At least I wasn't freezing anymore. Fortunately, the vehicle was almost empty, except a few teenagers messing around in the back, and a man sitting with his laptop at the very front.
Heeseung flopped down on a seat in the middle of the bus and I scooted next to him. "Gosh, I'm so tired. Don't you dare to ever make me run after a bus again.". I scolded him. "That's freaking embarrassing.".
"Better than standing outside for who knows how long.", he smirked at me and rummaged in his pocket. "Here", he handed me one of his two wireless earphones. Without wasting another second, I plucked it in.
As I shifted in my seat, I noticed a weird noise coming from my own pocked. I checked it in confusion and pulled out a bag of gums. "No way? They have been inside your jacket the whole time?", he gushed, while I admired the sweets in surprise. Immediately, I opened it and placed it on my thigh.
"By the way, where have you seen this court? I have been around here a couple of times, but never noticed it.".
"It's somewhere around the corner here...".
Yeah...somewhere around the corner! We have been sitting in this shitty bus for about half an hour now.
"Where the heck is your hotel? At the other end of the city or what?", I reached for another gum.
"I swear it didn't feel that long when I rode to Kathy's house. Maybe 10 Minutes or something.", Heeseung defended himself. âI'm sure to won't take that much longer.".
This time he was right. We reached the certain bus stop about two minutes later.
The sports field was completely deserted, only a few streetlights illuminated the area opposite.
âWhy did you bring a bag?", I asked him while getting out of the bus.
âThere's a basketball inside."
âYou're gonna teach me how to play?".
âSure! If you want.".
âAlthough that's actually not a good idea. I suck in ball sports.", I chewed on my lower lip.
âYou can't be that bad.", he opened the creaky metal gate, which was the only access to the football field, and put his backpack on the side. I sat down on the lowest step and watched him take the ball out.
Shortly after, he also took off his jacket, under which he wore a black hoodie.
Concerned, I sat up and held his jacket out to him again. "It's so cold, put it back on.".
"I can't play with this on. Besides, I'm about to get warm when I move.".
With a sigh, I put the jacket over my lap and watch him dribble across the court and shoot a few baskets.
With each hit he looked in my direction, almost as if to say "look how good I am". I couldn't help but grin back. Guys are actually pretty simple. They want to impress girls with what they are good at. And when they see that it works, it boosts their ego.
And pf course it worked. There are new things that impress me about him every day. Although I shouldn't really be surprised anymore when I spend time with the Ace.
âSee? I'm sure you can do it as well.", he walked up to me and pulled a bottle of water out of his bag. But instead of drinking, he handed it to me.
âI'm scares of balls bigger than tennis balls," I unscrewed the bottle and took a sip of water. "In elementary school, an idiot once threw me with a slam ball.".
Heeseung suddenly started laughing. âWhen your forehead was swollen for a week, right?". He took the still opened bottle from my hand and drank as well.
âI couldn't see clearly about three days...that's why...", I complained but my voice quieted toward the end as another creak of the gate grabbed our attention.
A group of 5 people entered the court. While two of them took turns shooting a few baskets on the other side, the others waited for their turn.
"What do you wanna say?", his voice snapped me back to reality, but I had already forgotten what's in my mind.
"Never mind. Not that important.".
"Wanna give it a try?", he nodded questioningly down at the ball.
I placed my hands hesitantly under both my thighs and looked over at the group. If there were others watching me do this, I'd probably be a lot worse.
However, I didn't even have a chance to answer, because at that moment one of the guys approached Heeseung from behind.
"Hey, you wanna play a round? We need a sixth person.".
Heeseung looked over at me questioningly, almost as if he was asking my permission. I just nodded with a smile, and he placed his ball next to me.
I watched the group walk together into the square and briefly discuss and introduce themselves to each other.
Why is it so easy for him to meet new people and build up connections? Or for guys in general. It's so much harder for girls, for whatever reason. At least it is for me.
At first, the game was a bit messy because I couldn't tell who was playing together as a team.
After a few minutes, though, I was really surprised. Two of the guys were tall and say like they were pros, while the other three were rather small and agile. Nevertheless, Heeseung managed to snatch the ball from all of them.
I proudly pulled my phone out of my pocket and started filming the whole thing. He made an "I'm watching you" hand gesture when he realized I was taking a shot of him, making me giggle.
After about 30 minutes, the game slowly dissolved and two of the guys already went off the field to calm down. It was only a few minutes until 1 o'clock and from sitting and doing nothing, my hands felt like ice blocks. I tried to warm them with the hot steam of my breath, but even this couldn't help anymore, so I buried them in Hee's jacket.
Out of the corner of my eye I suddenly noticed the two boys approaching. âHey!".
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