Chapter 9 (1/1)

As the game continues, more and more of the players were getting interested in the game. They all watches her games, and was amazed by how she was always able to make it so intense. “Well, 9-8. One more ball and I will win. The ball is in my hand” She was staring straight into his eyes, levelling with him, she dribbled the ball. Her eyes were bloodshot red, her legs were shaking. She felt light headed from the pain, and her was losing her vision. It was now or never. Last ball. She is going to end this. She had endured 17 balls, she was sure she’s going to make this the last. “in this situation, you can never be able to dribble past me.” JongHyun commented.“In that case, why would I dribble then” She stopped dribbled and held the ball in between both her palms, infront of her chest. “What are you going to do?”“Since I know I wont be able to dribble past you, then I shoot” He laughed, “Shoot? From here? We are at least 20m away from the hoop.”“Well, I am willing to give it a bet.” She prepared herself in the position to shoot. It was a bet for her, she had never shoot from this far before. Honestly, she was not sure of it herself. Focusing her blurry vision, she aimed the ball. With all her strength left, she threw the ball out. *Focus Roo. Focus* Her Dad’s voice rung in her head.It was now or never. Her knees fell onto the ground. JongHyun was still infront of her, but his eyes were glued to the ball that had just flew out from Roo’s hand. The others stood up, anticipating the results.It flew out from her hands, and landed in to the hoop perfectly beyond his eyes.He had his jaw dropped.He couldn’t believe what he saw. No, he didn’t want to believe what he saw. Roo was on the floor, she didn’t want to move. She felt like if she moved, her knees would fall out. It was painful yet the win was satisfying. “Roo!” JooHyuk ran down to help her up. “Hey, I am going to move you to the bench, if it hurts, I need you to just bear with it for a while” having no other choice, Roo nodded, accepting the help from JooHyuk. The others were just watching as he helped her. Respect grew upon them towards her. Especially JongHyun who had just played a game with her. Roo was groaning in pain, she shut her eyes tight, biting back her pain, she wiped the tears that had unconsciously slipped out. She kept her composure. “I won” She managed to squeeze it out her throat. “You all, will listen to me from now on. Back to the base line.”“For leaving the gym, you awe me 200 push ups each. And Chan Yeol, don’t think I forget, you owe me 1200 push ups in total” “Are you sure you want to continue? I mean, your leg…” JooHyuk said concerned.“Don’t take my injuries as your excuse.”With that, everyone started their punishments on the base line. Roo turned her back at them and she couldn’t control her expression, her face distorted with agony plastered on her face. She was quite sure she can barely walk tomorrow. Wiping her sweats and cleaning herself up from the game, she turned back to her players without leaving the bench.“We will choose a new captain, and a new team name. I still don’t know all of you well. But by watching your games, Kim WooBin definitely has a greater experience than anyone of you here. I will still need all of you to vote, to be fair. As far as I know, correct me if I am wrong, JongHyun is probably the point guard, Song Mino center, Kim Woo Bin power forward, Lee Jong Suk small forward.” She paused for a moment to see if anyone corrects her. There isn’t, meaning her observations were right. “I have watched some of your games and I realised one thing in common from all of you, you all are conceited young men.” They were too busy completing their push ups to argue with Roo. “In the game against ppyongjin last year, it was a disaster. You all are raised to be a basketballer! Not a fighter! It was better if the fight was with your opponent, but no! You fought amongst yourself! Don’t you think that was very shameful of you? You all are a team!”“I’m done!” Kang MinHyuk stood up, cutting her off. “I am sorry to mention this to you now, if one person doesn’t finish doing his punishment, no one is leaving the gym.” She specifically turned her gaze towards ChanYeol, who has 1200 push ups to complete.“Well, you have” she took a look at her watch, “5 minutes more before the end of training”After a few moments, most of the players had completed, leaving ChanYeol struggling himself. They were just looking at him. “Aish, because of you we all have to stay” Oh Sehun complained.  Roo was watching by the side-line, observing all of her players. “Roo! Can I do some for him?” Kim WooBin, as expected by Roo, stepped up. “You said we are a team. One person struggles, we all struggle, one person triumphs, we all triumph, right?” He proceeded in doing push ups for Chanyeol. A flash of thankfulness could be seen in ChanYeol’s eyes. “Current count?”“469” “Well, it’s past your training time” they all looked at Roo with hope lit up, thinking that she would let them off, she blew off their candles, “If you all want to just stand and watch them finish up, I don’t mind”“Fine, I will finish up some for him” Yugyeom stood forward. That’s new.He was one of them that Roo had not really notice him, he had always kept quiet and keeps to himself. That was something new. “I will do some too” one by one, everyone joins in. In no time, they were able to finish the punishments. ChanYeol shamefully kept his head low. She was glad that she was able to make them do something that signify they were a team. “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. Always remember that. Alright, today’s training will end here. Tomorrow, I expect to see all of you in school. You are free to go” She went to pack her own bag. “Hello?” Her phone rang at the right moment when she was about to leave. If not, she would’ve probably threw her phone in her gym bag. “Are you done?” Her brother’s voice rang through her ears.“I am heading out now.”