Attention

The sounds of shoes squeaking across the hardwood floor are all you hear as the players in front of you run across it.

“If you don’t make the layup, we start back at zero!” you scream out to the players as they run the final drill you told them to do. Next thing you know, you see this girl around your age walk into the gym and join the other spectators in the bleachers. She’s just minding her own business, watching your team run the drill, following the ball with her eyes.

You don’t know what it is, but she caught your attention as soon as she walked in. You never kept your eye off of her the whole time she’s been in the gym. You decide to make a move and head over to her. Just before you stop next to her, you see one of your players miss a layup.

“Start the count back to zero! Come on guys, how can we win games when we can’t make unguarded layups?” You motion them to huddle around you. “You do know what this drill helps with, right?” You see some of them nod while some of them are blank-faced.

“This drill isn’t just for doing a drill; you guys have to make layups when you’re tired. That’s why we’re running this transition layup drill. If you guys can’t make these layups unguarded, how can you make them when tired and guarded? You rub your forehead with your thumb and index finger.

"Listen, I know you guys are tired. But would you rather have me tell you guys to run laps and do suicides for conditioning? Or would you rather do this transition layup drill for conditioning? It’s just 24 straight layups you guys need to make. That’s one on each side for each one of you.” You see your team look at you, doe-eyed, pleading to finish practice with their expressions.

“You guys can do this, trust me. I wouldn’t run drills you guys couldn’t do. If you think this is hard to do, just remember that there’s always someone better than you. So there isn’t a reason for you to work harder to get better.” You see a few of your players nod at you, and you blow your whistle. They get back into their positions, and they run the drill again after your small huddle.

After a few makes, you make your way back to the bleachers to the girl who caught your eye. You stop right beside her, and you wait for another make from one of your players before initiating conversation.

“Hey there.” She looks up at you cutely and smiles at you.

“HI.” She says in this cute tone. Immediately making you fall for her.

“Are you just dropping in? Or are you here for someone?” You say and quickly look at your watch for the time. You know it’s near the time you normally end practice, but you extended the time a little just to get some extra conditioning in for your players.

“Jinyoung is my younger brother; my parents wanted me to pick him up after practice since they’re busy.”

“No wonder you looked like one of my players. But I’ll be honest with you, it seems like you took the visual genes.” She laughs at your comment. “First time watching him practice?” She nods her head. “Have you been to any of his games?”

“I’ve been to all of them; my family is all about being supportive of each other.” You listen and nod your head.

“That’s a great family dynamic you guys have, it reminds me of my own family.”

“Yeah, it’s great, but it’s tough when our age gap is as big as ours, and I also have my own schedule. I always accommodate for my family, though; they mean a lot to me.”

“Before I moved out here, I did the exact same thing you were doing. My family always supported me, and I felt a great responsibility to support them as well. What do you do for work?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me. I’m an idol.”

“A K-pop idol?! No way. I don’t believe it. Are you in a group or solo?”

“Group, you don’t know NMixx?” You let out a sound of disbelief.

“No way, wait.” You pause for a second and pull out your phone. “No wonder you look familiar, are you Bae?” She nods her head. “I know you probably don’t know or remember who I am, but I’m Lily’s cousin.” You find the picture in your phone and show it to her.

“Oh, I remember this picture! Lily unnie was talking about how one of her cousins went to our concert and wanted a picture with his favourite members along with her.”

“Yeah, that was me.” You chuckle and look at the picture of you in the middle with Bae right beside you on your right side, Sullyoon beside you on your left side, and Lily beside Bae. “Does Lily ever mention me?”

“Yeah, she does, she’s mentioned you a few times quite recently. Seems like you’re her favourite cousin.” You smile at her statement.

“Lily and I are close in age, so we were always attached at the hip. She’s only a year younger than me. It also helps that I’m an only child.” She nods as she listens to you. “She’s like a little sister to me. I’m glad she’s doing something she loves, especially being in a worldwide known girl group with you.”

“I can see why Lily unnie mentions you as often as she does.” You grin happily.

“You know, I didn’t want to assume you were the Bae Jinsol when you walked into here. I didn’t think that you would be connected to me somehow.”

“Well, life works in crazy ways.” She says to you, as you let out a hum in pleasure. You take a quick look at your players, and after hearing them count out loud, they make the 24th straight transition layup to finish the final drill for tonight’s practice.

“Hold on for a sec.” You say to her as you walk onto the court. You blow your whistle, motioning the players to come to you.

“See? It didn’t take you guys that long! I knew all of you would push through. If you just think about pushing through the physical and mental obstacles, you can always achieve what you want to do.” You look over all your players who are huffing and puffing due to the tough drill. “You guys deserve a good rest after that. We’re done for tonight. I’ll see you guys on Friday for a quick practice before our tournament next weekend. Good job, guys.” You raise your arm and fist up high. “Team on three!” Your team raises theirs as well. “One, two, three!”

“TEAM!”

“Get your guys’ stuff on the bench and don’t forget to clean up after yourselves!”

“Yes, Coach!”

You head towards Bae, and you see her stand up after putting her phone away in her jacket pocket. Just before you open your mouth, you hear your phone go off.

“Sorry about that. Funny enough, Lily just texted me.”

“What did she say?”

“Something weird, but it’s fine. Anyways, are you busy anytime soon?”

“Aside from the comeback, no, not really? I’ll definitely be free after the comeback.”

“Ahhh, I forgot about the comeback.”

“Do you mind if I could get your phone number?” You respond with a shocked expression.

“I don’t mind.” She takes her phone out of her jacket pocket and hands it over to you to enter your contact info. As you finish up and press save, you look up at her, “When do the comeback promotions finish?”

“This week, the last schedule is on Tuesday, I believe?”

“You don’t even know your own schedule?” You chuckle.

“That’s up to my managers to let us know. But I don’t even think I’m involved for the Tuesday schedule. So I might be free soon.” You hear a notification go off on your phone. An unknown number texted you saying, “You’re cute;).”

“Is this you?” Her lips curl into a smile, and she blushes a little.

“Yeah, that’s me.” She says shyly.

“I was wondering if maybe you could stop by Friday night? With the possibility of coming to the tournament on the weekend?”

“I’ll double-check my availability for you and get back to you.” She winks at you. Just as you were about to whisper something in her ear, her brother stops beside both of you.

“Jinyoung, good job today. If you keep working on your form, you’ll be shooting lights out soon. Trust me, I’ll need shooting for the tournament.” You show him a fist bump, which he replies with a fist bump back.

“Thanks, Coach. Are you ready to go, noona?”