Kiss the Ground

After finishing the afternoon practice, Chahyun immediately returned home. He had trained with Misha both in the morning and afternoon, but couldn’t endure spending any more time together. It was confusing. Every time he tried to shake his head to forget even for a moment, the words he had uttered to himself resurfaced and plagued his mind. “We’re nothing to each other…” It was a phrase he had ingrained alone for so long, but strangely, when spoken aloud, it felt more cruel than anything else. Misha’s wavering gaze confirmed the impact of those words.Am I really crazy? Why am I angry?Dragging his feet into the house, Chahyun immediately leashed his dog and put him in the car. He had rushed in as if fleeing, yet he didn’t want to just hole up in the house. The unsuspecting dog wagged his tail enthusiastically for the unplanned early walk. It must have excited him more to spend time with his owner rather than a sitter. After buckling the seatbelt of the dog’s travel seat with a complicated feeling, Chahyun drove aimlessly into the city.After a short drive of about ten minutes, he arrived at a café with outdoor seating in a corner of the bustling district. He liked the secluded location with guaranteed parking. But above all, it was because it was far away from the shop where he had witnessed Misha meeting someone else yesterday. That couldn’t be denied.Ordering whatever was at the top of the menu, Chahyun sat quietly at his table. Underneath the table, his large dog sat curled up, enjoying the late afternoon sun. As he watched the faces of people passing by, the dog wagged his tail every time he glanced down at him.It was only after about ten minutes that the waiter brought an unexpected vodka punch. He should have looked properly; he had even brought the car, yet alcohol from early evening. But it was spilled milk. Chahyun absentmindedly ran his fingers over the pretty glass. Of course, it had to be vodka again.Next, in the bag to get the dog’s treats, he found the camera he had recently acquired. With a dumbfounded feeling, Chahyun took out the camera and briefly looked at it before setting it down on the table.Continuously, Misha’s presence felt like it was following him. Even if he tried not to think about him and blindly walked away, he always ended up encountering something that reminded him of him. No, maybe it was the opposite. Maybe everything he encountered was being given meaning by Yun Chahyun.“Hey!”The moment the handle of the leash placed on the table was pulled, it fell to the ground. Below, Hong-sam, who had been crouching, sprang up somewhere like an arrow. Chahyun was startled and picked up the handle first. It wasn’t a particularly dangerous street for a passing car, but Hong-sam was usually a gentle dog who rarely made such sudden movements.“Why are you like this?”Chahyun clumsily got up from his seat and pulled the leash. As his gaze quickly followed the line, he saw his bulky, restless dog already heading towards the street, recklessly nuzzling someone’s leg.“Hong-sam! Stop it, what are you doing?”But the dog paid no attention to his owner’s lead. The tall man in slacks, who had been targeted by the dog, stood still, looking down at the animal. It seemed like he had been attacked while passing through the alley. Chahyun hurriedly ran towards the poor victim. If he simply disliked dogs, it would be fortunate, but he might have allergies or trauma. He probably had to at least offer to pay for dry cleaning.“I’m sorry! This guy… he has a habit of running up to people he likes. Are you okay? Did he bite you or anything?”Nothing seemed to be going smoothly all day. As he awkwardly spoke to the other person, the man calmly adjusted his clothes and raised his head. Then he spoke in a low voice.“It’s okay. I think I might have been the one getting in the way.”Chahyun absentmindedly looked at his face and then widened his eyes.Oh… Hong-sam, this guy really… He couldn’t be anyone other than someone with very firm preferences.“You seemed to be enjoying your rest. Right, Yuan?”Cahill smiled softly at Chahyun. It seemed broad-minded but subtly narrow… It was like a moment echoing Jude’s words.“Cahill! What are you doing here?”“I had a meeting place nearby, so I was passing by. I didn’t expect to meet you here.”“I, I also… it’s a surprise.”Seeing Chahyun standing there awkwardly due to the sudden appearance, Cahill approached the table. It was a cautious step to avoid stepping on Hong-sam’s wagging tail, circling around Chahyun’s legs. As he reached the table, he looked down at Chahyun’s colorful glass.“It’s not my business to meddle, but it seems a bit early to be drinking.”“Oh, this… I ordered it by mistake.”“You ordered alcohol by mistake?”“Well, it could happen.”Seeing Chahyun’s evasive responses, Cahill showed his characteristic subtle smile and raised his left hand to glance at his wristwatch. His habit of not using his phone to check the time was evident.“If you don’t mind, would it be alright if I sat down for a moment, Yuan? There’s still some time before my appointment… 15 minutes should be enough.”“Sure! Please, sit.”“Thank you.”As Chahyun nodded, Cahill naturally pulled out the chair opposite him with one hand. Seeing him take a seat across from him, Chahyun slowly lowered himself into his own chair. The dog, realizing that the person chosen by its owner was a friend, sat down on the newcomer’s feet and looked up at him with an air of friendliness. Unable to ignore the sparkling gaze, Cahill awkwardly met the dog’s eyes.“I didn’t know you had a pet. I heard you liked dogs, but I didn’t realize.”“Oh, right. Was it when I was with Misha… at the restaurant?”“Yeah, at the restaurant.”He remembered. That day, Chahyun had irritated Cahill just by doing a little stretching with him. At that time, Chahyun had scolded him like a child under the pretext of dealing with an indiscriminate kid under the restaurant’s canopy… but now, Chahyun couldn’t do that anymore.“How should I pet him? I’ve never had a dog before.”Taken aback by the sudden question, Chahyun looked at Cahill without reminiscing. As if to prove his own statement of not being intimate with dogs, Cahill awkwardly extended one finger and hesitantly stroked Hong-sam’s forehead. Chahyun quickly replied.“You can just pet him however you want. But it’s good to let him smell your hand a bit first.”“Ah, I see.”Letting a dog smell your hand is almost like saying hello to them, but for Hong-sam, who had already fully opened his heart to Cahill, it seemed like an unnecessary procedure. Following Chahyun’s advice, Cahill began to stroke the dog’s forehead more boldly.“I’m not sure about the breed, but his fur is beautiful. Soft and with a nice color.”“Yeah, he’s got pretty fur.”“Mm.”In typical fashion as seen in dramas or movies, Cahill awkwardly scratched Hong-sam’s chin, causing the large ears to perk up joyfully. Completely engrossed in receiving affection, the dog seemed to have lost all sense of surroundings.He couldn’t be anything but absurd. Are there any other dogs that choose people and act cute like that? Some wouldn’t even look at you, while others would turn your world upside down with their affection. With a hint of suspicion in his demeanor, Chahyun casually spoke up.“Doesn’t he… remind you of Misha a bit? The slightly curly fur and the color, it reminds me of chocolate.”In apparent agreement with Chahyun’s words, Cahill nodded his head without stopping his hand from petting the dog. It seemed like he really liked the dog. Then came some trivial questions.“What does it mean when he runs up to someone he likes? Is it a common behavior?”“Well, other dogs usually don’t do that. He’s especially… he loses his mind when he sees good-looking people.”“Haha.”Cahill laughed, shaking his shoulders as if he had never heard such nonsense before. It wasn’t exactly uproarious, but if one had to describe it, it could be said to burst out like a surprise. Well, there probably aren’t many dogs in the world that would bark in admiration to the point of making Cahill laugh out loud. With a slightly relieved heart, Chahyun added.“I don’t know how much he likes him. He even wants to climb onto the bed with him. He wanted to do that even when he was with Misha last time…”At Chahyun’s casually spoken words, Cahill suddenly turned his head to look at Chahyun. There was a strange interest in his suddenly direct gaze. Caught off guard by the unexpectedly clear gaze, Chahyun met his eyes like a deer in headlights.“…Cahill?”“Yuan.”“Huh?”“Do you feel uncomfortable with our conversation right now?”“Uncomfortable?”Cahill straightened his waist, which had been bent towards the dog, and turned to face Chahyun. Not understanding the subtle cues, Chahyun responded with a foolish question.“What do you mean?”“You’ve been talking about Misha Asplund the whole time. Ignoring whatever I say.”“…”A shock, as if struck from behind, ran through Chahyun’s spine. Slowly, he raised his right hand to his mouth.“Did… did I do that?”“What’s more surprising is that you weren’t aware of it.”He spoke quietly, as if pondering something seriously.“I had suspected we had a close relationship, but I didn’t realize it was to the extent of sharing a bed.”It sounded like a joke, but it hit home. Chahyun barely managed to restrain the urge to smack his forehead with what little rationality remained. Why did the topic of the bed come up? Why did he keep making mistakes only in front of Cahill?“No, there was… there was a reason for that. I was too drunk…”It was a feeble excuse.“Well, we both must have reasons. After all, you disappeared with him after the Birmingham 2nd leg.”“How did you know about that?”The question came out in a flip tone. Hadn’t Jude made a similar remark? Cahill, glancing at Chahyun’s bewildered expression, seemed to understand what he was curious about. With deliberate movements, he clasped his hands on the table and provided the answer Chahyun wanted to hear.“It seemed like there was a lot of talk between you two since halftime. Anyone who didn’t see you escorting him from the stands wouldn’t exist. And you even ended up at the same dinner table, so it’s safe to assume.”“Oh… uh.”“The absence of the hero of victory at the party was quite conspicuous. I couldn’t just pretend not to notice.”“Well, there were reasons for that too…”Reason upon reason upon reason overlapped. In a situation where he could only beat around the bush about important matters, a sense of precariousness only added to the unease. Cahill tapped his fingertips on the table.“Alright, it’s welcomed for teammates to be close. And if someone like Misha has captured someone’s heart, even better.”“…”It was a generous tone. With a relaxed and observant attitude, he continued speaking.“When you went for the doping test, he came to the locker room. He said he’d take the money we bet on and even though he took less, it was well over a thousand pounds. Jude… the dealer seemed on edge.”“Haha… is that so…”“I never knew he was so competitive outside the game. It was quite surprising.”So that was when he collected the money. Chahyun remembered wondering when the guy sitting in the stands would have brought so many banknotes. At the time, there was no room to ask, but hearing the circumstances from Cahill now made him feel strange once again.Chahyun pursed his lips thoughtfully. A brief silence passed.“…What’s that?”It was then that Cahill’s gaze suddenly fell on the camera placed on one side of the table. Chahyun quickly responded.“Oh, that’s… my new camera. The one we used for the selfie before completely malfunctioned. The data was fine, but the exterior was completely wrecked.”“Come to think of it, you mentioned it at dinner too. It had pretty good performance, but it’s a shame. I only handled it briefly, but…”“This one’s good too.”Avoiding the sensitive topic somewhat eased Chahyun’s mind. As Cahill leaned closer with curiosity to examine the camera’s screen after Chahyun turned it on, their heads inadvertently drew closer together, sitting face to face at the small table, both peering at the small screen.“It doesn’t seem like it’s been broken for long, so it’s fortunate you were able to get a new one.”“Yeah, this… from Misha.”It was a gift. About to say so, Chahyun suddenly stopped manipulating the buttons on the camera.Whoa. I’m really going on about Misha.A lightning bolt of realization jolted through his brain. The shock of realizing it himself was greater than being pointed out by someone else. Despite knowing intellectually that Cahill was right there beside him, his fingers simply refused to move. Chahyun stared fixedly at the camera in his hand, frozen like ice.Having run out of his house to distance himself mentally from Misha Asplund, and physically as well, deliberately coming to a store several blocks away, but now such struggles seemed utterly meaningless. If the person he wanted to avoid was residing in Yoon Chahyun’s own mind, then no matter how much he ran, there would be no resolution.“What on earth do I want?”A sigh of resignation escaped Chahyun’s lips. Cahill’s hand reaching out to grasp Chahyun’s hand happened almost simultaneously.“Yuan.”“Yeah?”Cahill’s palm was large enough to envelop Chahyun’s entire hand holding the camera. Caught off guard by the sudden touch and warmth, Chahyun raised his head hesitantly. The clear emerald eyes of the other were right before him. Without even considering questioning the enigmatic yet serious gaze, Chahyun quietly held his breath, feeling as though he was being seen through.“This is a personal question unrelated to the team, but…”A faint whisper, almost indistinguishable from a breath, flowed smoothly into Chahyun’s ears.“What exactly is your relationship with Misha Asplund?”Finishing his question, Cahill tightened his grip on Chahyun’s hand even more. The camera gifted by Misha was slightly slippery from sweat in Chahyun’s tightly clenched hand. But Cahill showed no intention of letting go.What relationship? At the inexplicable question, Chahyun’s eyes widened.“What’s that…”“In a situation like this, wouldn’t anyone be curious? Yuan, you seem to have no boundaries with me, after all.”“Cahill.”“Why is that? Because I seem uninterested in such matters like any other person?”“…It’s not like that.”Amidst Chahyun’s hesitant response, a loud buzzing sound rang out. Both Cahill and Yoon Chahyun simultaneously looked down at the source of the noise, their table. Cahill’s phone, lying next to his arm, was flashing with an incoming call on the screen.Cahill hesitated, as if regarding the unfamiliar sight of his own phone, then slowly released Chahyun’s hand. He lifted the phone slowly to check the caller ID, his expression returning to his usual impassive demeanor. Chahyun gently pulled back his hand that had been held captive, watching Cahill’s actions. His heart began to beat a little faster.“I should probably go now. Sorry for interrupting, Yuan.”The incoming call seemed to be from Cahill’s appointment partner. The 15-minute extension had slipped away like an arrow. As if asking Chahyun such serious questions, Cahill promptly got up from his seat and neatly pushed his chair under the table.“Enjoy the remaining break slowly.”“Cahill…”“See you next week. And tell your dog I was glad to meet him too.”As Cahill made a casual farewell, Hongsam, noticing his departure, quickly rose from his seat. He gently patted the dog’s forehead once and then turned away. Pulling the leash taut, Chahyun watched his retreating figure.“What… relationship?”Suddenly throwing a deep question, Cahill looked at Chahyun with a keen gaze he had never seen before. And with just a few slip-ups from Chahyun, he not only grasped the situation with Misha but also subtly prodded Chahyun’s immature and ascetic thoughts.Could he have sensed it? The relationship between Yoon Chahyun and Misha. No, perhaps he couldn’t have helped but notice, as they had not only shared a meal but also brought up Misha’s name regardless of the topic. At this point, it wasn’t strange for him to have such questions.But what made Chahyun’s heart even more tense was the fact that he had been wavering all along. Why was he acting so foolishly? There wasn’t… any definable relationship between him and Misha yet.“…I should just go.”Chahyun gripped the table with slightly trembling hands. Instead of feeling relieved after stepping outside, he felt even more confused. Chahyun carefully put Misha’s camera into his bag and grabbed the leash on the table. The feeling of someone’s presence behind him came at that moment.“Are you Yoon Chahyun, the athlete?”With the unfamiliar voice and a small hand touching his shoulder.***Startled by the sudden contact and the calling of his name, Chahyun turned around. There was a woman standing right behind him, much closer than he had expected the sound to come from.“Hello?”It was a beautiful smile and a melodic greeting.Upon seeing that smile, Chahyun momentarily froze in place, as if the posture he had been about to rise from had turned into stone. The glass on the table wobbled as if it were about to tip over onto his unsteady knees. However, the woman, despite Chahyun’s surprised expression, responded with another gentle smile.“Mi… Misha?”For a moment, Chahyun’s mind conjured up his face. But it was different from the reflexive recollection of Cahill’s moment. Instead, it was a vivid image of his face superimposed over the person standing before him.To overlay Misha’s face onto the face of a stranger was an impossibility. His face was one that couldn’t easily be found. Moreover, the gender of the person appearing before him was clearly opposite to Misha’s. In a strange sense of unease, Chahyun was momentarily speechless, but soon he realized the reason.From the brown curly hair cascading down to the waist, the subtly shining gray eyes, the emotive and deep gaze, to the lips stubbornly sealed at the edges… Everything about her was so strikingly reminiscent of Misha, as if they had simply reversed the gender while leaving everything else the same.Could a person’s face be so identical? In disbelief, Chahyun blankly examined her features. Even as her gaze scrutinized his face as if it were impolite, the woman spoke gracefully.“We saw each other yesterday, right? Across the street. I was inside the shop, and you were standing on the street. Do you remember?”“Ah…”“I thought it was a coincidence, so I approached you.”Yes, this was indeed that person. The one who had sat opposite Misha, soothing his wounds, and had been occupying Chahyun’s mind all day long. His grip on the table tightened.“You were talking about something at that time, weren’t you? We…”The woman smiled like sunshine. Her radiant and beautiful smile seemed to elevate the surrounding brightness by several levels.And even that smile, too similar to Misha’s, firmly grasped Chahyun’s heart. It was the smile he showed only occasionally, for a brief moment. The soft folds of the eyes and the slight lift of the corners of her mouth. Upon seeing it, Chahyun couldn’t help but acknowledge it.In every way, this person… was Misha’s kin. Moreover, they were closely related, perhaps a cousin or even a sister. It wasn’t easy to determine someone’s age from a different race, but somehow, Chahyun felt certain of the closeness. Even if they were cousins, such identical appearances wouldn’t be possible. The only difference was that this woman, unlike Misha, didn’t hesitate to grace her cheeks with a smile that Misha rarely showed.“I’m Lima Asplund. I’m Misha Asplund’s older sister.”The tension eased. It was a near certainty, but after the nail had been hit, his mind became muddled.After finishing her introduction, she took a step closer to Chahyun and stood in front of him. The distance between the two, which had been quite far, suddenly narrowed. For a moment, Chahyun was taken aback by the reduced distance, but Lima straightened her right hand toward him.A handshake!It was an intentional gesture, as if to remind Chahyun of his confusion. Only after seeing her sudden outstretched right hand did Chahyun realize that he had been standing dumbfounded all along. Startled, he quickly extended his hand, and with a small laugh, Lima gently shook his hand.After a brief awkward exchange of light touches and shaking hands up and down, Lima stepped back a pace and whispered, “I feel like I’ve been doing all the talking.”“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m Yoon Chahyun. You can call me by my first name.”Realizing his belated breach of etiquette, Chahyun hurriedly spoke. His voice, which repeated opening and closing his mouth, sounded a bit rushed. But Lima nodded as if not particularly concerned.“I know, I called you that first.”“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”“You’re hard to miss. You’re that kid’s sister. I don’t know much about soccer, but I do watch Winchester’s games from time to time.”“Oh, I see.”“You stood out.”