Kiss the Ground

Misha’s face was contorted with anger. With a fierce expression, he often caught eyes with Chahyun as they chased after the ball. Despite standing at a great distance, Yoon Chahyun could read his expression and thoughts. Since their encounter in the locker room just moments ago, Chahyun had only Misha’s thoughts in his mind.His gaze, sharp and piercing, directed towards Cahill and Yoon Chahyun, and his back turned stiffly away, were haunting images.Thinking about it kept distracting him. It had been like this since the beginning of the match. At this moment, Chahyun’s pursuit of the ball felt more like instinct than will. Despite shaking his head several times, unable to believe his own actions, today was unavoidable.“If we just keep this up, we might… isn’t it going well?”As the halftime whistle blew with a score of 0-0, Judd, who often approached Chahyun’s side, bounded like a spring. It was indeed an advantageous situation. For Villadebalt to advance to the semi-finals, they needed to not concede a single point to Winchester and score at least three goals in the second half, which was practically miraculous.The players left footprints of sweat as they entered the locker room. Panting sounds of twenty players echoed loudly in the spacious area. Listening to Blue’s calm instructions, they wiped away sweat and drank their drinks. With their gazes lowered as if in agreement, each focused on calming their own condition. Among the twenty players gathered in a circle, exchanging determined glances, only Yoon Chahyun and Misha stood out.Truly, such spiteful expressions seen after a long time.Still jealous as ever. Yoon Chahyun couldn’t bear to see him interacting with others. Even in this situation, does he still have that foolish and endlessly intense possessiveness?Excitement heightened in the situation where conversation was impossible. A different kind of tension than during the game, a palpitation scratching at his chest, overwhelmed Chahyun. Perhaps Misha felt something similar. For some reason, Chahyun was certain of that.Fifteen minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the players returned to the corridor leading back to the field.Unlike halftime, the second half of 45 minutes felt dreadfully long. What usually felt so short now stretched out like a stick of gum. To be able to think of something else during the game, something he had never imagined in his twenty years of playing. Chahyun breathed heavily and relentlessly pushed his legs forward.Holding on in the game was meaningless. He wanted to end this quickly and grab Misha. And he wanted to say something. Despite having no specific plan, such impulse boiled up. Amidst the chaos in his mind, the moment came as Aloysius threw the ball up to his right.“Yuan, ahead!”Aloysius’s characteristic low voice, as if scraping his vocal cords, signaled to Chahyun. Receiving the ball flying vaguely near his knees, Chahyun kicked it diagonally toward the left post without further calculation. The ball flew miraculously in the intended trajectory and direction.Through the gap in the defense like a flaw in armor, the swift and straight trajectory of the ball lingered. And the person who immediately stabbed it into the goal without waiting for it to touch the ground was Cahill Love, standing just ahead.It was a spectacular and perfect volley. Cheers poured down from the stadium’s fourth floor as if tearing through the air. A dizzying moment of scoring. Amidst the vibrating jubilation, instead of running off to celebrate the goal, Cahill walked over to Chahyun, who had crossed the ball.“Cahill.”Wiping away the sweat trickling down his chin with his palm, Chahyun looked at the captain. Cahill reached out one arm and pulled Chahyun’s excited shoulders towards him. It was a brief pause before their teammates, sensing victory, rushed over.“Yuan.”Surrounded by pouring cheers and euphoria, he quietly asked into Chahyun’s ear.“So, was that disappearance with him during the last halftime because of that jinx?”“…yeah.”It wasn’t just Yoon Chahyun and Misha who were distracted throughout the game. There was nothing more to hide. As Chahyun reluctantly admitted, Cahill exhaled a silent sigh. A surprised laugh tinged with disappointment.“You’re really daring too.”It’s not just daring. It’s complete madness. Yoon Chahyun has been crazy since that day.Chahyun turned his head towards the far end of the ground while sticking close to Cahill. Among the teammates rushing towards this side like racehorses, Misha stood on the other side of the ground, seemingly rooted to the spot. His eyes locked onto his like molten magma. Meeting his intense and explosive gaze, Chahyun spat out his breath onto Cahill’s shoulder.Right now, all they could do was look at each other. All words could only be exchanged after the game ends.With Cahill’s goal bursting at the end of the second half, the match reached its climax. Winchester’s momentum remained unflinching. With about six minutes of added time left, the spectators held their breath, watching the field intently. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes pouring down like arrows, twenty-two players sprinted towards the end.Just a few minutes, just a few seconds more, and Winchester FC would advance to the semi-finals. After breaking through years of mediocrity and overcoming numerous obstacles, they finally made a mark in a tournament that only allowed four teams in a season.Chahyun counted the seconds with a brain that felt like it was boiling. The signal for the end of the game seemed neither imminent nor forthcoming. It wasn’t until Villadebalt’s final shot hit Winchester’s goalpost and bounced off futilely that a sharp whistle tore through the night air.It was the moment they had been waiting for. Cheers, as if the sky itself were bursting open, poured out from the mouths of tens of thousands simultaneously.And at the same time, one of Villadebalt’s players delivered a powerful blow to the face of Misha Asplund, who stood near the goalpost.The sudden scene silenced the crowd as if on cue. Like a malfunctioning television, every scene froze. As Chahyun took a breath, explosive boos and shouts pierced through the eerie silence.“Misha!”The shouts of many nearby teammates echoed. With all eyes on him, Misha slowly sank to the ground. It was a strangely slow scene, like rewinding a stretched-out video. He held onto the left side of his face with his hand.It was a deliberate and unnecessary foul, taken advantage of during the last moments of the game. Winchester’s players rushed towards Villadebalt’s player, as if on cue. The opponents, who had been pushed and pulled, stood before him.It was trouble. Amidst the chaos of pushing and pulling, Chahyun stood still as if rooted in place. Protests and curses, whose they were no one knew, roared like noise, but there was nothing audible in his ears. All he felt vividly was the sensation of his fingernails digging into his cold palms.When he came to his senses, Chahyun was already running across the grass. His teammates, accustomed to his fearless nature, sent him surprised glances, but Chahyun’s purpose was not merely to confront Villadebalt’s number 7.“Misha…!”Chahyun dove towards his target like a madman, dropping to his knees on the grass as if slipping. He grabbed Misha’s cheeks with both hands and forcefully lifted his head. A lifeless face met his eyes.“Yuan.”Misha looked like a wounded animal. The area from his left eye to his cheekbone was already beginning to darken with a deep color. Chahyun’s throat tightened at the gruesome sight.“What is this…?”The player who had struck Misha’s face with his elbow in the previous first-leg game when Chahyun had tripped over him. The bitter regret of realizing this fact haunted Chahyun’s spine.He should have warned Misha. He should have told him to be careful and watch out for injuries. It wasn’t just Yoon Chahyun shining on this team. All the threats believed to be aimed at Chahyun bypassed him and ultimately landed on Misha Asplund. The hidden ace of Winchester FC, unexpected by anyone and more perfect than anyone.If it had to come to this, if he had to become the target of such violence… He shouldn’t have let him score in the first leg. He shouldn’t have crossed the ball. No, he shouldn’t have let him play in the game at all. All the things that weren’t his authority drew a bitter line in his heart. If it wasn’t something Chahyun could have stopped, he shouldn’t have been happy at least. The happiness he felt when he saw him on the field now plunged Chahyun into despair.Several teammates approached from behind, exchanging worried conversations. Chahyun, unable to give them any response, sat on the field with legs bleeding profusely. Apart from watching Misha’s hair rise and fall with his breath as he bowed his head deeply, there was nothing else he could do.“Yuan, hold on. I’ll take care of it.”Alana, who ran out from the bench, grabbed Chahyun’s shoulders and pulled him back gently. It was a gentle gesture, but Chahyun withdrew abruptly and stood back. He examined Misha’s face with gloved hands, maintaining an emotionless expression throughout.“Now that the game is over, we need to get him checked right away.”Alana calmly instructed the two medical trainers who followed her. Watching them move quickly, Chahyun’s toes grew ominously cold. With rising anxiety, Chahyun shouted out as if to the doctor’s back.“Are we going to the emergency room?”“Yes, we need to go there first. Yuan, I know you’re excited, but just for a moment…”“Is it very serious?”“I don’t know yet.”Coaches clad in red jerseys quickly surrounded Misha, comforting him and ushering Yoon Chahyun away. Amidst the crowd, Misha stepped onto the field. Chahyun, unknowingly, followed a few steps behind, but Leroy approached from the side and held him back.“Yuan, there’s nothing we can do right now. Let’s leave it to the medical team.”As the situation was quickly handled, even the spectators, who had been shaken by the sudden accident, began to regain the joy of victory. Making it to the semi-finals was a dream-like achievement for Winchester. The giant scoreboard flashed, displaying their belated triumph. As the defeated players of Villadebalt sat down on the ground, Chahyun stood still, unable to utter a word.The protagonists of this game were undoubtedly Yoon Chahyun and Cahill Love. The seamless combination of passes and goals between the two forwards was nothing short of perfect. While staying on the field to respond to the cheers of the fans was part of the fan service, Chahyun couldn’t bring himself to approach the stands.The reddened face of Misha kept haunting him. It was a sight he never wanted to see again. Misha, wounded and falling where he couldn’t reach, was a sight he never wanted to see again…Unbearable anguish gripped Chahyun’s ankles. His knees trembled. Cahill, who had already handed over his uniform to someone else, approached Chahyun and whispered softly.“Yuan, go in first. Don’t worry about this.”Cahill sent him a deep and solemn gaze. The gentle gaze understood Chahyun’s anxiety, but there was no room for pretending not to know. As soon as permission was granted, Chahyun stood up straight and looked towards the stadium entrance.Misha was supposed to be taken to the emergency room. It was the only medical facility in the building, which lacked facilities as big as the club center. Chahyun sprinted towards the corridor on the first floor of the stadium. His stumbling feet seemed to keep tripping.“Yuan?”Alana, who happened to be coming out of the infirmary, stopped in her tracks. She looked surprised at the appearance of a player who wasn’t supposed to be there.“Alana, where’s Misha?”“Yuan, if you’re here right now…”“How’s Misha?”Seeing Chahyun’s desperate expression, Alana paused for a moment, then stepped aside from the door to answer.“He’s inside. There was a strong impact, but it’s not a fracture.”“Ah…”“It seems like you were really worried. Fortunately, it’s not as serious as it looks.”Chahyun raised his hand and wiped his face. A sigh, as if his soul were escaping, escaped. Alana looked at Chahyun, a mixture of relief and concern, and smiled faintly.“It’s the same situation as last time. Misha got injured, and you came to see him.”“…Yeah…”“Since it’s okay now, why don’t you go in? I have to go to the disciplinary committee to give my opinion.”“Okay.”“It might take about 20 minutes. Can you handle it for a while?”As Chahyun urgently nodded his head, Alana walked slowly out of the corridor. Chahyun didn’t even bid her farewell as he headed straight for the emergency room door. Then, he immediately pressed the button and opened the door.As he rushed into the emergency room, he saw Misha sitting on the bench inside. Alana’s words were accurate. There was Misha with his back turned, and Yoon Chahyun standing next to him. It really couldn’t have been more like a scene from a few months ago.But Chahyun didn’t hesitate to stand outside the door like he did that day. That was the only difference. The time for foolish hesitation had passed, and there was nothing to pull his back like before. Like being drawn by a force, Chahyun approached him across the room.“Misha! I’m here.”Then, he sat next to him and immediately wrapped his cheeks with both hands. The fragment-like face leaned towards Chahyun with gentle yet strong force. Leaving only a fist-sized space between their noses.“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?”But Chahyun’s gaze, before it could sweep across his face, was immediately drawn to the bone beneath his left eye. A wound of a huge and eerie color that couldn’t be ignored.It was indeed a large bruise. The colors that occupied a part of the face were vibrant and colorful, as if someone had painted them on. Against the backdrop of the deep red hue that tinted the skin underneath, the scattered dark blue and black blood spots resembled stars. And crossing over them was the long scar that Chahyun had received a few months ago.With his face turned, Misha looked silently at Chahyun, his eyebrows furrowed. Chahyun had been inspecting his wound all along, but then his gaze fell on his hands, which were holding his cheeks. His hands bore the marks of scratches and wounds that remained from the day’s activities.Yes, this was ordinary. Getting hit, bruised, rolling over was all routine for them. Competing with someone to gain an advantage always demanded an appropriate price. So, athletes had to learn ways to get hurt less, rather than not get hurt at all. Chahyun’s mother had told him that since he was young.But Misha… Chahyun wished it weren’t so.It was a thought anyone could laugh at, but it was inevitable. Chahyun didn’t like seeing him hurt. Just the thought of it made him feel sick and queasy. In the turmoil of emotions gripping his chest, Chahyun found himself pulling Misha’s face closer and pressing his lips against the scar without even realizing it.“….”It was impulsive. Anything that had led Chahyun unexpectedly astray lately was all that.Warm heat radiated through the thin skin pressed against his lips. Despite the temperature laden with pain, Chahyun’s heart felt oddly cold. All the words he had pondered over for dozens of yards vanished into thin air like smoke. How much did it hurt? That was all that remained.But the next moment, Misha raised his hands and gripped Chahyun’s arms tightly.“Yuan.”Caught off guard by the sudden movement, Chahyun opened his eyes and looked at Misha’s face. For the first time in his life, Misha directed an angry expression towards Chahyun. He immediately pushed Chahyun without mercy, causing him to fall back onto the bench as if he were pushed down.“Why do you keep kissing me?”Thunk. The metallic bench vibrated under the weight of both of them. In the echoing aftermath, Chahyun realized belatedly that he had been mounted. Unable to defend against the unexpected attack from his opponent, Chahyun was pinned down to the chair without any chance to resist.Misha glared at Chahyun with a rough voice, like someone scheming revenge. His delicate eyebrows twisted in agony, and dark shadows loomed beneath his eyelids. Beneath them, his pupils were hazier and darker than usual.The cold temperature of the chair seeped through the wet uniform and touched his skin. The confusion caused by the sudden impact was more disconcerting than the soreness in his back. But unexpectedly, worry emerged from Chahyun’s lips.“Misha… Are you okay?”“Don’t kiss me, Yuan.”He spat out with a vomit-like tone, pressing Chahyun even harder. The calm gaze was suddenly engulfed in dark flames.“The contract is over now.”It was the first time. The intense voice and expression were nowhere to be found in Chahyun’s memories. What he had shown Chahyun was always unconditional kindness and sacrificial admonition… and a kind of blind, unreadable, ambiguous affection. Until this moment, Chahyun had never imagined being the target of sudden anger.The left eye, which had turned a deep red, was swollen with broken blood vessels when looked at up close. Was it because of the scar that he felt pity even when pressed down under such a violent grip? Instead of protesting or resisting, Chahyun whispered quietly.“…Yeah, I was wrong. I’m sorry.”Misha’s mouth opened at the low apology. But the intense gaze in his eyes soon began to mix like a storm. The black gaze swayed uncontrollably, then eventually changed into a firm and heavy gaze. Misha bowed his head and brought his face close to Chahyun’s.“When you touch me…”His voice, as if grounding itself, slowly flowed out from Misha’s lips. Feeling the hot breath near his jaw, Chahyun narrowed his eyes slightly.“I suffer. It’s hard to breathe.”“Misha.”“My head hurts, and my chest feels like it’s going to burst. I can’t bear it anymore, Yuan.”At the end of the tortured voice, he raised his left hand to touch his forehead. The palm, which scratched at the hair as if to tear it out, slowly descended, pressing down heavily on his bruised eye. It was as if he was saying that the pain was nothing. A thin question escaped from his faintly parted lips.“…Why did you kiss me that day?”“That day… it was…”In the end, that was it. Pushing Misha Asplund into confusion and locking the door was an ‘off-contract service’ that happened on the field right after the first match. Chahyun’s guess that his impulsive actions would have repercussions in Misha’s calm mind was not wrong.Looking down at Chahyun’s furrowed face, Misha’s eyes gleamed through the gap in his fingers.“It wasn’t in the contract, it wasn’t the right time to do it, so why did you do such a thing?”“…”“Since that day. Since the moment you broke the promise.”Gazing at Chahyun’s disheveled light-colored hair, he couldn’t say anything. Misha lowered his hand, which had been suppressing his own pain, and grabbed the edge of Chahyun’s uniform like a grip on his neck. The squeezing sound echoed like the last drop of water.“I’ve become strange…”The palm that had seemed to tear apart Chahyun’s torn uniform hesitated for a moment before descending straight down. Then, it pressed against Chahyun’s waist, gripping the flesh between its fingers. His hand slipped slowly over the firm abdomen beneath the uniform.“Ah.”Looking at Chahyun’s face as he unwittingly exhaled, he raised his short nails and gripped his side. Chahyun grimaced as if bitten by an animal’s teeth.The hand that left a red mark on his waist slowly moved upward until it finally reached Chahyun’s bare chest. Underneath the uniform tailored to fit his body, Misha’s hand revealed its shape as if on display. And he looked like someone possessed, his hand’s bones wrapping around Chahyun’s chest, pushing against the fabric.The strong fingers seemed to be leaving imprints on Chahyun’s chest. With each press of Misha’s fingertips, the firm and soft muscles beneath reacted accordingly. Misha, who continuously grazed and teased the skin, had a face devoid of restraint or any trace of rationality.“Uh…”The thumb that lightly stroked the smooth skin briefly brushed against the peak of the chest. Though the situation was becoming precarious, Misha paused as if surprised. It seemed like an unintentional mistake. But the hesitation didn’t last long. Soon, he used the entire pad of his thumb to press down on the nipple, as if flattening it.“Wait… Misha.”Chahyun’s soft protest crumbled under unexpected force. His thumb awkwardly teased the compressed nipple before gently rolling it like handling an unfamiliar toy. Feeling even the friction of fingerprints, Chahyun bit his lip hard. The embarrassment outweighed any physical discomfort.“Stop now.”As Chahyun squirmed under the unfamiliar sensation, Misha pressed his knee against his side, sealing the space as if catching a fleeing animal. It was a brutish and rude gesture. While Chahyun felt intense self-reproach under someone’s weight, Misha deliberately aligned his lower body with his.“Ah… Ah!”The sensation once understood made it too easy to imagine the climax. As Chahyun furrowed his brows, Misha clenched his lower lip, pressing his hips tightly. The friction between their pants generated intense heat. As his hands groped his chest, the shirt was pulled upwards, losing its tension.A shiver ran through him. The guy who had once seduced Yoon Chahyun by undressing himself now tried to force Chahyun through a pathetic past experience. As Chahyun felt a creeping sensation of dizziness, Misha didn’t provoke him by hitting his face or kicking his jaw.Surrendering himself to the uncomfortable sensation, Chahyun looked up at his vacant face. Between two dirty uniforms, an indistinguishable mix of pulses and heat spread like a drug throughout his body. His mind grew increasingly distant.Why did he kiss him like that…There was no answer to that question. It was just an impulse. It was because the shell enclosing Misha in that moment was too close, too thick, right in front of Chahyun’s nose. If there was a reason, it was the desire to break it and couldn’t bear the urge.But if he had known that Misha would express such deep pain with just that kiss… If he had known that he would reveal such violent emotions that he had never shown before… Would it have been right not to do such a thing? Should he have somehow restrained that impulse that ruined everything?No, it wouldn’t have been right. Even if Yoon Chahyun could go back to that moment, he would do the same thing.Chahyun turned his head and whispered softly.“How?”