The neon lights of the bowling alley were dazzling as usual. The sound of the balls being thrown, the stungs that came out with the pins falling... Seongmok was silent between people's laughter. He was sitting in a corner, with his feet crossed together, slowly turning the ball in his hand between his fingers.

His eyes involuntarily scanned an empty place; as if there was a silhouette from years ago. He remembered the days they ran side by side when they were children. Again, that scene…

“look Seongmok, the clouds are racing!”

and that answer how many times he repeats,

“clouds don't compete idiot. The wind drives them.”

When he remembered that moment, the corner of his lips curled vaguely, but his smile immediately stopped interrupting. He returned to this day again with a heavy thought that collapsed into him.

He put the ball on the table, rubbed his palms. His thoughts were knotted in his throat

“what if ı tell her? What if ı open up what ı've been holding inside me for years?”

A scene immediately came to life before his eyes: As he did when he dropped the bowling ball, the words would come out of his mouth... he would take a heavy, irreversible road. And that girl, with that smile that has been a friend for years, but a little embarrassed, a little distant, will say

“I'm sorry Seongmok, ı don't see you that way.”

This possibility hit the ball harder than knocking over the pins. For there, only one game is lost; but here, the bond that it has hidden for years would be shattered.

Just then the door opened; the neon lights created a new shadow on the floor of the hall. He was the friend he had dreamed of for years who came in. He was looking with the same expression on his face since childhood.

His heart raced. He reflexively threw his hand into the bowling ball, but his fingers couldn't find the strength to get into the holes. As the girl approached him, he couldn't take her eyes off his eyes for a moment and finally found the strength to speak.

“Hey..”