God must have taken a break from fulfilling prayers, leaving her team to absorb the aftermath of defeat. Yet, she wasn't fuming over it.

Marching away, drooped faces crinkled as bodies bearing Wiskayok's sweaty jerseys brewed with unspoken profanities. Celebration was heard in only one side of the world, and it wasn't on theirs.

Cheers echoed on the far East of the field, the sun blessing their triumph with hot spotlights. Like servants around the queen bee, the team huddled together, lifting one person like a human trampoline. The MVP.

And up in the air, there you were, hair flailing amidst the windblown craze, framing your ecstatic grin.

A hard-earned smile after a fair game, even if her teammates's sulking longed to disagree.

A smile that was a sight to behold, something worth showing to Nationals—off to where your team was bound to go.

A smile reminiscent of the one you once shared with her.

Even as distance separated you physically, morphing small talks from late nights to nothing, Laura still remembered that crescent shaped smile.

The creases near your eyes anytime you squinted under the sun's blinding lights, your determined game face, and the precise moves that spoke of seasoned expertise, not high school talent.

She remembered everything.

How could she forget her best friend, soccer idol, the first to make her feel... something she couldn't quite put.

Something she didn't want to admit.

Now, standing under your imperceptible gaze after escaping her team's grasp, Laura realized this reunion wasn't going to be a simple rewind to the past.

Silence, mere glances—

Six years of silence had a way of making things... well, awkward.

"I saw you play," Laura blurted out. "You were great."

"I mean, you are still great," she smiled nervously, mouth aching to say I missed you.

Did you miss me, too?

Laura fiddled with her fingers, a tap dance restraining her from hugging you like an excited aunt.

"Anyways, um," she continued, feeling the social pressure mounting. "How have you been?"