She walked out of the gym with slow, heavy steps, holding a water bottle she had barely sipped from. Her breathing was still uneven, and the weight of disappointment pressed down on her shoulders. This wasn’t the outcome she had hoped for, but she hadn’t been able to focus throughout the match—nervousness had tied her movements and caused her to make mistake after mistake.

Standing at the entrance, she scanned the parked cars until she spotted her brother waving at her from behind the windshield. Letting out a small sigh of relief, she walked toward the car, eager to sit down and relax for a moment. But as she reached the door, she froze. The front passenger seat—her usual spot—was already occupied by her brother’s friend. She looked up at her brother, waiting for an explanation, but he simply said:

"You'll have to sit in the back now."

She shot him an unimpressed look but didn’t argue. With a resigned sigh, she opened the back door, only to find another surprise—her brother’s best friend was sitting there too. Their eyes met for a brief moment before she let out a quiet exhale and climbed in, squeezing herself between her sports bag and the cold leather seat.

For a few moments, silence filled the car, broken only by the hum of the engine and the muffled sounds of the city outside. Then, the boy sitting beside her turned slightly and asked:

"How was the match?"

She glanced at him before replying in a low voice, still processing everything that had happened:

"We lost... I was really nervous."

A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he raised an eyebrow and replied in a teasing tone:

"Why were you nervous? I wasn’t even there!"