LOVE:ZERO

Hunter would point and laugh at me if I tried to go inside.

Even when I begged him to please go somewhere else, he would stay until his lesson was over, using the excuse that he was practicing footwork, and then he would interrupt.

Remembering that made me feel even more condescending toward him.

“..I can’t go. I have to go to Chloe’s birthday party.” Jiyu replied coldly.

“No. Come to my tournament. Just try not to show up, Jiyu Parker!”

Hunter growled, baring his teeth in a threatening tone.

Jiyu let out a sigh of patience.

Normally, she’d just give in to him out of annoyance. But this time, it was really difficult.

Chloe was Jiyu’s one and only best friend.

With a lawyer dad and a law professor mom, she loved to read and spoke Korean as well as Jiyu.

The two of them got along so well that when they had something they wanted to keep secret, they would whisper it in Korean so the other kids wouldn’t understand.

Chloe’s school life was terrible without her.

We only had one birthday a year, but Hunter had tournaments twice a month. So I didn’t have to think twice about it.

The idea of going to Hunter’s tournament, let alone my best friend’s birthday party, was ridiculous.

“I’ll go next time, but not this week.”

Jiyu shook her head with a determined face.

“Why? Why not?”

She took a deep breath and pursed her lips tightly.

Talking to Hunter, who seemed to think the world revolved around her, sometimes left her breathless.

“I’ve already RSVP’d to the party and bought a gift, and Chloe will be really sad if I don’t go to her birthday party, we’re best friends.”

‘You’re not the only one who has friends, Hunter Hamilton.’

The last sentence didn’t come out of my mouth.

“Then what about my tournament!”

Hunter scrambled off the couch, his face contorting.

Jiyu couldn’t understand the fierce reaction.

He was acting as if she had ruined the tournament. She could only stare in disbelief.

“…What do you want me to do with your tournament?”

Jiyu turned her head sharply away from the vicious glare, unnerved and uncomfortable, not knowing why Hunter was acting like this.

After a moment’s hesitation, she asked.

“Is there a reason why I have to go?”

“Dang it, Ju Parker.”

Hunter chewed on her name and glared at Jiyu.

She was quite stubborn about the subject, which was white and gnarled and looked like it would crumple like a thin sheet of paper in her hands.

She couldn’t even open her mouth in front of the other kids, but she could talk in front of Hunter.

But she had no choice.

Hunter rolled his eyes and shot a glance at the cobwebs clumped together in the corner of the treehouse ceiling.

A dried fly clung to it.

Bracing himself, he reluctantly spat out the truth.

‘Yes. There is a reason why you must come.”

“So, what’s the reason?”

It was the greatest humiliation of his life, bowing down to Jiyu Parker, let alone anyone else. But he wanted to win, so he had no choice.

Hunter knew he was special because the people around him constantly reminded him how amazing it was to be born a Hamilton.

He had so much without having to work for it.

He quickly grew tired of things that were handed to him without much effort.

But tennis was different: the physicality of playing, sweating, and winning a championship trophy was exhilarating and addictive.

For the first time in his life, he wanted something, and he wanted it badly.

He moistened his dry lips.

“I need to check something.”

“What?”

“Whether you’re really my championship jinx or not.”

“…What?”

Ji Yu looked at him in surprise.

Her light brown eyes, slightly different in color saturation, were wide and almost popping.

When Hunter didn’t say anything, she asked again.

“What do you mean, I’m a championship jinx?”

He rubbed his face with his hands and made a disgruntled grunting sound.

“Come to think of it, I think you’re the reason I didn’t win the last tournament,.”

“What?”

“Ju Parker. All you can say is, “What?”

“…what?”

The two stared at each other wordlessly for a moment.

Jiyu snorted out loud in disbelief, and Hunter barely managed to keep his anger in check.

It was bitter, and it was mean, but he was the one who wanted it. Not Jiyu Parker.

Hunter clamped his mouth shut, jaw set, and took a deep breath.

He’d never realized how hard it was to hold something in.

After he calmed down a bit, he opened his mouth again.

“Listen, all the great tennis players have jinxes. Rafael Nadal organizes his water bottles in order before a match. Serena Williams wears the same socks she wore to win the whole tournament. Roger Federer always arrives at the stadium at the same time and does the same warm-up. Some players even have their fathers leave during matches because it’s a jinx to have them there.”

‘Do you get it now, Ju Parker, you idiot?’

The last sentence was only in his head.

Jiyu shook his head with a fat face. The jinx story was quite interesting, but she still couldn’t understand it.

“So? What does that have to do with me?”

“In the recent tournament, I did exactly what I did in the last two tournaments I won. Same clothes, same shoes. I’m even better now than I was then, with quite a few more aces, but I didn’t even make it to the final.”

Tilting his head at an angle, Hunter shot Jiyu a look.

She involuntarily shrugged her shoulders.

“If there’s anything else, it’s you. You never came to watch my matches. Now that I think about it, I think you’re my jinx.”

“…Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t be ridiculous.”

When Jiyu protested, Hunter pushed her.

“If you come and I don’t win, then you’re not my jinx. If you come and I win again, then you are my jinx. If you don’t cooperate like this… I’m gonna tell your mom and have her invite you over.”

“That’s, that’s cheating!”

“Who cares?”

Hunter sarcastically crossed his arms.

Jiyu glared at him and scowled.

It was Hunter Hamilton’s specialty to say something that made no sense and then bulldoze through it like a bulldozer.

If Lauren asked, she’d tell him to skip Chloe’s birthday party and go to Hunter’s tournament.

‘How am I going to get out of this?’

Jiyu racked her brain.

Then she remembered a book she’d read as a child.

‘The Kissing Hand!’

It was a picture book her mom read to her to soothe her separation anxiety.

She had never read it to her, but Jiyu loved it and read it over and over again.

When a baby raccoon was nervous about going to school away from her mom for the first time, Mama Raccoon kissed her on the palm of her hand.

She tells him that whenever he misses his mom, he can put his palm on her cheek and feel her love even when they are apart.

In the back of the book, there were several heart stickers with the word “Kiss” on them.

Whenever she felt anxious about going on a playdate with Hunter, Jiyu would leave the house with those stickers on her palms.

Suddenly, an idea came to her.

After a moment to collect her thoughts, Jiyu looked up.

“Hunter?”

“Why?”

Hunter, who had grown so tall he could almost touch the ceiling of the treehouse, replied in a deep voice.

“Um… I read in a book by a famous psychologist that you don’t have to be physically present to feel someone’s presence.”

Hunter’s eyes flickered in confusion at the offhand remark, and then his brow furrowed.

“What a load of crap”