Unloved Jinx
As Jiyu crossed halfway through the playroom, she let out a long sigh and stopped in her tracks.>
Without turning around, she asked in a voice that somehow felt satisfyingly cold.>
“What? I don’t have time, so just say it quickly.”>
The chair scraped loudly as Hunter pushed it back and stood up. His footsteps approached, then he stopped right in front of her, blocking the path like a wall. She kept her eyes downcast, stubbornly refusing to meet his gaze.>
“You really don’t know what I’m going to say?”>
Hunter demanded the favor without a hint of bowing. Jiyu turned her head and let out a dramatic sigh.>
“If you have nothing to say, I’m leaving. I have homework to do at home.”>
As she tried to slip past him, he moved in one stride to block her path again.>
“Where do you think you’re going? My words aren’t finished yet.”>
“……”>
“There’s a tournament on Friday. My first L1 tournament.”>
Jiyu waited a moment longer, but that was all he said. Junior tennis tournaments followed a clear ladder from Level 9 to Level 1. She had heard through gossip that Hunter, whose UTR had just crossed 7, had been seeded for the USTA National Indoor Championship, the lowest-level L1 event open to players under fourteen. The Hamilton family’s endless chatter made sure she stayed informed.>
When she remained silent, Hunter added with clear frustration.>
“This is Level 1. A National tournament. Do you still not get it?”>
“No, I heard you. So what does any of this have to do with me?”>
Jiyu always knew she would lose in the end. There had always been an invisible hierarchy between them, like master and servant, since childhood.>
But this time she refused to bow so easily. Some strange stubbornness had taken root. Maybe it was the raging teenage hormones telling her to rebel against Hunter instead of her parents.>
“Kiss me.”>
Hunter held out his hand toward her.>
“No.”>
She turned her head away stubbornly.>
“Haa… Are you still pouting because of what I said? Stop being childish, Ju Parker. Back then, I was clearly the one who started those weird things first—”>
Jiyu grabbed his fingertips, brought them to her lips, gave them a perfunctory kiss, and then shoved his hand away. She glared at him with narrowed eyes.>
“Satisfied? I’m really leaving now. If you try to stop me again, I’ll scream. Move, Hunter Hamilton.”>
Her knees trembled and her voice shook for the first time in her life of rebellion. She clutched her notebook and books tightly to her chest like shields and stormed out of the playroom, running across the living room after him.>
She slammed the elevator doors open and pressed every lobby button as if Hunter were right behind her. The elevator descended with a ding, and she sagged against the wall with a relieved sigh.> >
This was the first time she had been cruel to Hunter. Her body still shook slightly. The anger felt good, but so did the fear.>
What if she couldn’t get tutoring anymore? It would be expensive to do it alone.>
Her mom loved visiting Hunter’s house the most. What if she couldn’t go because of her?>
Hunter… he probably hated her even more now.>
A strange sadness stirred in Jiyu’s chest. Before heading home, she sat on the bench in the plaza for a while, breathing in the cold air. The bare winter tree house looked strangely lonely under the icy night sky.>
Hunter had suffered his worst result in the L1 tournament in Chicago—zero sets won and a drop in his UTR. Unable to contain her curiosity, Jiyu checked the tournament website anyway. She knew the loss wasn’t her fault, yet a small pang of guilt still tugged at her. Even the consolation bracket looked like he had given up on the whole thing.>
Hunter usually came alive only against opponents better than him. From the scores alone, she could tell he had fought with everything he had even when he lost. But this time he had lost badly to a player who ranked lower than her and had never beaten before. She felt a flicker of surprise.>
Sunday evening in New York after the Chicago trip.>
Hunter summoned her to the tree house at the plaza. Jiyu had planned to ignore his texts, but at the last minute she changed her mind impulsively.>
Wrapped in an oversized sweater, she stepped outside as the late-afternoon yellow light barely touched the edge of the garden. The fountain had stopped, leaving the winter plaza bathed in a chilly, washed-out gray light.>
Cold wind slipped under her sweater. Jiyu hugged her arms around herself and walked toward the tree house.>
Thud, thud. The sound of a tennis ball bouncing off the wall came from inside. Several balls rolled across the floor; kids playing on the playground had brought one with them. But the one being slammed now had to be Hunter’s. The violent impact echoed like someone was trying to destroy it.>
He was frustrated. And furious.>
Jiyu paused, then decided to turn back. She didn’t want to face a raging Hunter. She took one step toward home when the bouncing stopped.>
“Ju Parker, stop right there.”>
It sounded unmistakably like Hunter’s voice, yet she couldn’t understand how it had grown so deep and low. Just a few weeks ago, raising it even a little had cracked it into awkward notes.>
She wanted to turn and run through the plaza door straight home, but her legs had turned to stone.>
Just like before, Hunter leaped from the slide entrance in one fluid motion and strode toward her with quick steps. He held a tennis ball in his fist and glared down at her, baring his teeth. She stood there, arms wrapped around her body, staring only at the floor.>
Jiyu forced out her voice. “Why did you call me?”>
“I have something to say.”>
“What?”>
She tried to look up at him, but she lacked the courage to meet his eyes. Logically she knew his defeat wasn’t her fault. Yet an odd sense of guilt pulled at her like a leash.>
‘I should have kissed him properly back then.’>
She never imagined that stupid jinx would ruin his matches like this.>
“Ju Parker, you are no longer my winning jinx.”>
Her head snapped up. His piercing blue eyes blazed like welding flames. “Is that why you called me here?”>
“Exactly. Begging me like that every time there was a match was truly disgusting. Now you’re useless to me, Ju Parker. You’re nothing. Nothing at all.”>
Hunter spat the last word with venom, repeating it for emphasis. Jiyu’s lips trembled. Her limbs tingled like pins and needles. The brief guilt vanished, replaced instantly by rage.>
Her nose stung, then her eyes burned. She felt wronged. She bit her lower lip hard until the pain made the trembling stop. Only then did she lower her gaze and take a deep breath.>
“How nice.”>
Her voice came out calmer than she expected. Hunter raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. “What?”>
“I’m finally free of having to play your ridiculous jinx.”>
Jiyu glared at him, lifting her chin. Tears rolled from the corners of her eyes. She had never cried in front of him before, even after all the events of that first meeting at age six. A strange satisfaction filled her chest. Tears slid down her cheeks, gathered at her chin, and fell in tiny drops.>
Hunter’s face had lost all color. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. He swallowed hard, and something bulged and bobbed in his throat. It wasn’t there before.>
Jiyu stared at his neck for a moment, then turned away with deliberate cruelty.