Limitless || Mark Lee

Chapter 20

Mirae woke up the next day to the sound of her alarm. Letting out a groan, she checked the time.

7:50? Shit. Taeyong is expecting me at 8.

She scrambled off the bed, quickly getting ready, changing into the workout clothes Jaehyun bought her and running to the practice room.

"8 am on the dot, welcome to training, Mirae."

Taeyong looked up from his watch, standing in the middle of the training room as Mirae rushed in. She carefully walked over to him, a nervous smile on her face.

"Why do you seem so scared?" Taeyong asked, taking note of her expression. "I don't bite. I'm just here to make sure you survive."

He smiled at her before turning to walk over towards one of the walls.

"So we'll start easy, just basic training." He walked back over to her, throwing some hand wraps at her as he wrapped his own.

"Basic training?"

"Yeah. You have good stamina and technique but now it's about developing your strength and instincts. I don't quite think you're ready for guns or knives yet, so we'll start slow. Johnny and Jaehyun will be arriving later to help out." He smiled at her as he tightened the wraps on his hands.

"O..kay. Cool."

He laughed slightly as he watched her struggle with the wraps, walking over and gently taking them from her grasp.

"There you go, ready?" He said once he finished.

"Yeah... thanks." She stepped away from him with a small smile on her face as he began to stretch.

He's being so nice to me, he's even gentler than normal. What is going on?

"All stretched, Mirae?" She nodded her head, taking his outstretched hand as he pulled her off the mat and onto her feet. "Okay, just do your best and give it your all."

She let out a breath, taking her stance and staring down the older boy. She watched as Taeyong closed his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he looked at her again, there was a fire in his eyes that scared her slightly, but there was no anger in his gaze, only a playful warmth.

"Ready? Go."

- - -

Johnny and Jaehyun walked through the halls towards the training room, Mirae and Taeyong had been scheduled to train for the past four hours one on one and the two older boys nervously rushed through the headquarters.

"Do you think she's gonna be okay?" Jaehyun asked the older boy anxiously.

"She seems tough and Taeyong likes her enough. It's only the first day and he's been nice to her so far."

"I just hope he hasn't bloodied her up too bad yet." Jaehyun said as they heard grunts coming through the doorway.

The pair shared a fearful look before turning into the room. They stopped dead in their tracks at the sight in front of them.

To their surprise, Mirae wasn't bloodied at all. Both she and Taeyong were bouncing around the mat, sweat on their foreheads and competitive smiles on their faces as they circled one another.

"Alright Mirae, let's try that again. When you're ready."

The girl let out a breath and lunged at Taeyong. He deflected her, slipping to the side, but she was able to hook her foot around his leg, bringing him down to the ground with her. In a not-so-graceful roll, she scrambled to her feet, pinning him to the ground with a foot on his chest.