Stay With Me | Han Jisung X Reader | Bang Chan X Reader | Stray Kids ~ SKZ |

18 : Joy II

I'm awaken by the sounds of birds outside the window. Joy isn't in the room. I look out the window and stare at the blue sky. I can tell it's going to rain today. The sky is a muted blue, and I can see rain clouds in the distance.

Summers in Korea where some of my favorites. It did rain a lot, but it's green and lush outside. And there was always something to do especially with Joy around. I usually stayed in Seoul because that's where Joy's family stayed. The house I stayed at was just a 10 minute drive from her family home. They also had a vacation house just off the beach that we spent most of our summer in.

Joy comes from a wealthy family. The type of wealthy that sent their children aboard to study with a full-time nanny, chef, and music teacher. Her dad is a lawyer and her mother is the CFO of some MedTech firm. She had the type of life you'd see in movies, and she was the beautiful daughter that excelled in everything. A gymnastics star since I've known her; that's where we met. Missing her two front teeth and always had her hair in tight pigtails. She had the most beautiful leotards, I remember one in particular that was my favorite. It was a light pink color with baby blue and lavender sequin butterflies on it. Even with her missing teeth and her glasses that had the silly sports strap on it, she was beautiful. At just 6, she was already better than the 12 year old's that had been in that gym since before we were even born.

One girl in particular, Jasmine, didn't like that. Her mother, Mrs. Kelly, was our coach, so Jasmine started attending the gym when she was 3. Considered the best at the gym, she dedicated her entire life to it. She was highly sought after by local competition teams. On a random day after school, a recruiter came to the gym to see Jasmine. While watching Jasmine's routine, she saw Joy in the background showing us her bridge to chest roll to bridge to standing. After Jasmine finished her routine, the recruiter shook her hand and walked over to Joy. Joy was showing us her split jumps by this point.

She started talking to Joy and asked her to do a few other moves; a cartwheel, switch leg cartwheel, one handed cartwheel. Back walkover, front walkover, and so many others I don't even remember. But I do remember the look on Jasmine's face. I was scared, and I wasn't even the person she was glaring at. Some minutes later, Joy's nanny arrived with DaeHyun in his soccer uniform. The recruiter sparked up a conversation with her, and Joy skipped back to our group.

Joy : I think she wants me to join the competition team!

Emily : That's so cool! My sister didn't get onto a team until she was 10.

Then Jasmine walked over to us and bumped Joy with her shoulder.

Joy : Hey, why'd you do that? You almost knocked me over.

Jasmine : Too bad, I'll remember to push harder next time.

The other girls started backing away from Jasmine and Joy.

Jasmine : Do you really think they're going to want a 4-eyed freak on their team?

I saw Joy's eyes starting to tear up as Jasmine continued to whisper insults at her just inches away from her face. Joy was tall for her age, but Jasmine still towered over her by at least a foot. I couldn't watch this any longer.

Y/N : Jasmine, stop being mean to her.

Jasmine : What was that piggy?

She then focused her attention on me and started making pig noises. I had been pretty chubby when I was younger. It was part of the reason I joined gymnastics, my doctor recommended I join some after school activity to help me lose the baby fat my body held onto.

Jasmine's glare made me regret saying anything. As I started to back away from Jasmine and he insults, Joy grabbed my hand and stood next to me.

Joy : Stop being mean and go practice. You can try again next year.