Love, Betray & Crash (Jeonghan)

𝔸𝕔𝕥 𝕆𝕟𝕖: 𝕊𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕖 𝟙

"Swimming isn't everything, winning is"

- Mark Spitz 

Emily's coach from America loved saying that quote. 

He said it at every chance he used to get to the point that Emily had started to hear the quote even in her dreams. 

Swimming isn't everything, winning is. 

For the longest time Emily believed in that philosophy. Not because she truly believed it in herself but because she was grown into it. 

It did make sense to some extent.

What is the point of swimming this hard if you are not even going to win? 

Waste of money and time. 

And so she allowed herself to dive deep into the philosophy without even ever taking a minute to step back and wonder if all this is even worth it. 

Now, Emily is not so sure anymore. 

She gasps as she breaks the surface of the water, breathing in deeply for air. Emily removed her goggles and cap with one hand while she places her other hand onto the slab to stabilize herself. 

Glancing back at the pool, Emily notices that she is the first one to reach the surface and finish her laps, the last one for today. Gathering the strength in her arms, Emily pulls herself up and sits herself out of the water, letting only her feet be left in. 

"Good job," Shin Kyungee, the coach for the Women's Nation Team said and Emily felt her walk up behind her. Yoo Minseo, the fastest female swimmer in the nation, breaks out second, breathing in for air as well. She immediately spots Emily sitting on the edge and looks away while breathing deeply. 

"You made a personal record Eunmi," Coach said, using the pale skinned girl's real name. Coach Shin is one of the very few people who call Emily by her real name, Kim Eunmi, even though she prefers to go by Emily. "But you were really struggling in the end. It was evident."

Emily didn't say anything but kept her gaze focused on the water. 

"We need to work on your stamina again. The flu really weakened you down," Coach said. 

"Great work Minseo. Remember to ice that calf tonight," The Coach continued speaking before walking over to the other side. 

Emily slowly gets up with a sigh and bends over to pick up her bottle and towel lying on a nearby bench and walks into the changing rooms. Hearing footsteps behind her, Emily knows its Minseo yet the two girls don't say anything to each other. 

Emily yanks open her locker while Minseo falls into step behind her.

Ironically, they happened to be roommates at the national training center dormitory and ironically their lockers happen to be next to each and ironically Minseo is the biggest rival for Emily in South Korea. 

"That was good," Minseo said, yanking her own locker door open and taking out a towel from it. 

"Not as good as yours," Emily replied. Even thought she made a personal record, the national record for the 400m freestyle is currently held by Minseo with a forty-four second gain than Emily's record, which may sound like nothing but once you reach your best, its extremely difficult to even improve your timings by even five seconds.