180 Days (TeacherxStudent)

Chapter 13 - Confirmation

I bowed when Master Roman handed me my orange belt. "You are a great Taekwondo player, Len. I expect the best and only the best from you." He said as he bowed back. A feeling of pride hit me and I grinned at him. "Thank you Sir!"

I sat back down and waited for everyone to get their new belts. Yejun made me skip yellow belt since he taught me form, kicking combination and stances. Even so, I still had to prove the class and Master Roman I was good enough. Because I was the only white belt, performing the white and yellow belt kicking combination, form and stances made me feel nervous. It wasn't everyday a white belt was skipping a belt. In fact, I was the first one to do it in this dojang. After everyone got their belts, we all took a group picture. I stood next to Yejun and grinned wider when he pulled me to him.

"Len, let's take some pictures?" I nodded as everyone started leaving. He held his phone up and I looked up at his phone. We both smiled at the camera and started doing silly faces. I then took my phone out and we took more selfies. He took my phone and took more since his arms are longer. Suddenly, my eyes drifted from my phone to the corner of the room.

Cindy stayed still, her eyes glaring daggers through me. Yejun caught my gaze and put my phone down. Once he looked at her, she flipped her hair and walked away. "Yejun, do you like eating ramen?" He shrugged. "Ramen is okay, I don't mind it." I let out a small laugh and started walking towards the girls locker room. "You should."

--

Yejun and I circled each other. Our eyes stalked each other as we watched our steps. I focused on his movements and how many steps he took per second. Once I saw slight hesitation, I sent a roundhouse to his chest. He dodged it with ease and suddenly was in front of me. "You have a height advantage." I whined. He gave me a charming smile and stepped back. "Height advantage or not, I could've KO'd you right there."

I sighed and went back into fighting stance. The playfulness left as we both became serious again. The dojang was quiet. Master Roman said it's fine for staff to practice after hours, so we started to take advantage of it. Almost every night we we were sparring. He would comment on my movements and would fix my stance. "Taekwondo is all about being fast, but you must put power in your kicks. You can be fast, but if you land kicks on me and it does nothing, you must become stronger."

We both bounced as we made slight movements. I checked him, making sure to loudly stomp my foot and yell, but it didn't phase him. I inwardly rolled my eyes and faked a roundhouse. He moved back a little and raised his knee. My eyes widened as I stepped back, blocking his kick. Yejun is about half a foot taller than me, making it hard to spar him. It's impossible for me to get a face shot on him.

Before I could recover from blocking his powerful kick, he sent another to my other side. Luckily, we're wearing sparring gear, but it still hurt. I fell down and bit my bottom lip in anger. It's unfair that he's a fourth degree black belt and taller than me, but I cannot let that bother me. I was the one who asked him to spar me. I told him to have no mercy, and even though it's obvious he's showing mercy, it still hurt.

I need to improve.

Getting up, I went back into fighting stance. He hesitated but went back into fighting stance. I tried to cool myself down because anger leads to reckless moves. I feigned another roundhouse, but he still bounced in the same place. Feigning another, he moved and I did something I never thought I would do.

I jumped and snapped my foot out. I felt my toe lightly graze his headgear as he moved back. I saw the surprise on his face and smiled. He returned it and took his headgear off. "Very good, Len. You've gotten a lot more flexible. You also jump a lot higher." Taking off my headgear, I cast it to the side and we helped each other take off the rest of our gear.