Cardinal County

22: Much Needed Break

Lisa's POV

The water engulfed her entirely in one swift dive and just like that, she was in another world. She started her usual butterfly strokes, gracefully threading through the six-feet deep pool. She was hoping to finally beat her record this time, and she's not planning to stop until she does.

The moment her hand touched the starting edge of the Olympic-sized pool, her Coach-nim's whistle echoed throughout the hall followed by a set of enthusiastic claps.

"Twenty-five point sixteen seconds faster than your last record, good job kid!" Heechul proudly exclaimed showing her the stopwatch around his neck.

Lisa smiled, "that's a good start," she simply said, hoping to beat her newly-achieved record once again.

Heechul checked his wristwatch, "that's enough for today Liz. You just finished your exams, you should take some rest."

"You go first Coach-nim, I'll do a few more laps then I'll go."

Heechul immediately frowned, "Liz, what did I tell you? You don't have to tire yourself out that much, you're already good. You don't have toㅡ"

"Coach-nim, just a few, I promise. Besides, I'm not that tired yet and I still have to wait for Jaebum-oppa. You can go now Sonsaengnim, I know you have a lot of work to do."

The professor sighed in defeat and crouched down to pat the top of her head. "Stay healthy kid, we don't want you getting sick before or much worse ㅡ during the competition. Wait for your brother's friend before leaving okay? I'm going now."

"Understood Coach-nim, drive safely," she smiled, which was returned by another one from her Coach.

Once alone, she pulled her goggles down to cover her eyes again and did a couple more laps. For four days now, this had become her routine ㅡ wake up, study for exams, go to school, take the said exams, train, go home, study some more, and sleep.

And if you're asking why there's no 'eat' on the list, that's because she rarely ate properly for the past few days. She knew it was wrong, especially for an athlete like her, but she can't control it. She would always lose her appetite from time to time. Was it stress? Was it because of her constant overthinking? She had no idea.

But atleast her worries have lessen a bit this morning when she coincidentally met with Taehyung once again, this time it was in a coffee shop.

"Well your brother only said no Jungkook, he never said no BTS in general right?" He remembered BamBam saying earlier. He was her appointed 'babysitter' that time ㅡ her favorite one might she add, because the guy is cool with everything and is actually fun to be with.

She then walked towards Tae and took the vacant seat across him. He was startled at first when he looked up from his music sheets, but it immediately turned into his familiar boxy smile.

"Hey Liz, long time no see," he greeted making her smile genuinely, a first since that chaotic day.

"You're alone again?" She asked.

Tae shook his head, "nope, I'm waiting for someone."

Her eyebrow instantly rose in question, "are we talking about that someone?"

He just laughed shrugging, it caused her to feel even more curious. "I see you're not alone yourself," Tae commented, effectively changing the topic before glancing at BamBam who's seated at the table near the shop's entrance.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile, "security has been strict these days," she quipped trying to lighten the mood. "So how's our song?"

"I still need a few more lyrics but I'm almost done with half of it!" Tae excitedly said, causing her to feel giddy too.