in which an aspiring athlete meets an actual athlete
all similarities to other stories are probably coincidental.
thanks.
lowercase intended
@vantaeday,,2019
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"oh no!" minyoung jolted out of bed once she glanced at her alarm clock.
it was early on a saturday morning, and yeonjun had arranged and agreed to train her for the trials.
"i'll see you at eight then." his stern instruction echoed in her head as she attempted to brush her teeth and comb her hair at the same time.
she grabbed her bag, racket and shoes before racing out the door. she hadn't bothered to check if she had forgotten anything, but she prayed that luck would be on her side that morning.
she managed to arrive at the school courts fifteen minutes past eight, panting furiously as she let herself in. yeonjun was already there, hitting tennis balls over the net furiously.
"you're late." he clucked disapprovingly.
she barely managed to mumble an apology, being out of breath still from having run at full speed all the way to school.
"we'll start in ten minutes then," and as she glanced at him in mild curiosity, he shrugged his shoulders, "i just arrived too."
the amount of balls scattered around the court and his sweat-soaked hair seemed to indicate otherwise, but minyoung chose to keep quiet and hurriedly made her way to the stands. she fumbled through her bag, panic rising up in her as she unsuccessfully tried to search for her bottle.
"did the stars say you would enjoy a lucky day?" yeonjun glanced over lazily.
"i wish they did, i really could use all the luck i can get," she replied, "i think i forgot my bottle."
as she got up and made to leave to buy a bottle of water, yeonjun stopped her, grabbing her wrist as he did so. a quick glance down from her at his grip resulted in a flustered grunt and he released her.
"if you don't mind, just share mine for now." he offered his bottle, "we've already wasted a lot of time as it is."
she took the bottle hesitantly, but the water was a huge relief and she immediately felt more refreshed. she leapt to her feet and grabbed her racket, bouncing a ball on it as she called him onto the courts.
"you're that excited to play?" there was a hint of amusement in his tone as he grabbed his racket and joined her, "c'mon then, show me your best."
the court was soon almost a sea of neon green as yeonjun threw tosses for her to hit as a warm up. this was easy enough, and she returned each ball with ease.
"take note of where you're hitting the ball," he shouted as he continued tossing, "make sure you aim for areas where your opponent has to react quickly!"
she corrected her strokes accordingly, finding his instructions relatively easy to follow. the balls that followed seemed to have landed where he wanted them to be as he ended off with a huge smile on his face.
"you were able to understand my advice instantly, not a shabby job at all."
she smiled, but inwardly rejoiced that he found her capable and deserving of a compliment.
as they went around the court picked up the balls, yeonjun questioned minyoung on why she kept losing easy points when she obviously had the technique down.
"my serves are a issue, and once one mistake is made, they just keep on coming." she confessed.
yeonjun had noticed that already, but he didn't want to diminish any confidence she had by pointing out an issue that she was already insecure about. he had remembered her mentioning it when he had helped her with her injuries.
he tapped his chin thoughtfully, pondering on the reasons why this could be happening.
"i think," he began slowly, "you simply lack confidence. you need to be confident about your subsequent serves even if you made a mistake earlier."
this struck her. she knew that her service was the main issue, but had merely blamed it on her lack of skill in mastering something as basic as a serve. her puzzlement must have shown on her face because yeonjun threw his head back and laughed.
"why, can i assume your surprise is because this statement came from me?" his eyes sparkled, "the one person you ticked off in front of the entire school in your first week?"
the tips of her ears went pink and he smirked.
"you were being rude," she scolded, "let's let bygones be bygones."
"five consecutive and accurate shots into the service box, and i promise to stop bringing it up." he casually tossed a ball high into the air, way higher than needed, and swung at it with all his might.
despite the large amount of energy used accompanied with the seemingly careless aim, the ball landed perfectly at the edge of the service box before bouncing off.
her mouth dropped.
"how in the world-" she managed to sputter out, "teach me please."
"seven consecutive and accurate serves then."
"six." she bargained.
"eight, and that's my final offer."
"fine, seven it is."
"lovely doing business with you, minyoung."
he raised his arms in victory and stepped back, gesturing for her to start. she took a deep breath and bounced the ball before tossing it into the air. she locked on the area she wanted to serve and swung, but the ball landed outside the box.
"we have a whole bag of balls, and all the time in the world, so feel free to try again." yeonjun was sitting cross-legged behind her, leaning against the fence tiredly.
she repeated the same routine. bouncing the ball, aiming, tossing and hitting. she focused as hard as she could, but the number of balls kept reducing, and she was still unable to hit the target of seven.
she eventually failed to accomplish the task. by this time, yeonjun had changed from a sitting position to one where he was lying on his side, and she felt bad. he had been very quiet throughout all of it, for which minyoung was grateful.
"i'm sorry for wasting your time today," she apologised as they packed up, "you could have been resting instead."
"look, your balls were almost there, and they were consistent at least," he leaned down next to her and pointed, "we'll try again next time."
yeonjun was relieved when the familiar fire in her eyes began burning a little stronger after nearly having been extinguished.
"thanks, for today," she called as he turned to leave, "especially for taking the time to help me."
"it was my own choice." he blinked and let himself out the gates, whistling as he did so.
hello~ i found out while trying to stay on semi-hiatus (i have an important exam that makes me hate school lmao) that i hit 1k reads! sorry if this came a little late, but thank you so much for helping me reach this milestone! i'll try to churn out the story as soon as i can! ❤ (i'll probably be back by december!)
