Interwoven ✔️

45~ A Nonsensual Slamming

My opponent lashed out, a well aimed and very powerful kick to my ribs that I barely managed to block in time. Pain shot up my arm as it took the brunt of the blow. Then I ducked instinctively as he swung a fist, his knuckles whistling through the air where my head had been moments before.

People were shouting all around me. Yet all the noise was nothing but a muddle in the back of my mind as I focused on the person in front of me.

He was tall, he was fast, he was strong—he was deadly. However he had a tendency not to block the lower, more vulnerable regions of his body. That's where I struck.

I shot forward like a bullet. His arm came around and I caught it— twisting it, disabling it— and then slammed my knee right where a guy never ever wanted to get slammed in unless it was the sensual kind of slamming.

This was not a sensual kind of slamming.

My opponent went down. One. Two. Three.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the match.

"I knew she was a baddie." Suho grinned from where he stood at the front with all the other trainees looking on.

I made a face at him before turning to my still groaning opponent on the ground. My own jaw throbbed painfully where his fist had connected against it when I hadn't ducked in time. Looks like I was going to have another bruise right as my other one was fading. Granted, this bruise wasn't as severe though.

"Hey Wonwoo." I reached down and gingerly tapped the crouched boy on the ground. "Um, are you okay?"

Now that the fire of being locked in fighting was dying inside me I felt guilt take its place. Uncomfortable prickling guilt.

As a part of training, we were put into weekly matches against each other and forced to fight until one person couldn't get up for at least three seconds. The fights could be very violent, even until the point of knocking someone bloody unconscious. For my fights, I tended to either try and pin my opponents or strike true and hard in the head to stun them. Out of the four matches I'd been in, I'd won every single one.

Perhaps that was the reason why this week I'd been pitted against Wonwoo. This kid was the top in our unit. He was tall, but not big enough to be slow; and he was strong with perfectly accurate and deadly blows.

"Yeah just give me a moment." Wonwoo glanced up and tried to smile through his pained expression. "You have a real sharp knee."

I chuckled sheepishly at that and stepped back as one of the medics that always watched the matches in case severe injuries were incurred, stepped into the arena we'd been fighting in.

"Jiyeon." Krystal leaned forward where she was standing next to Suho. "You do realize this means you're technically top in the unit now right?"

I frowned and hopped off the arena, which was really a large platform slightly elevated from the regular ground. "Wonwoo still has more points in the physical category."

"True. But in combat you're top." Krystal clapped a hand on my shoulder, making me wince. The injury was finally beginning to fade despite being used almost every day.

It didn't hurt as much as it once did, but when someone with as strong a grip as Krystal slapped it...

She noticed my expression and shot me an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"I'm curious." Suho folded his arms and tilted his head. "You've always been really good with hand to hand combat, baddie. Are you naturally gifted or did someone train you?"

I hesitated. A familiar deep ache flared up in me. Should I just pretend that I was naturally gifted? I didn't want to tell them that Jimin trained me since I didn't want to create any complications. After talking things out and expressing our feelings of our relationship, we'd managed to keep everything between us pretty low key that no one suspected anything.