Gold | Park Sunghoon

15

Competition

"Where's coach? Isn't she usually here by now?" Jangmi asked Aera as she stuffed her school uniform into her duffel bag and sat down on the floor beside her friend. She put on a fresh pair of socks then slipped her cheerleading shoes on and tied them tightly. Aera looked up from her cellphone and shrugged her shoulders before calling one of the team captain. 

"Where's coach?"

"I texted coach fifteen minutes ago and she said that she had a family emergency. She said it will be Coach Jang today."

"But, where is he though? Shouldn't he be here by now?"

That's when the captain also shrugged his shoulders at the two girls. "I also don't know. He's not replying to me," he huffed in annoyance before looking to all of his teammates. He called everyone's attention, having everyone huddling at his feet and sat down in front of him while Jangmi and Aera remained where they were.

"If you guys didn't know, Coach Kim will not be able to make it today because of a family emergency. We'll be having Coach Jang—" He was interrupted by his co-captain when she suddenly stood beside him and showed her phone to him. All the team captain did was sigh, face palming from what he just read. 

"Nari just got word from Coach Jang..." his voice faltering, unsure of how to word his next sentences properly. "Basically: training has been cancelled today. Apparently, Coach Jang was not informed that he had to be here; and he's in the middle of other things right now. We, or Nari, also asked about Coach Kwon; but she's currently in Thailand with the gymnastics team. for a competition."

Competition.

It was the only word that Jangmi heard from her captain. It stuck in her mind and reminded her of Sunghoon. Since her training had just been cancelled, did she finally have a chance to watch him? Could she finally watch him do the thing he loved the most? She could feel the excitement bubble up inside of her so quickly that it made her want to run to the ice-skating rink right at that moment.

"... so, we will have training tomorrow. For now, just rest or something," the captain said dismissively as he ran his hands through his hair frustratingly. Jangmi was only able to hear the last part because she was so lost in her own thoughts but was still able to understand what was going on. She stood up from the floor as soon as everyone else did.

Aera nudged her friend. "Should we eat somewhere? Because I'm hungry and Subway sounds great right now!" She said enthusiastically as she thought of where they had gone last winter break. Besides staying with Jay and his friends, Jangmi would also stay with Aera and go out after training. The two girls would either go to that one pizza place Aera loved so much, or head to the street food stalls just a few blocks away. When they couldn't decide between both places, the settled for Subway: affordable and healthy.

Jangmi smiled at her friend awkwardly. "I actually have to be somewhere in 30 minutes. I'm so sorry, Aera. I'll make it up to you, I promise," she said in a panicked manner as she looked at the clock. Even if the ice-skating rink was just a five-minute walk, she wanted to be early; either that or maybe she just wanted to see him already.