by the sidelines • haechan

seventeen

"Or should I say, Taepoong Academy's Sung Yoojin?"

My feet halted in its tracks as I whipped around, staring at him in utter shock. How did he-?

"Surprised, aren't you?" He chimed, his voice echoing through the deserted street. His figure was illuminated by the dim lights of the restaurant, giving sight to a bright gleam on his face. "But too bad, you've been caught in your lies."

I tried to remain calm as I stood rooted to the ground, processing my reply carefully in my head. He doesn't know anything yet, I shouldn't blow it carelessly.

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed, "You don't know anything about me."

"Oh, I know," he replied without a pause, "More than enough, in fact. Aren't you curious?"

The hair on my arms rose in anxiety as he smugly shrugged. He's just trying to get on my nerves, that's all, he doesn't know anything. No, he can't know anything. The only thing I've brought up about my past was me leaving my club, so what could he possibly have found out? Either way, I'm not staying to find out.

"Save your breath for training instead." I spun around, but his following sentence stopped me again.

"Sung Yoojin, that name isn't as common as you think it is," he started, catching my attention even further. "When you've been in too many competitions, you'll start to remember every competitor's name regardless of their gender, weight category, club or belt, so long as they appear more than a few times."

His words resonated in my mind as I tried to catch each one of them, my heart picking up the pace as well. I knew clearly what he was saying, because that's how I told apart the experienced from the new faces. But that fact alone didn't feel good.

"You're not incredibly outstanding, but you've competed in more than enough competitions for me to remember your name." He started walking closer to me, but I couldn't find the urge to back off. When he was just a metre away from me, he cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyebrows as he said, "And I know because you've gone against my club a couple of times. I bet you didn't even know that."

I unknowingly tried to remember the times I see the name Yeoljeong appear on screen or on the bout sheet, but I really couldn't recall. Donghyuck noticed my unsure expression, which gave way to his incoming attack.

"Need another reason? I saw you standing on the podium lots of times. Not with bronze or silver, but with gold. Inexperienced, my foot," he scowled, his face hardening up. It was the same expression he had that time at the beach, when I brought up his inability to coach others. But what's this information got to do with him?

"So are you going to expose me?" I finally exhaled, hiding my fear under my breath. Seeing how he already dug up so much, there was no point trying to bury it further. His snarl turned into a smirk as he leaned back, laughing into the air like a maniac.

"You're gonna give up this easily? Aren't you ashamed?" He shot back, causing me to flush with a mix of frustration and despair. Looks like he doesn't know the reason I chose to hide it in the first place, which made me angrier.

"So what if I am? Is it any of your business?" I retorted back the only way I could, which triggered a stronger reaction from him.

"Of course it's not, but what bothers me is that you act like some hardworking freak in front of Coach Lee when in reality, you give up easily," he glowered, his eyes lit up with so much despise it could tunnel a hole through my skin. "At least I act true to myself, not like others who hide behind a poorly crafted mask."

He pushed past me ruthlessly as I stumbled over, but I was too flooded with mixed emotions to even care about falling. Anger overwhelmed me as his harsh words repeated inside my head, followed by a wave of realisation and finally guilt.