J9 One Shot

Arrow

Nine

"Miss, again?", the annoying voice that I heard from my side caused me to drop the arrow that I was about to shoot, back into the quiver.

"Yes, so what? Wanted to flaunt yours? No need. You're a defending champion. So, could you leave me alone, I need to practice...", I said and about to start again.

"Why do you always become defensive whenever I said anything? I was just making small talk, without any ill intent. You could laugh it off, when the others teased you about that, except whenever it's me...", he asked and waited for my answer calmly.

"Are we close enough; friends that could joke around? Why do you need to come by and watch my practice, anyway?", I asked him back.

"Hmm, but you still owe me a last match, remember?", he said, and raised his brows.

I released a resigned sigh, "That was a few years ago, Joong. Let it go. We are not teens anymore".

"Really? If you've already let it go, why do you still being sour and avoid from having a one on one match with me?". Joong was right. I became defensive only with him. But, somehow I felt liked something that could possibly be mine, was snatched away a moment too soon.

Archery was something that I was good at. Not built or tall enough for other sport, it was something that I put my heart in from the start. Since elementary, till I was fifteen, my reign in that sport was uncontested, until, when I reached the age of sixteen, the arrival of a new star archer to my district, Joong Archen, caused every competition to be a battlefield. The championship title, kept interchanging between the two of us. Three years ago, we were supposed to have a final match, to decide the circuit champion, who would be honoured with a sport scholarship to any varsity of his choice, courtesy of one rich alumni who had sponsored the circuit for many years.

But, fate was not kind to me. I was involved in a freak accident that left my left arm to suffer severe fractures, that needed corrective surgery. So, the title and the scholarship went to Joong, as the type of injury prevented me from doing sport for quite some time, a rematch would be impossible to be held in the immediate future, that the organisation decided to proceed with the final decision. Joong was innocent, I knew, but I couldn't help but feel bitter about it.

Now, I just played it as a hobby and chose a training venue that I knew, would be quite far from his varsity. So, the chances of us meeting would be almost none. Yet, we did somehow meet. The moment I heard his voice calling my name, my blood ran cold. I really didn't want him to see me in this pitiful state from my former glory.

Nobody knew the cause of my forfeit on that tournament, except the organizer and my school. For a few weeks, he came here and watched me practiced, after finishing his own target practice. I kept my cool, pretending that nothing was amiss, but because of the lack of strength, the bow that I held was unstable and kept missing the centre. Joong watched, but kept his silence still. Only recently, he started to try to talk to me, on the obvious missed mark.

And today, somehow, my patience ran thin. I put down the bow that I was still holding, and stood facing him, "If I agree to a match, right now, would you stop hounding me about this thing again?", I asked, looking at the complete gears that he wore, after his own practice.

He nodded and smiled, "Definitely, you could even go first". We called one of the instructors who was around to help judge the impromptu match. Just three arrows, shoot alternately.

I started, held my position and shot at the target. A seven. Joong smiled and shot his first arrow. A ten. I launched my second shot. An eight. Joong got another ten. I gritted my teeth. I knew, that I couldn't catch up to him, but still, I badly wanted to at least hit the bullseye, once. My arm might take a load of burden, but this was the last shot, I could bear the pain for a few days. I took a deep breath, pulled the bowstring, the pain started shooting along my left arm, but I ignored them. The released this time, was stable and smooth, and when the arrow hit the bullseye, I couldn't help but feel a sense of joy, and thus unconsciously turned and gave Joong a satisfied smile. Joong casually released his arrow, and turned to me. When it was called as a five, which obviously was purposely hit to be equal to my total, something caused my temper to burst.