A Bout for Two // NCT Renjun

Chapter 11

Flashback to 3 years ago...

       Here I am with the rest of the Chinese international fencing team at one of the biggest fencing tournaments of the year, Summer Nationals.  This year it is being held in Rome, Italy.  It's my first time in Italy and so far the trip has been pretty enjoyable.  However, today is the day that will really count.  I warm up with the rest of my teammates before we are put into pools, or groups that determine who we fence and when.  However, today's event is not an individual competition, but team competition.  Now of course we're all a bit nervous, but we're all extremely good fencers.  China's women's foil international team is one of the few teams where all of the fencers are internationally ranked.  It's truly a privilege that I get to have these amazing girls on my team.  After warming up, we head to our pool and begin to fence other teams.

       So far into the competition, we have fenced team Italy, team Russia, team Brazil, and team Ukraine.  All were very difficult competition, but we beat all of them.  Now there is only one more team to fence before pools come to an end.  The last team that we have to fence is team Netherlands.  Now the Netherland's international fencing team is one of the other teams where ever single fencer is internationally ranked.  They're probably going to be the most difficult team we fence in our pool.  The match starts, and I'm up first.  I salute my opponent as well as the referee, and I put my mask on, waiting for the referee to make the call.  The bout starts and I start to advance towards my opponent.  After pushing her towards the end of the strip, I make a swift attack hitting her in the side.  After a bout full of pushing each other to the end of the strip with some lunges here and there, the bout finishes, final score being 15-11 team China.  My teammates surround me with hugs and cheers and we watch as the next fencer from our team goes up to fence.

       After all is said and done, my team has ended up at the number 1 seed, meaning that we get a tiny break before fencing again.  This time, it's DEs (double elimination).  If we lose our next bout, we go home.  However, if we win, we keep advancing until we reach the top, or 2nd or 3rd or some other place/rank.  For our first DE, we fence against team Germany, who were pretty easy to beat.  After another break we keep fencing other teams, advancing up to the top slowly but surely.  Team Ireland, team Japan, team Spain, everyone who we fenced that day lost.  At the end of it all, China's women's foil international team took home the win and 1st place.  We were lost in our celebrations until our coach asked us to stay to watch the boys' team fence.  The girls and I agreed and stayed the rest of the night to watch the boys' fencing team.  Their pool bouts went along pretty easily as well as their first few DEs.  After watching the boys' team for a good three hours, it was time for their final DE bout against team South Korea.  I recognized most of the guys on the South Korea team as our teams clash quite often at these types of tournaments, but they had one new fencer who I've never seen before.  He had light brown hair and beautiful brown eyes.  He was quiet but also respectful of all the other fencers.  Now this was the final bout for which team would get gold and which would get silver.  The boys were fighting their hearts out until it came time for the final match.

       Our teams were tied, each with 2 wins.  This final bout mattered more than anything.  I watched as the boy from our team stepped up to salute his opponent and the referee.  However, the boy who was fencing for the South Korea team was the one who caught my eye earlier.  After the referee made the call to fence, they were off in one intense bout.  It dragged on for what felt like an eternity until the score finally reached 14-14.  The referee shouted fence one more time, and the boy from the South Korea stepped forward.  From there, everything became a blur.  His light steps guided him towards our teammate, and then out of nowhere, he lunges while flicking his opponent on the back.  No one has ever seen anything like it, and we were all shocked.  Final score 14-15, team South Korea.  They both saluted each other before the boy was engulfed in hugs from the rest of team South Korea.  Now we weren't upset that we lost, we were more shocked than anything.  The way that boy moved was so captivating it was like I could never get enough.  We exchanged a couple looks and smiles out of respect but I never got his name that night.  I only saw the back of his lamé which read Huang Team South Korea.  However, after that day, I promised myself that if I ever met him again, I would talk to him, and try to be his friend.  Just everything about him made me curious to learn more.  

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