A Bout for Two // NCT Renjun

Chapter 13

       I made my way out of the locker room with Mark's arm around my shoulder.  We both had smiles on our faces, ready to kick some ass.  The girls asked me if I was ok and nodded my head yes telling them not to worry and to only focus on the bouts ahead.  It was finally time for us to fence.  The girls were going to fence first in the following order. 

Seed 1: Julia, Aera, Renee

Seed 2: Minnie, Aria, Renee

Seed 3: Aria, Minnie, Julia

Since I wasn't going to fence until the second seed I had a bit of a break.  I decided to go sit besides Mark and Jeno.  I looked around and noticed that Renjun was sitting in the corner with a notebook and a pen.  I wonder what he could be drawing this time.  Drawing may be his way of de-stressing before a fencing match, so I'm glad that he can take some time to himself before fencing.  The first seed bouts went by pretty quickly; Julia and Renee won their bouts, but Aera lost hers, which is alright.  The second seed was about to begin.  

       Minnie went through her bout fairly well and won her bout against another girl 5-3.  For school competitions, something that I forgot to mention, we fence to 5 points, not 10 or 15.  10 points are only for our school practice, and 15 is only used in DEs for bigger tournaments.  After Minnie, it was my turn.  I hooked up to the machine, saluted my opponent as well as the referee, and put my mask on.  I was heading back to my starting line when I hear Jack whisper, "You will never be enough, you pile of shit."  A flood of memories comes back to me, causing me to ask the referee for a timeout before the bout even starts.  I just need to take a breath.  I take off my mask and try to get it together.  I see my teammates looking at me with worry, and Mark walks towards me.  He puts his hands on my shoulders to reassure me.  

"Just ignore him and do your best.  No matter what he says, know that you're worth 100x more than that okay?"  I nod a yes to Mark and put my mask on, ready to kick some ass.  And so, the bout begins.  Coach Johnny, Irene and Dejun don't give me any advice throughout the bout, as they know I'm good enough to handle any opponent on my own.  I lunge at her, sit counterattack on her, do everything that I possibly can to beat her.  I use that negative energy to fuel the fire within me.  It went by so fast that I didn't even realize it.  Final score 5-1 Aria.  I hear my teammates screaming my name, eventually engulfing me into a hug.  

       The rest of the bouts went by pretty quickly until it was my turn to fence again.  My opponent this time was a girl who's a freshmen.  By studying her in previous bouts, I can tell that she has a strong hit that can really hurt if hit in a sensitive spot, but she's also slow to move.  I salute her and the referee before I put my mask on, ready to fence.  This bout also goes by in a breeze.  She did hit me quite hard in the shoulder, but I had to shake it off and move on.  It's gonna leave a bruise, but I've always been proud of my bruises😊.  After a few more minutes the final score ends at 5-3, Aria.  My team won the competition since we already won 5 bouts, which means that Minnie and Julia can relax for the last two bouts.  Then it was time for the boys to fence. 

       Now I didn't really pay attention to the boys when they fenced, but I did pay attention every single time one of them had to fence Jack.  I was surprised to hear that his coach put him in every single seed.  The first one to fence Jack was Jeno.  Now both of them are pretty muscular, but Jeno has a better captain and better coaches to learn from.  Jeno has more technique and skill than Jack, I can already tell.  It was a pretty close bout but the final score ended up as 5-4, Jeno.  This was Jeno's first match this season, and he won!  I engulfed him in a big hug while congratulating him.  A couple bouts later, it was time for Jack to fence again, but this time he was going up against Mark.  Now, after I told Mark my history with Jack, I could tell that he really wanted to beat the pants off this guy.  There was a fire in Mark's eyes that looked like they could kill Jack if possible.  They saluted each other, the referee, put their masks on, and got ready to fence.  Now because of Mark's motivation, the bout went pretty quickly, final sore being 5-1, Mark.  We all respectfully applauded, as we all kind of knew he was going to win anyways.

       A couple bouts later it was time for the final match of the day: Renjun v. Jack.  Now the boys' team already won the competition a while ago, which meant that Renjun could relax for this bout.  He saluted Jack, the referee, and put his mask on.  The ref made the call to fence, and off they went.  Now I know that Renjun is smart enough to know that he could relax during this bout, but the way he fenced was completely the opposite of that.  He charged at Jack every single time, trying to hurt him in every single way possible.  He made flicks that would probably leave bruises on Jack's back for a while.  Renjun hit him hard on in the chest and in the flank.  In fact, I think that he also hit his collar bone really hard on purpose.  I had no idea what was going through Renjun's head, but he was NOT here to play around.  The match ended with 5-0, Renjun.  Our team was so shocked, that we barely applauded.  Renjun saluted his opponent one last time before walking away and heading towards the locker room.  

"What was that all about?" Haechan asks.

I shrug my shoulders also having no idea what had just happened.  

       After unsuiting and getting cleaned up, our opponents waved goodbye and made their way to the exit.  I was talking to Jeno about his bout today when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.  I turned around and told Jeno that I would catch up with him later and made my way over to what I had spotted on the floor.  It was Renjun's notebook.  I see that there's a page that he bookmarked, and I can't help but open it up.  It's...

Me??!!

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