𝗚𝗢𝗔𝗟 𖥻! seonghwa

( 3 ) partner drills

ANOTHER DAY OF practice for the soccer team, but not just any practice. it was one of the last practices before their first game. it was time to train seriously.

over the past few weeks, chaerim had worked unbearably hard — not on mending her toxic relationship with seonghwa obviously, but on her skills — so she was confident that this season would be a huge success. everyone else on the team had been training hard, too. it was the perfect recipe.

"is that all you got?" seonghwa called out, targeting her as usual, but today, it was actually necessary.

chaerim was beginning to feel the nerves. soon, it was her big debut as a female player on a male team. she just had to be amazing, right? she held herself to an insanely high standard, and the stress was eating her alive.

so that was why she was falling behind in practice, too nervous to focus. with each and every missed goal or fumbled pass, seonghwa was loading up his artillery.

he told the team to take a water break, then grabbed chaerim by the sleeve. he dragged her aggressively to the side of the bleachers, far away from the rest of the team to talk.

seonghwa stood in front of her, looming above her ominously, while she sat, looking at the ground.

"you're slow today, kim." he mentioned, not a drop of amusement in his voice, "what's wrong?"

"nothing."

the last person she would want to talk to right now would be park seonghwa, and she hated showing her weaknesses, especially to someone who she considered some sort of rival. he was obnoxiously skilled at his craft, and chaerim felt like she was struggling to keep up for the first time in her whole soccer career. it was the worst feeling in the world.

he sighed and tilted his head, "bullshit. you haven't made a single goal yet today. what's your issue?"

sighing, chaerim tilted her head back, "i'm just scared for the first game, okay?"

"i thought you were the best on the team?" he asked, hinting at her previous cockiness. still, he actually had a much softer tone than usual.

"i am!" she defended, "but... still, this is all new for me."

seonghwa would never admit that he was being kind to her, but it was his role as captain to be a positive role model. he pat her shoulder, "you'll do fine. you're good, kim. no need to feel nervous, you know how to play the game."

she looked up, locking stares with him to try and detect any sarcasm.

without another word, seonghwa returned to the rest of the team. chaerim got up too, slowly trailing after him.

that was weird, she thought. for a split second, i almost thought he was being nice for once.

𖥻

for the rest of practice, chaerim actually took what seonghwa said to heart and played well. much better, he noted.

"alright, grab a partner for the next drill," commanded coach joon, "and seonghwa, i want you to be partners with chaerim. no ifs, ands, or buts!"

they both groaned very obviously. "you're kidding," seonghwa complained, slowly approaching the girl.

she crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side as she awaited him, "oh, perfect. i have to work with you."

"yeah, i'm just as thrilled as you are." he rolled his eyes, "grab that ball so we can get this over with."

it was a 1v1 mini drill, which required lots of fierce competition and skin-to-skin interaction.

hwa started on offense.

"don't go easy on me this time, okay?" asked chaerim to get his blood boiling.

he nodded, then took off. any hint of kindness was out the window. chaerim and seonghwa were almost connected with how close they were, face-to-face but looking down at the constantly moving ball between their feet. they kept stealing it from each other expertly, bumping back and forth, making it an exciting pair for others to watch. coach joon was very proud of his star players.

the first round, seonghwa won, but that was fine since chaerim wasn't big on defense. she vowed to get him back once it was her turn to play offense.

so they switched sides and played again. chaerim won on offense this time, just as she expected. with each turn, the same thing went on. and they didn't stop competing until there was a clear winner: someone who won on both offense and defense.

seonghwa and chaerim were a great match, as they both were very determined. in fact, so determined that they were the last two players on the field while the rest of the team had headed to the locker room for the evening.

"you're not gonna win, kim," seonghwa grunted while they fought over dominance of the ball for the nth time that night. she returned, panting and out of breath, "oh, yes i am."

both extremely exhausted from hours of play, they were running out of sweat to sweat and their breaths were getting deeper and harder. chaerim felt her legs turning into jelly, and instinctively grabbed onto seonghwa's broad shoulders.

she fell to her knees, purely worn out, and seonghwa happily took the opportunity to score.

"what did i tell you?" he laughed, as he towered over her. seonghwa extended a hand to chaerim to help her off the ground, but she didn't accept, opting to stay down.

he sighed, "come on, i don't have all day."

she got up by herself and walked off like a destructive thunderstorm. she was mumbling something to herself about 'just one point' and 'ugh that asshole!'. seonghwa jogged to catch up to her, and made her stop in her tracks by standing in front of her.

"hey, kim," he called out, then pat her back, "don't be like that. no one else on the team could've done that with me. only you."

she nodded, head still down. after a few seconds of oddly comforting silence, the two walked together to grab their bags and head into the locker room. another day of practice coming to an end.