Love At First Kick

3

Jungkook grinned and instantly went into kill mode. He did a spin-round kick, trying to reach me, but I moved to the side, clapping him with a neryo kick over his head.
It's a move you can use as an attack or as a block. You basically raise your leg as high as possible and drop it down, twisting your hip a little to give it some power.

'Damn bubblegum.' He laughs at me, attacking again. He threw himself at me with the same kick, but I cut him off, running into a clinch to stop the kick. We both laughed as we bumped into each other with so much force it pushed me back. He is a lot heavier.

'You're dead now.' He teases

'You sure about that?' I twist my leg around his back, clipping him on the back of his head

'You are not even human!' He complains, fixing his helmet

'6:0 for me,' I grin. The scoring system is funny. 1 point if you kick someone in the shield. 2 if it's a spin kick. 3 on the head. 4 if it's a spin head kick. Points stack up in no time.

'You're mine now.' He fist punches me right in the side, almost punching out my breath
Good thing I'm used to it. Jesus, the force behind this man...

'Is that so? Come then.' I tease him, knowing he will run to me. He always does the same. He runs forward, receiving a jump back kick in his shield, followed by a back side kick to his face.

The round finishes with Jungkook fixing his helmet and me laughing at him.

'Jungkook, you got wiped. What was that?' Coach laughs at him. I look over to see Jimin trying not to laugh, covering his face. We are like a little family in here, so we are used to joking with each other.

'She has like 16 legs. No one should be this flexible. It should be illegal.' He pouts. He is really flexible himself. He just loves doing his powerhouse kicks.

Round 2. A little kadet runs in front of me. He's a 14-year-old boy. I tend not to hit them but mostly create opportunities for them to learn. Unlike Jungkook.

Round 3, Youji.
'Remember, we're friends.' She says

'That's why you get extra beatings.' I kick her in the shield right as the round starts, making her gasp

She puts up a good fight. She is explosive as heck, like a little rocket. She tends to run around a lot, not easy to catch. But she doesn't defend her head, so that's great for me.

After about 15 rounds, we got a break. I tend not to sit down during those. Otherwise, I won't get up. I only shake my legs as I'm drinking water. I do a few squats to not get cramps.

10 more rounds, and we were free. We were told to stretch before we left.

The coach was talking to Jimin as we were finishing up. Jimin left soon after, shaking the coach's hand.

'Okay, guys, you've been great. He says he will be training with you. Just treat him normally, please. Don't ask for autographs and pictures.' Youji looks away at the last comment

'Coach, can we ask how he ended up here? I thought he lived in Busan.' One of the guys asks

'He had to move and needed a new place to train at. I knew him when he was only a kid, so he reached out. Now get dressed and go home.' He answers and then dismisses us

We all did as he asked. Stretched and cleaned up after ourselves. We changed and got out, leaving the coach to lock up this time.

We were just walking Youji home, then heading over to the station. We were talking about today's class and the shock of seeing Park Jimin.

'I never expected to see him so up close. I remember back in the day when he first burst out on the scene. He came out of nowhere and won every damn tournament for the next 5 years.' Suri had been in the sport for about 10 years herself. She's 21 at the moment.

'I still think I should ask for an autograph.' Youji says, seemingly serious about it

'Please, don't embarrass yourself. Don't do that.' I try to stop her, but knowing her, she will most definitely do it.

'I can't wait to see him in action, though. To see how he trains and all.' Jungkook is still hyped up.

'Jungkook, he will play you like a toy.' I laugh, putting my hand on his shoulder

'We will see about that.' He cracks his fingers, grinning from ear to ear. I guess he will pull the typical Jungkook and try to bulldoze him down. He is in a higher division than Jimin weight wise. Jungkook is -70 kg while Jimin is -63 kg. Might not sound like a lot, but even 2 kg difference is a lot in this sport.

'It will certainly be entertaining to see two hot guys fight.' Youji blurts out. She took a second to realise what she said, then quickly added,'I'm home, bye.' And ran off, leaving the three of us looking after her.

'Did I hear her right, or am I imagining things?' Jungkook asks, pointing his thumb in her direction

I just sigh, patting him on the back, 'Don't even try to figure it out, buddy.' He just shook his head, and Suri was trying not to laugh. She knows about the little crush. Although I'm sure most of the girls in the gym find Jungkook attractive. Plus, he's friendly.

I got home around 10, heading straight for the shower. I weighed myself again, happy with my 45.9 on the scale. As lovely as it is, I can't fall too much down. I need to have some dinner. It might be a bit late, but it's now or never.

'Oh, my God. Are you actually eating? And after 8?' My brother mocks me.
He doesn't get why I don't eat so late and thinks I'm starving myself, which I've never done. Maybe a few days before tournaments when I was close on the weight scale, but other than that, never.

As I said many times, weight divisions are weird. There are divisions every 2-3kg difference. Usually, you can have up to 0.3kg above the category you are registered in, but any more, and you fail the scale. That then means you are not allowed to compete.
It's not an easy one for most people.

'I didn't get time to eat much today, and I'm not gonna wait until tomorrow.' I reply, sitting down at the table, taking my plate with me.

'How was it today, honey?' My mom smiles at me

'It was pretty interesting. We got a new member. He is actually one of the most popular fighters in the federation at the moment. That's gonna be fun.'

'Bet I could knock him out in one punch.' My brother says, making a fist

'I would pay to see you try. He would put you to sleep before you even got your arms up.' I laugh, hearing my dad joining in laughter from the couch

'You have no faith in me, do you?' Soo Ho squints at me

'Not in this. Even I'm gonna struggle against him, so I sincerely doubt you would have a chance.'

'Cause you're so good?' He raises an eyebrow at me

'I've offered you a chance to come and watch many times, but you never wanted to. Maybe then you'd get it.' My brother never attended a single one of my competitions. He never saw my training either. He doesn't really care much. He knows very little and is only making fun of it.
He doesn't know anything about my accomplishments either. I won regionals every year for 6 years. I have more national medals than I can count. He has no clue.

'Fine. I'll come then. When?' He leans over the table, staring me down.

'Next week. Monday?' I smile

'Deal. Let's do that. I'll meet you at your college.' He nods
Well, that will be the first time ever. This is gonna be interesting.

It's the weekend tomorrow, and we usually get the weekend off. We are still welcome to come and train on our own if we want to, though. It's never good to overwork yourself, though. I'm still gonna go for a run, just not at 5 in the morning. I'll get some sleep.

'Right, I'm off to bed. I'm dead. Night, guys.'

'Night, Rin.' My mom and dad say, while Soo Ho just waves at me

Let's get some sleep.