Passion and Power

Chapter 55

Minji and Haerin watched in shock as Hanni writhed on the ground. Sana came up beside Minji as they watched.

"Sana!" Minji moved to hug her but then stopped herself. "Sorry, I just..."

"Hey, it's OK." Sana said, reaching out to wrap her in a hug. "Get in here."

"I'm sure she's going to be fine." Haerin offered.

"She's so damn stubborn." Sana said. "I know she probably shouldn't be out there at all..."

"But she's so strong, Sana. And when she sets her mind to something..."

"There's no stopping her." Sana finished. "She's really..."

"Hey, she's trying to get up..." Haerin broke in.

All three women turned to watch, along with the rest of the room, riveted to the drama.

***

Down on the field, Hanni grabbed her knee and pulled her leg close to her chest, trying to relieve the stabbing pain in her ankle. She looked up at the sky and felt her world spinning. She heard the crowd screaming and wondered if they were screaming because there was a goal or because the other team had blocked a great shot on goal. She turned her head to the side and saw teammates celebrating out of the corner of her eye. She smiled through the pain and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to recover more quickly. She knew she didn't have much time.

She turned her head the other direction and saw Danielle sprinting towards her from the sideline. In the next moments she took deep breaths and willed herself to ignore the pain. A moment later she forced her eyes open and saw Danielle only steps away. She knew she had only moments to prove she could stay in the match. She turned her head back and saw a hand reaching down. She gripped it and Wonyoung wrapped her other hand around it and jerked her to her feet. A few other teammates were close behind. She closed her eyes tightly and willed her ankle to hold. She managed to take a few steps, just as Danielle reached her and tried to grab her arm.

"Hanni! Hanni, we need to get you off the field. I need to examine you."

"I'm good, Danielle! Look - good as new." Hanni pulled out of her grasp and moved from foot to foot with a pained smile on her face.

"God damn it, Hanni!"

"I'm good, Doc!" Hanni started jogging backwards further away from her. "Promise."

She watched Danielle for a few moments and then winked, and turned to jog towards her teammates. As she reached the group Yunjin had her wrapped in a big hug.

"Thanks for the assist, Cap'n!" Yunjin squeezed her tight for a minute before they heard the signal to return to play.

The team managed to hold on for the rest of the half, and they went into the locker room ahead 1-0.

"OK, team! Looking good out there!" Their coach said. "Now we are one half away from a World Cup victory! Take some time to be still and drink some water. Pham - get to the clinic so Danielle can look at you."

Hanni frowned but made her way to the other room where Danielle was waiting. She had a furious look on her face.

"Danielle, I'm OK!" Hanni said, putting her hands up to fend off the frustration rolling off of Danielle. "It didn't turn, it just wobbled a bit and I let myself drop so I wouldn't twist it. It just took me a minute for me to pull myself together."

Hanni paused her rambling eventually when she could see Danielle wasn't going to respond.

"Are you done?" She finally spoke up