Clueless | DAERIN

15: grounded

h a e r i n
—

"Haerin, you aren't even attempting to land a hit on me," my mother sighs as she drops her arms to her sides.

I blow out a breath of air and run my hand over my sweaty head in frustration.

I haven't trained in weeks, which has made my parents worried. Due to having to rest my hands for weeks at a time, I am not as strong as I was a month ago.

It's literally Christmas morning, and my mother is forcing me to train!

Couldn't she have at least waited until tomorrow?!

As soon as I woke up this morning, she told me that she was going to start making me train three times a week.

I have no clue how long she's going to make me do this, but I hope it's just one of her temporary punishments.

It's thirty degrees outside, and I'm sweating buckets.

Originally, I was wearing a hoodie over my workout gear, but now it's on full display due to my increase in body heat.

My workout gear consists of a thick maroon sports bra and a pair of black leggings.

My brunette hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, which has since fallen to a lower one, sweat saturating it.

To put it simply, I am a sweat-coated mess.

"I'm not going to attempt to hit someone who has the power to ground me," I state in a dry tone.

Although the idea of punching my mother seems inviting at this very moment, I'm not going to risk the consequences.

The older woman dramatically rolls her eyes at my logic, tightening her low blonde ponytail.

"Fine, I'm giving you a temporary pass," she tells me.

I raise an eyebrow with interest.

"You can land as many punches on me as you want, just don't tell your mom," she negotiates.

I smirk with amusement at her proposition.

There is no way I'm turning this down.

"Deal," I accept.

I fall back into my boxing stance, bringing my gloved hands in front of my lower face.

My mother quickly mimics my stance, silently nodding her head for me to start.

No hesitation.

Just think of all the times she made you mad.

I throw a hooked punch towards her, only for her to duck down to dodge it and swing her leg around to kick the backs of my ankles.

Seriously?!

I groan with annoyance as I fall backward onto the soft, green grass.

Ugh.

I should have seen that one coming.

My mother stands over me with a disappointed expression.

"You're rusty," she states monotonously.

I glare up at her, her hands resting on her hips as she waits for me to stand up.

"I haven't trained in close to a month," I groan as I carefully stand up from the grass and find my balance.

"What did you expect?" I sarcastically finish.

I attempt to brush the grass and dirt off my leggings, only to stop when I realize that I'm just dragging the dirt down said leggings.