Twilight (Ateez San)

SIX

San sat watching Jia two days later in the courtyard. He felt an odd worry over her condition since their fitness lesson the other day. The last two days of fitness had been absolute hell for her too, but not nearly as bad as the first. They hadn't been to fitness that day yet, however, so who know what could happen then.

He felt bad for not being able to help her, which was weird. He had watched countless others go through the same thing, although a lot less severe if they spoke Korean, but never cared much. They had to improve to show they weren't weak and until then, punishment would come. That was his mindset, but for some reason Jia was an exception.

He felt a certain level of protectiveness over her and he couldn't figure out why. He just wanted to get closer to her, and he put that on wanting to see what she could become with training, since the throbbing cut on his shoulder was a constant reminder of what she was already capable of.

As he watched her, he noticed her obvious struggle whenever she tried to readjust her position, or even when she laughed at one of her groups' jokes, the wince was obvious on her face.

"What are you looking at?" San glanced up to see his friend 2374, or Seonghwa, take a seat beside him on the grass.

San remained silent, still watching Jia to make sure she was ok.

Seonghwa followed his gaze and saw the new girl.

"The new girl? 2131?" Seonghwa questioned.

"She doesn't speak Korean, she gets really abused in fitness," San told his blond friend quietly.

"Where's she from?" Seonghwa looked over to the group once more.

"Australia, her brother too. The blond next to her," San explained.

"Oh him. I don't like him," Seonghwa narrowed his eyes in Felix's direction.

"Why?"

"I don't know, there's something about him," Seonghwa left it at that before speaking again, "Why are you interested in her? You never care about the new recruits."

"She's the one who did this," San tapped the skin on his shoulder, right where the cut would be, if it wasn't for a layer of clothing and bandages, "It caught my eye."

"How? Was she taught before coming or something?" Seonghwa was in shock that any new recruit was able to harm San.

"No, she has no technique, but it wasn't luck. She's smart. She disguised her main advantage well and I didn't see it," San informed him.

"What's her advantage?" Seonghwa was curious.

"She's left handed. Her attacks kept appearing to come from the right, but when I would go to dodge, she would attack left," San spoke.

"That made you interested? There are other lefties here," Seonghwa pointed out.

"We had to go to the clinic together. We talked," was the simple answer San gave.

Seonghwa still felt confusion at why his cold friend had taken interest in a random new recruit. He decided not to push further, since getting as much information out of San as he had he was lucky for. San didn't typically talk very openly.

"Mingi and Yeosang are going for some extra practice if you wanted to join, I'm going too," Seonghwa offered.

With one last glance at Jia, he decided to follow Seonghwa in the building and to a training room.

Jia sat studying Korean on her own at the end of the day. She had just gone through another beating in fitness for addressing the instructor wrongly in Korean, so she decided to study more instead of tending to her wounds, even though Seungmin wasn't available.

"This might be the first time I've seen you out here without the others," a familiar voice spoke. San.

Without glancing up, she replied, "They went to sleep after lessons, I need to study Korean more though."

He sat next to her and leaned over to look at the page of the book she was on.

"Is this because of what happened in fitness?" San questioned after a second.

Jia remained quiet.

"I take your silence as a yes," San glanced at her. She still hadn't taken her eyes off the book.

"Hey, look at me," San spoke in a gentle tone. She shook her head without saying anything, refusing to look up from her studying.

San sighed and gently grabbed her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. He was shocked to find her eyes had tears filling them, but it was obvious she hadn't cried yet.

"You don't have to be this hard on yourself about this, ok? The instructor is harsh, but it was a simple mistake. You've been learning Korean what, like 4 days, you can't be blamed for that. Strive to improve but don't beat yourself up over a small mistake," San told her, looking into her sad eyes intensely.

"I hear people speaking Korean in the halls all the time and I don't understand a word of it, I should have made more progress by now."

"After 4 days? I used to know someone who taught themself English at 17. This person was a genius but it still took them about a year to get fluent with no other English speakers around. It takes time," San comforted.

"I hope you're right. This is hard," they both knew as Jia's voice trailed off that she mean the beatings.

They fell into silence, Jia reading her book again, attempting to cram as much as she could while San watched her as she was obviously frustrated.

"Do you want to come... train a little with me? It's good to blow off steam and frustration," San suggested, not believing the words coming out of his own mouth.

Jia contemplated his offer for a few seconds, glancing down at her book a few times before slamming it shut suddenly and said, "Let's go, getting my mind off things would be good right now."

The two left the courtyard and headed inside the building, passing on of the guards who watched over anyone in the courtyard, who at that moment, was only those two. They eventually found themselves in the major training room that wasn't used as a class, it was actually where the major evaluations occurred, Jia had been told. It had a door to a shooting range on the left, and a wall of knives on the right with targets straight forward. Big mats were laid out in the middle of the room, for sparing, while punching bags were hanging from the ceiling in some places.

"What do you want to do?" San questioned, gesturing around the room. It was empty at the moment, although gun shots could be heard from the shooting range.

"Can we spar?" Jia asked quietly, not really wanting to spar one of the best fighters in the Compound but also needing to blow off steam in some way. Sparring seemed like the best option.

"Sure, I can teach you some techniques too," San offered as they walked onto a mat.

The two spent a few hours on the mats, Jia learning a lot more from San in a few hours than she had from her instructor in 4 days.

The only problem with the scenario; it was too perfect. Jia still didn't know what she was being trained for, and the two kept getting closer, each scared of it but letting it happen regardless. It seemed too good.

Filler chapter but hey I actually updated so that's something. I just haven't been updating because I have my final exams really soon and haven't been able to. Once they're over I will be updating a lot more.