Sinful Passion

fifteen

Weeks passed and Chaeyoung was getting more exhausted by the day.  Her training intensity was gradually increasing as the day of the basketball inter-high approached.  Coach Kim scheduled more after-school practice matches, and Chaeyoung, as team captain, arranged for more conditioning and drills to get the team into tip-top shape.  The members were polishing their skills, but Chaeyoung was taking the brunt of the training effects.

Her school days were long and tiring.  On top of the intense basketball training, she was going to the gym almost daily to build her muscles and improve her performance on the court.  As a result, it was getting tough to find time to do her school assignments and keep up in class. Chaeyoung had to sacrifice her personal time, time spent with her friends, time spent with Mina.  It was painfully difficult, but she forced herself to stick with her training programme, because she desperately wanted to win this year's inter-high and claim the championship from their rival school.  Dahyun's school.

Mina understood Chaeyoung's priorities.  As much as it hurt them both to spend less time with each other, Mina supported Chaeyoung in every way she could.  Whether that meant helping her with her assignments, cooking her nutritious food, or simply providing emotional support, Mina was always there for Chaeyoung.  And that gave Chaeyoung strength to carry on.

In the blink of an eye, there was less than a week left till the prefectural tournament.

"Chaeyoung-ssi, come here for a minute," Coach Kim called Chaeyoung over once practice was over.  The members were slowly streaming out of the gym after another intense conditioning session, in which they had to practice shooting while running through scattered cones for speed and accuracy.

"Yes, Coach?"  Chaeyoung jogged up to their coach.

"I've talked to your club teacher, Mr Oh, and he gave me the green light.  I was thinking about arranging a four-day training camp before the competition.  What do you think?"

It was a sudden change of plans, but Chaeyoung agreed to organising the camp because it would provide the final skill boost that the team needed.  They would train, eat, sleep, and bond together on campus grounds, and hopefully become the best high school basketball club qualifying for the inter-high.  It was only advantageous that the team did everything together. It would strengthen them greatly in both skill and mind.

The only drawback Chaeyoung could think of, was that the training camp meant a whole four days without seeing Mina.

On the morning that Chaeyoung was about to leave for four days straight to attend her basketball camp, she stood in the living room with her school bag, sleeping bag, and gym bag, not really wanting to leave Mina.  Mina just stood behind the kitchen counter, smiling at Chaeyoung and deliberately putting some distance between them both. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to control herself and would've wanted to keep Chaeyoung there too.  They'd already kissed, probably for too long, and Mina already fussed over Chaeyoung a lot about whether she'd packed all the things she needed for her camp. But now it was really time for her to go.

And so Chaeyoung left with mixed emotions, and Mina put on a strong front for her even though she felt sad on the inside.  Well, at least Chaeyoung would come back.

The members weren't allowed to have their phones with them during the camp, so texting or calling Chaeyoung was out of the equation.  Mina spent the next four days in utter loneliness and boredom, although she did manage to get a lot of work done on her website. She did that, did a deep-clean of the house, restocked household items, and cleaned Chaeyoung's room (of course, with her permission beforehand).  There was one day during which she had to accompany Changmin to a work dinner, but interactions with him were otherwise limited. He seemed to be getting less intimate with her than usual. Normally he would try to kiss her or hug her at least, but he was doing less of that now.  Not that Mina cared or minded. Changmin was still working late and coming home drunk a lot, but as long as Mina took care of his things and the household chores, he didn't complain.