dicey ↬ nomin

Ch.24

As Jaemin puffed out hasty breaths of air, he bent over to catch his breath. The heat in the sun made for a bad combination when he was sweating from the run and the humidity. He assessed the time on his watch, thankful that he had made it before his class was up but he was also shaking from the adrenaline. He was clad in his sports gear, a luminous version of the school's running sneakers hugging his feet in an attempt to stay on.

The courtyard of the school was empty but he knew from years of experience that there was probably a surging crowd here only minutes earlier. Plus, there was a microphone stand upright beside the doorway. The commotion from the field wherever the races were happening floated to the courtyard, alerting Jaemin that he had to hurry there if he was to make it in time. He hot-footed it down the side of the school building, passing the popular kissing spot for couples, and arrived at the back of the building, where a huge field spread out.

Everyone was gathered there behind the sideline banners, watching the boys getting ready to run. It was Jaemin's class. He sprinted his heart out and flung himself through the crowd and ducked under the banners. The colour of his cheeks reflected how he was feeling: exhausted and embarrassed. He slotted in at the end of the line and discarded his hoodie to the sideline, a few female students reaching to grab it.

"It's nice of you to appear," a familiar voice chuckled from his left. He had been in the middle of stretching his quads when he looked to the side to see Renjun. "I thought you had disappeared. I was kinda excited."

"Ah, shut up, small guy," Jaemin grumbled to his friend and looked beyond Renjun to see the other boys from his class. Mark and Donghyuck were lined up on the other end, not having noticed his late arrival.

"I was late too. Don't worry about it." With that, the countdown began and he heard a loud cheer from the other side of the field. He saw Jisung and Chenle cheering for the four of them in high spirits, lifting his heart and making him feel really light. As the buzzer sounded, he took off, neck to neck with Renjun for a chunk of the race before Renjun stopped running all of a sudden to be left behind.

His legs felt like they were about to fall off, especially since he had run all the way to school in a hurry. As he willed himself not to look at the person beside him because he knew it would slow him down, he did it anyway. His loud huffs and breaths were ringing in his ears as his whole body ached in exhaustion and his muscles tightened. Luckily, he crossed the finish line with Mark just behind him and someone else behind Mark.

"I guess," he gasped and collapsed onto the soft grass, heaving in breaths of fresh air, "I won."

Mark was in a similar state, doubled over with his hands on his knees. "And," he breathed deeply after a moment of quick panting, "that means you kept your winning streak. Three years in a row."

Jaemin nodded and smiled, wiping the sheet of sweat off his forehead and feeling the rest of the sweat on his body dry cold. "Well done, brother. I guess we should cool down before our muscles seize."

Shoulders tiredly slung over each other, the two boys wandered over to the prize tent for their medals. The shade from the sun under the canvas roof of the tent was relieving, their breathing returning to normal and their heart beats hammering. Currently, the three girls from Jeno's class who won gold, silver and bronze were standing on the podiums, smiling for the camera with their medals dangling proudly around their necks. As Jaemin studied the medal in his hand, he saw a familiar head of black hair conversing with the backup cameraman.

"Jeno!" He called out and caught Jeno's attention. The other boy turned to him in confusion after having heard his name being called and locked eyes with Jaemin. He had the ribbon of a medal hanging out of his pocket but the younger boy couldn't tell what colour it was. "Hey!"