"HYEWON UNNIE!!!"
Yujin screamed at the top of her lungs when the said—more like, screamed girl arise in vision, jogging up the slope connecting to the swimming dome.
Hyewon was late. Again. In their district meet. Chaewon could only sigh when she remembered the gluttonous girl was almost left out in the bus for their nationals, having to eat another bowl of ramyeon to ease her nerves.
"Sorry! Sorry, I was y'know... eating," Chaewon rolled her eyes. "What else would you be doing, you fat pig!"
Hyewon feigned offence. "You think," she takes off their swim club jacket and began to flex her back muscles, "I'm fat? Think again, shithead!"
"Unnie! You're not the only one with muscles here!" Yujin suddenly emerges in between the two girls, putting down her arms dramatically and making her hands accentuate her exposed toned legs since she was wearing cycling shorts. "See those? These can hold you in a chokehold and you'll suffocate from it!"
Wonyoung almost fainted.
Good thing Minju was beside her so she kept the young girl some composure.
"So is this a show off, then?" Chaewon pulls up her jacket's sleeves and began flexing her biceps. She wore a smug smirk as she felt her muscles contract and that surely made a bump on her arms.
But then, the other two girls chortled at the sight of this.
"Noodle arms! Chaewon unnie has noodle arms!" Yujin teased.
Hyewon held her breath, temporarily keeping her laughter in. "Those are almost as thin as the noodles I ate earlier!" Then her held back laughter burts out again.
"Hey! You dare defame your captain!" Chaewon ignites a flame of fury, ready to throw hands at her co-members. Minju could only laugh at the childish banter. Now, about the fuming Wonyoung beside her...
Before the pink-haired girl could actually wrap her hands around the other girls' necks, Jiwon and Hyungjoo appeared. The two dads have a similar club jacket but with a different color to ensure that they were this team's coaches. Enozi Girls' Swim Club coaches.
Hyungjoo beamed a lopsided grin, dimple proudly popping out as he does so. Chaewon sees the resemblance in Minju in that action. "IZ*ONE, what do you think about that?" The girls raise an eyebrow at the middle-aged man beside Chaewon's dad.
"Ai ju won?" Minju tries pronouncing it.
"A ee chu won..!" Hyewon lets out a pun, faking shivers in her body to make the joke funnier. The surrounding gang let out a good wheeze.
(TL; It's cold. Or at least that was the translation when loona's chuu and gowon abbreviated adam, yves, chuu, gowon and made aychuuwon.)
"Hyung made up the team name! Sports clubs have to have one." Jiwon chirps.
Chaewon scoffs. "That's so old-fashioned, dad."
"What did you say, you brat?" Jiwon ignites a similar rage of flames like what Chaewon did earlier, Minju thinks that they are definitely father and daughter.
As the argument went on, a certain brunette that is arguably Chaewon's significant other, could not hold the ever growing smile on her face. Really, just drag Chaewon in the same room as Minju and the latter would be overjoyed. Maybe pepper the older girl tons of light kisses everywhere because she loves her. And she perfectly knows that Chaewon loves her too.
The friendly(?) banter somehow passed to the other swim club members and the girlfriends' dads, so that means Chaewon can steal a glance at Minju! And when she did, oh— she had never just wanted to lock a girl in the tightest hug she could possibly muster with her (noodle)arms, spoil her with a handful amount of kisses, and treat her with all the love and affection Chaewon had grown fond of ever since she discovered those feelings.
Feelings that always made the butterflies in her stomach to run wild.
Chaewon runs towards Minju, engulfing her in the long awaited hug. She loves her so much, and when the younger girl reciprocated the hug Chaewon knew their feelings were mutual.
Who would've thought that Chaewon was living in a fanfiction fixated on swimming? Well... figuratively but also literally.
Chaewon and Minju would never trade these butterflies fluttering inside them for the whole world.
-----
Freestyle, living without a care in the world. In every snowflake that falls, in every leaf that somersaults to the ground, Chaewon could see herself with Minju through all those seasons, living their best lives ever. Freedom is a word that can be used in many kinds of sentences, but is oftenly too overwhelming to create a formidable sentence for it. Sometimes, you don't even need the extra choice of words, just freedom itself.
But sometimes, for Chaewon, all it needs to have that freedom is a single glance at Minju and she is more than sure that she can proudly clap her wings to soar through the sky, reaching beyond limits and experiencing countless possibilities with the love of her life.
Chaewon's fingertips graze the wall.
Backstroke, of course, the past is a lingering entity, an always there remembrance of what had already happened. It can haunt you, but frequently, it manages to make your lips curl up into a smile. Surely, you tend to only hark back to times when you enjoy simply living, and you also tend to hinder the memories you wish to have long forgotten.
All Chaewon remembers in this trip down memory lane is Minju. When they first met, utterly enjoyable seeing Minju flustered. Things like these made the pink-haired girl smile from ear-to-ear, but these kinds of memories flauntered her heart, poking it with a needle seemingly poisoned with sorrow. When Minju tried hard to avoid the girl.
But looking at the present, Chaewon can also smile remembering all that misunderstanding, Minju was learning how to swim for the club! Isn't that so sweet?
Hyewon slams down her hand and collided with the wall.
Breaststroke, ah, the classic quickening of your heart beat whenever that someone is near you. The pounding of your heart filling your ears as you almost have a heart attack when that someone lightly bumped their shoulder in yours while walking down the hallway. Remember that crush of yours? A crush will always remain a crush if you don't tell them about it.
So Chaewon confesses, taking that bold step of becoming more than friends, or it will all end in vain as you get rejected and the pounding in your chest didn't feel jiterry anymore... just painful. She was brave for doing that, so look at her now with Minju. A truly blessed couple who loves each other dearly.
Yujin palms the wall.
Butterfly, an unmistakably beautiful insect you can see in a garden. How it flaps its wings with much grace added to the splendor of the elegant flying creature. It is truly agonizing knowing that this lovely insect could never ever see the beauty of its wings.
Chaewon could compare this sweet little creature to Minju. Oh, how she wishes the girl could see the evident beauty that her whole existence radiates, and the purity within her really does justice for the saying, "true beauty lays within".
Chaewon could compare the pretty little creature to the butterflies in her stomach. How a butterfly starts a small flap and flies around with such glory makes her heart flutter, an unconscious want of it being there each second grows inside her until she became mildly intoxicated. That unnecessary want is to be provided just by being with Minju. Chaewon really loves her. And again, she knows Minju loves her too.
Minju imprints the wall with both her hands stuck together, forming a Butterfly.
FIN.
