Gold | Park Sunghoon

prologue

Secret's out

The cafeteria was unusually chaotic for Monday lunch time as people ran around and shouted across tables. Instead of people crowding in front of the cafeteria staff with trays in their hands, they were crowding in front of one of the offices. None of Sunoo's friends really seemed to care though—well, except Sunoo who had emerged from the crowd, slightly pushing against them just to get through. He ran to his friends with a wide smile etched on his face.

"Did you guys hear? Another athlete will study here!" Sunoo said excitedly as he sat down beside Jake. "Is that what the whole chaos is about?" Jungwon rolled his eyes as the statement. The school was close to many of the popular training facilities in the country; meaning, many athletes studied there. But with the way everyone was currently reacting to the news, it was like their first time hearing of such news despite the number of athletes already there.  

"It's different this time!" Sunoo responded to Jungwon, wanting everyone to be as excited as him. "She's my age! And she's on a national level like Sunghoon hyung!"

Park Sunghoon, one of the few nationally acclaimed ice-skating athletes in South Korea, raised his head up as soon as he heard the 'national level' phrase escape the younger boy's lips. He tried to play it cool, but was slightly panicking on the inside. Until the news of the new athlete spread like wildfire around the campus, he was the only athlete in school at that caliber—the "national level athlete" caliber. And with the many medals to his name, he was the top athlete. He couldn't imagine someone taking that title from him; and he most certainly didn't want to share it.

"What sport?" Jake's voice snapped Sunghoon out of his train of thought. Jake's eyes gleamed with curiosity; and at that point, so did everyone else's. Sunoo smirked at them. "You weren't this interested a while ago but now—"

"Sunoo hyung, just tell us already!" 

He glared at Ni-ki and his impatience but continued nonetheless. "Cheerleading! Or that's what I'm hearing, at least," he mumbled the last part to himself as he heard the eruption of violent reactions around his table. "Like pompoms? The people getting thrown in the air?"  Heeseung asked, shaking his hands to imitate the movement of pompoms. Everyone else in the table laughed at the eldest one while Sunoo nodded his head, earning the same reactions as before.

They were all curious simply because they had never met a cheerleader; nor have they seen one in real life. Not even Sunghoon, who's training center was just a two-minute walk away from the gym where the cheerleaders trained. He's heard many things about them, but he was told that they should never be bothered because of their intense training and hectic schedule—nothing to worry about though since none of them studied in the same school as him; but that was going to change soon.

The loud clang of his chopsticks dropping on the table made his friends look at him.

"Sunghoon hyung, are you okay?" Jungwon asked carefully as he scooted closer to tap the older one's shoulder. They all eyed his expression: a mix of curiosity and frustration masked with a frown; something hard to put into words. "Is the great Park Sunghoon jealous that someone might take his spot as the number one athlete in school?" Jungwon snickered, earning a hit on the arm from the eldest. 

"You know that won't happen. You'll still be the best here," Heeseung tried to reassure the athlete.

Tried.

"I'm not bothered, hyung. Don't worry about it," Sunghoon's voice was a bit low for everyone's liking—making them all stop teasing him. To be honest, he didn't even know why he was acting this way. Was it because he thinks that he won't be the best anymore? With this new athlete in the way, would he not be as popular anymore? Not that he enjoyed the popularity all the time, it was just nice to know that his name was placed on the map because he was one of the best at his sport. 

What was happening to him?

The ice skater's jaw tightened as he thought about the situation: a cheerleader, a popular cheerleader, coming to their school to kick him out of the top spot. It was unheard of.

"Oh! I forgot one important detail about this new athlete," Sunoo said quietly; but his words were still heard by the entire table. He wasn't completely sure if he should say the news, or if he should just keep it to himself in order to not add salt to Sunghoon's open wound. One thing was for sure, he had never seen the older boy this irritated. Sure, he was used to seeing him irritated over schoolwork and training, but it was never this bad—and it was, most certainly, never directed towards a person. 

"I don't think you should say—"

"It's okay. I'm sure everyone else is also curious," Sunghoon tried to calm himself down. He thought he was just being petty and overreacting to the news. He even scolded himself internally for already judging her when they haven't even met. Looking over at Sunoo, he nddded his head to signal him to continue what he wanted to tell them

"They say that the girl is Jay hyung's younger sister," he told them slowly, already wary of the expressions he knew he was going to see. "HE HAS A YOUNGER SISTER?" the rest of the boys chorused, confused. 

While everyone tried to figure out how they missed that detail about one of their best friend, Ni-ki seemed to have connected the dots in his head. "Ah!" He exclaimed, earning the everyone's attention, including Sunoo's.

"If this new athlete is really hyung's younger sister, then Sunoo hyung is right. She's his age, and she really is a cheerleader," Ni-ki took a piece of kimbap into his mouth and chewed nonchalantly, ignoring the looks on the faces of his hyungs. "You knew he had a younger sister and you didn't tell us?" Heeseung moved to sit beside the youngest and asked him. His voice sounded a little threatening, but it seemed like it just flew over Ni-ki's head. 

"He doesn't like talking about her because he's scared that we'll like her, especially Sunoo hyung." 

Sunoo put a hand on his chest and gasped as soon as he heard what Ni-ki had just said. He was not the type of person to fall in love so easily; so he just thought that maybe Jay was teasing him like usual.

"Ni-ki," Sunghoon called the younger boy's attention for the first time that day, surprising everyone since he had been so quiet. "When Jay said that he was going back to America to visit his family, did he really mean to say that he was going to help his sister move back here?" The youngest just nodded.

Ni-ki had realized how proud Jay was of his sister after months of the older one secretly confiding in him. Jay often showed his sister's cheerleading videos and competitions to him and smile so widely as he pointed at her throughout the routines. He could specifically remember the excitement radiating off of the older boy when he received news that she was moving back to South Korea to reunite with him and their mother; and he found it very cute since he had never seen this side of his hyung. 

The youngest out of the friend group was actually the one who suggested to Jay that he tell the others about his sister already, but his exact words were "Never in a million years" and "They might fall in love, especially Sunoo since they're the same age." He never comprehended how proud and protective Jay was at the same time, but it never really bothered him. What bothered him, now, was how he was going to tell his hyung that his secret had been revealed before that secret even got to South Korea. 

Ni-ki swore he could already hear the scolding.