by the sidelines • haechan

ten

"How are you going to learn with your eyes closed?" He scoffed as I slowly opened my eyes, his elbow at least a millimetre away from my nose. He recovered as I let out a huge breath. Gosh, I literally saw my life flash before my eyes.

"Now, your turn." He grabbed my wrist again. "Turn your hand inwards to release my grip, then bring it up and grab mine."

I followed his instructions slowly and to my surprise, my hand easily freed itself despite his strong grip. I was genuinely amazed.

"Don't be surprised yet, this is only the beginning."

And so our training started, with Donghyuck diligently demonstrating each technique as I tried to pick them up with much difficulty.

"Grab my arm from the outside and twist inwards." He instructed as I followed obediently, but he didn't move an inch. I tried pushing him harder, earning a scoff from him.

"Strength is no use here." He shifted my hand to the right and wrapped his fingers around it, forcing me to tighten my grip on his rather toned arm. I couldn't help but look up at him with mixed feelings.

He seemed like a totally different person with this seriousness of his, I almost forgot who was teaching me.

"Try again." He snapped me back to reality as I twisted with all my might, finally making him lose balance and fall to the ground. I watched him jump back to his feet, dusting his pants as if nothing happened.

Unlike during training, he's so indifferent.

"Moving on."

Time seemed to fly incredibly fast as we progressed into even harder techniques, some which even required my full strength. I huffed as I barely managed to toss him to the ground, but he didn't even look fazed. He got up right away, going back into position from where we left off. Maybe I was so concentrated on the steps, but I was surprisingly able to keep up with him.

"Now, if someone grabs you from the back." He moved behind me and hugged his arms around my waist tightly, causing me to exhale a sharp breath. He continued, unbothered, "Stomp on my foot and execute a backwards elbow strike."

I followed his steps carefully, repeating his words as I performed each step accordingly.

"Then I circle like this and-"

Our noses almost touched when I turned around, stunned by the one-inch gap we had between our faces. I froze in that uncomfortable position, my torso twisted 90 degrees to the back and my arm levitating over his shoulder, with our eyes inexplicably locking. I tried to recall the next step, but my mind seemed to have escaped from this awkward situation without me.

Luckily, Donghyuck released his grip and backed away, allowing me to breathe comfortably again.

"You forgot the elbow strike," he reminded blatantly as I nodded in response, the gym filling with a suffocating silence right after. Thankfully, it wasn't long until he broke it.

"Anyway, since you sort of know your basics," he started, "Time to throw in some scenarios."

"Scenarios?" I didn't even get a second to process what he said when he grabbed me by the wrist. I instinctively flicked my hand out of his grip, earning an eyebrow raise from him as he grabbed my shoulder next.

Ah, I get it now.

I pried his fingers off me and twisted his arm inwards, pushing him away as he regained his balance quickly. He threw a punch at me straight after and I dodged it, but he used that chance to choke me from behind.

I gagged from the impact, but managed to elbow strike his abdomen and circle my hand onto his head, dislodging myself from his arm. I pushed his head to the ground and he fell with the motion, immediately springing back up again. Gosh, he's unstoppable.

He caught me off guard and swung another punch towards my face. I grabbed his fist just in time and twisted it behind his back, holding it firmly in place as he struggled to be free. I felt a small smile creep upon my face as he gradually stopped resisting, causing me to loosen my grip a little.

"Don't ever let your guard down."

In a split second, he flipped his wrist and grabbed mine, spinning me around as he kneed my left leg. I fell to the floor with my arm twisted behind me, my face squished onto the mats as I frantically tapped out. Oh, how the turntables.

He finally released me as I gasped for air, flipping myself over to face the ceiling. His shadow towered over me, a smirk forming on his face.

"Sigh, you still have a lot to work on," he commented sarcastically, shaking his head as I struggled to sit up. "In a real-life situation, you could have died."

"Not fair, you didn't teach me that," I rebutted, referring to his surprise counter-attack move that still left me stunned. He shrugged with a smug look on his face, replying, "I don't need to teach everything."

Ah yes, the egoistic Donghyuck has returned. I scowled at his back as he strolled to his belongings, picking them up with one swing.

"Anyway, you've wasted enough of my time, so hurry home," he said and headed for the door, but one question remained burning in my head.

"Then why did you help me?" I shouted across the gym, my voice resonating throughout the large area. He stopped in his tracks, his back puffing up as he heaved in a deep breath.

"Don't get the wrong idea," he answered without turning back, "I only helped because I was there."

He finally looked back, and even though we were about 5 metres apart, I could still see the spite in his eyes.

"It would've been a crime if I left you there alone, wouldn't it?"

With that, he was gone. I remained rooted in the centre of the mats, an overwhelming mixture of feelings swirling inside of me. Was I supposed to be thankful? Offended? Relieved? Or everything at once?

Another thought brushed past me as I realised something more important.

"Yah! What about the gym? Are you gonna lock me in?" I hollered at the empty exit, the only person replying me was my own voice. I got up in frustration and hauled my bag onto my shoulder, stomping out of the training centre. If he dared to actually lock me in, I would haunt his nightmares.

Cling!

I halted at the sound that came from my shoes, lifting up my foot as a shiny object reflected from the ground. I bent down to take a closer look, recognising the chain of oddly shaped metal.

"He really left this out here," I mumble to myself in disbelief, picking up the set of keys that were each labelled neatly. He really expected me to lock up after him, did he? Gosh, I can't believe his audacity.

I stared at the keys with much contemplation. I could easily throw them away, or even leave them in this vulnerable spot for others to steal them just so that he could be framed for something he didn't do. I would have done that right there and then if I wanted to.

But he did save me from that drunk person, even going a step further and teaching me some self-defence techniques. I would've been raped and killed if it wasn't for him.

"Aish, I really can't get him," I complained as I stuffed a key into the main door, twisting it until I hear a click. I stuffed the keys deep into my bag, making sure they weren't able to drop out and trudged home

Lee Donghyuck, you're one complicated character.

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a little update before 2021 starts :)