by the sidelines • haechan

sixteen

"Gosh, the food usually doesn't take this long," he laughed queasily as his eyes darted between the both of them, "I guess you're getting worked up easily because you're hungry."

"My dad only focused on you because you were a burden," Donghyuck retorted back despite the distraction, and the atmosphere suddenly turned fiery. He snarled, "You think he paid attention to you because you were good? No, it was because you were lacking too much. It's amazing how he didn't give up on you."

"Yah, Lee Donghyuck-" she yelled but got interrupted immediately.

"What a pity, you've been thinking wrong your entire life, and here you are trying to diminish me." He gazed at her mockingly, gritting his teeth as he continued, "I guess you can focus on that guesthouse of yours, now that your Taekwondo career is at the brink of death."

The table shook as Youn sprung up, slamming her chopsticks down. Her face was red with anger, and although she tried to hide it, she was on the verge of exploding. I suddenly felt guilty for inviting her here in the first place, but the main cause of this wasn't even bothered.

"Sorry, but I'm leaving," she muttered after calming down a little, rage still visible in her eyes, "I've lost all my appetite talking to this imbecile." She glared at Donghyuck one last time before stomping out of the restaurant, not even sparing us a second look back.

There was a dull atmosphere hanging over the table, my heart beating twice as fast from the heated exchange that just occurred, and I wasn't even part of it. To make matters worse, the aromatic hairtail soup just arrived, but I couldn't pull myself to dig in. Sensing the lingering tension, Haknyeon broke the silence.

"Wow! It looks amazing, doesn't it?" He exclaimed, prompting an answer from me. I reluctantly nodded, trying to shift my attention to the delicacy in front of me. I hate that at this point in time, I was still hungry.

We started digging in, immersing ourselves into total silence other than the slurping sound of the soup. I must say, Haknyeon really has the knack for finding good restaurants because this dish made me momentarily forget whatever happened earlier. Unavoidably, I stole glances at Donghyuck, who was busy indulging himself into the fillets of the hairtail, not even showing a little sign of remorse. He's really that despicable.

"By the way, Yoojin," Haknyeon broke the silence again, "Why'd you suddenly come here?"

My spoon froze in mid-air at the sudden question as I stared at it. I knew exactly what he was asking, but I still had to be sure.

"Come where?"

"I mean, Seoul probably has the best universities, not to mention the best Taekwondo facilities too, so it's a wonder why you came to this deserted island anyway," he continued as he waved his chopsticks around, envy clear in his voice. "Have you heard of Taepoong Academy? I heard it's the best performing club there."

My heart skipped a beat as I choked on my soup, shocked at the familiar name being brought up.

"I've never heard of it," I replied as nonchalantly as I could, avoiding his eyes. "And I came here just to relax, that's all." I quickly switched back to the original topic before he could catch me between my lies. Luckily, he didn't. He nodded his head in realisation while I heaved a sigh of relief. Surely, I'd be off the hook by now.

"That's not what you said before," a voice in front of me sounded and I darted my eyes to him. Donghyuck stared at me sceptically before continuing, "Aren't you an inexperienced black belt who left her club because it wasn't her style?"

His revelation stumped me, taking me back to the first day I set foot into the training centre. I did say that, but I didn't expect him to remember that so detailedly. I glanced at Haknyeon, who was looking at me with full curiosity. I can't play dumb now.

"Well, I mean..." I stuttered, trying to find a reasonable explanation while still keeping the truth hidden. "I did leave my club, but I came here purely for the reason to relax, and so happened to find out about Yeoljeong. I wanted to try out, and it turned out I like the style of training there, so I stayed."

I gulped as two pair of eyes stared straight into mine, nervousness rising in me as I hoped that I didn't sound ridiculous. However, both their reactions were completely different.

Haknyeon gasped in awe, seemingly amazed by his newfound knowledge about me. On the other hand, Donghyuck smirked and continued on with his food in silence, but that was what scared me. I may have fooled one, but what's the point when the other is keeping you on your toes.

At least, the conversation ended there as we finished the last bit of our food. I didn't even notice time past so fast until I looked at my phone again, gasping at the four-digit number that was a few minutes to 11.

"Gosh, I'm going to get indigestion like this," I mumbled to myself, but it seemed to be loud enough for the other two to hear it.

"Bananas help, we can drop by the convenience store if you want," Haknyeon suggested, but I waved him off.

"I think I'll puke if I eat anything else." I rubbed my bloated stomach as we headed down the street. This is exactly why I don't eat a heavy meal at night, and because it makes you gain weight easily. He laughed at my reply, which reminded me again that I wasn't alone. How did I end up eating with these two?

"Anyway, I live across from here, so I'll be leaving now," Haknyeon said as he walked backwards and away from us. "Let's eat again next time?"

"Sure," I answered half-heartedly, because this will probably be the last time I hang out with them after what happened earlier. But I had to show a little courtesy, you know.

I sighed deeply, turning around to head back when a figure blocked my view. Great, I'm left with him now. I marched passed him, determined to get away from him as fast as possible.

"Leaving so soon, newbie?" His voice could be heard in the distance, but I chose to ignore it.

"Or should I say, Taepoong Academy's Sung Yoojin?"

My feet halted in its tracks as I whipped around. How did he-?

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Legend:

Taepoong - means "tornado" in Korean