The Fight In Me

Pilot

Chaeyoung's POV

'Look for an opening!' A loud voice echoed through my head as the crowds' started to fade away. Du dum, I heard my heart pounding with every breath I took, everything was in slow motion. In my peripheral vision I saw Jihyo, she was my assistant coach, she was standing up from her chair and her eyes were focused on me. I inhaled a deep breath and counted.

1...2...3, I dodged the oncoming hit from to the left side of my face, the girl I was against had her right arm extended, her left hand lowering slightly revealing her face, an opening, I took this opportunity and swung my right arm with full strength, right hook. My right glove made full contact with her jaw, she fell down fast but for me, time was going so slow... up until her full body made contact with the boxing ring ground.

Ding! Ding! Ding! 'KNOCK OUT! Son Chaeyoung has done it again!' I heard the commentators yell and the crowd cheering, almost making my ears go deaf. 'YES CHAENG!' Jihyo ran onto the boxing ring as the referee held my right hand and put it up to the air signalling my undeniable win. Jihyo hugged me tight, 'Unnie, I can't breathe' I struggled escaping her grasp, 'Congratulations Chae' she said again while letting go of me finally letting me breathe.

We walk out of the ring and into the locker room, 'Wow, you look like shit' Tzuyu laughed, I threw my sweaty towel that was wrapped around my neck at her, 'YUCK' Dahyun yelled as it landed on her only making Tzuyu laugh even more. 

I sat down on the locker room bench seats resting my elbows on my knees looking down at the ground while trying to steady my breathing and let my adrenaline run out. 

'That was a good last hit I must admit though Chae' Tzuyu said while leaning against the lockers opposite me, I lift my head to look up at her as she had her eyebrows raised. 

Tzuyu and Dahyun are also boxers, I've known them since I was in highschool, Tzuyu moved from Taiwan to Korea to pursue her dream of becoming a professional boxer, she started boxing at 14 years old and moved to Korea at 16 years old to start training and preparing for boxing scholarships as soon as she finished high school. 

Dahyun started boxing at 11 years old, it started as a hobby for her, a way to relieve stress, until one time she was at the gym practising on a punching bag when a guy was harassing a girl, long story short, she challenged him to a fight and won, from there on she began to love boxing.

For me, my dad was a professional boxer. Son Jinyoung, he was the best of the best, he was a professional boxer for 18 years, until he had an injury at age 36. He was in the middle of a match when he took one too many hits to the head, he was out by technical knockout (TKO) but his opponent wasn't done yet, he began taking hit after hit until his rival was physically pulled out of the ring. 

After suffering many injuries, my dad decided it was time to throw in the towel, and finish off his boxing career and focus on his life with his wife, my mum. I can't remember what my mum was like, she was killed in a car crash coming home from work when I was 3. 

I don't talk that much about her because there was really nothing to remember as sad as it is but I try not to let it get to me. When I first started attending school at age 5 my dad began my boxing training. 

Nothing overly hard, he started with getting me used to wearing gloves, we would practise on punching bags and pads. As I grew older the training became more intense and harder, I was running 5km every morning and 5km at night by age 8. By 10, I was attending boxing classes 6 days a week.

 By 11, I was sparring with other kids my age. My dad taught me a lot of tricks and tips he used in his boxing days; he trained me to become the perfect athlete. I was top of my class in every boxing competition. 

I came in 1st place in all my boxing tournaments. But still, after everything I've achieved, everything I've done, it never seemed like enough to my father. He never once told me he was proud of me, of anything I've accomplished, it's always 'you can do better', I always thought it was my fault until... My father married my step mother.

My father's love life was none of my concern, I would not meddle with whoever he wanted to be with. Jiwoo was a lovely woman, she never bothered me or treated me poorly, but she had a son, Bambam. 

Bambam and I never really became friends, we had a mutual understanding of our parents' marriage and never got in the way of each other's lives, we weren't friends but we were friendly. 

I was 11 at the time and Bambam was 12, as soon as Bambam entered our lives my dad put him on a boxing training schedule, he was off to a shaky start as a boxer but he eventually got the hang of it. 

As a guy he was pushed to do a lot more weight training than me. Due to our training, we were both muscular people but him being a guy made his muscles stand out more. 

My dad always treated Bambam like he was his son, and of course I didn't mind it but my dad started celebrating my step brother's achievements no matter how small, if Bambam won a small local boxing tournament, we would go out for dinner, if he came 2nd in a regional tournament, my father would buy him a present. All of this made me realise something, Bambam was the son my father wished I was.

'Earth to Chae' I heard Dahyun's voice and I suddenly snapped out of whatever daze I was in. 'Huh? What is it?' I looked at her sitting next to me. She chuckled 'I said go shower and get dressed, we're going out' Dahyun said pulling out her phone to check the time 7:48pm, I slowly got up and winced in pain as I touched my stomach, I looked down and saw a bruise forming.

 "God damn it" I mumbled and pressed an ice pack against it while looking for my bag. 'Wash your face and slap some bandaids on those cuts, we'll find someone to fix you up properly later' Tzuyu said while typing on her phone 'Will do' I say as I walk to the showers.

I stepped out the shower rooms with a simple outfit on, a black hoodie champion hoodie on with some shorts and long socks with air forces that had a black tick on them. I was drying my hair when I saw Dahyun and Tzuyu bickering 

:Just ask her to be your girlfriend already!" Dahyun said standing up looking at Tzuyu who was now sitting down 'I just think it's too soon for any of that' Tzuyu said with a blank face 'Ugh, whatever' Dahyun sat down in defeat. 

"Talking about Sana?" I said mockingly which earned a glare from Tzuyu. Sana and Tzuyu have a thing, they're closer than friends and act like they're in a relationship but they're officially dating yet, complicated right?

"We'll be meeting up with her and friends tonight, just a chill night at Sana's apartment. Dinner, mingle a little bit then we'll leave" Tzuyu said while walking past us to the door. Me and Dahyun just looked at each other and followed behind her.

We hopped in Dahyun's car. Dahyun was driving, me in the passenger seat and Tzuyu in the backseat. We all sat in silence with music blasting in the car, up until Tzuyu leaned over and turned the music down before talking to break the silence. 

"By the way, Sana has two of her 2 of her friends over right now along with Jihyo. Momo and Mina are the names of the other girls" Tzuyu said while reading from her phone. 

Momo and Mina, have I met them before? 

They sound somewhat familiar, I thought. Tzuyu, reading the room, then said 'Yes, they're from our university too, so you might have seen them around campus somewhere'. Ohh that explains it, 'They are beautiful japanese girls too, you guys should go check it out' Tzuyu said smiling. Both Dahyun and I rolled our eyes. 'Yeah yeah' Dahyun said on behalf of us.

Dahyun parked in the apartment's parking lot and us three all made our way to the entrance of the building. I'm not usually a nervous person, but for some odd reason, I felt some reason I did feel nervous. I could hear our footsteps echoing through the apartment building and the elevator going up. We were walking down the hallway and stopped in front of door number 237. Tzuyu looked behind her to see me and Dahyun before turning back around to knock on the door.

Knock Knock