Growing

Chapter 1

Jackson:

I got out of the pool and ran a hand through my wet hair before I looked over to Jaebum who was holding a stopwatch in his hand. I had asked him to check if my speed was good or if I needed to be faster.

"Your first round was better. You've been much slower now. Maybe you should take a break and give your muscles some time to rest." My friend said and placed the stopwatch on the bench.

I sighed and grabbed the towel he was handing me. "I can't take a break. You know I have to get faster. The coach of the college team will come to see me swim tomorrow." I sat down and took my bottle to drink something.

I had to admit that I was a little disappointed in myself. My time for the first round had nearly beaten my best and the last days of training had also been good but today I seemed to lose my strength.

Of course, I had already been accepted by the college and my chances to get into their swimming team were really good but their coach had to see me swim before I got the official confirmation.

I had already been preparing myself for over a week because I didn't want to lose the chance to be a part of one of the best college swimming teams in our country. I had worked too hard to lose now.

It was an amazing possibility and brought me much closer to my dream to become a professional swimmer. I had given my whole power to improve my skills and it would be disappointing if I failed.

"If you overpower yourself, you'll only be tired and exhausted tomorrow. You should relax so you can give your best." Jaebum said and glanced at his phone before he looked at me again.

I knew that he was absolutely right. Actually I shouldn't allow myself to waste too much energy because I needed to be ready for tomorrow but I really feared that I would fail if I didn't practice enough.

"But what if I haven't practised enough? I've worked so hard to get accepted at my dream college. It would be completely waisted if I didn't become a part of their swim team." I said.

"The other guys might not take this serious but I do." I continued. I wasn't the only guy in our team who wanted to go to this college but they didn't practice as much as I did and I was sure they would fail.

"Maybe they have other things to do. Like taking out their boyfriend or girlfriend or maybe they are just confident about their skills. Who knows?" The elder shrugged his shoulders.

I lightly shook my head. "Yixing doesn't even have a partner. He doesn't train if it's not necessary. I'm pretty sure he's just lazy." I told my friend and drank another sip of my water.

"But others have. My point is that everyone has many possibilities. But in the end you are the one who chooses your priority." He explained but I still didn't really know what he wanted to tell me.

Jaebum sighed and grabbed his phone. I watched him while he seemed to type something before he turned his phone and showed it to me. I took it out of his hand and raised my eyebrows.

The screen showed me Mark's profile picture on WhatsApp. It was a selfie of him and Lily, both smiling brightly. It was one of my favourite photos of them but I didn't exactly know why he showed it to me now.

"You know that you have other responsibilities too." He gestured to his phone. "You have a boyfriend and a daughter to take care of. Does Mark know that you've been here everyday?" The elder asked.

I shook my head. I hadn't told my boyfriend about the things I was doing at the moment. He would only scold me because I didn't rest enough and probably pull me out of the pool by himself.

"No, he would only be worried or angry or even both and I don't want to have a fight with him." I told my friend who took his phone out of my hand. I waited for him to say something.

"Well, no one can bother yoh to tell him. But I think you should spend much more time with him and Lily when the coach has seen you swimming tomorrow." He said and grabbed his back.

I raised my eyebrows and gave him a questioning look. "Youngjae's parents invited him and me for dinner tonight." The older male explained and I nodded. It seemed like I had to practice alone now.

"Then have fun my friend." I said with a light smile, knowing that he wasn't really close with the parents of his fiancee. "Thank you." Jaebum answered with a sigh and left the swimming hall.

I was about to turn to the pool again when I heard that someone was coming in. My first idea was that one of the other boys came here to practice but it wasn't any of my teammates.

It was Jinyoung who was pushing Lily's stroller while my daughter was peacefully sleeping, wrapped in her light pink blanket. "What are you doing here?" I asked the younger who walked over to me.

"Mark has told me that I should bring Lily to your house after I took her out for a walk. Your mother told me that you were here." He told me and took a look at the sleeping baby in the stroller.

"Seems like you haven't told Mark that you're practicing." The ravenette sat down on one of the benches. I crossed my arms. "Why do you care? It's not a big deal." I asked in scepticism.

Jinyoung lightly shook his head. "I care because he's my best friend." He said. "But you're right. It's not a really big deal at all." The younger continued and gave me a glance which I couldn't really read.

"I thought you came here to bring Lily and not to scold me." I said a little grumpy what caused the black-haired male to let out a short quiet laugh. "I don't mean to scold you." He answered.

I sighed before I took my towel and laid in on my shoulders. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to swim another round because Jinyoung would run to Mark and tell him what I had done.

Of course, it wasn't a big thing that I hadn't told my boyfriend that I was practicing the whole day but I knew that he didn't want me to overpower myself. He got worried so easily and he hated it when I didn't rest enough.

"I'm not going to tell Mark that you were here. It's nothing big and I don't want you to argue." Jinyoung said what surprised me. I had actually thought that he would go everything to make me look bad.

"He tells me about everything you do. So make sure that you don't lie to him when it comes to serious topics. You've promised me to treat him well. I don't have a problem with you. I just want to protect him." He told me.

I nodded with a light smile. "I know. And I'm going to keep this promise." I answered. "Could you take care of Lily for five more minutes? I need to shower?" I asked him then and got a nod in response.

I thanked the younger and left the swimming hall to go to the bathroom. I knew that Jinyoung only wanted the best for Mark. The black-haired male and I had made up some time ago and we didn't fight anymore.

Luckily the college coach would see me tomorrow and then I wouldn't have to practice anymore. I could finally spend more time with my little family again and I wasn't able to imagine something better.

-

Sorry for taking so long but here we are again. I know this chapter isn't that exciting and I'm also not completely satisfied but I think it's quite good and I also want to keep the interesting stuff for the coming chapters!

So what will happen from now on? Will Jinyoung and Jackson stay friends or will there be a new reason to fight? Will Jackson keep bigger secrets from Mark? Does he even already have some?

Thanks for reading and also for the first 130+ votes and nearly 1k reads after the Prologue 💙