✔fault ; choi yeonjun

eleven - so you'll help me...?

-

minyoung took a deep breath as she closed her locker, her initial optimism replaced by a sense of nervousness.

"it's nice to see all of you back," the coach greeted them warmly, "i have some announcements to make today, so gather round."

they gathered in a small circle, eager to start practice that day.

"as you know, our school is visited by coaches from the national tennis team to look for potential star players, and this year is no exception." he tapped his clipboard, and chattering was heard.

"i'm glad to see that all of you are excited, but i have to submit a short list of those to look out for based on my own judgement."

she swallowed nervously, unsure if her joining later would affect the coach's decision. she blanked out, lost in her own thoughts before she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"you alright?" seulgi asked, "we're supposed to play a match against each other first."

she simply nodded in response and the two girls took their places on court. she was feeling especially nervous today, now knowing the stakes for their matches. she glanced over at the next court and saw sooyoung engaged in a fierce match with joohyun, who evidently had the upper hand.

"all the best!" seulgi whispered as yerim, who was acting as umpire, tossed the coin.

minyoung won, and she chose to serve first.

gathering as much of her concentration as she could, she gritted her teeth and fixed her aim. bouncing it a few times to get into the rhythm, the ball was soon flung into the air and she whacked the ball with as much precision as she could manage.

alas her fatal fault came through, both literally and figuratively, and she lost numerous easy points to seulgi, who ended up winning the match. as they went up to shake hands, laughing and joking with each other, they turned to see joohyun walking towards them.

"lord give me patience." seulgi mumbled and minyoung had to suppress a chuckle.

"you never fail to amaze me with your lack of basic skill," she sneered, "i've decided to make you the subject of my experiment. i have just formed my hypothesis, want to hear it?"

"no."

"well of course you do!" she smiled, "my hypothesis is that you bought your way into this school."

"has anything decent ever come out your mouth?" seulgi had thrown her racket down and charged towards her.

minyoung instinctively reached out to grab her, not wanting to find out what seulgi could become when pushed to her limits.

"let go of me! i'm willing to risk a demerit point just to get my hands on her!" she struggled against her grip.

joohyun's eyes flickered to her right, and minyoung followed her gaze. yeonjun, soonbin and beomgyu had just let themselves into the stands and were headed in their direction.

joohyun's voice changed in pitch and tone.

"seulgi, i really don't get what you have against me!"

following joohyun's cry of self-pity, seulgi let out an angry roar and charged toward her, freeing herself like a madman.

"oi, seulgi!" a shout was heard from where the three boys had come from.

the tall boy ran up and separated seulgi from the other girl, hoisting her up on his shoulder when she continued to struggle.

"stop moving, or i'll drop you."

"do it! drop me right on top of that bitch!" seulgi flailed her arms wildly, "do it, choi soobin!"

a smile threatened to appear as he tightened his grip on the struggling girl.

"i'll put you down, but i'll be holding onto you."

he slowly set the girl down on the ground, and before she could charge towards joohyun again, he had gripped her shoulders firmly.

"why are you always so against me? all i do is try to give advice." joohyun had started tearing up, as she wiped her tears off dramatically.

"you're such a fake!" minyoung was no longer taken aback by seulgi's shouts, she seemed to have gone on a rampage.

"i really hope the day comes when we all get to become good friends." joohyun gave one last sniff before turning away.

"that was...interesting." beomgyu scratched his head.

"tell me about it." yeonjun shivered as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"why did you stop me? that bitchass deserves a -"

but whatever seulgi felt joohyun deserved, they never found out, because soobin had picked her up again and brought her out of the stands as her voice faded.

"she's...wild." beomgyu snickered before leaving to help soobin control seulgi.

minyoung rounded on yeonjun, who was simply staring at joohyun's retreating back in amazement.

"care to explain why you're here?" she taunted him as his cheeks turned a little pink.

"soobin wanted to see how your practices were like, and he wanted company." he said a little to quickly, as if he had rehearsed it.

yeonjun had actually wanted to see minyoung on the courts again, but there was no way he was letting her know that. their previous match had ended way too soon, and yeonjun was looking forward to challenging her again.

"so," he started again quickly, eager to change the topic, "i saw your match, and i don't think you should be the one coaching me."

yeonjun wanted to smack himself on the forehead once the words left his mouth, but it was too late. he saw the way minyoung's shoulders slightly sagged and she became quiet.

"no, wait!" he was flustered now, "what i meant was that i should be the one coaching you instead!"

no, that wasn't what he had meant to say either.

"really? you're willing to do that?" the way her eyes lit up made yeonjun swallow some of his regret on offering to coach her.

she stepped into his space cautiously, and he took slow steps backward. as she advanced on him, he retreated till his back hit the wall.

"i-"

"please?" she plead.

"fine! fine, fine, just- don't come any closer." he side-stepped her and walked off quickly.

"it's a deal then!" she called happily, "thank you!"

edited as of 06/01/21

for newer readers: hello! i hope you're enjoying the story! i realised some of the comments could be confusing because while editing, i've practically rewritten almost all the chapters -- only slight changes in the plot though, just so it flows better. regardless, whether you're reading the edited or have read the initial story, i thank you for giving this story a chance. stay safe.