When Emily reached her room and opened the door, Minseo was already sitting inside on her desk and when she opened the door wider, she saw Yejune lying down on her bed.
When Yejune saw Emily she immediately got up into a sitting position, ready to get up from her bed.
"It's okay," Emily said, "You can sit there."
Yejune gives her an awkward smile and the room elopes into a stiff silence. It was very clear that whatever the two had been talking about before Emily came in has been abruptly interrupted in.
"You're back," Minseo said with a small smile and Emily just give her a small nod. After removing her shoes in the entryway, she walked over to her desk and put down her bag on top. Opening it, she dumps today's running leggings and shirt in her laundry basket and empties out everything unnecessary while re-packing it for tomorrow.
Minseo and Yejune have started to talk again but Emily has shut them out and is not really paying attention to their conversation. She is too busy preparing for bed and preparing for tomorrow's training.
Unzipping her jacket, she shrugs it off and just leaves it hanging on the chair of her desk. What's the point in bothering to hang it up in her wardrobe when she is going to use it again tomorrow morning.
Emily likes Minseo, even though they are most certainly friends. Swimming teams normally don't have captains, but if they were to ever have one, Minseo will easily be the captain.The elder woman has always been kind and sweet, helping out when Emily requires it or making sure everyone on the team is being safe and healthy. She likes that Minseo knows to mind her business but yet creates enough small talk not to overwhelm the other person. Minseo is that one person that everyone likes regardless of their age, gender or occupation because of how calm and collected they are. In many ways Minseo reminded Emily of Jia, perhaps just a bit more mature. Out of everyone on the team, Minseo is really the only one who doesn't treat Emily like an outsider, since everyone else still views her as an American.
However Emily is also smart enough to know that Minseo keeps her at a safe length. Compared to how friendly she is with the rest of the team, Minseo engages with Emily at a minimum and in a way only when she has to or when she needs to. And the reason is as clear as day.
It is undeniable, although no one says it, that Minseo has peaked in her career or has went past her peak, whereas Emily has yet to reach her peak. Minseo still fishes out excellent timings and records but there are not improving at the rate Emily is.
Minseo used to be more friendly with Emily but after Emily beat her twice at an international competition, proceeding on also creating a national record, Minseo began to slowly keep her distance. Though Emily can't help but feel a bit angry at that. Yejune has a better performance record than Emily, has beaten Minseo more and yet she treats Yejune like a sibling. She finds that unfair.
Emily has no doubt Minseo views her more as a threat than a friend.
"Emily?"
"Hmm?" Emily broke away from her thoughts and turned around in a daze.
"I've been calling you for a while," Minseo states, looking over her shoulder at her.
"o...oh," Emily mutters, "Sorry. I didn't realize."
"Clearly," Yejune says quietly.
"What were you saying?" Emily asks.
"I was saying, aren't you also going back next week?" Minseo asks.
"Next week?"
"Yeah. To university. Your new academic year is also starting, isn't it?" Minseo asked.
"Oh..." Emily responds, finally understanding what this conversation is about, "Yes. I'm leaving in four days. But I'm first going to my grandmother's house. I'll stay there for a few days before going to campus."
"I thought your family lives in America?" Yejune asks, the first time she is directly speaking to Emily since she came in the room.
"My parents do. My grandmother lives here alone," Emily explained, "I'll spend a few days with her before going to university."
"And you're also going to stay there for a month?" Minseo asks.
Emily nods, saying, "I'll be back the first week of May."
"Same as you then Yejune-ah," Minseo said, "The training center is going to get empty for a while now that everyone is going back to their colleges and schools." She sighs in between and continues, "Training is going to be very slow for a month then."
"You're the lucky one unnie," Yejune said, "You can get Coach's full attention on you while we are gone. Just imagine how much you will be able to improve."
Minseo smiled and said, "There's only so much I can do in one month. Besides, how will I improve if I don't have the both of you challenging me to do better?"
Yejune smiled at the elder in the room and said, "You'll be fine unnie." Pushing herself off of Emily's bed, Yejune yawned and said, "I should get going now. See you tomorrow morning."
"Bye," Minseo called out and before Emily could say anything to her, Yejune had already left.
Upon seeing that her bed is free, Emily puts her water bottle and her phone on it alongside with her laptop. Going into the attached washroom and changing into her pajamas before brushing her teeth, Emily climbs into bed right away while Minseo is still seated on her table, writing something away in what seems to be a journal.
It is only nine thirty but the girls have to wake up at five to start their training and so Emily likes to sleep by ten to get enough sleep and relax her body.
"Oh, by the way," Minseo speaks up right before Emily is about to fall asleep, "Coach wanted you to go to her office tomorrow morning after the outdoor training."
Emily, despite half asleep, frowned, "What for?"
Minseo shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe for your Spring schedule? I doubt it is anything serious."
.
.
.
Emily is undeniably good at running.
When she was in middle school, their cross country supervisor wanted to recruit her for the track and field team and even butted heads with her swimming coach.
The only reason why she even joined the track and field team in the first place is to help boost her stamina and strength in swimming. After all, it is no big secret that most swimmers tend to be good runners too as it is a part of their aerobic training.
However Emily happened to be on the better side.
She had been told that competing on a national level for track & field will always be an open option for her.
But she wasn't the only good runner.
Yejune is better than her.
Every morning the nine girls on the swimming team ran fifteen laps around the soccer field to start off their day and the top three runners get an exemption from the 100 pushups and sit-ups their coach makes them do right after.
As usual, Yejune finished first and Emily came in second. These first two spots are always solidified with the third always being varied.
Today it was Yerin's lucky day. Minseo barely missed.
"100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups girls," Coach Shin blew her whistle when everyone finished, "Yejune, Emily and Yerin, do fifty of each."
Some of the girls groaned a but while Emily herself bit back from sighing herself.
Nonetheless, they got onto the ground and did fifty of each. When Emily finished, earlier than rest, she sat there panting for air.
"Eunmi," Coach Shin called her out and Emily looked her way, "Come here."
At first Emily felt too tired to get up but nonetheless found her feet and walked over to where the Coach was sitting.
"Yes ma'am?" Emily stood in front, her hands clasped behind her back as most athletes in Korea do when talking to their coach, "I heard you had asked to see me."
"Yes, I was going to talk to you later but I figured I'll just do it now since you were sitting idle," Coach said, "Come sit."
Confusion grew in Emily but she still moved and sat down on the bench.
"I need you to give this to your coach," Coach Shin said, taking out an envelopes from inside of her jacket.
Now Emily furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "My coach?" She still reached her hand out for the white envelopes taking them in her hands.
"The one at Sebong. It's Ma Eunhee, isn't it?" Coach Shin said and Emily nodded her head, "Give to her when you go back to University."
Emily frowned, turning the envelope over in her hand but it had zero writing on it.
"But University doesn't start for another two weeks," Emily said.
"I know. It's not anything urgent," Coach Shin said, her eyes still trained on the other girls who are still working on their push-ups and sit-ups. Emily slowly takes that as a sign for her to get up which she does slowly.
"Coach," Emily called out after a few seconds of silence, "If you don't mind me asking...why don't you just post them to her?"
Coach Shin finally looked properly at Emily and said, "I need to make sure she actually reads it. If I post it then god knows if she actually opens it or just trashes it. Make sure she reads it and report back to me."
Emily has a million questions jumping around in her head but she just nods her head and says, "Okay."
"Go back now. We need to work on your long distance stroke today. You were slow in that yesterday," Coach Shin told her, her eyer back on the rest of the girls.
"Yes ma'am,"
.
.
.
Emily yanked opened her locker with force. It was starting to grow rusty and Emily wondered if she should request a locker change.
Today she is one of the last of the girls finishing her training. Coach wanted her to swim a few more extra laps for no good reason but Emily is in no position to refute. This is the biggest culture difference she feels in Korea and America. Here, you are supposed to blindly trust and follow whatever the Coach tells you to do, even if you have reasonable concerns.
Emily felt like a cash cow at times.
"What did Coach gave you?" Yejune said and at first Emily didn't even realize Yejune addressed the question to her until she felt the locker room silent with all of the girls more or less looking at her.
"Huh-?"
"In the morning. Coach handed you something on the field. What was it?" Yejune asked.
"Oh-" Emily realized, her back towards the others as she pulled out her towel from her locker, "She asked me pass something to the swimming coach at Sebong."
"Why would she ask you?" Yejune asked, the aggressiveness evident in her tone.
"I don't know? Maybe because I go there?" Emily said sarcastically, draping the towel over the shoulders.
"She can just send it herself. Why would she ask you?" Yejune asked.
"I don't know. I didn't care to ask," Emily lied but again, she didn't think that was any of Yejune's business. The other girl is just being nosy.
But Yejune would not stop pestering, "What was in it?"
Emily sighed and finally turned around to look at her, "I don't know. I didn't ask her. It's none of my business and neither is it yours."
Finally Yejune seemed to get the message and kept her silence. Emily turned back around to her locker, getting ready to go shower. She had thought everything has settled but clearly was wrong when Yejune scoffed loudly.
"It's not fair," Yejune said loud enough. Emily knows it is about her but she didn't really feel like entertaining her, "We work hard and tough to earn even the slightest of appreciation and respect just to have some American train here for a few months and take it all away from us."
Emily had thought she was going to remain silent and not entertain any drama from Yejune but Yejune really knows how to hit every single nerve.
Emily slammed her locker shut, loud enough to flinch some of the girls and turned around on her heels, "What part of, it is just something she wants me to pass on, do you not understand? Or has the chlorine gotten so much to your ears that you can't even hear now?"
Emily from three years ago would have just kept shut. Maybe she would have even apologized even if she has done nothing wrong. Even Emily from a year ago would have just kept mum and listened to all the insults the other girls throw at her.
But now Emily is tired of being the quiet, sweet girl she has played her entire life. Being nice brought her nowhere in this world.
Yejune looks taken aback. Emily usually just ignores her and never says anything back.
"Have you lost your mind?" Yejune said.
"Have you lost your mind? Who the hell do you think you are for prying into Coach's personal business. I don't care then why the hell do you care. It's my burden anyways, isn't it?" Emily snapped at her.
"I don't know what deluded fantasy you have created in your head but my me coming here a couple of months ago has nothing to do with Coach asking me to run a personal favor. I'm the only one who goes to Sebong here," Emily finished.
Yejune seems to finally recover from her initial surprise and nearly growls back, "You think you're so high and mighty coming from America with all of these exotic American training techniques you bring with you but in reality you couldn't handle the heat over there and decided to come here so you could easily dominate the field."
Emily sighs and drops her shoulders. Maybe she should have kept quiet. She's too tired for this crap right now.
"Honestly, Yejune, I'm too tired for this right now," Emily said, trying to deescalate the situation. She can already imagine the gossip spreading all over the training center like some wildfire.
"What a coward."
Emily bit her tongue and tightened her grip on her towel.
"Actually, you know what, let's do this since you are asking so badly for it," Emily said, "You're scared of me. You feel threatened by me and I'm honestly not sure why because we both swim at the same level."
"Are you actually stupid or you like to pretend to be a dumb bitch?" Yejune said, "You've barely been here for a couple of months while I have been here for over two years. Minji has been here for over a year. Aera has been here for nearly three years but Coach has never spent as much personal training time with us compared to how much she has with you. We've been here for so long, we've been working our asses of for so long but no one here has shown as much improvement in such a short amount of time as much as you have."
"Okay-guys. Stop it," Minseo started but no one really listened to her.
"Oh my god? How old you? Maybe has your tiny little brain realized that there is something called hard work?" Emily clapped back at her, "Maybe if you would stop frolicking around your ex who clearly is done with you and actually focus on your training, then your times will improve as well?"
"Emily-that was a bit mean," Minseo tried interjecting again.
"Oh and you would know how Joo-hyuk feels, wouldn't you?" Yejune said then smirked, "After all you enjoy hitting on him so much?"
"Are you actually jealous that your ex has female friends? You do realize you guys are exes" Emily emphasized, "Maybe this is why you actually can't improve on your times. You are too hung over a guy who doesn't care about you anymore. I feel sorry for him. He has to see your face at University and even here. Poor guy can't seem to catch a fucking break anywhere because your clingy ass isn't even letting him breath."
"You fucking bitch-"
"What's going on here?"
All heads turn to door where Coach Shin is standing with her arms crossed against her chest, her stance particularly in defense mode with a serious and angered expression on her face.
"I said, what is GOING ON HERE!" Coach yelled, her loud voice booming all around the locker room. There is pin-drop silence after she speaks as none of the girls seem to find the courage to speak up.
"Yejune. Eunmi. Do you two wish to explain yourselves? Are you both going to fight like stupid children in a locker room or are the both of you mature enough to behave yourselves like adults in the training center and take whatever issues you have outside and stop disturbing everyone else," Coach spoke.
When both Emily and Yejune didn't say anything, Coach said, "Are you two deaf or you need to spoken in baby language!"
Yejune spoke up first and said, "No Coach. I apologize. I-I promise this won't happen again."
Emily didn't speak immediately after and she felt everyone's eyes, including Coach's on her. She gulped, fighting the urge to defend herself in front of Coach. This is Korea, not America.
"I'm sorry Coach," Emily said.
"I want you all out in ten minutes. I don't care if you have to shower. This crap better not happen again here. We're all mature adults. If you want to fight like children then feel free to go back to juniors team," Coach Shin lectured, "Yejune. Emily. Run ten extra laps tomorrow at the field."
No one moved or said anything until Coach left. Yejune waited for Coach's footstep echo's to ho away before slamming her locker shut and storming off.
Emily waited for everyone to leave one by one until she was all alone.
She missed her home.
She missed her family.
But it's too late now. She's come too far now to go back.
.
.
.
Emily heard some footsteps in a short distance behind her but didn't heed it any attention since she is sitting in a public place.
That is until she heard someone talk to her.
"What are you doing here?"
Emily whipped her head back to see Nam Joo-hyuk standing behind her.
"Oh...its you," Emily said slowly turning back to the river. She heard him take a step forward towards her before saying, "Are you drinking?"
Emily nodded, the can of beer in her hand an irrefutable evidence.
"Do you want some? I have one more can," Emily offered to him.
Joo-hyuk sighed and sat down beside Emily.
"This is why you are going to get sick. Your hair is wet and out in the open and you're drinking chilled beer with no jacket on," He said.
Emily smiled a bit to herself and asked, "Why do you have an obsession with me being sick?"
"Because we can't let one of our top swimmers get sick," Joo-hyuk answered.
"Do you really believe that?" Emily asked.
"Believe what?"
"That I am a top swimmer?" Emily asked earnestly.
Joo-hyuk looked at her in surprise and said, "Of course I do. Everyone does. It's obvious."
The way Joo-hyuk was looking at her so seriously made her feel anxious and she broke the gaze and looked away.
"Why are you drinking alone?" Joo-hyuk asked after a few minutes had passed.
Emily smiled bitterly and said, "Why don't you ask your ex-girlfriend?"
He was silent for a few moments before saying, "I heard you guys had a...disagreement."
Of course he did.
"I don't know what happened...but...I hope you don't think too badly of Yejune after this," Joo-hyuk said and Emily instantly rolled her eyes.
She couldn't help but scoff. "This is ridiculous." She murmured.
"What are you doing?" Joo-hyuk asked when he saw her stand up and grab her bag.
"I'm really not in the mood to hear anyone compliment her right now so I rather just leave," Emily explained, not bothering with the sugarcoating.
"Emily...just hear me out," Joo-hyuk said but she was quick to cut him off and say, "No-you hear me out. I don't know what kind of situationship the two of you are in but that's for you two to deal with. Stop dragging me into this. And as for Yejune, you have no idea what a jerk she's been to me. So save your praises for her for someone else who actually care."
"Okay. Okay. I won't say anything. Just let me walk you back," Joo-hyuk said, getting up as well.
"I think its best I go by myself," Emily said, already removing herself away from the scene.
"Emily, you've been drinking. It's not safe," Joo-hyuk called out.
"I'm safer right now than I was in that locker room," Emily yelled back.
She couldn't help but feel a deep sadness inside of her.
The only person who she could even think of as a friend in this place, also thinks of her as an outsider. What else does she have to go through to be accepted by these people?
Jeonghan will make his first appearance in the next chapter!
Stay tuned!
And have a great day!
And congrats to Seventeen for winning Daesang!