Emily is unable to say anything when she opens the door of the locker room.
She is far too taken aback and surprised upon seeing the person who is waiting for her at the other end.
Jeonghan, on the other hand, looked unfazed and relaxed, as if he expected this reactions. As if anything other than being speechless would have made his ego hurt. He reaches his left hand inside the pocket of his jeans and takes out a phone.
"You left this," Jeonghan said.
Emily looks down at his hand and realizes he his holding her phone in his hand. Her eyes widen with surprise as she finds out she had forgot her phone on the table at meeting room earlier and could have very well be stolen if Jeonghan did not bring it to her.
She took the phone from his hand immeadetly, almost snatching it away as if afraid it is going to grow legs and run away.
Looking down at it, in a small voice she says, "Thank you."
Emily isn't exactly sure how Jeonghan found the empathy in his cold heart to do a kind act but she is glad he decided to be nice today. Expecting Jeonghan to walk away without saying another word, Emily is in for a pleasant surprise when he remains standing there, just staring at her.
Emily's eyes, which are on the floor, slowly dart back and forth between his face and some other random place as she begins to feel awkward with him just standing there and not saying anything.
"Uh-thank you," Emily said louder this time, wondering if he didn't hear her the first time. Clearly this is a sign that she is dismissing him so why isn't he leaving?
"You still haven't changed your phone," Jeonghan suddenly pointed out, no more looking at her face and instead looking down at her Iphone 10. In a world of Iphone 14s, Emily knows her Iphone 10 may loos outdated and ancient, especially in a college full of rich kids, but it works perfectly well for her. She's never been one to play games on her phone or spend hours on it, so if the software doens't support certain apps anymore, she really doesn't care.
"Huh?" Emily responds, flabbergasted.
"It' so cracked and dirty. I bet the updates don't even work," Jeonghan said, "You should change your phone."
Emily gaped at him.
Is he okay?
Why is he talking to her?
Did he decide to not pretend she doesn't exist anymore?
Is he sick?
Did he fall down and hit his head somewhere and forgot that Emily and Jeonghan broke up a whole ago?
Oh shit.
Will Emily now have to play his pretend girlfriend until he gets his memories back?
"Uh-I-...uhm-"
"Hey peach! I got you the papers," Luckily for Emily, she was cut off by Jackson's loud voice that grabbed both Emily and Jeonghan's attention. For the first time in her life, she is grateful for Jackson's presence.
"Peach?" Emily heard Jeonghan say under his breath but didn't really notice it. Jackson too clearly noticed Jeonghan and send a nod towards his direction as an acknowledgement.
"Here you go," Jackson said, walking over slowly to where Emily is standing and put out his hand forward with a stupid smirk on his face.
"Thank you," Emily said, taking the pile from his hand, "And I told you stop calling me that."
"I can't help it Peach. You remind me of innocence every time I see you. Just like a peach," Jackson said.
Emily made a face and rolled her eyes, "Gross."
"What are you doing here?" Jeonghan asked, the question very clearly directed at Jackson.
Jackson stuffed his hands into the pockets of his track pants and said, "Nothing. Just some business we both have to do. What are you doing here?"
"I'm athlete too," Jeonghan spoke in a condescending tone. He seems annoyed and Emily isn't sure why.
"I know. But I also know there isn't any soccer practice today. Or this week for that matter," Jackson said. Looking in between Emily and Jeonghan, he asked, "Is there something going on between the two of you?"
"No!" Emily shut down that thought as quickly as possible.
"Jackson, thank you for this," Emily said, shaking her hand with the papers, "And thank you for the phone," Emily spoke to Jeonghan without looking at it.
"Now if the two of you could leave, I could actually practice," Emily said.
"Awww. I was actually hoping to watch," Jackson said.
"Just leave," Emily deadpanned.
Jeonghan didn't say anything to Emily not made a further acknowledgment of her but instead grabbed Jackson by his forearm and began to drag him out.
"Yo, man! What are you doing? Let me go," Jackson sounded slightly alarmed but Emily didn't stay to watch the rest because she went back in the changing room.
Emily doesn't fully understand Jeonghan sometimes. He's always confused her. Even when they were together. Sometimes he is as sweet as sugar and other times he is so cold that it seems like he has no heart.
Either way, Emily didn't think much about what just happened and stuffed away her phone and the papers into her locker before heading out. Following body rotations and some ligament stretching, she jumped into the pool and began to swim a couple of laps as warm. These, she swam with ease and comfort as she is only trying to open up her muscles before she starts training for real. It was only after Emily completed her rather lengthy warm up, she began her intense training session. She kept timing herself at each round, trying to keep track of her speed while applying new techniques to swim faster as well as adding a few casual rounds in the middle. After training at the national training center for a while, it felt weird and oddly difficult to swim all alone without having people to compete against or have a coach to supervise you practically all the time.
The next time Emily broke the surface of the water to finish her lap and breath for some air, she is surprised to see Coach Ma, the Sebong female's swimming coach, standing at the edge of the pool on the other.
"Coach," Emily breathed, "What are you doing?"
Emily lifted herself out of the water and sat down at the edge of the pool.
"I should be asking you that," Coach Ma said, walking over, "Do you know what time it is?"
Emily shook her head.
"It's nearly nine," Coach Ma asked, "I came by to lock the pool up for the night. It's a good thing I decided to come inside otherwise I would have locked you in overnight too."
Emily started swimming at just before five, so at this point she must have been in the pool for four hours where she has just been aiming to swim for two. But it isn't that she is staying in longer purposefully, she genuinely lost track of time.
"Training too much can also be bad," Coach Ma said.
"I know," Emily replied, "But I haven't trained at all the past couple of days. I was just meaning to get a swim but I lost track of time."
Coach Ma sighed and crouched down in an asian squat style beside Emily. "Starting from tomorrow you can get proper training intact since we will begin our season. I read all the instructions Shin Kyunghee sent me."
"Coach Shin wrote the letter about me?" Emily asked, surprised, referring to the letter she delivered earlier today that Coach Shin had asked her to do. The same letter she and Yejune had that stupid locker brawl.
"No," Coach Ma said, "That was something else. But in the end she just mentioned what she expects you to keep up while you stay here. Even wrote it as if she were talking to a grade schooler. She has always been very condescending."
Emily can't help but the let curiosity stir inside of her. She knows that Coach Ma and Coach Shin know each other and go way back but she doesn't know why their relationship is so sour.
"If you don't mind," Emily said, "Can I ask you something?"
Coach Ma looked at Emily and nodded her head, indicating her to go on.
"How do you know Coach Shin?" Emily asks, taking her chances.
Coach Ma sighed and looked away, "The two of us go very back. We went to the same high school and were on the national team around the same time. But life happened and Kyunghee and I eventually went our separate ways. Now she's sitting at the national center while I'm sitting here."
"If I'm being honest, I think Sebong might pay better than the national center," Emily said in hopes of making her Coach feel better. And indeed Coach Ma smiled and asked, "Why? Is she bothering you."
Emily shook her head and said, "No. She isn't. But sometimes I think she just expects a bit too much out of me. I mean, at first, when I joined, she barely gave me any attention. Like everyone else. But then when I started beating others at competitions, she has shifted a lot of her attention on me. But it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes and I can tell it bothers the other girls too."
"What? That you are a better swimmer than they are?" Coach Ma asked.
"No-I mean-well-I don't know," Emily muttered, "I just know that I'm not exactly welcomed there."
Coach Ma sighed and said, "That's what they do there at the national center. They're vultures. All of them. No one is there to make a friend, everyone is there to compete. After all, when it comes down to individual sports such as swimming, the only thing people remember is the winner. And you have to remember that you have worked so hard all this time to be a winner. Not to go and make friends. I know it can be lonely and frustrating but if only your presence is enough to trigger these people than just imagine how much more powerful you are than you believe."
Emily nods her head. Although she is not a hundred percent convinced by Coach Ma's words, she does feel lighter having talked to someone about her worries. As sad and as weird as it sounds, Coach Ma is probably the most motherly figure Emily has had in her life, even more than her own mom. Of course, she is strict with training but she is also as emotionally present when Emily needs her to be.
"Come on," Coach Ma said, standing up, "We should go."
"Yes," Emily agreed.
"Here. Take the keys. lock up the pool after you're done." Coach Ma said, throwing the keys at her which Emily caught graciously. This isn't the first time Coach ma has entrusted Emily with the keys so Emily isn't too worried.
"Eat something before you sleep. You need to eat well to keep up with the energy you're trying to build," Coach Ma said and Emily agreed in response.
She dried herself off with a towel and changed out of her swimwear. Since it's so late, Emily decided its better if she just goes to the dorm first and eat something before taking a shower and going to sleep.
Switching off all the lights in the pool and locking the gates behind her, Emily walked slowly and calmly through the dark corridor, dishing her bag for her AirPods. The darkness doesn't really faze her and besides she can see plenty with the light that is coming through from the windows.
When Emily finally managed to find her AirPods she took them out of her bag and opened the case lid when something bumped into her hard.
The case went flying out of her hand and Emily couldn't help but scream really loud from being startled.
"What the fuck," She said, her heart pumping at the speed of light as her eyes figure out that a person is there with her.
"Emily?"
It took Emily a few moments but she figured out the familiar voice.
"Jeonghan?"
A second later a flashlight was being flashed in Emily's direction and she blinked away as the light went straight to her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Emily asked.
"I think I should be the one asking you that. Do you even know what the time is? Don't tell me you were still swimming till now," Jeonghan said and for some reason he sounded frustrated.
"It's none of your business," Emily snapped, "What are you doing here this late?"
"I forgot something so I came back to get it," Jeonghan muttered, "Jeez, you really scared me. Who screams that loud?"
Emily didn't reply but it was because she finally noticed her AirPods had flown out of her hands and now she can't seem to find them anywhere.
"Come on," Jeonghan said, speaking to Emily, unaware that she is not listening, "Let's go now."
When her reply did not come, Jeonghan called again, "Emily? What are you doing?"
"You can leave," Emily said, not even looking at him, moving around and squinting her eyes in the dark while keeping them trained at the floor.
"What about you?" Jeonghan asked.
"I'll come in a bit," Emily said.
"What are you doing?" Jeonghan asked, finally seeming to notice all her movement.
"None of your business," Emily asked.
Jeonghan sighed irritably and grabbed Emily's forearm, making her turn towards him. "You know I hate having my patience tested. Answer me when I ask nicely."
Emily snatched her hand away from him. Sometimes she cannot believe how she fell for him.
"Nothing. I dropped my AirPods when you walked into me. Now I can't seem to find it," Emily explained.
"Do you need to find them now?" Jeonghan asked.
"You're free to leave," Emily said, gesturing him to go away.
Jeonghan sighed and said, "Look. Think practically. You're not even going to find them right now in the dark. They could be anywhere. Just come tomorrow morning to search for them."
As much as Emily hates admitting Jeonghan is right, he is unfortunately right here. Emily doubts she will be able to find her AirPods this late with no light right now and perhaps coming in the early morning would be better. Besides, she has the keys to this place so she wouldn't even have to wait for one of the Coaches to open the area for her.
Emily sighed. She is tired as well. She can live one night without her AirPods.
"I'll come to with you tomorrow morning if you want," Jeonghan said, "I promise.
Emily looks at Jeonghan and even in the dark Jeonghan could see her eyes and gaze at him perfectly. As if a predator is looking at its prey. As if a King is looking at its enemy and as if someone is filled with hatred.
"Don't make promises which we both know you will not keep," Emily said.
Act One, which is Hazed, is set in a time period of March 2023 to July 2023. So it is one year after the breakup and it is the time period where Emily hates Jeonghan the most. I would not be writing very lovey dovey scenes for Act One because the purpose of Act One is not to show how Emily first fell for him. That will come in the later Acts. This is set in the present (well not really since its now December). This is also why Jeonghan's scenes may be smaller but please be patient because as the book progresses, he will be appearing way more.