That same day, Jimin and I continued with the same routine as always. The pain in my shoulder has ceased, therefore I managed to get through the painful warm-up quite easily.
"You've improved," he congratulated and offered me his hand to help me up, but I shook my head while thanking him.
"Glad to hear that," I nodded and walked over to my bag to take out my boxing gloves, but stop midway when Jimin announced I wouldn't need them today.
"So, it's training on the floor, I guess?" I chuckled and knelt down beside him. "I thought the arm-bar was enough of a-"
"Well, what if you are the one being held in arm-bar?" He suggested and wrapped his legs around my waist to go in guarding position. "I'm gonna show you how to defend."
He quickly pulls my right arm towards his chest, causing me to lean forward while he scooted towards my right knee, swinging his left leg over my head and enclosing my arm between his thighs.
"Now, wrap your free arm that is not enclosed under my arm, pull my left thigh away from you and hoist yourself up with your right leg. Kind of like you would do lunges."
Clicking my tongue in frustration, I held my breath in concentration and my free arm snaked under this hand that was holding my enclosed arm and pulled away his left leg draped over my back lightly.
Replaying every single thing he had instructed me to do, my right foot stand flat on the mat beside him, while my left knee scoots to the side of his head, causing me to hover above him.
"Good job", he ached and wiped the film of sweat that had formed on his forehead with the back of his hand. "Wiggle your arm out of my enclosure."
I pulled my arm quickly from between his knees and shook my wrist out whose blood circulation was cut off due to Jimin's impressive leg strength.
My eyes found his, and I studied his face with those nearly perfect, inhumane features. He wasn't too much taller than me, but something about his gaze intimates me, which results in me looking at the ground for most of the time when I speak to him, and casually peering at his eyes once in a while.
And as I grew up with Martial Arts, intimidation slowly adapted its way out of my vocabulary. So what he was causing to me had seriously a big impact. Whatever it is.
"Focus," Jimin demands and I detached my glance from his. Muttering an apology under my breath, I got my mindset back on task.
The boy squirmed underneath me. "Alright, let's see... now, just push me off of you so I land with my back flat on the mat and hold me in side-guard."
The only thing touching the mat was his shoulders and head, the rest was hoisted up on me. I observe the position I was in, and noticed how the shirt of his training uniform had ridden downwards, exposing his well-defined, lower back.
Dead God, is there something this guy doesn't possess?
Shaking my head to pull myself out of the distraction, I took the last energy residing in me, and pushed his body forcefully away from mine, causing him to sway back until he landed flat on the mat.
I stood up beside him and reached my hand down to help him up, but his firm stare made me backtrack.
"Didn't you forget something?" He mockingly asked and raised his eyebrows. "Side-guard, Soo Mi. You gotta keep me on the ground, otherwise I could attack you again."
Why was he so frustrating as a teacher? Leaning down, I reluctantly thread my left arm under his neck and my right arm under his left arm, my chest pressed against his, trying to keep him down. That's probably the reason I will never be friends with Jiu Jitsu techniques. Too much body contact for me.
My awkwardness elicited a deep chuckle out of Jimin. "I don't bite, and you should know that."
Removing myself from him, I stood up once, adjusted the collar of my shirt and responded: "Judging from the time I first met you, you seem incredibly hostile. Or just hard to figure out."
"I'm not hostile against anyone at all. I was just trying to show you different techniques so you can be the highlight of the evaluation."
Groaning, I dropped myself against the nearest wall too harshly that I felt the air in my lungs ceasing, and watched him following me.
"I get your effort, Jimin, and I asked for it. But I feel like we should focus on the things I focus myself in, like Kickboxing. The stuff on the ground just brings be back to square one, and I haven't even done the technique right."
His feet stop right in front of me, and this time, I didn't feel any shame looking him straight into the eye.
"Wanna see something?" He suggested and guided me towards the exit.
I haven't noticed before, but several framed photos were neatly aligned on the wall, five in total. All of them showed a young looking man in Taekwondo-uniform with two sleeves on his knees. On one of the pictures, his smile was very bright as he hold an immense, golden trophy with detailed laurel wreaths on either side of the bowl.
"He appears to be very proud," I took notice and point at the trophy. "Who's that?"
Jimin's facial expression abruptly lightened up. "That's my dad in his younger years," he proudly states while crossing his arms in front of his chest, "he had two knee injuries and still managed to get through his final round at the biggest Martial Arts championship in Daegu back then. He won first place and he inspires me everyday."
The pictures of young Principal Park made me snicker, but at the same time, I truly respected his remarkable endurance.
"I pointed this out to show you that learning how to overcome new obstacles isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, you can focus on the stuff that you know, but in what way will you progress?"
Pointing behind him at the picture of his dad, he continued;
"His new obstacle was to fight with two injuries on either knee. He kept clarifying that that was still allowed during his time, yet it's still a milestone he had reach to become the master he is now."
Jimin interrupted himself with a chuckle, and lifted his head to face me again.
"I've seen you, Soo Mi. When you and Min Yoongi had that endurance competition going on the first day of this semester, I was amazed by you, 'cause believe it or not, it is rather untypical for girls to do well at Martial Arts schools, and that's the biggest stigma you're supposed to experience.
Amazingly, you shrug it off so easily that it impresses me."
I completely forgot the fact that his body had moved dangerously close to me, so that I could feel his irregular breaths stroking my cheeks.
"I've never met a girl like that, and you make me extremely curious."
Tilting my head in utter surprise, I repeated the words that just left his lips in my head over and over again, like a broken record.
"Jimin, you do this for a long while, you probably know a girl or two that are way better than me."
Without taking any steps back, he shook his head and stared down at my lips. "No, no. I haven't been outside this God-damned city for a long while. And all these girls that go here cannot be compared to you. I really am sorry for being an asshole and underestimating you earlier; you proved me wrong, so wrong."
With those exact words, it took Jimin only a split second to tilt his head sideways and interlock his lips with mine.
The wave of pure shock that had roamed my bloodstream out of nowhere caused my body to completely freeze up, and as his hands land on my hips, I panicked and detached my lips from his, taking few steps backwards.
"Uh, I..." My stammers grew worse and I tried to find an explanation for my actions, and my clouded head barely cooperated with my limbs. I heard my heartbeat resonating in my ears, and the heat in my face rose to an extreme.
Stumbling past him to grab my training bag, I turn my head while muttering an embarrassed 'sorry' and left the boy alone in the training hall.
***
Well you guys, I feel like this chapter lowkey sucked, haha.
But yes, it's INCREDIBLY hard to describe Jiu Jitsu positions. I do Mixed Martial Arts myself, with a lot of Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Karate and Jiu Jitsu elements, so I tried the best I could to describe it.
Hopefully this chapter was okay-ish? I'll update more often in the future, now that I'm almost done taking College Credit classes :).
Stay tuned! ~ 앨리Ally