It takes seconds.
Mere miniscule, almost worthless pieces of time that suddenly turn so valuable and precious in situations where Time is everything.
It takes seconds to either win or lose; it all depends on who moves fastest.
Lisa knew this very well: Hwangssabu had stressed upon it endlessly.
"You see, in the ring, it's not always the biggest and strongest fighter that wins," he said as he sat both girls on his lap. "It's the smartest one, the one who thinks fast on their feet and figures out their opponent's weakness. Learn to work smarter, not harder, when you're fighting."
"LISA WATCH OUT!"
Lisa turned just in time for a boxing glove to hit her smack in the face, sending her flying backwards.
Ah...I was not fast enough... Lisa thought fleetingly as she crashed to the ground. She sprawled in a daze, feeling the familiar stream of warm sticky blood trickle over her lips.
"Tor-na-do! Tor-na-do!" the crowd chanted, urging her to get up.
"Finish her! Finish her! Finish her!" yelled her opponent's fans.
Lisa felt like closing her eyes and falling into a deep sleep where nothing could touch her, not even the mindless chanting egging her on; not even the blood; not even the flying fists; not even the horrible strangled screams of the dying that still echoed in her head...
The exhaustion ran deep, a heavy weight in her bones in contrast with the adrenaline urging her to get up and fight fight fight.
"Tor-na-do! Tor-na-do!" roared the crowd, stomping their feet. Their rousing cheers reached a crescendo when Lisa sat up with a groan, holding her head.
In a fight—any fight—the body's reaction is always the same for anybody: fight or flight. Very few people have the fight mode ingrained in them to prolong a fight—it's why street fights generally fizzle out, when the instinct to flee kicks in soon after a couple of punches.
The brain always seeks to distance the body from danger. It takes years of training to suppress this instinct and fight back instead.
For Lisa, she was past caring—she was too tired to fight, or flee.
Tired of working out. Tired of winning and still stuck in the same place.
Nothing ever changed, not even when she had won four matches in a row that one time, and raised Jennie's hopes of ever improving their wretched existence.
So, so tired.
"Finish her off Kay, come on!"
"Shut up, I got this!"
Squinting against the blinding lights, she saw the Bear circling in her corner, ignoring her eager trainer who was hopping from one foot to the other in agitation as she cheered for her masked fighter.
Lisa had to give the Bear credit for maintaining that aloof aura.
Of course, she was not the only boxer to hide her identity just to create that mysterious persona but it would get progressively harder to maintain it once her popularity increased.
The girl was as mysterious as they get, hiding her lower face beneath a black mask. She had raven-black hair with bangs that covered her eyebrows but her eyes, hard in the midst of battle, now shone with something akin to nervous concern.
"Come on Tornado!" The Bear said gruffly, tapping her foot impatiently. "Are you gonna gawk at me all night?"
"Why don't you show us your pretty face babe?" Lisa called, eliciting several chuckles from the crowd.
"Fight me you spineless dingo!" The Bear spat.
"Gimme a second," Lisa returned, wiping her nose with the back of her arm. Her surroundings were filtering in through her good eye—the other was swollen almost shut already, courtesy of the Bear's powerful punch.
Lisa stumbled to her feet, bending over her knees and breathing deeply as the rush of blood filled her ears. She glanced at the referee who was waiting for her signal that it was okay to continue the round.
Lisa gave him a thumbs up, earning a rousing cheer from the crowd that made her smile. Hearing the spectators cheering for her was always a wonderful boost and she was ever so grateful for their support.
It's just that she didn't feel like fighting.
There was always a certain key ingredient missing in her fights. A certain fluidity she used to possess before....
Well better get it over with.
Lisa exhaled and opened her eyes, straightening and rolling her neck before settling into a stance with her arms up, fists on either side of her face. The Bear put her foot forward, equally ready.
Lisa's vision tunnelled.
Rein it in Lalisa.
Focus.
Ready. Set.
Her eye met the Bear's own glittery pair of dark orbs, eyes that had shuttered and hardened. The referee rang the bell and Lisa's nostrils flared.
Fight.
They charged.
>
Jennie turned away, mouth pressed into a thin line.
She had stopped yelling and encouraging Lisa by the second round, when Lisa lost.
It was clear her sister's dreaded slump had showed up again. No matter what Jennie did, even if she were to do a strip tease, the outcome wouldn't change.
Lisa's form was too tense, her judgement scattered, her jabs always seconds late.
"Get her Kay! Get her!" her rival trainer shouted.
Jennie turned away from the ring when the bell clanged and the round continued. She bit down hard on her tongue and squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the whoosh of heavy steps as the fighters charged towards each other.
Jennie wished she could block out the inevitable dull thunk! of impact, the dull flump! of a body crashing to ground, the people around her shouting KNOCKOUT! and then the ear-splitting spubd of the whistle as the referee called a timeout to count.
The crowd counted with him, excited murmurs rising steadily to shout the numbers.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
Jennie still didn't turn—judging from the triumphant yelling and booing, it didn't seem like the match was continuing.
"three, two, one! The Bear is the winner!" the referee announced, ringing the bell madly.
Jennie turned back towards the ring when the arena erupted in raucous cheers and displeased murmurs as people cashed in on their bets.
Stray money bills rained down on Jennie as always and the temptation to sneak a few of them surfaced again.
But instead, Jennie faced the ring where Lisa lay, sprawled out like a starfish with her eyes closed. One eye was turning purple and her body glistened with sweat beneath the glare of the spotlights.
The Bear was being mobbed by a sea of people congratulating her while security personnel guarded her as best as they could as she made her way down the ring and headed towards the exit.
Jennie watched the boxer and her blonde trainer make their way out of the arena as people jostled to follow her and celebrate.
The boxer glanced back at Jennie over her shoulder, her arrogant gaze flickering momentarily to Lisa's defeated form still out cold in the ring.
Her trainer, a shorter woman who always seemed to cycle between elation, anger or disdain, like the expression she reserved specially for Jennie right after another defeat—she blasted Jennie with a scornful smirk.
The boxer Kay, or the Bear as she liked to be called, wasn't any sweeter— if Jennie could see her whole face behind the mask, she'd bet the victorious girl was sneering.
She never openly gloated but her victories were always followed by that openly contemptuous expression.
The Bear lifted her arm in a mocking farewell, allowing her fans to pull her out of the arena as their echoing cheers and rampant hollering faded when the place emptied.
Jennie finally exhaled, letting the tension seep out as her fists relaxed. Defeat was always a bitter pill to swallow, and having sneering entitled people rubbing it in didn't help ease the sting.
Another failure.
The referee climbed down from the box after he finished checking up on Lisa and handed Jennie the meagre pile of cash for Lisa's consolation prize.
"Better luck next time," he said sympathetically, "hope she picks up in time for the Grand Slam."
Jennie nodded and wordlessly stuffed the money in her pocket before climbing over the rope and kneeling next to Lisa.
She opened a bottle of water and emptied its contents all over Lisa's face. Lisa came to with a splutter.
"Stop waterboarding me, woman!"
"Oh you're alive, good." Jennie returned, throwing away the empty bottle. "Welcome back."
Lisa cracked her good eye open and then broke into a wry smile. "Damn, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, sis."
Jennie resisted the urge to smack her, watching as her sister winced when she sat up.
"Did you get the money?" Lisa asked as she tested her feet and wiggled her arms.
"Yeah..."
"Did Miss Winnie-the-Pooh say anything?"
"She said thank you for the walk-over....again."
"Great, okay." Lisa dragged herself up on her feet as she clung on to the ropes. "Lemme just....walk— whoa!"
She keeled over just as Jennie predicted and started to giggle when her face kissed the ground. "Ooops. The room's spinning a bit."
Jennie suppressed the urge to sigh and scooted closer to her sister, holding out her hand. "Let's get you home."
"I wish Momo was here. She's more fun than you," Lisa grumbled as Jennie hoisted an arm over her shoulder to support Lisa.
"Me, too."
"I wish Dad was here," Lisa mumbled quietly, so quietly her sister almost didn't hear.
Almost.
This time, Jennie didn't bother to stifle her sad sigh.
"Me, too."
********
realised I wasn't leaving any author notes arrgh
hang in there guys, chaeyoung will appear soon-ish
but this is quite a slow story so yeah
and still figuring out stuff as i go along ;-P
thanks for dropping by to read vote and comment!
adios and have a good day/night!