"Could it be that he has feelings for you?"

Her assumption sent me choking on the tiny piece of fruit in my mouth, drawing a bit of attention to our table. I quickly gulped down a chunk of water to flush it down, before coughing out a few words, "Don't. Spout. Nonsense."

Junhee patted my back as I dabbed my mouth dry, but Soobin was still pounded on her theory. "It's possible, maybe he's just using the training as an opportunity to get closer to you."

I waved a hand to signal for her to stop. "Please don't. I don't even wanna think about it." How could she say something like that so casually? Just the thought of it made me wanna puke, and with an attitude like that, I highly doubt it too.

"I'm only saying that-"

"That's enough," Junhee interrupted, "You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, it can cause misunderstandings."

Soobin opened her mouth to rebut, but closed it back and pouted instead. Meanwhile, I couldn't stand the suffocating silence drifting over us like a brewing storm. I stuffed the last bit of watermelon into my mouth and stood up, my chair screeching behind me due to my sudden movement.

"I'm gonna go back to the room first to wash up, see y'all." I brought my empty plates to a counter at the back before exiting the room.

I headed towards the lift lobby, Soobin's words buzzing around my head like a swarm of bees as I constantly swatted them away. Nope, not even gonna think about it. I don't want to think about it. I won't-

My feet halted right in front of the row of elevators as two beings turned their heads in surprise. My eyes immediately darted to one of them, and what Soobin said sent me in a whirlpool of emotions that made me self-conscious all of a sudden.

"Oh, hey Yoojin," Haknyeon chimed, waving his hand as awkwardly as his smile, "You're going up by yourself?"

"Huh?" My mind was still pounded on his friend that it took a while to process his question. "Oh, yeah. They're still eating."

"I see." He nodded, and another silence fell over us like a blanket, a heavier one compared to just now. Geez, I should've just stayed in the cafeteria.

I tottered about my feet due to uncomfortableness, occasionally glancing towards the two guys to my right. They were quiet as well, and I was pretty sure my appearance interrupted whatever conversation they were in. What's this weird atmosphere? A week ago we were training together enthusiastically, but now it seemed like we were almost strangers. Or maybe it was better this way.

I stared at the digital numbers above the lift doors, mentally begging for it to decrease faster, but luck seemed to have abandoned me seeing how the elevator stopped for a good one minute on each floor. Right then, Haknyeon's spoke again.

"By the way, both of us are heading to the roof later, wanna join?"

"Both of us?" I quoted, and I finally glanced at Donghyuck with a little reluctance in me. "I don't know, I'm feeling rather tired today."

I expected him to persuade me more like he always did, but to my surprise, Haknyeon nodded his head in compliance. "Alright, but if you change your mind, you know where to find us."

I smiled back in politeness, but I couldn't help considering his offer. Compared to daytime, Seoul's scenery is much more majestic at night, and I could tell that our roof had the perfect height to enjoy the view. But the company I'd be with... not so much.

The elevator finally reached our level and the doors opened, prompting both of them to enter, but my feet remained planted to the ground. Haknyeon looked at me peculiarly before asking, "Aren't you getting on?"

"Oh, well... I..." I stumbled over my words as my thoughts fought with each other, but one thing was clear. I didn't want to be in the same space as them. "I have slight indigestion, so I think I'll take the stairs to relieve it." I made up a lame excuse, which drove Haknyeon into more confusion.

"Then it's all the more a reason to take the lift, isn't it?" He implied, moving to the side to make way for me, "Get on."

"My room is on the third floor anyway, I'll just walk up," I insisted further, and by now I think my intentions were clearly written all over my face as the both of them stared at me ridiculously.

"You don't need to feel uncomfortable around us, just come in," Haknyeon assured, gesturing for me to enter, but I continued to refuse strongly. "No, it's okay-"

"Gosh, do you want to get in or not?" Donghyuck cried out, startling the both of us and some passersby. When neither of us replied, he rolled his eyes and sighed, "Don't waste our time if you're just gonna stand there."

He stepped past Haknyeon and pressed a button on the wall, causing the doors to close before I could process what happened. And when I did, I couldn't help but let out a scoff. "Fine, this is what I wanted anyway."

I stormed off to the stairwell and begin my way up the stairs, flashbacks of this morning's workout replaying in my mind with each step.

---

I lied on my bed, staring blankly at the ceiling above. It had already been half an hour since I came up, but my roommates were still nowhere to be seen. Not that I'm complaining though, but the lonely silence can be torturing at times.

I eventually sat up on my bed after countless attempts of trying to fall asleep, but there were too many worries bugging me that my mind can't seem to be at ease for a second. I need a distraction.

Just then, Haknyeon's offer came tumbling into my head again as if waiting for the right time to reintroduce itself, and I took it without hesitation.

Grabbing my phone, I trudged my way up to the rooftop, which was only accessible through the staircase. I pushed open the metal door clumsily, being met by a cool, night breeze that engulfed my whole body. I looked around for the two beings whom I was supposed to meet here, but they were nowhere in sight. Huh, I guess they've already left. More time for me then.

I made my way towards one of the walls, peering over it as the buildings below decorated the view in front of me with their lights. Yes, this was one of the things I missed about Seoul; the amazing view no matter which part of it you were at. I remember standing at the balcony every night, letting the sparkly city lights and calm wind relieve any stress I had, and I would go to sleep with a clear mind. Wonder if it'll work tonight.

"I knew you'd come." A voice behind me made me spin around in shock, my back instantly glueing itself to the wall behind me. I don't know how I looked at that time, but it was probably horrifying enough for him to let out a scoff. "You look like you saw a murderer. Don't worry, I'm not one."

"Didn't you leave already?" I managed out, still frightened by his sudden appearance. Donghyuck nodded his head to his right before replying, "We're over there."

When I was sure he wasn't an illusion, I rooted my feet to the ground and cleared my throat. "Then you can go back, I don't want your company." I shifted my gaze to the water towers nearby to further show my stance, but his next sentence threw me off guard.

"But we want yours."

With that said, he disappeared behind the towers, causing me to peep out and watch him stroll to another boy seated with his back facing me. I'm guessing that was Haknyeon. Sheesh, whatever I was gonna do, I'm doing it for him and not Donghyuck.

"Yoojin! You came!" Haknyeon exclaimed as I trudged over to them, flashing a quick smile as I stopped at a distance. He got up and pulled me over, forcing me down beside him. Feeling uncomfortable, I discreetly scooted over to a metal container nearby and leaned on it, starting to regret my decision in coming here.

"Here." He shoved a can of lemonade in front of me, urging me to take it. I eyed the labels sceptically for any alcohol content, but even when there wasn't, I didn't drink it immediately. Not because I was following Coach Lee's rules to not consume food after dinner, but because I didn't want to give in to them yet.

"Yah~ Seoul has such a nice view," Haknyeon commented as he took a long sip of his beverage and let out a loud exhale, and now I'm convinced there's at least a slight hint of alcohol in it; all the more a reason to not drink it. "You're lucky to be able to see this every day."

I placed the beverage down beside me and hugged my legs tighter, his words triggering a great amount of nostalgia in me. It has only been a month, but the summer break seemed to have lasted forever seeing how I'm starting to miss home. Memories started flooding my head as I felt my tears accumulating in my eye sockets, prompting me to finally open the canned drink and take a gulp to ease my mind. Maybe it was the realisation that the drinks weren't alcoholic, but I couldn't stop the words from pouring out of my mouth.

"I could've seen more if I stayed," I began with a steady voice, feeling their gazes falling on me, "But I feared the embarrassment that was coming for me, so I ran away. I'm such a coward." I had no idea when and how that sentence formed in my head, but for once I didn't hate something that I said. And starting from there, the weight slowly lifted off my chest.

"Coward? I would never believe that," Haknyeon denied strongly, but his words only made me chuckle. "Then you would never believe that I was a stuck-up fool who always judged her opponents by their experience levels either," I quoted Coach Yoon but phrased it in a nastier way due to my self-loathe, "How the tables have turned."

Previously, I used to get so ticked off when someone labelled me as arrogant because I didn't understand how they saw me that way. To me, I was only speaking facts as to why I was better than them and further proved my abilities on the mats. But the moment those exact words came out of Coach Yoon's mouth, I felt hurt and betrayed that my own coach didn't see the potential in me, which may be one of the reasons why I started ignoring her instructions during matches. Who knew it would finally fall on me on that single match when I had been doing so well.

"But I guess it served me right, one should never let their ego overtake them," I heaved out, letting my eyes lose focus in the navy sky above. I didn't realise how ironic I sounded, because the person whose behaviour I grew to hate the most mirrored my exact behaviour back then. After a long silence, Haknyeon let out a laugh.

"You think that's despicable?" He muttered as I glanced at him, "Wait till you hear the reason I entered Yeoljeong." At first, I thought it was an attempt to cheer me up, but his statement made me straighten my back in curiosity.

"I was never interested in Taekwondo," he revealed and honestly, that came as a shock, but I waited for his explanation before reacting. "But I was interested in beating up those notorious bullies in my middle school."

"Hold up, what?" I halted him immediately, my cracked voice causing him to chuckle. "Don't worry, Coach Lee talked me out of it," he assured with a smile and I eased up, "He taught me the best way the fight off bullies was to show them you're stronger than they think, so he continuously gave me harsh practices to build up both my physical and mental strength. The latter was the one that worked; I learnt to ignore their words and they soon got tired of me."

He finished off his story by laughing and honestly, it was amazing how he recounted those incidents so peacefully like he was reminiscing old times. "Yeah, Coach Lee is a great coach," I commented, thinking back to the time when he convinced me to participate in the friendly match, "He doesn't seem like the type to scold much, but his words leave an impact on you."

"That's how he pushes us forward, strictly but calmly."

We fell back into silence after his sentence, a wave of regret washing over me. Coach Lee is a wonderful coach, but somehow it felt wrong to enjoy his training due to my overflowing guilt towards Coach Yoon. It might seem like betrayal, but I've already gone this far to run away, so what was stopping me?

"Yah, you've been too quiet today, say something." Haknyeon broke the silence, but somehow it took me a while to realise he wasn't talking to me. I turned in the direction of his voice, suddenly remembering that there were three of us.

"I have nothing to say," Donghyuck exhaled while staring into space, causing Haknyeon to click his tongue in disapproval. "Gosh, you and your bottled-up world, can't you let loose for one day? Just pour out anything that's bothering you."

Donghyuck turned his head slowly, meeting his friend's eyes with his dead ones. "And what good will that do?" Haknyeon grimaced at his friend's shortsightedness with his whole body, flailing his arms around as though he saw a huge fly.

"It'll make you feel better, of course," he hollered, his voice echoing around the rooftop. I looked around subconsciously in case anyone heard that, because technically, we weren't supposed to be hear. Haknyeon didn't care though, continuing with the same volume, "Once you get rid of all those troubled thoughts, you'd feel your heart float back up to your chest."

He emphasised with gestures, motioning his hands to depict his heart being lifted back up from his stomach, but Donghyuck brushed off his nonsensical theory with a scoff. "Hearts don't float."

Haknyeon opened his mouth to debate further, but only let out a sigh as he slouched back into his seat. "Tsk, you're missing out big time here. You can go to sleep with a heavy heart then."

Part of me knew those types of words won't topple him, which was why I giggled a little at his friend's saltiness, so it was rather unexpected to hear him respond with a sigh.

"Fine, my dad is coming to the tournament."

"What?" Haknyeon and I whipped our heads around simultaneously, widening our eyes at the unfazed Donghyuck. The latter sniggered as if expecting this reaction as he continued, "He called me a few days ago, saying he was expecting more improvement from my previous match."

"But you clinched gold both in the individual and team segments, what more is there to improve?" Haknyeon stated with confusion clear in his voice, but his friend just shrugged casually. "To him, everyone is critically flawed, especially me. If he hadn't retired, I bet he would constantly pound everyone until they are minced meat, especially you."

He looked past Haknyeon to direct that last part to me, and as much as I was taken aback, I was also frightened. How strict was his father that he had to phrase it like that?

"I don't even want to remember his training," Haknyeon shuddered, "It may have boosted our performance drastically, but it was too torturing. I prefer your cousin's training, it really focuses on our skills."

Cousin? That particular word shot my curiosity through the roof as I questioned carefully, "Who's cousin?"

Haknyeon bit his tongue regretfully, and I instantly knew he spilt something he shouldn't have, while Donghyuck rolled his eyes as if he encountered it more than enough times. "Coach Lee is my dad's nephew, making him my cousin," he replied nonchalantly, "But he didn't get in through connections, he officially proved to me father that he was worthy of taking over the club."

He clarified before I could say anything, but that didn't stop a million questions from bombarding my head. Is that why I've been getting this family vibe from both of them? But Coach Lee didn't seem to favour him despite their relationship. Maybe he wanted to be different from his uncle? How old is he exactly?

But I didn't have time to ask even one as the conversation continued swiftly. "Would he come as a coach or spectator?" Haknyeon asked.

"What do you think?" Donghyuck snarled, "He just wants to see how I'll do and pinpoint it later on. The same old thing."

"Gosh, I applaud you for withstanding him for so long. If I were you, I would've packed up and run away." Haknyeon downed the rest of his lemonade and crushed the can in his hand, looking around for something before groaning, "Dang it, I left the packet of Doritos in the room. Be right back."

He jumped up and jogged towards the staircase and suddenly, it felt so empty. I played with the can's pull tab that I had ripped out earlier during my ranting, sticking it into my pinkie and wiggling it about to distract myself.

"How's your ankle?" Donghyuck's voice startled me as I quickly plucked the tab off my finger, causing a splitting pain to numb it.

"Um, it's getting better, I think." I gazed down at the foot wrapped in an ankle guard, rotating it slowly to feel any pain arousing. Luckily, there was none. He nodded in return and we went back to the silence we were in before, but this time his presence filled the emptiness from before. Suddenly, I'm flushed with overdue guilt from the past few days, my mouth opening before I could think of anything else.

"I'm sorry-"