RACE YOU TO HER HEART; 
Chapter 17: Catching Up (III)

Nayeon and Dahyun continued to have little dates ever so often after school. It seemed that Nayeon has a little bit more time now that her showchior performance for the spring festival was over. 

Track practices were still super intense for Dahyun though, since there was a track meet coming up. 

"You'll come watch me right?" The younger girl asked Nayeon one day after her usual secret self practice. (She didn't really lie to her parents but, they had somehow assumed that she was off to the library to study.)

Nayeon lifts a towel to pat Dahyun's forehead gently, wiping away the beads of sweat. A gentle breeze blew by then, and Dahyun took the time to admire Nayeon's dark velvety hair getting tossed against the wind. "Sure love, when is it again?"

"Yay!" Dahyun cheered, and Nayeon smiled. "It's um..." The younger girl counted her fingers. "On a Thursday, two weeks from now!"

"Oh... it's on a Thursday? What time?"

"Probably in the late afternoo- oh wait... you have student council meetings on Thursdays..." Dahyun suddenly remembered. 

"Yeah," Nayeon nodded, tucking a stray strand of Dahyun's hair behind the younger girl's ear. She let her fingers linger on Dahyun's earlobe for a moment. "So I'm not sure if I can make it..."

"Ohh..." Dahyun said with a frown. 'Skip the meeting...' She wanted to say. But she doesn't. "It's okay then!" Dahyun said instead, a few seconds after, trying to hide her disappointment. "There's always next time..." she mumbled as she looked down. 

'That's right,' Dahyun thought, sighing inwardly, 'Nayeon unnie is always busy... How could I forget.' 

Nayeon bit her lip, "Dahyun-ah..."

"Hmm?" The younger girl hummed in question when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist all of a sudden. 

"Are you upset?" Nayeon asked softly. 

Dahyun looked at her with a slight blush on a face. "N-no..." She mumbled. 

"Liar," she heard Nayeon say before the older girl pulled her closer. "I'm sorry..." Nayeon mumbled out as she rested her chin on Dahyun's shoulder. "I'll make it up to you after school so please don't be sad."

At that, Dahyun felt her lips tugged upwards into a small smile. "I'm not sad," she said as she inhaled Nayeon's scent. Nayeon smelt nice... Nayeon always smelt nice... Just like flowers during the spring time in full bloom. Which reminded Dahyun... doesn't she herself stink right now since she's covered in sweat? 

"Don't lie. I saw your look of utter disappointment just now," Nayeon said, pulling away slightly. 

Dahyun rolled her eyes grinning at the way Nayeon gazed at her. She looked so guilty then and Dahyun decided that she likes guilty Nayeon. 

Cute. She thought. 

"Well of course I'm disappointed," Dahyun said. "I'm not sad though. But... If you feel bad you could make it up to me by giving me a kiss here," Dahyun joked by pointing to her cheek. 

Nayeon chuckled at Dahyun's silly antics, but she does give Dahyun a kiss after that anyway... not on the cheek though, but on her lips. 

"N-nayeon unnie!" Dahyun lets out in surprise. 

Nayeon only giggled in amusement as she went to poke at Dahyun's cheek. "Aigo my Dahyun's so cute..."

"... Shut up..."

-

It seems that Nayeon had nothing to be sorry for in the end, because Dahyun wasn't allowed to take part in the track meet the moment her test results came out. 

She didn't do really badly... 

She just... 

Barely passed everything... and failed... her maths paper. 

Okay maybe she did do quite badly... 

To make matters worse, her parents had found out her secret; that she had been running all this while and was even on the track team. As a result, apart from getting an earful from her parents, Dahyun was grounded for a month and banned from attending track and field. 

"But omma-"

"Don't but omma me Kim Dahyun! It's for your own good! I can't believe you lied to us!" Her mother scolded. "Didn't we tell you not to run anymore?! Do you want to end up in the hospital again? And look you even failed your math test!"

"I won't! I've been training for so long, and look nothing bad has happened right so-"

"Don't you dare talk back to me!"

"I'm not, I'm just trying to-"

"Go to your room and study now!"

...

Being grounded meant only being able to go to school and having to go home straight afterwards or only being allowed to attend piano lessons apart from that... Which meant no more spending extra time waiting for Nayeon. Nor going on short after school dates. 

Dahyun was absolutely miserable. 

No running. 

No hanging out with her friends. 

No attending track. 

And most importantly... 

No. 

Seeing. 

Im Nayeon. 

Dahyun was sulking to herself as she stared at her math homework. It's been a week since she saw Nayeon. Since she had to immediately rush home after school – and Nayeon always ended classes later than her – she wasn't able to even go over to Nayeon's school to wait for her... Let alone see the older girl. 

Stupid math. 

She clicked at the end of her pencil trying to write a statement... But her pencil led broke. 

Stupid pencil. 

Then her phone buzzed. The moment Dahyun saw the name that flashed across her phone screen, her frown turned into a smile. 

"Yeobusaeyooo~" Nayeon's lovely voice came through the speaker in a sing-song manner. 

"Nayeon unnie!" Dahyun said, smiling like a fool. 

"Hehe, what are you doing, love?" Nayeon asked. 

Dahyun rolled her eyes with a grin. "Unnie you called me just to ask this?"

"Um... Yeah?"

"You could have just texted me you know," Dahyun joked. 

"Oh? Okay then... I guess I'll just hang up now, bye-"

"No!" Dahyun immediately blurted. 

She heard Nayeon laughing on the other end of the line. "No?"

"Don't hang up on me unnie..." Dahyun sulked. 

"I'm just kidding," the older girl chuckled. "I would never hang up on you cutie." And Dahyun's smile returned as she felt her heart flutter at that. She was suddenly reminded of how she was still grounded though... Stuck at home with full of math revision to do... Not allowed to run... Not allowed to hang out with her friends... Not allowed to see Nayeon. Dahyun lets a sigh escape her lips...

"What's wrong Dahyun-ah?"

"Nothing... I just..."

"You just?"

"I just... I miss running..." Dahyun admitted, sounding upset. "And I miss track..."

"I see..." Nayeon said. 

"And I miss hanging out with my friends after school too!"

"Ah..."

"And most of all... I miss... I miss you unnie..."

The line went silent for awhile. 

"Unnie?"

"Hello?"

"Nayeon unnie...?" 

Dahyun furrowed her eyebrows in confusion–
Did Nayeon unnie just hung up on me? 

-
 

About an hour later Dahyun – who had naturally stopped studying and had began daydreaming since Nayeon hung up on her – heard footsteps approaching her room. 

Omma. 

Dahyun immediately snapped out of her daze and begun (pretending) to do her math homework. As expected, her room's door swung open a few seconds later. 

"Omma," Dahyun sighed, "I would really appreciate it if you could start knocking before you enter my–" Dahyun's jaw dropped when she saw who was at her door. Apart from her mother, who suddenly had such a "friendly and hospitable aura" around her, Nayeon could be seen standing awkwardly behind her. 

"N-nayeon unnie?"

-

"Okay so which chapter are you doing now? Also what are you weakest in?" Nayeon asked very casually when there was only the two of them left in the room. 

Dahyun still had her jaw hung opened in utter disbelief. Well, she can't be blamed though... it was indeed hard to believe that she would get to see Nayeon almost everyday again now... especially since she was grounded. 

"Close your mouth, love," Nayeon giggled. 

"Wha- hu- how?"

"I told your mom I'd tutor you for free?"

"And she said yes?"

"Yeah...?" Nayeon answered, amused. "Why wouldn't she? I'm in a school with a good reputation, my grades are pretty decent, and I saved your life before right so... She probably thinks I'm a responsible and reliable person? Besides... who wouldn't want free tution for their child."

Dahyun stared at Nayeon with a smirk, "Nayeon unnie, are you praising yourself right now?"

"What? I can't state the truth?" Nayeon said back, eyeing the younger girl with a mischievous glint in her eyes. 

Dahyun continued to stare at Nayeon, as though challenging her. And the two ended up having a stare-off... Before they both burst out into a fit of giggles. 

"Alright fine... I guess you are a responsible and reliable person," Dahyun shrugged. 

Nayeon gasped, pretending to be offended. "You guess? What do you mean you guess!" She said poking Dahyun on her ribs. 

The younger girl jumped, "Yah unnie! Stop it, it tickles!" 

But of course the amused Nayeon didn't listen to her... That led to Dahyun running around her room with her hands hugging herself to protect her sides while Nayeon laughed, chasing after her. 

Unfortunately, Dahyun's room wasn't that big though... So she eventually got cornered somewhere by her bookshelf. 

"G-get away from me!" She glared at Nayeon who had a smirk on her face as she crept closer. 

"I don't want to," Nayeon said with a tongue sticking out. 

"Yah Nayeon unnie!" She tried. But Nayeon took another step closer, her hands already reaching out preparing to tickle the younger girl. 

Understanding that there was no way Nayeon was ever going to listen to her, Dahyun resorted to whining, "Unnie... Seriously..." She said with a pout. "Don't be like this..."

It apparently worked though, because at that Nayeon's mischievous grinned turned into a soft smile. The loving sort of smile that always manage to give Dahyun butterflies and fill up her chest with warmth. 

"... Come here you," she heard Nayeon say later on, her arms opened wide in front of her. 

And of course Dahyun went in for a hug, letting Nayeon wrap her arms around her as she snuggled into her neck. 

"I missed you, Dahyun-ah..." Nayeon lets out softly. Closing her eyes she breathed in deeply, seeming to be taking in the younger girl's scent. 

Dahyun felt her lips tugged upwards after hearing those words, as her heart began rattling against her ribcage and her cheeks grew warm. "I missed you too Nayeon unnie..."

God, I missed you so much. 

-

Nayeon didn't like that Dahyun was so upset over not being not able to run anymore. 

Thus, the older girl decided to come up with a plan. She'd risk bargaining with Dahyun's parents about the whole issue, using the improvement of Dahyun's grades (in the future) as well as the green light (approval from Dr. Jung) that Dahyun was indeed able to run as her "bargaining chips". 

And maybe it was because Nayeon was really eloquent and charming, perhaps it was because she was indeed a trustworthy looking model student, or maybe Dahyun's parents just somehow favoured Nayeon... All Dahyun knew was that they actually  agreed to whatever Nayeon had proposed. 

"Fine," they had said. "If Dahyun manages to score at least a B+ for all of her subjects then we'll let her try running again."

"At... At least a B... B+?" Dahyun stuttered out. Sure it wasn't that difficult of a task if she really tried hard enough for all her subjects... But for maths? A B+? Hah! Who were they kidding!?

"So you're saying that if Dahyun manages to get a B+ for all her subjects for her next test then she can go back on the track team?" Nayeon clarified. Dahyun's parents nodded. "Okay, sure no problem," the older girl said. To which Dahyun's eyes widened in shock. "What???" She mouthed to Nayeon. Dahyun's parents too raised their eyebrows in slight surprise. 

"So Mr and Mrs Kim, it's a deal then right?" Nayeon asked sweetly, a hand stretching out for a handshake. The younger girl looked at her as though she was crazy. "I'll be helping Dahyun with her studies then, and when she does score well I truly hope you don't go back on your word," she continued in a firm but respectful tone. 

Dahyun's mother shrugged before shaking Nayeon's hand.  This was a great chance for a free long term tuition for her daughter, of course she would agree to it. "Sure, that's if Dahyun can even pass her math."

Nayeon grinned, "Oh don't worry Mrs Kim, I'm pretty sure she'll pass with flying colours."

Dahyun could only stare at the scene before her... 'Oh crap...' She thought. 'What did I just get myself into...?'

A/N HULLO EVERYONE! LOOK WHO'S FINALLY BACK WITH AN UPDATE? Yes that's right this ty author ahahaha... TT. Okay first of all I'm really sorry for the lack of updates, it turns my out internship didn't allow me the time to do so. Second of all, oh my gosh i had the worse writer's block ever like what was happening I don't even know asdfnjidcnjivbjcnwvj. So yes, I humbly ask for your forgiveness and patience my dear readers (if there are even still any of you following this story *inserts laughing crying emoji*). Anywho, I hope you guys at least enjoyed this chapter. :) Btw I wanted to mention how I'm overwhelmed by the response from the previous chapter ahaha. I found it rather funny how some of you were like "no momo go away" while others were all "yasss momo". Ahahaha, I want to bring all the new characters in and finish the following chapters quickly... but my mind is a blank most of the time... Oh wells, I'll see you guys in the next update. I hope you're all doing well, and may you have a nice weekend ahead ~

~ strangemagnet