Everyone was given these heart monitors to wear around their wrists.

Then everyone was expected to swim 15 kilometers each swim. If the athlete's heart rate wasn't high enough, they were required to swim faster, and harder for longer.

Every day felt like torture, and swimming was nothing more than work for him now – hard work that he hated, and wished he could be free from.

Yunho had hoped that his coach would have forgotten that he was giving Yunho extra training, but on the very first day after the disastrous swim in which Yunho felt like he was barely keeping up, Yunho was pulled aside by his coach.

"I thought you'd be back in shape by the time you came back," said the coach. "Even athletes recovering from surgery recover faster than you."

Yunho had hung his head in defeat and shame, and the coach sighed too.

"I don't want to waste my time on you anymore, Jung. Spend another two hours each day outside of scheduled training with your heart rate above 190," he said.

Yunho looked up at his coach blankly. He didn't know if he could push himself as hard as the coaches wanted him to, but he also didn't want to risk his Olympic chances.

"Is there a problem?" asked the coach.

Yunho shook his head tiredly. He really didn't have the strength or will to argue anymore. "No, coach," he replied.

And Yunho did just as he was told, just to keep his feeble Olympic dream alive. Every day, after training and eating dinner, and napping for a couple of hours, he would get up again and go to the gym and run lap after lap after lap in the tracks that was abandoned now by everyone else in the Village. Changmin came with him, sometimes to watch and cheer him on and sometimes to run together with him.

He knew he was getting better, but the coaches weren't too happy with his progress, because two weeks later, Yunho was pulled aside once again after a swim.

"Just ing retire if you're not going to put your heart into it, Jung. You're being a nuisance at this point."

Coming from his coach, the words hurt Yunho more than they maybe should have.

He tried to hide how defeated he was for the rest of the day, even when Soonil came up to him from behind after their afternoon swim.

"Did you hear?" asked Soonil.

"About what?"

"That Kim Yuna is coming to the Village tonight."

Yunho raised an eyebrow. "Why? She's retired."

"She's here to coach the Figure Skating team for a couple of days, apparently."

"Oh," said Yunho. "Are you going to go see her?"

"Yeah," said Soonil, his eyes sparkling. "Maybe she'll let me take a photo with her."

Yunho chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Good luck."

"You're not coming? I know you're a huge fan."

Yunho shook his head. "I think I'm just going to get a bit of sleep."

"Okay. I'll send you pictures if I see her," said Soonil. He smiled and left, waving.

Only then did Yunho realize that Changmin had been watching the entire exchange with his arms crossed and unimpressed.

"You never ruffle my hair like that," accused Changmin.

Yunho rolled his eyes. "Changmin…"

"Just saying. You don't treat me like you treat Soonil."

Yunho sighed. "I don't want to argue about –"

"I don't either," said Changmin. He smiled. "I'm just teasing you."

Yunho just let out a sigh of relief. "I'm going to go to our room."

"No dinner?" asked Changmin, looking concerned.

Yunho shook his head. "Too tired."

"Okay. I'll bring you something," said Changmin with a smile, and he made his way towards the cafeteria while Yunho made his way towards their room.

Once there, Yunho basked in the rare tranquility and silence.

Retirement.

He had been thinking that he would retire within the year anyhow, even though he was only 22 years old, but maybe it will come sooner than he'd thought.

What would his life be after retirement?

College would be a given, since he'd already accepted a full ride, and he would still be expected to swim. The college athletes always looked like they had so much fun though, so different from what Yunho was used to in elite swimming – so maybe he would find the fun in swimming again.

Yunho sat down at his desk slowly.

But then another thought came to his head: could I even fit into school again?

The last time he went to school consistently was before he joined the Junior National Team – so he was only twelve at the time. He went to school in the mornings, then went to the pool in the afternoon. When he became a senior, which was also the year he was supposed to go into high school, he stopped going to school altogether in favour of using the tutoring system at the Village to get him through the curriculum.

Really, his studies have always been his second priority. After taking half-heartedly taking the college entrance exams and getting accepted to Korea's best university nonetheless on the merit of his swimming three years ago, he had never opened a book to study. He knew he would be recruited into university with the sole reason that he was one of the best swimmers in the country, and that was why his parents didn't want him to go pro or start accepting sponsorships; they wanted him to have a solid education.

Yunho picked out his old physics textbook from the scant bookshelf and opened it to a random page.

He saw his messy writing having attempted some kind of problem, but he didn't even know how to start the problem now. He tried to read a few pages around the problem, but it seemed like he would have to spend a lot of time.

He'd forgotten everything. Would he be able to keep up in school against other students who had spend their entire lives studying instead of swimming, or would it be like elite swimming all over again, except over academics?

Why was he so stuck and so lost?

Yunho bit his lip and flipped to the next page in his textbook when the door opened. Changmin walked in cheerfully with a plate of food for Yunho.

He was surprised to see Yunho sitting at his desk.

"What're you doing?" asked Changmin. He put the plate down on Yunho's desk and sidled up beside him, forcing Yunho to move over on his chair so that they could both fit on it.

Yunho hesitated for a bit before speaking.

"I think I want to go to college in the spring."

I said it. I really said it.

Changmin's eyes widened in shock.

He was silent for a few moments, just opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something but couldn't, and then he finally spoke.

"H-How about swimming?" he stuttered.

"I've committed to college swimming, so I'll still swim," said Yunho. "At least for a few seasons."

Changmin let out the breath he'd been holding. When he next spoke, his voice was much lower.

"…and Trials?"

Yunho looked up into Changmin's eyes.

"It doesn't seem like they'll be worth anything this year anyway. What do you think?" asked Yunho. "Do you think I should compete at Trials? "

Changmin drew in a breath to say something, but then caught himself.

"I dunno," he managed. "It's up to you."

Changmin stood up from the chair he'd been sharing, and walked to his own bed.

"So… You're going to leave elite swimming and the Village?" he asked, as if to really try to confirm whether he heard right.

"I'm… just thinking about it," said Yunho.

Changmin stared at him, then moved his gaze towards his lap. And then he spoke distantly without looking at Yunho.

"They'll be really lucky to have you."

"Thanks," said Yunho quietly.

Changmin didn't say anything else. He just laid down in bed and got under the sheets. His hand was gripping the blanket tightly as he turned towards the wall, away from Yunho.

"I mean… I don't think I was cut out for elite swimming after all," said Yunho. "I just… think college swimming might be –"

And then Changmin cut him off in the most shocking way that Yunho could have imagined.

"Can we stop talking to each other?"

Yunho stared at him.

"What?"

"I just think we shouldn't talk anymore."

Yunho stood up and walked towards Changmin's bed.

"Changmin… Did I upset you? I – this decision has nothing to do with you. Even if I leave, you're going to do well."

He went to put his hand on Changmin's shoulder, but the touch drew such a violent reaction from Changmin that it was shocking. Changmin hit Yunho's hand away and sat up so quickly that Yunho was dumbfounded.

"Don't touch me," said Changmin, glaring up at Yunho.

But Changmin wasn't mad – Yunho could tell. He wasn't mad.

Yunho stepped away.

He didn't know what this was about, but he didn't know if he cared enough to find out what it was. He just didn't have the emotional capacity to be dealing with this. Not from Changmin too, for no reason.

So he just slipped under his covers, and realizing that his Olympic bid was over tonight without complying to his mandatory two-hour run, and seeing his dream broken and in tatters before his eyes, he finally let himself cry silent tears.