“Alright listen up,” Coach Han blew his whistle out loud. “In your pairs, you will be doing a speed test in the pool. Each partner will do two laps, so treat it like a relay.”

Yuri whispered to Nichkhun. “Speed test again?”

“Tell me about it.”

“The person who is struggling in the pool is up to sixty seconds latest. So I expect all of you to be as fast as possible. Lifeguards must be able to swim quickly in the water, or someone will drown just as quickly. Understood?”

“Yes coach!”

“Get into positions everyone.”

Yoona was nervous about this part of training because she wasn’t good in speed rounds. She might let Taecyeon down, and who knows? Maybe he wouldn’t want her to be his partner after this challenge anymore. She swallowed the lump in as she stood behind Taecyeon timidly.

Taecyeon stretched his arms and took a deep breath in. He turned around to cheer his partner on, but he noticed how worried Yoona appeared. “Hey, are you alright?”

She flinched when his hand touched her shoulder. “Huh?”

“You don’t look okay Yoona.”

“Oh no,” she shook her head. “No, Taecyeon I’m good,” she tried to put on a smile for him.

He pursed his lips, still not buying it but decided to let it go. “Okay, just tell me when you’re not feeling well. We got this,” he grinned, bumping his fist against hers.

For a moment, she was stunned at how attractive his smile was. She nodded shyly, praying she won’t screw this up. “Please let this be good…”

Nichkhun and Yuri gave each other a high-five before starting. “We are totally winning this one.”

“What makes you say that Khun?”

“Well, I’m partnered up with the fastest girl in the whole group,” he winked.

“Good answer,” she hid her smile from him. “Don’t screw it up Horvejkul.”

“Trust me I won’t.”

Coach Han stood at the side of the pool as he watched the pairs get ready in their lanes. He brought an airhorn with him as his starting signal.

“On your marks, get set,” he pressed onto the airhorn which made the first round swimmers dive in the water swiftly.

Every trainee cheered onto their partners who were swimming hurriedly in the water. Yoona regretted going last because she knew he was going to slow their pace down even though Taecyeon was the first one leading among the pairs.

“Come on Yoona!” Taecyeon clapped his hand on top of Yoona’s, allowing her to dive in the water next. “Let’s go you can do it!” he yelled.

A few seconds behind was Nichkhun, passing the turn to Yuri. “Go Yuri!”

Yuri caught up with Yoona pretty quickly, and Yoona could feel that someone was swimming right next to her. She struggled to push herself in the water because she wasn’t used to speed swimming just yet. Eventually she paused for a second to rise up to the surface to breath, coughing slightly. She noticed almost all of the pairs are finished as they swim their last lap.

Taecyeon wasn’t dumb to notice how much Yoona struggled to stay in the water for a full lap as she kept coming to the surface to breathe. “Come on Yoona! You got this!” he still cheered on for her, because he knew she needed his support.

By the time she finished, Coach Han announced for the second group to move to their lanes. She sighed disappointedly, looking up to see Taecyeon holding out his hand for her. She took his handand got up from the pool to sit on the edge, then stood up.

“You told me you were okay, but you weren’t,” he looked at her genuinely, and she could see the concern in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Taecyeon,” she bowed her head, not daring to look at him in the eye.

Coach Han walked up to the pai