Chapter 4: Limits

You kick off your shoes and let your feet take refuge into your pair of slippers sitting by the door. You can hear chatter coming from the kitchen.

“I told you I don’t like that seasoning. Why do you put so much into it,” your mother complains.

“It completes the dish, Sweetie."

"You should use more carrots. You can never put too much-”

“Maybe that’s why your ramyun always tastes bad,” you interject.

Your mother frowns at the insult. “Why do you two always gang up on me? Daughters are supposed to envy their mothers.”

“Don’t you know that I am a daddy’s girl?” you say wrapping an arm around your father who is setting the table. He smiles.

“At least you have Seul Ong,” you reply. Seul Ong was your younger brother. Your older brother Seul Gi had already moved out and married. He came home often though. His wife’s cooking could not compare to that of his mom’s, he said.

“Who knows how long I will have him. He’s still young and needs his mommy,” your mother said crestfallen.

You walk over to your mother and give her a bear hug. “Don’t worry, Mom. I will always love you.”

“You’re so thoughtful. Just like your father,” she says with a smile.

“That’s my girl!” Your father laughs and brings a bowl of radishes and rice to the table before sitting. “Supper is ready!”

You all hear the pitter patter of footsteps and turn to the hallway. Seul Ong appears in a few seconds. His uniform is a little disheveled but the wide grin on his face holds your attention. He will definitely be a lady killer when he gets older.

“Come and sit down, Seul Ong. It’s time to eat,” your father says.

Seul Ong rushes over to your mother and pulls her down to one seat and sits beside her. “Mommy feed me!” he cooes.

“You’re too old for me to feed you Seul Ong.”

“But I like it when you feed me. Like a mommy bird that feeds her babies.”

You and your father laugh as your mother crumbles under Seul Ong’s puppy dog eyes. She blows the ramyun to cool it before putting some in his mouth.

“Thank you very much!” Seul Ong says gleefully.

“I can’t believe I am getting jealous.” you say jokingly.

Seul Ong makes a teasing gesture.

“That is why you should have been your mother’s baby and not your father’s,” you mother replied.

“I’m your baby right honey. Feed me!” you father whined exaggeratedly.

“Ewww!” Seul Ong said frowning.

“Come here then my baby.” Your mother gestured for your father to come closer before putting a spoonful of vegetables into his mouth.

Rehearsal started rocky. The dancer pulled a muscle over the weekend. You could not help but notice Jun Hong yawning and nodding off every few minutes. You decided to let it slide once.

As time went on, Jun Hong began sitting back and readjusted his hat to cover his eyes. He became very still halfway through rehearsal. You felt a pair of eyes on you. You looked around until your eyes met the dean who had also notices the kid sleeping. He began to slowly getting up. He took hold of a yardstick laying on the table. You had to get to him before the dean did.

“Jun Hong!” you yelled. His whole body jumped as he sat upright. The dean froze and looked to you. “Follow me, now!”

Jun Hong looked shocked but followed you nonetheless. You led him near the bathrooms outside of the auditorium.

“Go!” You whispered.

“What?”

“Look kid, if you can’t stay awake during rehearsals you need to go home. I am putting my reputation on the line letting you participate in the talent show. I am not the kind of person who regrets my decisions and I refuse to let you ruin this talent show and make me regret letting you participate!” You tucked a stray hair behind your ear and regained your composure.

“Is everything okay?” You turned around and saw Doo Joon coming over.

“Yes,” you replied. “We will head back in a little bit.”

Doo Joon just nodded and went back inside.

“I’m sorry,” Jun Hong said solemnly. “I have been busy with promotions. My group has been doing more gigs nowadays.”

“Don’t be sorry. Get yourself a soda, an energy drink, or something and come back ready to work.” You returned to your seat in the auditorium.

Ten minutes later, Jun Hong returns with what appears to be an energy drink in hand. You look back at the dean who is sitting close to Doo Joon. He nodded with approval. You refused to acknowledge it though and made your way back to the judges table.

The day before yesterday had been trying. First, you got a 85 on your group project. If it had not been for the two slackers in the group who thought it would be best to have you do all of the work, your group could have scored higher. Then that kid decided to slack off during the first half of rehearsals. That is what bothered you most about kids. They only see themselves and don’t see the big picture and how it affects others. You were not sure what would have happened if he didn’t get his act together.

Rehearsal had gone better yesterday. Everyone worked hard and you were actually able to finish earlier. You shut the door of your locker and double checked the books in your hands to make sure you did not forget anything. You took a step before looking and bumped into what felt like a wall.

“Sorry,” the wall said.

You look up and see a chest. You have to raise your head higher to see that it is Jun Hong. Curse that kid and his ridiculously tall body. “I should have looked where I was going.” You notice a mask on his face.

“I won’t be able to stay for rehearsal today. I caught something.”

His voice was groggy. You put the back of your hand to his forehead. It is a stretch but you are able to feel his burning forehead. “Have you taken anything for it?” you ask.

“I have.”

This rehearsal was extremely important considering it was the first time you would be going over lighting and microphones and all the technical stuff. While this was not the dress rehearsal, you needed to know the layout of the program before you could put in requests for lights and microphones.

“Come. Just stay for ten minutes. We have to decide today what props, lighting, microphones, and other things we need today because the request for these things has to be made one week before an event. We will cover your performance first so you can leave as soon as we are finished,” you replied. “Can you hold on for 10 minutes?” you ask.

He coughs and thinks for a moment before nodding. You give him a halfway smile. “It should not take more than 10 minutes.” You smile and pat his arm comfortingly. “Don’t forget to drink plenty of fluids,” you add before leaving.

The technician with the inventory list who would fill out your equipment request was seven minutes late. You paced the door back and forth until he showed up. He did not even run, he strolled over as if he was not seven minutes late.

You greeted each other quickly and you led him to the auditorium.

“So what kind of event are you holding?” he asked.

“A talent show. I sent you an estimate earlier this week as to what we might need. We are going to do a quick run through though of the program.”

You look over to your right where the contestants are sitting. Everyone was either playing with their phones or reading with their noses in textbooks. Your eye scanned down the row of contestants until they reached Jun Hong. He was wiping his forehead with the back of one of his hand and held a container of orange juice in the other.

“Jun Hong,” you called waving him over. “Let’s make this as quick as possible please.”

The technician nods and refers to his paper. Jun Hong stands patiently on the stage.

“We know he-”

“Do you have a pen?” the technician asks.

You resist the urge to glare at the technician for interrupting you. “I can get one. Hold on.” You rush to a nearby table and take a pen. You hand it to him.

“Location?” He asked.

“Huh?” You asked.

“What is the location of this event?” He asked.

“Seoul Performing Arts High School.” You answered.

“And where exactly?” He asked.

“Here. In our auditorium.” You replied.

“When?” He asked.

“Next Tuesday at 20:00,” you replied.

“So what is this thing called again?” He asked again. You couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your eyes.

“It’s a talent competition. I emailed you all of this information before.” You replied.

“I get a ton of emails a day sweetie. Some things slip through the cracks.”

You completely ignore his comment to prevent yourself from blowing up on him. “I think we will only need a microphone for him. The lighting would be simple.”

“What do you mean by simple?” He asked.

“Just a standard spotlight,” you replied.

He flips through his forms. “I’m afraid our spotlights are broken. They should be fixed by... When is this thing happening again?”

“Next Tuesday,” you say slowly.

“Okay. I’ll have to put in a work request for this,” he replied.

You steal a glance over to the stage and see Jun Hong sitting. You are about to say something until you take a closer look and notice how clammy his face looks. The technician is still talking when you rush over to the stage. You walk over to Jun Hong and put your hand on his forehead once again. He jumps back a little, shocked. He was even hotter than before.

“Why didn’t you tell me it had gotten worse?!” you fuss.

“You said it would only be a few minutes. I didn’t want to miss rehearsal since it was so important,” he replied sluggishly.

You pull him up (with much difficulty) and throw his arm behind your neck.

“Excuse me. What are you doing? I have a busy schedule and I can’t fit you in again before your event,” the technician calls.

“Doo Joon, you handle this.” You look over to Doo Joon who nods and heads over to the technician.

“What are you doing?” Jun Hong asked.

“We are going to the nurse’s office.” You use all your strength to lead the two of you over to the stairs.

You two make it halfway to the nurse’s office before he passes out. His weight forces you to fall to the floor. You struggle to get yourself from underneath him. Once you are able to free yourself from his weight, you drag him the rest of the way to the nurse’s office.

“I”m so sorry kid.”

[CHAPTER 5 TEASER]

You make your way to the light switch on the wall beside you. Your finger flicks the light switch up and one light after another comes on. The pool water glistens as the reflection of the lights hit its surface. You walk to the bench beside the shallow end of the pool and place your things on them. You quickly remove your sweatshirt and sweatpants so that you are now only in your swimsuit. Lastly, you take off your glasses and place them beside your things.

You had finished reading a few books on swimming and watched a video or two on the internet describing how to float and perform basic techniques. You took a deep breath and climbed down the ladder and into the water. It was a traumatic experience that prevented you from learning how to swim earlier on. Now that you had been selected as a representative for the senior class in the school’s triathlon you knew you would have to learn how to swim. You had spoken with the swim coach about using the pool. He was too busy to help you but promised to let you use the pool on Tuesday afternoons after school.

You let your body adjust to the temperature of the water before laying back and floating. Your mind cleared as you drifted on the surface. You drifted peacefully for a good ten minutes before a voice nearly gave you a heartattack. You jumped and hid yourself behind the ledge.

“Who is there?!” the voice called.

You did not say a word and hoped the person would leave.

“No one is supposed to be here. I’ll report you to the swim coach and the dean if you don’t come out now!” the voice threatened.

You heard footsteps rushing somewhere then the sound of your things being moved and handled by whoever was there.

“Stop!” you finally say. You pull yourself to the closest ladder and made your way out of the pool. “I am just practicing. The swim coach gave me permission to use the pool so I could practice swimming.”

You walked over to the person and put on your glasses so you could get a better look. He was a lanky guy. He probably was on the swim team.

“Coach gave you permission?”

“Yeah. I’m Lee Seol. I-”

“Aren’t you participating in the School Triatholon?” he interrupted.

“Yeah. To be honest, I don’t know how to swim. I asked the coach if he would let me use the pool to practice. I have been watching videos and everything. I just needed a space to actually swim.”

“Well I wouldn’t call that swimming,” the guy teased.

You pout. “That’s why I said I was learning.”

“If you want, I can teach you? Our class shouldn’t lose to the lowerclassmen. You can’t float during the swimming portion of the competition.” He smiled.

“True.”

“Deal?” He asked holding out an open palm.

“Deal,” you replied shaking his hand.

A/N:  Okay so I got this chapter done a lot faster than I thought. I had already typed a couple of pages over the past month but I knocked out the rest of it this afternoon. I hope there aren't many mistakes. I am in the final stretch of my semester so a lot of projects and things to do if I want to have a job over the summer and do other things before my final year of college! Anyway, let me know if there are any mispellings or errors. Thank you all for hanging in there with this story. I like long chapters and wont post unless I feel good about a chapter. I hope you all continue to follow this story and anticipate the coming chapters. I'm probably going to create a sequel to this! Anyway, please subscribe, up vote, comment, and share this story with others. I'm content that all of you subscribers enjoy reading my story. I also love writing! Lastly, I am looking for some good story art. I am willing to pay the person with the best story art for this story 100 karma points. (I don't use them anyway.) Please message me with ideas As always, Love you for reading!