If he didn’t drink gallons of milk the night before he might have got no sleep at all.

No words can describe how nervous Ren is, this is it, D-day, and even if the people around him isn’t burdening him with high expectations, he can’t help but feel a heavy weight on his shoulders. They say that it’s okay if he doesn’t win, but he has taken a long road in order to reach this stage so he can’t help but burden himself.

It doesn’t help that his conversation with Jonghyun from nights ago is still vivid in his mind. He needs to be the best because the boy from Kangwondo obviously sees him as the greatest rival so he should show that he is deserving of the title Jonghyun seems to give him. And even though he doesn’t want to think about what might happen after the competition, he can’t help but picture himself as Jonghyun’s friend.

And that will happen if he wins, or if he gives a good and hard fight.

The chief judge has given the first height at 2.15m, and five athletes don’t jump (or have passed the level because they are very much confident that the height is too low.) including Ren and Jonghyun. Ren’s coach has adviced him to start jumping at 2.20m because that’s the lowest height he jumps in his trainings. While waiting for his turn, he sees a weirdly cute small pink stone beside his bench, so he picks it up and holds it. He must have been very nervous because he can feel that the stone is giving him heat. He’s sweating too much so his hands are too cold. When the crossbar replacer set the bar at 2.20m, Ren stands and lines up with the athletes who are going to jump, throwing the stone back to the ground. Looking at the athletes in line, he sees that Jonghyun isn’t joining yet.

Ren has managed to jump easily on the succeeding heights, too. He has forgotten about the Kangwondo boy for a while, only remembering about him when the said boy stands up and joins them for the 2.25m. The athletes start to minimize, from 15, 3 athletes have bid goodbye because they have missed the bar thrice. Ren and Jonghyun, together with the Mokpo guy and the representative of Incheon only have tried once, and are immediately qualified for the next level.

The heights have been easy until it reaches 1.30m. That is the height both Ren and Jonghyun have set for the preliminaries, and there are 5 of them left until there. Ren and Jonghyun have succeeded after one try but the remaining three have tried twice or thrice, nevertheless there are still five of them.

If Ren is trembling a while ago, he can’t explain what he feels as of now. Beads of sweat are freely running down his face, partly from exhaustion and partly from the turmoil his internal organs have created inside his body. This is one of the reasons why he hates being nervous, his stomach aches, not just that but his internal organs always seem to rearrange themselves inside of him, and if this continues he feels that he’d just lie there on the field and never wake up. 2.31m and there are only 5 of them. It doesn’t help that Jonghyun looks like he’s just chilling, hands are freely hanging on either side of his body while his left foot is lightly tapping on the grass. Maybe Ren’s feeling this way because it’s his first competition and he miraculously entered the best 5, or JR is just a veteran on this.

‘That meant the same. I need to calm down or else I’ll fail. I can’t fail!’ Ren quietly says to himself. After this player he’ll be the next, and the player before him is currently on his third try. ‘If he fails to do this he’s out, then there’s 4 of us.’ Right, he thinks, he has 3 chances to make things right. If he manages to finish this on the 1st jump then it’s great, if not then there are still 2 chances. ‘I can do this.’

After the 2.31m jump, there are just 3 of them and obviously, it’s Ren, Jonghyun and the guy from Mokpo. The Mokpo guy has been failing on his jumps earlier but still manages to succeed on the 3rd try, while Ren and Jonghyun’s records have been flawless, as of the moment.

The 3 of them have stayed strong until 2.34m. The Mokpo guy, even with his long legs and ideally fit body, has failed to jump the 2.35m height, earning him the 3rd place of the high jump competition.

“Not bad! Congratulations, Kid!” says one of the Mokpo guy’s supporter, happiness and pride evident in his voice, and Ren can’t help but smile at the guy’s achievement. He’s lucky because he isn’t forced to win the competition, so as the Mokpo guy. As this issue pops up on his mind he immediately looks at Jonghyun. The guy has his head down and he fiddles with the hem of his white track jersey. ‘Maybe he’s nervous now. Who wouldn’t be, it’s freaking 2.36m now.’ Ren thinks, and he scans the bleachers for Jonghyun’s father, and after a split second he has seen the scary coach sitting leisurely on one of the bleachers. Even from the place Ren is currently standing, a bit far from the said coach, he can see the eyes that are piercing his opponent. Without thinking he strides towards Jonghyun and taps the said boy’s shoulder. When the tan boy looks at him, Ren gives him a smile before he speaks.

“Win or lose, promise me that we’ll talk after this, okay? Jonghyun-sshi, fighting!”

Ren knows that he might have looked like a fool in front of Jonghyun but he doesn’t care even a bit, because he is nervous too and he wants to loosen up, there’s nothing wrong with cheering your rival, right? Or there is? When he sees that Jonghyun is smiling to him, he concludes that there really is nothing wrong with it, especially with the challenging look Jonghyun is giving him right now.

‘Because right now there is just the bar and the two of us.’

Maybe they aren’t the only ones there, but the same time, place and moment belongs to only the two of them. No one can really interfere with this, they can’t let anyone interfere with this, not the piercing heat of the sun, not the anticipated eyes of the audience, not the heavy expectations of everyone and not even the judging mind of Jonghyun’s father.

If Ren has the chance, he’s going to say that to Jonghyun. ‘Later, after the game we’ll talk. Later.’

And when the crossbar replacer sets the bar at 2.36m, Ren takes a deep breath and put his game face on. He can’t make anybody, not even Jonghyun, affect his jump. Because when he’s asked to be on his mark, the only things existing are him and the bar.

The game continues and both of them has retained their flawless records until 2.37m, and both has failed on their 1st tries on the 2.38m height, even so both has reached the 2.39m height.

Before they jump for the 2.39m height, the chief judge has announced that both of them has succeeded in breaking the old record of the National High School Track-and-Field Championship, High Jump category, for the previous record is at 2.37m, set last year by Jonghyun himself.

At this point, Ren’s resolve seems to die because he can’t control his heart anymore. He wants to focus and tune the world out but his world decides to create its own noise and it bothers him. However, he doesn’t let it show, especially not in front of his calm opponent. How can Jonghyun be so calm?

They have broken his past record, Jonghyun should be nervous, right? Because Ren has broken his record. Then again, Jonghyun has also broken his own record. ‘Uhh, why am I thinking about stuffs like this? I can’t think anymore.’

Ren doesn’t want to look like he’s panicking, he is, but he doesn’t want to give Jonghyun the satisfaction of seeing him having an internal battle with himself, so he tries hard to look normal. He’s really hoping that everything’s normal.

He’s now preparing for his next jump, stretching his legs and calming his heart at the same time. For afar, 2.39m seems so low but he has succeeded the previous mark on the 2nd try, so this, 2.39m, is really high. He should run and set his foot off at the right place to be able to succeed. But then again, where is the right place?

“Choi Minki, on your mark...”

“ I’m not yet ready!” Ren internally screamed, and like a robot his body automatically bends. “I can do this. I can do this.”

“Get set...”

“Please left foot, cooperate with my mind please.”

“GO!”

And then Ren runs, his mind only focuses on his feet and on the bar which seems to approach him faster than usual. Left, right, left, right,

LEFT,

and he jumps. And he feels the bar having contact with his skin. “!” he groans, only to look at the shaking bar and after 3, 2, 1 second, it falls. Ren sighs in frustration, he is more frustrated now than on the previous mark, he has almost made it! Almost!

He returns to the marked line and positions himself, not bothering about stretching again, it feels like his time is limited and if he does all the rituals again he won’t finish everything. As if on cue, he hears the same lines again.

“On your mark, get set, GO!”

And he’s jogging again, and running, and running faster, right, left, right, left, and jump. To his horror, he has jumped a bit lower than the first one that the bar has followed him to the mat. ‘What is happening? One more and then it’s done. One more.’

After lying on the mat for seconds, he stands up and rushes to the marked line again. This one is probably his last jump, who knows.

While walking he has remembered what he has been thinking for the past days, he isn’t here because he’s forced, rather, he’s here because he likes to be here. He’s here because his mother has agreed on him being here. He even has won her support. He’s here because he deserves to be here. ‘Win or lose, he has done his best, so he should be happy, right?’

With his new resolve, he sighs deeply before positioning himself again, who cares if it’s the last time for now, he can still compete next year, he will still be training, and definitely this isn’t going to be the last.

“On your mark...”

He breathes deeply again, this time trying to actually feel the world outside himself, taking note that he has never imagined a place as big as this field to be this silent, and then he tries to relieve it.

“get set...”

Now with his head up high he looks at the bar which seems to mock him, well the bar has the right because it’s in charge of his fate for now and so he carves it to his memory for remembrance purposes.

“GO!”

And he runs, slowly at first then gradually getting faster, setting on his left foot as he sees the bar right there. He has jumped, and when he has landed on the mat he immediately looks at the shaking bar.

1

2

3

4 seconds.

It has taken 4 seconds for the bar to fall. And then Ren smiles, ‘at least it has stayed there for 4 seconds. Not bad.’ and when stands up he looks at his friends, Minhyun and Aron giving him 2 pairs of thumbs up, and then to his coach, who is nodding in approval, eyes sparkling from what Ren thinks are tears illuminated by the sunlight. Well, if Ren isn’t the player he’ll be crying there, too, because of nervousness? Because of pride? If Ren’s the one in there, it’ll be probably because of happiness.

“Choigo Choi Ren! (The best, Choi Ren!)” scream Minhyun and Aron from the top of their lungs.

When Ren has recovered from what has happened, he immediately looks at Jonghyun, who is now stretching on the marked line. Then he remembers that the competition has not ended yet, if ever Jonghyun fails to jump this mark after 3 tries then he’s going to jump again, seeing that they are tied until this point of the competition. He still has a chance, if Jonghyun fails.

As if the bar has heard Ren’s thoughts, Jonghyun’s 1st try has failed. Even so, the determination on Jonghyun’s eyes has never died down. Instead, if his eyes have flames in it, the flam might have switched from red to blue. And then Ren looks at Jonghyun’s father, who has the same set of eyes like before. As his gaze returns to Jonghyun, he has noticed that Jonghyun’s only focusing on one thing, or maybe focusing on only one, and that is the bar.

All of a sudden, Ren feels the guilt eating him up, who is he to think of Jonghyun’s failure? He has had his chance and that’s what his best can do. Looking at Jonghyun, he starts to believe that the boy loves what he does. He’s pressured, it’s a given fact, but the pressure doesn’t seem to affect him at all. He’s stretching again while looking at the bar, looking like everything depends in it. Maybe that’s how he’s looked like a while ago, and relating what he has felt like and what Jonghyun might be currently feeling, it all leads to the same idea.

They are doing what they like to do and they are happy with what they are doing.

Regardless of the pressures, the anticipating eyes, the judging minds, the world outside themselves, once they are standing there it’s only them. The reality is only them and what they want to perceive. As for Ren and Jonghyun, it’s them and the bar that they need to jump through, and both of them has the same goal.

To jump through the bar without it following them as they fall.

As Ren hears the familiar “On your mark...” line, he focuses on Jonghyun only, because he can’t wait but to know how far his opponent can reach. And his heart can’t help but beat faster as the time of the other’s jump approaches.

“get set...” and Ren wishes for the best, because whether the other succeeds or not he’ll be happy for the both of them and later after this he and Jonghyun will talk, they will talk.

“GO!” and Ren’s eyes follow the seemingly flying athlete from Kangwondo.

***

After receiving everyone’s congratulatory message, Ren immediately looks to that one guy he’s been looking forward to have a conversation with. Luckily, that guy seems to be waiting for him on a nearby bench, head hanged low while playing with the gold medal he is wearing. Ren approaches the guy and taps his head, which results for him to receive a glare from the guy.

“Ya!” Ren shouts and welcomes himself beside the guy. “Congratulations! See! You’re really the best!”

“Uhm.” the guy nods. “You did very well, too. You’re just, maybe, too nervous? It’s normal because it’s your first time.”

“I see. You give those comments now because you’re a veteran already, right, Jonghyun-sshi?” Ren teases, smiling as he sees the boy beside him make face.

“If you want to see it that way, then yes. Oh, by the way...”

Ren’s eyes never leave the boy as he waits for him to continue. After a few seconds, the boy hasn’t said anything yet, so Ren decides to break the silence. “By the way... what?”

“Oh. Call me JR. I want people to call me by that.” the boy says as he lowers his head again and plays with his shirt.

‘That was out of the blue.’ Ren’s thought as he looks at the shy boy in front of him, too far from the over-confident boy he has been dealing with for quite some time now, and Ren seems to enjoy the look on the shy boy’s face so he decides to tease. “And why should I call you like that?”

“Can’t you just...” Jonghyun looks at Ren and sees that the boy is smiling. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“Oh, am I that obvious?” Ren asks and then he laughs out loud. Jonghyun just looks at the pale boy until the laughter dies down. When Ren recovers, he smiles as he offers Jonghyun a handshake. “If that’s the case, then call me Ren. That’s what my close friends call me.”

“But that’s not why I want you to call me JR.” JR says while just looking at the hand Ren offers.

“Ahh, don’t mind that. I’ll call you JR because you like me to call you JR and that’s final, now accept my hand will you? Or if you don’t want,” Ren reaches for JR’s hand and shakes it.

“But...” JR looks at his hand which is currently holding Ren’s. “Thank you.” he says, unable to think of other words to say.

“No problem, we’ll be seeing each other often so might as well be friends, right? We’ll be working as a team right now so this is very okay! I won’t like to work and train with someone I am awkward with.”

JR has managed to successfully jump over the 2.39m mark, which has earned him the gold medal. Ren, on the other hand, places 2nd so he gets the silver medal, while the bronze medal has been given to the Mokpo giant. The 3 of them have qualified to be South Korea’s representative for the East-Asian Track-and-Field Championship that will be happening next year so their whole summer will be spent training and a month before the competition they will be trained on a camp on Seoul before heading to the venue of the EATFC.

Ren and JR continue to talk until JR’s father interrupts them. JR is still scared of him, it won’t go away that fast, and so he just asks for 5 minutes then he’ll go back. JR looks at Ren and gives the pale boy his phone.

“Oh! You have it? Where did you put this?” Ren asks as he eyes the phone he is currently holding. He has left his on his coach’s care because his outfit doesn’t have any pockets in it.

“Do you really have to ask that? I’ve been holding that the whole time we’re talking.” JR says as he looks amusedly at Ren.

Ren looks at the phone and wonders what he should do with it. JR seems to notice Ren’s confusion so he clears his throat and says, “Put your number there, I’ll contact you whenever I can. Hurry!”

“Ahh! Okay!” Ren says and smiles as he types his number on the phone. He presses call and at the first ring he immediately ends it. “I missed call my phone so I’ll know that it’s you.” he explains.

“So... see you after 3 months?” JR awkwardly says.

“Uhm... I think so. See you!” Ren replies, looking so lost because of the awkward air that suddenly engulfs the two of them. “Uhh, I think your father is impatiently waiting for you now, I’ll go talk to our other teammate!”

Ren starts waving as he walks backwards and away from JR. After the 5th step, he turns around and looks for the Mokpo boy when suddenly, cold hands touches his wrist.

“Ren, wait, have this.” JR says as he put a small pink stone on Ren’s palm. “Don’t lose that! You need to give that back to me after 3 months!” the boy shouts as he runs away from Ren.

When the boy’s out of his eyesight, he looks at the pink stone and smiles. “Look who’s being sentimental.”

He runs to his coach and searches for his bag, securing the small pink stone inside his coin purse. “Behave, you little thing.”

“Minki, someone sent you a message!” his coach shouts beside him as the boy reaches for his phone.

From: unknown number

Am I weird? Sorry, it’s actually the first time I did that. I’m really sorry if I’m awkward. Well, see you after 3 months! – JR

Ren can’t help but feel that he’s lucky because JR seems to open up to him so he immediately replies to the boy.

To: JR

It’s okay! It’s cute! The stone, I mean. And yep, see you after 3 months! :D

Ren doesn’t really care about numbers, it’s all about how fast and slow, how high and low, how warm and cold, but now he can’t help but countdown to that day when he’ll be meeting his new friend again.

Well, it is okay to break some rules, right?

END

*chief judge - supervises the competition and determines if a jump is legal or illegal.

*note that an athlete can choose not to jump at lower heights

*crossbar replacer - set the bar at the correct height, replace the bar after each unsuccessful attempt and check the measurement.

---

Ohgawd guize sorry if I have this updated just now D: I know I have promised that this is supposedly updated on a certain date but I never did. I have had to finish my thesis first, so yep. Now it's done so I am able to update this, and as promised this is the last chapter. I'm really sorry about the delay! T^T Forgive me?

Also, the info I have given about high jump doesn't represent for everything. I have researched and I have tried applying everything to this story. I'm sorry for the mistakes. ^^

As compensation, here's JREN's version of Titanic.

(screencap credit @babyLNC [Twitter])

And this isn't the romance type, actually, I have 0 experience 'bout things couples do so I am clueless, anyless, I ship JREN so they're the main characters here. And and and... have you ever wondered who the "Mokpo giant/boy/guy" is? Hahaha. I support both NU'EST and B.A.P, so yep, that's Zelo ^^

I have lots of A/N's but I update so slow how dare me. Okay po, I hope you've enjoyed this one because I've enjoyed writing this. Sorry about the typos, too lazy to read it again ;;

BTW... this is based on a Korean film entitled "As One"

nowplaying Go - Nell [oh leobeudeul on your mark, get set, and go.... just go. hihihi. annyeong! ^^]