Hyunyoung kneeled down and blinked, staring at her friend. She slapped him lightly on the face. “Are you okay?” she asked even though she knew very well that that was a stupid question to ask him. “Jongie?”

“I . . . won . . .” he managed faintly.

She smiled and nodded. “Congratulations. Let’s go out after school to celebrate, shall we?” She knew this was a big deal to him, she knew how much this meant to him — writing stories, and winning the contest.

He had joined many contests before, but he had never gotten first place. He would usually get the third or second placing. So to have his first at something big like this — it calls for a celebration.

“Anyway, come on, it’s class time.” She gently pulled him back to his feet and Sungjong seemed to have snapped out from his state of shock before babbling on about the drama (without revealing what it was about, drat it) and how he was excited to start on it since they only have three months to work on it before Christmas.

“I still want you to audition.”

“No.”

“But why not?”

“Because I said so.”

Ugh, she thought grudgingly. 

Jihyun stared out of her window. “Hmm, cloudy,” she spoke aloud to herself. “Maybe I should go for a jog.” She looked at her clock and saw that it was only five in the evening. There were still plenty of time left before dinner and she was done with her homework, so she might as well get some exercising done.

“I’m going out for a jog,” she told her sister as she walked out of her room, dressed in her jogging gear. “Wanna join?”

Hyunyoung paused in the middle of the hallway, having just got back from ‘celebrating’ with Sungjong. She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she replied softly. “I’m not much of a jogger, and I have to do my homework. But you go ahead and have fun. Oh, and be careful, okay? Don’t talk to any strangers.”

“Yes, mom.” Jihyun gave her younger sister and mock salute and a hair ruffle before she went down the stairs to the front hall and took her jogging shoes out from the shoe cabinet. Slipping it on, covering her rainbow-colored socks, she walked out of the house and began to do some stretches.

At that moment, Sungyeol came out, looking as if he, too, was going out for a jog. He glanced over and saw her stretching and soon his mouth stretched too, into a smile. “Hey, going for a jog?”

“Yeap, you?”

“Mmhmm.” He nodded.

Jihyun grinned. “Great! I have a jog buddy!” She laughed lightly. “Ppalli wear your shoes and stretch so we can get going.”
Sungyeol blinked before it dawned onto him.

Oh.

She wanted to jog together with him. His smile broadened and hastily wore his shoes and did his warm-up before the two of them walked up to the street. They glanced at each other and with a grin, they broke into a jog down the street. They jogged around the block, not once breaking the rhythm to catch their breath. At least, not until when they had reached the park and Sungyeol felt a stab of pain at the sole of his feet. That was when he knew that if he went on, he would’ve exceeded his limit.
“Ji — hyun — wait —” he gasped, slowing down.

Jihyun slowed her pace down and turned to Sungyeol, who was bent over, his hands on his thighs, to catch his breath. She smiled pleasantly. “I guess we went over your limit, huh?” she said kindly.

He nodded, wheezing. It was amazing how Jihyun wasn’t even panting that hard. She must be really fit. She had sweat glistening her forehead but she still managed to look so beautiful with a bright smile on her face. Not many people Sungyeol knew could still look gorgeous even when they were sweat and their hair stuck to their face.

He felt his own sweat and was thankful he had brought along a facial towel that was slung around his neck and hoped he didn’t look like a drowned rat in front of her. That would be really humiliating.

Jihyun, on the other hand, was thinking about how even in sweat Sungyeol still looked good. As if he wasn’t good-looking enough, being covered in sweat made him looked, well, kind of — if she may be so bold — y. She bit her bottom lip, a faint blush creeping to her face for thinking such thoughts and began to fan herself with her hands, wondering why the atmosphere suddenly felt so hot.

“Whoo,” she murmured, hoping he didn’t catch her checking him out.

But Sungyeol, at that moment, turned toward her and saw that she was fanning herself, looking away from him. He frowned, an alarming thought striking him. Do I smell? He frantically took a quick whiff of himself. He didn’t think he smelled that bad despite the sweat but decided to take a long, hot shower with a lot of soap and shampoo once they get home later. He didn’t want her to think he had body odor.

“Are you okay?” Jihyun asked after a while. “You seemed tired.”

“I guess I never jogged this much before,” he admitted sheepishly, feeling unfit. “But you look like you could still run.”

“Oh, that. Haha, well, I used to jog twenty kilometers every morning back home in Illsan,” was all she said as she stretched her hands out, smiling brightly.

Twenty?!

Sungyeol made a mental note to start training so he could jog further and longer than she could one day. It kind of hurt his man pride that a girl could be so much better than a guy in the arts of sports, or anything physical.
“Twenty kilometers? Wow.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I used to jog a lot with my dad, who was my coach.”

Well, that explained a lot. “Coach, huh?” The two of them had found an empty bench by the lake and sat down, enjoying the evening’s cool wind. “Was he some kind of gym coach or something?” he asked, curious.

“He’s the coach of my ex-school’s football team,” she explained, “so he would make sure that I get almost the same training. But, of course, he would go easier on me than with his team since I still am a girl.” She laughed, as if remembering a memory.
Sungyeol chuckled slightly, looking in front. He wondered what more about Jihyun he would find out about. “I guess Hyunyoung-sshi never received the same treatment, since she lived with your mom, right?”

“Only when she comes for visits, and wouldn’t have much of a choice but to listen to our father,” she replied, shaking her head, smiling softly. “But, yeah, I guess not.” Her eyes glaze