Propulsion: creating force leading to movement; forward movement you create when swimming

“I don’t feel my body.” Namjoo cried while patting her left shoulder. The afternoon practice had been grueling. From practicing dolphin kicks, to using swim fins, hand paddles, kick boards and ankle bands, they did it all. With maximum rests of 10 minutes, everyone was exhausted and sore. 

“At least Dongwook didn’t make us use the drag suits.” Jihyun sighed. Drag suits were baggy briefs with the purpose of increasing resistance, making it harder to swim. It’s a way to improve the technique, but also strength. However, since its purpose is to be worn during a long period of time, the swimmers get fatigued faster.

“Jihoon is a monster.” Hyuk, who was right behind them, scoffed. Dongwook didn’t make the girls use the drag suits, but Jihoon made sure the boys spent the entire afternoon practice with it. “My legs feel like bricks.”

Practice had just finished and everyone was gathering their things and heading to the locker rooms to shower and get ready for the reunion Mingyu had summoned. 

As they arrived the locker area, the girls headed to the left, while the boys headed to the right. In between the locker rooms was an open room where two ladies spent their days checking who got in and out, helping the swimmers and the coaches, guarding their personal belongings and gossiping about everything.

“Jihyunnie, your brother left you a message.” one of them called. Jihyun headed toward them. The oldest of the two was a short and chubby middle aged woman whose hair color was a confusion of pink and white. She wore thick round glasses and too much eye makeup. The youngest was a woman in her thirties. She had a pretty face framed by short black hair.

“He said you have to call your dad.” the youngest informed without taking her eyes off of a gossip magazine.

“You have such a handsome and nice brother.” the oldest smiled at Jihyun and the girl mumbled a “I don’t think so” in return, too low for any of them to grasp. 

“Thank you.” Jihyun bowed and left. As she was entering the locker room, she heard the youngest of the two squealing and yelling something along the lines of “Jaehwan, come to noona!”.

“Typical.” Jihyun rolled her eyes. She had to admit she was a little jealous of the attention Jaehwan got from females, but she was used to it because she had been his friend for many years now. 

“I just want to take the quickest shower ever and then stuff myself with meat.” Jihyun heard Namjoo say. 

“You brought meat?” she asked her friend, watering with the thought of eating meat. Lately all she had been eating was vegetables, fruit, rice and bland boiled chicken s, along with bread and cereal bars.

“No, but I wished I had.” Namjoo laughed.

“You’re so stupid.” Jihyun laughed along, her hopes of eating delicious meat crushed.

“Hurry up.” Namjoo patted Jihyun’s shoulder.

“Go on, I still have to call my dad.” Jihyun informed and waved her hand at her friend. Namjoo nodded and left to take a shower.

After a minute or two trying to find her mobile phone, Jihyun called her father.

“So, do you have a ride home?” her father asked as soon as he picked up.

“Oh. Yeah, I have a ride home.” Jihyun replied.

“Not Wonsik I hope.” her father implicitly inquired. Wonsik, despite his good nature, was a terrible driver and Jihyun would only resort to him when no one else was available.

“No, Jaehwan oppa.” Jihyun casually informed.

“Jaehwan? Lee Jaehwan? Wasn’t he in Busan?” her father asked.

“Yes, but he’s back. I have to hurry up, I have a reunion next. We’ll talk later.” Jihyun said.

“Okay, text me when you’re on your way home. Bye.” her father hung up and Jihyun tossed her phone inside her bag pack and headed to the showers with her things.

“Don’t leave after the reunion. We have to talk.” Wonsik whispered hastily as everyone was about to take a seat to dine.

“About what?” Hyuk asked as loudly and bluntly as he could.

“Shut up, you’re going to blow everything!” Namjoo smacked her friend in the arm.

“It’s about Hakyeon oppa’s present.” Jihyun muttered in Hyuk’s ear just as Hakyeon arrived to take a seat. 

“Ah, I’m so tired.” he complained, collapsing on a chair between Taekwoon and Hongbin. 

“You’re so old.” Hyuk mocked his friend. 

“Yah!” Hakyeon was about to scold the sassy boy, but stopped and sighed. “I’m too old to care.” he shrugged and took a sip of his cola.

“Are you excited to your birthday?” Jihyun asked with a smile. She was sitting between Wonsik and Hyuk, right in front of Hakyeon.

“I’m getting older, so I would say no.” Hakyeon looked the girl in the eyes and shook his head.

“Oppa! Don’t be like that! You’re turning 24, not 70.” Jihyun chuckled and threw a little piece of a napkin at him.

“Sure, you’re not even 20, that’s why you’re saying that!” Hakyeon said. “I have a nephew, I’m old.”

“Oh stop it hyung!” Hongbin lightly punched his friend’s shoulder. 

“Having a nephew doesn’t make you old.” Jihyun stated before taking a bite at her sandwich. 

“You guys don’t understand my pain, you’re all young!” Hakyeon threw his arms in the air clearly exaggerating. “Only Taekwoon knows how I feel, right?” the boy hugged his friend, who immediately tried to get rid of him.

“Are you calling me old?” Taekwoon glared at Hakyeon and the latter quickly let go of his friend’s arm, making Jihyun and Hongbin laugh. The three of them were absorbed in a different conversation than the rest of them - except for Wonsik, who was resting his head on the table.

“I’m not calling you young, that’s for sure.” Hakyeon mumbled and turned in his chair, but Taekwoon heard it and pushed his friend’s head.

“So annoying.” he puffed his cheeks and returned to eat in silence.

“I guess he doesn’t understand you.” Jihyun shrugged.

“It’s because he’s too much to handle.” Hongbin explained, referring to Hakyeon, and the two laughed, gaining glares and muttered threats from the oldest.

Jihyun looked to her right, seeing the others absorbed in some conversation about siblings and other things she didn’t quite grasped. Observing her friends, her eyes eventually stopped in Jaehwan, who was laughing at his own gags. She took a moment examining him: his eyes sparkled and grew into crescent moons every time he laughed; his lips were full and moved quickly while he spoke lively about something she didn’t heard but made the others laugh.

Jihyun thought her crush on Jaehwan had vanished, or at least had been stored away in some dark corner of her brain. But having the boy so close to her again had made her stomach churn and she could feel a nervous tingling in her hands.

Her mind wandered off, her eyes still glued to his face, but her trance was soon brake and she became flustered when Jaehwan caught her looking and smiled at her.

“As you may have noticed, the practice today was a little bit different.” Mingyu stated and everyone nodded. The reunion had started a little after nine, giving the swimmers about an hour to rest and eat. After that everyone gathered in a small room where the teams usually got together to discuss about several matters. After about fifteen minutes waiting for everyone to arrive and sit, Mingyu started the meeting. 

“We’re trying a new set and during this week we’re going to evaluate the effects of this new drill.” Jihoon explained with his arms crossed.

“There is, however, a reason for this new workouts.” Mingyu added. “By the end of August we’re going to have a meet with some of the best clubs of Seoul.” the main coach further explained and the room was filled parallel talks.

“Be quiet.” Jihoon ordered soon after.

“See this meet as a way of evaluating your contestants and don’t be too worried. We want you to do your best, of course, but don’t stress too much.” Mingyu smiled. “Also, along with the other coaches, we’ve decided to add an event that will be held in an olympic pool for the first time in Europe, also in August.” he added, gaining confused looks from the swimmers.

“What?” someone in the back asked.

“Mixed relays.” Dongwook answered cooly. Exclamations and chitchats filled the room and Mingyu laughed.

“We have to innovate, spice things up! And who knows if some day mixed relays won’t be an olympic event. So we’re going with that.” he said.

“The relay teams will remain the same for now.” Jihoon informed, referring to teams already formed for national events. “As for the mixed teams, Jaekyung and Seunghyun will be eyeing you and report to me and Dongwook. We’re also going to experiment a few teams and a few strategies to see what the best possibilities are.

“We have to discuss the matter about the men’s freestyle relay team though. Since Jaehwan is back, we’re going with the original team. Is it okay with you Sungjae?” Mingyu asked Sungjae, a boy with dark hair and a silly smile. Since Jaehwan had left, Sungjae had replaced him in the men’s team, but Jaehwan was by far one of the best freestylers of the club and with his return, he would sure take his old place back.

“It’s okay.” Sungjae smiled sweetly and Jaehwan looked at the younger boy with an apologetic smile.

“Since we still need to make adjustments, nothing’s guaranteed, so everyone, give your best!” Mingyu fist pumped the air. 

“We’re also thinking of letting everyone compete, however, in some events, because there’s too many swimmers, we will have to choose the best and do only semi-finals and finals. Your times will be taken more frequently because of that.” Dongwook added.

“Practice a lot, rest well and focus.” Jihoon advised with his stern look.

“Okay everyone, you can go now. Rest a lot!” Mingyu waved and everyone got up and left.

“Let’s meet at the back.” Hongbin whispered at Jihyun and she nodded.

“I think we should go friday, after practice.” Naeun said.

“Isn’t saturday better?” Wonsik asked.

“We practice until nine.” Hyuk answered and Wonsik cursed under his breath.

“Friday sounds good. We just have to keep Hakyeon away from us.” Jihyun nodded.

“You can’t tell him anything hyung!” Hongbin poked Taekwoon’s arm and the latter gave him a dirty look.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that.” Namjoo chuckled.

“You guys have to think of what to buy him because we won’t have that much time. We only have friday and sunday… And we all know spending sundays at Hongdae is a nightmare.” Naeun told the group.

“But where’s the party?” Jaehwan asked, a little oblivious as to what his friends were settling.

“That’s the cool part: we convinced Mingyu and the director to let us throw the party at the club!” Hongbin smiled at his friend. “We have to prepare everything and clean afterwards though.”

“That’s really cool. How did you do it?” Jaehwan smiled.

“Aegyo. Lots and lots of it. It was embarrassing to watch, actually.” Wonsik mocked and looked at the youngest of them.

“What?” Jaehwan laughed and looked at Wonsik.

“We forced Hyuk, Jihyun and Namjoo to throw a little aegyo at Mingyu to convince them.” the bulky boy said with his deep voice.

“Really?” Jaehwan exclaimed and Hongbin started laughing.

“You should’ve seen it: Hyuk was pouting, Jihyun was practically baby talking and Namjoo was waggling her body.” Hongbin explained, tears falling from his eyes.

“I think Mingyu only agreed to it so they would stop.” Wonsik snickered.

“Very funny, but without us you wouldn’t have a place to throw hyung’s party!” Hyuk pushed Wonsik.

“What would you guys do without us youngsters?” Namjoo clicked her tongue and looked at Hongbin.

“Jihyun, show Jaehwan that weird voice you made.” Wonsik asked, laughing. 

“God no!” the girl faked a cry, embarrassing showing in her cheeks just from recalling the even.

“Just once, please.” Hongbin shook her by the shoulder.

“I want to see it!” Jaehwan grinned and then pouted. Jihyun chuckled and shook her head. 

“Okay, just once.” she heaved a sigh and then looked at Wonsik. “Oppa! Come on, it’s for Hakyeonnie’s party!” she jumped up and down while making a pout and speaking with a silvery, but high-pitched voice. Jaehwan bursted laughing, along with Wonsik and Hongbin, while Taekwoon shook his head. Namjoo gave the girl a dirty look and Hyuk just muttered a “aish”, while Naeun tried to stiff a laugh.

“How embarrassing.” Jihyun covered her now burning face with her hand, while laughing and shaking her head.

“You have everything?” Jaehwan asked, looking at Jihyun.

“Yeah, let me just take my phone to text my dad.” she turned to her left and stretched her hand to take her phone from her bag pack that had been tossed to the backseat of Jaehwan’s car. 

After founding the phone, she tossed the bag again to its place and put on her seatbelt.

“We can go.” she smiled at the boy.

“Was he that worried about you riding a car driven by me?” Jaehwan jokingly asked while focusing in the road ahead.

“Nah, it’s just so he knows I’m coming.” Jihyun explained while writing the text. “If Wonsik oppa was my ride home, then yes, he would be worried.” Jihyun laughed and sent the text. Jaehwan nodded with a chuckle.

For awhile they were silent, both without knowing what to say. While Jaehwan was focused on driving, Jihyun looked outside, observing the dim lit streets. 

“Poong missed you.” Jaehwan broke the silence soon after, without tang his eyes off the road.

“Who?” Jihyun looked at him.

“My car.” the boy snickered and Jihyun let out a faint “ah”.

“Didn’t you miss it?” Jaehwan asked when Jihyun failed to continue the conversation.

“Of course! I just didn’t know its name was Poong!” Jihyun patted the black dashboard as if she was petting an animal.

“It isn’t, Poong was the first thing that came to my mind just now.” Jaehwan confessed with a sly grin and Jihyun laughed.

The girl felt a nice warm feeling flooding her body, accompanied by the now familiar tingling sense of nervousness. Apparently her crush on Jaehwan had  only grew. 

To overcome any awkwardness that could emerge from her silence, Jihyun asked Jaehwan about his life in Busan, if he had made friends and what he did while he was there. Soon their conversation started flowing nicely and Jihyun relaxed.

They had maintained contact, but spoke only from time to time and just about important news, not trivial things. However, now Jaehwan was telling the girl about the six months spent in Busan with his family and she couldn’t be happier listening to him while occasionally asking questions and telling him stuff as well. 

The ride home seemed shorter than it was and Jihyun felt slightly disappointed that their small journey together had ended.

“Thank you.” the girl bowed her head, making her fringe fall to her eyes. As she raised her head, a hand brushed her bangs aside to uncover her face. Jihyun blushed at his touch.

“Do you need a ride tomorrow morning?” Jaehwan asked with a cheeky smile apparently giving zero importance to his gesture.

“No… No, Howon oppa is taking me and Woohyun oppa.” Jihyun explained, staggering a little, still in slight shock.

“Hmm.” Jaehwan nodded and then smile. “If you need a ride just let me know.”

“Thank you.” Jihyun smiled and took her seatbelt, reaching behind to take her bag pack. “Good night.” she wished in a soft spoken voice with a shy smile on her lips.

“Good night. See you tomorrow!” Jaehwan patted her shoulder and she nodded once before leaving the car.

She crossed the street carefully, turning back to wave at the boy, who replied in the same way. Jihyun turned around, a big smile growing in her lips as she made her way home.

“What a night!” Woohyun commented as she entered the house. He was already with his pajamas on and had a bowl of popcorns in his right hand.

Jihyun looked at her watch and saw how late it was. She chuckled.

“You have no idea.”

A/N: Wow, I was aiming for smaller chapters and ended writing the biggest chapter yet...

I just wanted to clarify a few things: first of all, I'm not using korean ages. Second, I know I'm negleting smaller competitions that usually happen before the nationals, but for the sake of the story we'll skip that.

That's all for now! Enjoy :)