Making sure to leave her home on time, Sowon woke up early to prepare for the eventful day ahead. Meeting everyone at the agreed destination, the group waited at the bottom of the steps that seemed to never end when you followed the direction it headed in.

“Why am I here?” Sangbae had no energy, which meant mumbling his words were a lot easier.  

The others had their eyes closed and while Jonghwa had already started prepping by doing some stretches. But, his facial expression told enough that he wasn’t too ecstatic with what the day held.

In contrast, Sowon was excited.

“This is going to be fun.” 

“Sowon, are you morning person? ‘Cause we’re not.” Juhyeon muttered.

“We’re up at 7 AM on a Saturday.” Heojun states in the case that Sowon wasn’t aware.

“You would feel so good afterwards.” She continued. “The earlier you get started with your day, the more time you’ll have afterwards to do whatever you want.”

All the boys stared silently at her.

“I guess she has a point.” Daewon finally breaks the silence and encourage the smile to widen upon her face. 

“Then do it with us.” Jonghwa mentioned.

Showing them her shoes, she nodded her head. “I was already planning to.”

***

It felt good.

At the same time, it was difficult. Her body wasn’t used to the sudden exertion. 

“Sowon?” 

Another person called out in shock as she passed them. “You guys are too slow.” She called over her shoulder. As everyone started to slow down, her jogging pace managed to bring her to the person leading the hike. “Getting tired, Jonghwa?”

Just like the others, he responded in surprise. “How did you get here?”

“With my own two feet, of course.” Just as she was about to take over the lead, Jonghwa increased his speed.

He had always been competitive.

Giving into it, Sowon demonstrated her desire to win. The quick speed soon turned into sprinting and before it could get further than that, Sowon felt the pain from an old injury in her leg, her steps faltered and for a moment, Jonghwa felt triumphed until he finally realized something was wrong.

Sowon slowed into a walk and tried to compose her expression. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you hurry off while I’m tired?”

Yet, Jonghwa couldn’t get himself to ask her. “…Loser.” He turned away from her and continued forward. Sowon watched him from behind as she came to a halt in order to take a small break off to the side.

***

“Manager, you’re late.” The athletes greeted her at the bottom. 

She smiled cheerfully in response. “It took longer than I expected.”

They offered grins and chuckles. Jaeho offered a bottle of water and Sowon took it thankfully. 

“Everyone.” The coach calls and the boys go off to listen to announcements and hopefully an end to morning practice. Just as she was about to move forward, Jonghwa drops something on the large boulder beside her.

“They could see you limping.” He simply stated before walking towards the small group to join them. 

Looking away from Jonghwa, Sowon returned her attention on the boulder – a small plastic bag filled with ice. Contrary to her initial thoughts, he had noticed after all.

***

The school week began once more and maybe Sowon had gotten too comfortable but things were slipping her mind – last night, she had left the practice room in a complete mess. 

Eyeing her phone screen, she found the time to be seven in the morning. She had woken up early today to come clean before the athletes could arrive at school. Walking into the empty school building, Sowon made sure to stay quiet – teachers didn’t like having students there so early and without permission. 

Finally arriving at the locker room without any trouble, she hurried to finish the tasks. Moving from one locker to another, it was easy to see who was the cleanest and who was the messiest. 

Daewon was the latter and surprisingly, Jonghwa was the former. Everything was left neatly in their places and that meant, one less person to worry about. Sowon didn’t have much time and she was thankful for Jonghwa’s con