No room for failure. That was the lesson I grew up with on a daily basis, whether it be a verbal one, or a physical one. To my father, both were one and the same, and he made sure I was aware of the fact that I wasn’t the son he had wanted me to be.

A disappointment. An expensive disappointment, he had said to me, upon my return from France and I was still the same Chanyeol who had left.

What could I do? I had been waiting to return and resume my search for the mysterious girl, and my father was furious that I never forgot about it. Till now, I don’t know why he was so worked up about the fact that I wanted to find her.

Guess I will never know.

“We will be having a little championship of our own,” Coach Choi announced, “So, in your pairs, find another pair to duel with. I should have nine teams.”

Sunny looked at Sun Young. “There is no room for failure,” she hissed, “Do you understand me?”

“Why did you even choose me as a partner if you didn’t want to team up with me then?” she asked back.

The heiress rolled her eyes and stomped her foot on the ground. “Oh, Sun Young, you are so dumb. Of course I thought I could simply eliminate you. Why would I even think of actually wanting to pair with you if I knew they were going to make us pair up?”

Sun Young pushed the stray hair over her eyes and shrugged. “Well joke’s on you, because now we’re a team,” she told her, “ to be you.”

Amber sauntered over. “Chill there, hotcakes,” she sniggered, as Victoria stood next to her, “We’re not gonna get eliminated just because we lost a fencing match.”

Sunny threw her a disgusted expression. “Maybe for you, but not everyone came to this competition to have a good time,” she said with a toss of her hair, “Some people have actual chances to win.”

“Like you?” Amber asked.

Sunny sputtered. “Of course! Who are you to question it, you- you’re just some random contestant who got lucky!” she gasped, lowering her voice, “You think any decent chaebol would want you?”

Amber mirrored her ugly expression. “Wanna bet?” she challenged, “Wanna bet that I can survive another round, without having to steal someone else’s roses? How about that, Sunny? Let’s do this right here, right now, I’m good to go, sista.”

Sun Young rolled her eyes. “Can we just go and find a pair?” she asked the heiress, “I thought you wanted to take on Rana or something.”

Sunny turned to her, her angry barely concealed. “I want to duel these two,” she said, a mirthless smile creeping onto her face, gesturing to Victoria and Amber.

The two raised their eyebrows, turning to her.

Sun Young blinked.

Oh, dear.

“Won’t it be fun, to spar with your own friends and watch them lose to you?” Sunny asked with a malicious grin.

Sun young tried to look unbothered. “That’s just messed up,” she only said.

Please don’t make me do this with my only friends.

Amber patted her shoulder. “I feel so sorry for you, Sun Young,” she said with a laugh, turning to Sunny, “But I accept, if only to see Sunny’s face when we whoop her sorry .”

Sunny opened to reply when her voice was drowned out by the sound of microphone feedback, making them turn to the hosts, who stood in front of the cameras.

PD Kim, fanning herself behind the cameras, was biting her lip and wearing her earphones around her neck.

“Action!”

The two men in front of the camera grinned widely on cue.

“Welcome to the competitive segment, entitled Duel of the Fates!” Xiumin and Chen chorused in front of the camera.

Chen grinned. “The time has come for our ladies to be sword-fighting damsels in this battle of duos and fight in a league to determine the winning pair today-”

Xiumin bounced excitedly. “-who will be joining Director Park on a city boat ride tonight,” he interjected excitedly, “With free flow cocktail, a special sea view dinner personally prepared by celebrity chefs, and of course, some quality time with our director himself!”

“Each pair will be against each other, with the top three pairs to receive the red roses for today’s segment,” Chen added, “Coach Choi has also brought in referees to ensure that not only the girls will spar safely, but also fairly.”

Xiumin nodded enthusiastically. “So take your foils, step forward, and get ready to let out your inner swordsman!”

Sunny was shrieking.

Every single time she moved, she was letting out shouts of frustration, or high-pitched squeals of happiness every single time she managed to get a hit.

Chanyeol was staring from the side, watching the first set of pairs on the piste, or what was the fencing area, arms folded over his chest as he pressed his lips together in thought.

Come on, he urged. Don’t let her scare you.

Amber lunged, the tip of her foil almost touching Sunny’s shoulder, but the girl flicked her wrist, blocking the attack to push her tip into her opponent’s chest.

Chanyeol suppressed the urge to groan as Sunny jumped excitedly, cheering for herself as Coach Choi and the two judges positioned behind each fencer proceeded to add the points.

“Fifteen points!” Chen’s voice announced, “Sunny wins!”

Sunny took off her mask triumphantly, throwing it to the ground as she jumped exuberantly. “YES I DID IT!” she shrieked, as Hyemi and Hyun Joo ran towards her.

This reminds me of that one time I had to practice before the championships.

Coach Choi said it would help me a lot if I practiced with people I haven’t practiced with before, and this girl came from the other side of the country who wanted to work hard to enter the championships too.

‘The best in Daegu,’ she said when she was introducing herself to me, ‘They say you’re the best in Seoul, but you know how we Kyeongsang people like a challenge.’

She screamed every time she won a point, it was so annoying.

The only time she stopped was when I caught up to her for five games straight and she finally realized why I was on the championship team.

Chanyeol shut his eyes, pushing the memory out of his mind.

When he opened it next, he spotted Sun Young walking over to Amber, who was lying on the mat, breathing hard.

Sun Young was grinning as she helped her friend up, patting her on the back as she led her to the side.

“Next pair, Park Sun Young and Victoria Song!” Xiumin announced, “Fencers, please come to the piste and get ready!”

He stared at Coach Choi, who was giving a thumbs up to Sunny and Amber, saying ‘Good Job!’ as she beamed at them.

He felt his lips tug themselves up into a smile, realizing that his coach was still the same coach that did the same thing when he was a young teenager.

Even, he thought, as his smile faltered, when his own father was furious at him for not doing well at the next championships.

He frowned deeply, pushing whatever bitter memories popped up in his mind.

He’s not here to say those things anymore, he repeated silently.

He can’t hurt you anymore.

How funny it was that he found it difficult to live with his father even after the latter’s passing. It always seemed to boggle his mind, the way his old man still haunted his very existence by the mere thought of him, by the slightest triggering memory that caught him unawares and that which would hold him in its iron-fisted grip until he suffocated and collapsed.

In short, he would never be able to forget his father.

He didn’t know if it was a good thing, or a bad one.

Chanyeol suddenly felt a presence by his side and turned, seeing Eunji, one of the taller girls who sported a high ponytail.

She sipped from her water bottle and turned slightly, noticing the director was looking at her. “Cheer up, Mr. Park, why the stiff face?” she asked, her lips curled up in a little smirk.

He hoped he wasn’t blushing when he let his arms fall to his sides. “Do I look stiff?” he asked.

“Very much. Any reasons why?” she asked him.

He shook his head quickly. “No.”

She smiled demurely, noting his lack of response, and they looked away from each other, instead focusing on Victoria and Sun Young as they wore their respective masks before getting into position.

What was she telling me earlier this morning.

Ah yes, she used to do ballet.

He sneaked a glance at the girl beside him, standing with poise as she bounced on the balls of her feet, her high ponytail swishing gently while she stared ahead at the two girls on the piste, a faint smile playing on her face. There was something about the way she gazed at them, looking focused but relaxed, and yet, determined yet gentle.

“En garde!” Coach Choi’s voice permeated the training room.

He looked away as both Victoria and Sun Young sunk into their stance.

“Prêt…”

He could feel the hush of the room as the two friends stared at each other on the fencing mat, holding their foil blades up before them.

“Allez!”

A few seconds passed as they paced back and forth, pushing their blades aside but never coming in for an attack.

A smile found its way to his lips as he remembered a time he was at the hotel gardens with his sister, a long, long time ago when both of them were younger.

He had been playing in the Pavilion, and both he and Yoora were walking through the hedges towards the exit when they came upon a snake in their path.

He remembered being filled with a sense of bravado as he searched for a long branch, before directing it to the snake. But he didn’t advance; he hesitated, holding the branch before him but never striking it.

Yoora had promptly snatched it out of his hands and scooped up the snake, tossing it over the hedge before smacking him on the head and running away as she laughed, him chasing behind.

Like how he had been those many years ago, he watched Sun Young and Victoria hesitate in front of each other, not sure whether they would come off too strong if they struck.

Eunji tsked. “Come on,” she murmured, “Do something.”

He smiled, stealing a glance at her. “It’s not easy,” he said, making her look at him in confusion. “It’s not about the physical aspect of the sport, it’s how you’re up there, staring at your rival through the mask and thinking, that’s my friend I’m about to fight. It really gives you something to hesitate about.”

She sighed. “It’s not the end of the world, it’s just a game-”

“One point to Park Sun Young!” Chen announced, and Chanyeol’s head whipped back to the two girls on the mat, as they advanced to each other once again.

His lips parted.

Would you look at that, she just did it.

Sun Young was trying to figure out a way to advance; he could see her front foot trying to step forward, but she seemed to hold back, parrying Victoria’s uncertain s like she was trying not to hurt her friend too much.

Don’t restrain yourself, he thought.

Just go.

As if she heard him, Sun Young took a step forward, sinking into a lunge as her foil shot straight for Victoria’s stomach, earning her another point as she did so.

She raised her fist in the air as the emcees announced her score, and it was like she was feeding off her little victories, making her confident in gait as she scored another point, and another, and another…

…that is, until they were both tied at fourteen points.

“First person to fifteen wins this round,” Xiumin’s voice echoed in the room, and the girls started to lean forwards, whispering among themselves on who would be the winner.

Eunji, playing with the ends of her ponytail, narrowed her e