Minah kicked at the track moodily beneath her feet, trying to find fault in the laces of her running shoes while looking down. There was an innate frustration that she couldn't quite extinguish or explain within her, and the merciless sun was not helping with that. A hard hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her endless daydream. 

"Snap out of it, we're doing another round of practice," Eunha said to her, pointing at the starting mark. 

That was perhaps the other thing that was bothering her incessantly. Eunha and Yerin, along with her previously malicious teammates, had suddenly withdrawn their aggressiveness and dismay towards her ever since the last training. She was not sure if she should expect a prank around the corner, a trip of her foot on the track or mysteriously missing clothes. Yet throughout the afternoon of training, nothing out of the ordinary happened. 

"Stop staring, and run." 

That was the single remotely mean thing that the two girls said to her. 

Even after a relatively uneventful training finished, Minah could not help that her heart was still going in irregular beats, for her unexplained frustration and the odd behaviours of her teammates. She was not one who sought out conflicts, but the unsettling feelings within her compelled Minah to timidly pat Eunha's shoulder after everyone had left the changing room post-training. 

"What?" Well that was blunt, not exactly mean but not murderous either. 

Minah bit her lip apprehensively, her eyebrows in a knot. 

"You've been making that face the whole afternoon. Can you just say what you have to say so that I can leave?" 

Minah sighed, "Are we good or something? I mean, to be completely honest, Yerin and you did threaten me just last week. And there's no tricks today? You even called me to the lane just now. What are you planning? Look, my life hasn't been wonderful, I don't need more-"

Eunha's suddenly held out her hand, indicating the rambling girl to stop. 

"Stop. I don't like you, your face, or the fact that you're practically joined by the hips to the three cutest guys in school right now," she deadpanned all that with a single raised brow and what Minah felt was little emotions, "but that doesn't mean I don't acknowledge you as a runner. We need to own that championship, and it's just a couple weeks away. Besides..." 

Minah arched her brows in curiosity. 

"I bumped into Wonwoo and your brother on Friday at the cafe. So I guess you aren't that desperate. And to clarify, it wasn't a threat. If it didn't come from us, it would have come from seniors in the third year. That would have been worse so you better watch your back before the track meet." 

It took Minah a moment to process all that her teammate had confessed in those few minutes. Was that a subtle precautious warning at the end? Perhaps Eunha was not as heartless as Minah had thought she would be. There was still an ounce of sportsmanship and honour in her to uphold her own role professionally. Yet she could not fathom where Eunha could have bumped into her brother, and she could only silently pray that the unsmiling female had not noticed it was a "date". 

"I guess you can say we are cool for now. Just don't screw up your runs, and I think you're actually okay." With that, and a brief handshake that Minah almost missed, Eunha was out of the changing room. 

Tha