That lanky girl sniffing hard. She slumped onto the ground, clawing some soft soil within her palm. Her heart shattered to million pieces as she lost a race just now.

“Hey, Yujin! It is not that bad to get second place!”

One of her friend tried to comfort her. However, that attempt just saddened the short hair girl more as she now groveling on the ground while covering her head.

“No! No! I want to get first! There’s no way I am second!”

She seriously have high competitiveness instilled at such young age. Even though she posses body just like an adult, her mental age is still like 3 years old and her action just now is like a tantrum some kid do after losing her favourite candy.

“Ugh! I hope to always getting first place in anything I do!”

She wailed in between her sobs.

Bzzz…

WISH GRANTED

Bzzz…

“What is that sound?”

Yujin asked and tried to search for it. She forgot her sadness for a while. Suddenly, white, flashing light swallowed her before she can even pronounce her name.

NINTH PERSON SAFELY TRANSPORTED.

ANOTHER 3 PERSON LEFT.

***

------ ACIEL’S CORNER ------

Just kidding guys. Don’t curse me yet. Real chapter start afterwards. Enjoy!

***

“SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO LOSE TO APPRECIATE YOUR WIN.”

***

“Are you ready, ace Yujin?”

Her coach approaching her. She slowly opened her eyes after doing her ritual, running mental image of her action on the tracks. She can feel the wind caress her, inaudible cheers from the audience and that red hot tension from her fellow competitors.

Losing is not a choice.

Yujin hypnotized herself with her life motto. For her, life is all about racing. Who are at the top is the winner. The rest is just pathetic loser and she is determined to always be at the top.

She do not sacrifice her youth time for nothing. When her peers can freely hanging out with their friends, eating all they want and enjoying life, things goes differently for her.

Enjoy only come to her if she is winning. If she is losing, she will grieve it and try again until she get satisfactory result. Yes, her life always rotating about that. It is either win or lose and nothing in between.

Due to that, she grown up to be such a cold person, always competitive in every field she take and rarely smiles. Her blank eyes do not twinkle anymore as she only focus on her training.

Her daily life is really dull, she wake up as early as 5.30 am and jogs until 7 am before having nutritional breakfast, specially catered for her, went to school, practice, practice and practice. Then, at 11 pm everyday, she is expected to already lay on her bed.

She been doing that every single day without having a day off. Same routine, obediently following all rules and never thought of others except winning. Her parents are so strict with her as they always set the bar high for Yujin. They say that she definitely can definitely pull stellar performance in sports as she already have all resources given to her. All she need to do just win.

Weird enough, Yujin never once thought that this is wrong. She just like a robot that have no feeling, operating under her parents order to get whatever they want. Even though her parents convinced that they already provide everything for Yujin, they actually miss to give just one particular thing for her which is freedom.

***

“Hey, Yujin?”

Soft voice was heard calling the ace name. She quickly drawn back to reality where she will aim to win in another field track competition. She glance towards source of the voice just now.

“Relax. Let loose all your feelings on the track. Enjoy your moment, got it?”

Same old advice was given again. Yujin never understand why her coach always repeating those particular words, as if it is her charm for her trainees. Not taking it seriously, Yujin just nodding her head while pouting.

I don’t need that. As long as I am winning, I will be happy.

She convinced herself. She take a deep breath as she heard announcement calling for every participant to enter the track. She immediately tied her hair and walking casually towards the door. Her coach gave her a pat on the back and smiled before ushering Yujin towards the arena.

Not even feeling nervous, Yujin was getting ready on her lane. She was assigned to lane 1, the most favorable lane (according to her) in track and field. Even though she will start at the back, she can compensate that by sprinting at the corner and cut through the rest. She knows it and she gonna practice it soon.

She step onto the starting block as per instructed by the referee. She gathered her focus to run as fast as he could towards the only destination, the finishing line. As soon as the gun was shoot, she kicked off the starting block and sprang forward.

She can feel exactly as she imagine just now and the world blurred away from her.

I am the one creating and experiencing this incredible world!

For a split second, Yujin flashed her smile while giving her best. She dashed as best as she can and suddenly, she can already feels the ribbon of the finishing line, indicating that she is the first one to arrive.

“YESSS!”

Yujin shouted gleefully. She is extra cheery as she finally getting a spot for the National level athletics tournament. She never been prouder of herself.

She clenched her fist and pumped it in the air triumphantly. Crowds are cheering like crazy, congratulating Yujin for her amazing achievement. She beat her personal records, ticking a total of 11.2 second for 100 m dash.

She feels relieved to be able fulfilling everybody expectation so far. No wonder they call her Ace Yujin instead of her real name, Ahn Yujin but she never care about that.

She realize that her dull world suddenly turned colourful as she spread her wings while running. As if that world acknowledge her being and embrace her. That is the sole reason Yujin can endure such intense training as she always find amusement in her run.

After receiving her medal, she was interviewed by some people. They asked her about her feeling and expectation for upcoming national level competition.

“I can never get enough of this. My world is shining brightly while I am running and I will try my best to be able competing with others. Fighting!”

She replied shortly while smiling, showing off her dimples. Camera flashes left and right and she answered some more question before excusing herself and went back towards her waiting room.

Loud cheer erupted as soon as she step into the room. Her team are congratulating her nonstop and also praising her for breaking personal record. Her coach approaching her and embraced Yujin tightly.

“You are clearly enjoying yourself out there! I can see you are enjoying yourself. Good!”

She praised Yujin. The girl just gave her short smile before proceeding with her cool down stretching.

Another day, another win. What can be better?

Yujin talked to herself. Living in such competitive world, everybody is a rival to her. She who is originally really chirpy turned stone cold after receiving Sparta training at the age of 5.

Since then, Yujin is rarely smiling. She just do it when she actually achieving something remarkable or else, she will just simply nodding her head. Today is one of those rare moment which she actually smile.

***

“I’m home.”

Yujin said as soon as she stepped into her house. As usual, only gloomy hallways greeted her back. Her eyes went blank as she felt a little bit disappointed. She was hoping for her parents to congratulate her but she maybe just hoping too high.

She sighed and remove her shoes before entering her house. She placed her medal onto the dining table to let her parents know about her another winning and dragging off her feet towards her room.

As soon as she sat down onto her fluffy bed, she suddenly felt excruciating pain in between her calf and heel bone.

“Ugh! The pain is coming again!”

Yujin grimaced as she tried to ease the pain by applying some ice pack. Even though she just participating in 100 m dash, she still need to take extra caution of her legs condition as her performance depends heavily on them. Having an injury is not wise as it can hinder her practice.

Everything will be just fine.

Yujin reassured herself as she bend down. She always feel vulnerable when the pain is attacking her but she have nobody to talk about it and whine for some attention. At the end, she gulped down two piece of painkiller to ease her pain before going to bed.

Ahn Yujin never thought about her misfortune for not being able to decide anything for herself. Everything was already decided as soon as she was born to this world. Her world of laughter ended too soon but she never complain as she is fully aware that her parents just want to give her the best thing in this world and she obey them without question.

***

Months already passed after she win those medal. She managed to snatch several more medal in between that span of time and was sure to get another one during the nationals.

Her pain periodically coming on and off but she never bother to tell her coach as it usually disappear with the help of those painkillers. Her performance was top notch too and thus, Yujin concluded that all those pain maybe due to her exhaustion and nothing more. She always making sure to cool down her affected area with some ice pack regularly after her practice.

Today is the day for her to show fruit of her labor. All those countless days spent for training all day and doing nothing else will be paid full today. She is almost certain for her win but Yujin decide to cool down a little.

Yujin slapped herself to gain her usual composure. Even though it is quite painful for her cheeks, she was able to be calm again. Her coach usual words just passing by her ears as she was walking towards the tracks.

Again, she was placed at the first lane. Feeling giddy as she always thought that the first lane suit her so much and become sort of her lucky charm, she determined to get the first place at any cost.

Stepping onto the starting block, the pain suddenly decides to make some surprise visit again.

Ugh! No! Not this time!

Yujin clenched her teeth, trying her best to suppress those terrible pain.

Please. Just gimme 11 second and you may visit as long as you want!

Gun was shoot and Yujin sprinted her best. Even though the pain is killing her, she ignored it and continue her sprint. She left other contestant behind and getting nearer towards the finishing line.

She quickened her pace and cross that line handsomely. She can feel the ribbon caress her and she smiled. Just as soon as she finished flashing her smiles and waving towards the crowds, she suddenly heard some ‘pop’ sound and her legs feels like snapping into two.

Just then, everything went upside some. She can barely heard some panic footsteps approaching her, sound of ambulance and some other things before completely passing out.

***

“Achilles tendon rupture?”

Yujin asked confusedly. Her coach is by her side when she opened up her eyes and found out that she is already admitted in a hospital.

“Yes, Miss Yujin. It is a complete rupture of your tendon, the biggest muscle that support your movement with daily live, which will require some surgery in order to restore it.”

The doctor replied patiently while trying his best to come up with simpel layman term so that the girl and her guardian can understand it.

“Are there any other option? I mean, is it really bad that it need to go through surgery? How about some normal physical treatment? Ice pack treatment? Rehabilitation?”

Yujin asked frantically. Now that she already bagged that precious golden medal at national level, she cannot stop dreaming of competing at higher level. Not until she pass out.

“I’m afraid that it is not possible. You see, if your achilles tendon just partially injured, we can somehow administer some physical treatment for you.

However, it is completely cut off. We need to reconnect it again so that you will be able to walk again. And thus, this surgery is important for you too if you want to walk again.”

“H-how long will it take for me to be able to run again? I cannot afford to dillying dallying around, you know.

I finally win the nationals! I need to go higher and achieve much more. There’s lots of things I need to do aside resting and doing nothing.

Please, I beg you. Tell me the truth, will it take lots of time or what?”

Yujin asked desperately, hoping for some.positive answer. T