A week after her breaking down in tears in front of Miss Bada, a wide smile finally manages to make its way to Seulgi’s lips. Her heart beats fast at what she’d like to think of as an achievement and the first thing that comes to her mind is to make sure if she really did that.

“7 minutes..?” her voice rises to a high pitched one, unable to hide her excitement when she sees the smiles on the two girls' faces.

“7 minutes and 3 seconds. Right on.” The Fire senior grins, turning the face of the stopwatch on her palm to Seulgi, who’s smile morphs into a disbelieved one when she confirms the numbers displayed on it. 

“Wow,” She falls to her bum and blinks her eyes a couple of times. “7 minutes, huh”

“Really, great job!” Yongsun answers again as she follows Seulgi to sit on the sloped ground. “Everybody would be happy when they hear about this. You’re bouncing back real fast”

“Um,” Seulgi scratches her cheek with her gloved index finger. Fast? she’s not sure about that. “Two weeks is quite a long time though… that’s still half my previous record more or less and not to mention the time spent waiting for the healing process, which takes about a mo-”

“Kang Seulgi.” 

Seulgi halts her sentence at the stern voice and notices the reprimanding look the Water senior gives to her, only then does she realize she’s rambling in a not so positive way, again. 

“-Sorry” 

It’s becoming kind of a habit for her to downplay her accomplishments or her improvements, and the people around her, especially Joohyun, always remind her not to cut herself short. Seulgi’s grateful for that, of course.

She can’t deny, for the past weeks, she really does improve a lot. Managing to control her element for 7 minutes is, indeed, a huge improvement for her, considering she could only do 3 seconds top back then. Her Water senior plays a huge part in that, she thinks. Not that the others don’t play a huge part in her gaining her confidence back, but Joohyun has become a constant presence for her these last 2 weeks.

The countless practices she did in order to be able to control her element again are starting to bear some fruits, and Seulgi would like to think that Joohyun had been much of a great help in terms of.. boosting her self-confidence.

Boosting?

She's not entirely sure if that is the right term for it.

Perhaps more like, she has started to learn to trust in Joohyun…? The older girl has seen it all from the very start, back when Seulgi could only manage to ignite some sparks of flame, burning off into a wisp of smoke even before it can transform into the supposed flame.

Too scared, trapped in the memories of the accident both in the academy and at her hometown back when she was a kid that she can never seem to escape.

I'm scared that I would lose control again, She said. 

I understand…

I-I don't know what I should do, she added. The soft gust of winds and the melodious chirps of birds seemed to be distant away as doubt and worry started to fill her thoughts yet again.

And one thing that has been consistent throughout that is the senior's words of assurance.

Then, trust in me. I won't let it happen. 

Is what she would always answer with. 

And Seulgi's not sure how but she found herself successfully controlling her flames from 3 seconds to 9 seconds, to 15 seconds, to 38 seconds, and eventually, until now. All of this Joohyun saw, all of the progress, not just when Miss Bada is supervising as a mentor, but when they're hanging out by the lakeside too.

Maybe it's because deep down Seulgi knows that Joohyun didn't say that as an empty gesture or just because. And that Joohyun really meant it, that she won't let the younger girl lose control of her element again.

But by the time Seulgi realizes what Joohyun really meant by that, she feels like crying her eyes out.

"S-sunbaenim!!"

It is on the 16th day when Yongsun and the others are absent from accompanying her practice except for Joohyun, that the dread feeling comes back to her guts. 8 minutes in and the flames dancing on her palms start to flicker before gradually getting wilder with each second passes without her intending for it to be.

Her automatic response is to clasps her hands into fists but alas, the flames don't burn off into smokes like she thought it would be. 

Now, it's not like she doesn't know this would happen at one point or another, realistically. She thought about this kind of outcome every single time she flows her energy to her fingertips at each practice that she had. But still, when the dreadful situation finally occurs, it almost feels like her brain decides to stop working.

Joohyun, on the other hand, immediately jumps to her feet at the latter's panic-stricken shriek and arrives at Seulgi's side in a matter of seconds.

To say that she's shocked is an understatement the moment she realizes what the older girl is doing.

Joohyun clasps her damp palms with Seulgi's scorching ones, creating a hiss from the contact as she holds onto them firmly as if Seulgi's hands aren't covered by the fiery red element.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

You're hurting her! Seulgi thinks to herself as she instinctively tries to break her hands free from Joohyun's tight hold but the older girl doesn't let her, instead, she only holds them much tighter than before.  

Now, there's steam coming off of it. The hissing sound from the result of their two elements meeting each other gets loud momentarily, which ironically, caused because of the rising panic from Seulgi, much to her obliviousness.

As if Joohyun can read her mind, she gives a squeeze with her hands, looks at her straight in the eyes, and says "Seulgi. Look at me,"

The younger girl obeys, registering the urgency in Joohyun's voice that manages to make her momentarily forget about her attempt at breaking free.

"Calm down, it doesn't hurt, okay? I just need you to focus on pulling your energy back to your body."

"I-" 

"Don't think of anything else. Pull back your energy." Joohyun cuts, still with a hint of urgency in her voice but calmer than before.

So Seulgi does just that, but the flames only flicker once and get smaller in size by a tiny fraction, as if mocking her at her attempt.

"It w-won't die out!"

"Close your eyes, and try to do it again," Joohyun replies calmly.

Seulgi squeezes her eyes shut.

"You're okay. I'm okay. Visualize pulling back your energy inside your head, starting from your fingertips."

Seulgi obeys.

“Breath, Seulgi. Everything's okay.”

After a few moments of silence, Joohyun’s voice comes as a relief for her.