Trials

'Haneul, eat that up! You need all the energy you can get tonight' said D.O, shovelling some more rice into your already full bowl.

'That's enough! I'm full!'

'Nonsense! How can a tiny pipsqueak like you be full? You're still so tiny!'

'I'm the normal size!'

Luhan laughed and carefully placed a couple of pieces of brocolli in your bowl whilst you were distracted. When you looked back down at your bowl, you were horrified to see even more food piled high on top of your bowl.

'Yah! Luhan!'

Dinnertime was interesting that evening. Most of the boys had gone out to try out different clubs or go on errands around the university. Lay was out on one of his mysterious walks again, Suho was supposedly 'checking out' the library facility and everyone else had dispersed to the four corners of the world to do their own thing. You could guess where people would be.

Tao will probably be in the gym.... And I reckon Chen will be trying to see all the eye-candy.

You laughed to yourself. There were only 5 people at the dinner table tonight: You, Xiumin, Luhan, Chanyeol and D.O. Luhan wanted to be fed before trying out for the football squad and Xiumin and Chanyeol were there to eat before they headed out to their part time jobs down in the restuarant in a sidestreet in Myeongdong. D.O, of course, was there because he had cooked the dinner despite you telling him he should take a break and you would make instant ramen for dinner.

'I'm not letting you eat ramen before something like a sports trial! And besides, you'll all burn down our precious kitchen! And then what?! No food! I don't trust you lot to cook well!' he had said, 'Especially you!'

He had pointed to Chen who turned back and stuck his tongue out at his friend before slipping out of the door and out of the dorm.

So protective of that kitchen.

You finished up your meal with the help of Xiumin and grabbed your jacket and sports bag. Luhan was already waiting by the door.

'Shall we go together? I'll walk you to the pool'

You nodded.

'Let's go!'

***

'Minjun! Yah! Yah, Minjun! Yah! I know you can hear me!'

You heard the sounds of people diving into the pool with a splash and gulped. Luhan smiled and gave you a thumbs up.

'Just get in and show them that amazing Haneul that we know, okay?'

'Mmm, good luck in your football trial too. Fighting!'

'Fighting!'

You walked onto the poolside and bowed to the boy you recognised as the captain. You read his name which had been neatly embroidered into the left area of his college sweatshirt.

Park Jae Min.

You took your time to steady your breath. He was good-loooking, like his younger sister and wore the university sports kit and flipflops.

'Are you Haneul? My sister mentioned you'd be coming along. I hear you're good'

'I-I guess I'm alright'

'Alright isn't good enough, Haneul-ssi'

You bit your lip, a little bit shocked at how harsh he spoke to you.

'Come on, let's get you in and see how good you really are'

You nodded dumbly and quickly got changed, thanking the heavens you had remembered to put on your costume before leaving the dorm. You whipped out your swimming cap and goggles and swiflty tied up your hair. Just as you were about to put on your hat, Jae Min took it away from you.

'Eh?'

'Use this one'

He passed you a bright lime green swimming hat and you stared at it, dumbfounded even more than before.

'It's so that I can tell which one you are. Now get ready by lane 8, training is about to begin'

After the 30 minute warm up, you felt good. The water didn't slip and you could grip on well. You felt powerful in the water, a thing vital for you. You realised you were in a lane with the fastest swimmers in the university. There were a few girls but females were the minority.

'Alright, last season's results were good... But not good enough!' said Jae Min

You heard one of the guys in your lane sigh.

'Aish, he's never happy'

'Yah! You! Get out. Come back tomorrow if you're going to complain'

The boy in your lane climbed out of the pool, dragging his kit bag behind him and Jae Min resumed his talk.

'As I was saying, last season's results weren't as good as they could have been and I know what it was. Lack of power! Your kicking has gotten worse and we need to work on that if we want to beat everyone at the competition in 2 months time, araso?'

Everyone chorused 'Araso!'

'So... I've decided I'll give you a mediocre kick set... 15x100's kick off a 1.40 turnaround time. You can manage it, right?'

No!

'Ne!'

You gazed around and saw everyone getting ready for the set.

Aish, I'm the only one incapable of doing it.

You figured you'd just have to try and survive the training and live to tell the tale.

Getting out of the pool was a problem. A cramp had managed to creep up your leg and you were having trouble. You managed to float your way over to the steps of the pool, clutching your leg and foot in agony and you took off your hat, letting your long hair soak in the pool water.

'Haneul? Come on out now. Training's over'

Oh crap.

You didn't want the captain of the swimming team to think you were weak but you were in a huge amount of pain and you didn't know if you'd be able to wait until Luhan came to walk back with you after his trials.

'Ah... Captain? I-erm, I can't- aish- I can't get out, argh'

Jae Min put down his clipboard and took off his flipflops, walking to the edge of the pool.

'Give me your arms, I'll help you out'

You were surprised by his kind action, having experienced his harsh words and furious yelling at you during the hour of hell. Jae Min sat you down and began gently massaging your leg. The pain ceased and you could now stand up.

'Thank you, Jae Min-ssi'

'Don't worry about it. You worked hard today Haneul, okay? I'm sorry for being so hard on you during that session but I needed to make sure you wouldn't break under the pressure. I'm not that bad a person. Ah, Jinri tells me off all the time for scaring the first years.'

You assumed his sister was called Jinri and your face lit up hearing him speak so lovingly about his sister making Jae Min chuckled slightly.

'My sister was right about you. She said you'd be a bright spark. I heard you're also doing medicine?'

You nodded.

'Clever and fast. Nice.'

You heard a knock behind you and you both turned to see Luhan knocking against the glass window, waving a t-shirt in his hand and grinning like an idiot.

He made it! Asa!

You felt your mouth slowly turning into a grin.

'I should go get changed now. My friend's waiting for me'

'Of course. You can walk right?'

'I think so'

'Get your friend to help you if you need it. I reckon he'll know what to do'

'Okay. I'm going now, Jae Min-ssi!'

'I'm locking up the pool in 10 minutes so change quickly'

'Ne!

'Oh and Haneul?...'

'Yes?'

'Good job today, kiddo. Be proud of yourself. You're in the team.'

He turned and walked out of the pool door leaving you by yourself. Your jaw dropped and you stood up, jumping up and down happily, turning to Luhan's direction and giving him a thumbs up. He smiled and gave you a thumbs up back and you ran into the changing room, wanting to get changed as fast as possible to go and celebrate your successes with Luhan and the others.

EXO BABIES WON OMG.

I legit cried when I watched the fancams of Lay and Kris crying. Our duizhang cried! And Lay, omg, please just let me love you now. Huhuhuhuhuhuuu D;

Looking at all the fantaken photos is making me bawl like an idiot. I don't know why. I feel like EXO have just kind of given me my life back (as weird and silly and stupid as that sounds) and then now, seeing them winning awards and crying aswell, I just want to console them like they consoled me when I needed something to hold onto.

And I respect Kris and Lay. They've lived in Korea the longest, alone without family, new language and new challenges everyday. They didn't know if they'd even debut let alone when they'd debut and EXO-M as a whole has gone through so much. They weren't recognised as a chinese group when they first debuted and I really hope that now, with this award, they can be accepted as who they want to be: a chinese group.