Hae Jin took a few deep inhales to calm herself down. Holding her breath, she positioned herself and her bow and arrow, aiming straight for the target.

            You can never hit the bull’s eye when you’re nervous, her teacher from years ago had told her. When your heart is beating rapidly, you tremble, and so you can’t make a perfect shot. Calm yourself before you release that arrow. If you can’t, then don’t consider taking the shot at all.

            Hae Jin had started archery when she was a child, and now in high school, she was a valued member of the archery team—almost the best player at that. Almost. Of course, there was the team captain, Hyung Shik, ahead of her. But he was graduating in two weeks, and so she would be the next captain.

            She exhaled and lowered her bow, having distracted herself with thoughts of Hyung Shik.

            “Yah, Hae Jin!” the team’s mentor called out from the balcony that overlooked the range. “What are you doing?”

            “Sorry!” she called back. She collected her focus only on the bow, held her breath again, and pulled arrow back.

            Three, she counted down in her head. Two… One…

            “Hyung Shik!”

            Hae Jin stepped back in awe from the force of her shot.

            “Sorry I’m late!” she heard Hyung Shik’s voice from the balcony.

            “What do you mean, late?” the teacher said. “You’re not even supposed to be here!” He laughed. “Did you skip out on graduation practice or something?”

            “Yup!” Hyung Shik said proudly. “This is one of the last days I’ll be seeing my team. I can skip practice for that, can’t I?”

            The teacher laughed again.

            Rolling her eyes, Hae Jin looked at the target to see where her arrow stuck. Noticing that the arrow wasn’t there at all, she squinted. After a second look, she realized that it hadn’t even hit the target board. She sighed.

            “Hae Jin!”

            She looked up to see their teacher leaning over the railing.

            “What’s wrong with you? You can’t afford to be slacking off like this!”

            “Sorry!”

            “Hey, Hae Jin!” Hyung Shik leaned over the railing as well and waved at her.

            “Hey, sunbae,” she called out shyly before turning away, red rushing to her face. She put a hand to her heart and felt it thumping like crazy. She shook her head and positioned herself for the next shot. Still feeling her hasty pulse, she sighed and lowered her bow. It was no use to make an attempt now, with Hyung Shik in her mind and her heart beating like that. Hae Jin placed her equipment on the ground before climbing up to the balcony.

            “Jang Yoon-sshi, let me take a break,” she told the teacher before he could speak up. She plopped down on one of the benches and took a drink from her water jug.

            Jang Yoon’s scolding face softened and he smiled. “You’re distracted, aren’t you?”

            She nodded before drinking again.

            “By Hyung Shik, yes?”

            Hae Jin spat out her water. “What?” She blushed deeply and wiped . “Sorry for that. What are you talking about?”

            The man chuckled. “Come on, finish up your resting and get back to practice.”

            “I’ll get you one day, ahjussi,” she muttered under her breath and stood up. As she walked toward the staircase, the door opened.

            “Hae Jin!”

            She turned around and smiled as she saw Sungmin, her very best friend. “Watching me practice again today, Sungminnie?”

            Sungmin laughed and set his stuff down on the bench beside hers. “Only because I’m bored and I don’t want to wait for you outside.” He stuck his tongue out.

            Hae Jin’s smile widened and she returned to the range, feeling much better.

 

            For thirty minutes, Hae Jin released arrow after arrow, hitting the inner circles consecutively. She was pleased with herself, and almost felt Jang Yoon smirking from the balcony above.

            Smiling secretly, she pulled back another arrow, ready for the shot.

            “Hae Jin,” a voice came from behind her and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

            She stiffened, knowing whose voice it was. “H—Hi, Hyung Shik sunbae,” she stuttered, too stiff to turn to him or even to release the arrow.

            “So I heard you’re going to be captain of the team after me!” Hyung Shik said in his typical happy tone. “We’ve got new recruits that you’ll need to discipline, so I wish you well with that.” He smiled.

            From the corner of her eye, Hae Jin saw his grin and her heartbeat hastened again.

            “Hey,” Hyung Shik said, noticing something wrong. “You’re trembling. What’s up?” He put both hands on her two shoulders.

            Hae Jin bit her lip, trying to calm down. She could feel the bow and arrow quaking in her hands.

            “Here, let me help.” He moved beside her and stood in stance.

            “What? No, sunbae,” she tried to say.

            “So you just hold this straight,” he said and positioned her bow arm. “And just pull back a little bit more.” He held his hand over her string hand and helped her pull back. “Now release on three. One…”

            Feeling him so close to her, Hae Jin couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, and couldn’t focus on her equipment.

            “Two…”

            She bit her lip, wishing that it would end and at the same time, wishing that time would stop and leave them in that position forever.

            “Three!”

            Hae Jin’s mind went blank as she and Hyung Shik let go of the arrow.

            “Bull’s eye!” Hyung Shik cried and turned to her, smiling. “That was great. Keep it up, okay?”

            Absent-mindedly, she nodded and lowered her bow.

            He chuckled and pat her head. “You’re so cute. See you later!”

            As Hyung Shik left, Hae Jin felt her legs weaken. Her whole body trembled and she slowly sank to the ground, a goofy smile and a silly expression of mirth on her face, as she felt her heartbeat grow faster than ever.

 

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a/n: Because Hyungshik's so dreamy~ <3 This is sort of the prologue for Graduation Ball, so I hope you'll continue on and read that one! Grad Ball focuses more on Sungmin and how he can't get over... well, you'll just have to read it to find out. :P