It was a beautiful summer morning in Seoul Korea. Birds were singing their symphonies and the sky’s sweet breeze snuck into Mark’s room to brush against his skin. The boy’s eyes stayed shut to enjoy another gust of wind from his open window. Before he could continue to enjoy his calm morning someone dropped on his bed behind him making him turn.

“Morning Mark! Want to come watch me practice today? Come on let’s go,” Jinyoung fell next to Mark’s back with his hands on his tired friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go, get up. You owe me since I came to pick you up from the airport.”

Mark shoved off his loud friend and sat up, “Who let you in?”

A laugh escaped from Jinyoung’s mischievous smile, “I’m your best friend. You can’t keep me out of your house. I already made you breakfast, come on, practice starts in an hour.”

“JR I’m exhausted, can’t I come another time?” Mark said as he rubbed his eyes.

“Hyung,” Jinyoung was practically wining now. “Today’s a special day for me and I feel like a god right now.” Mark looked at Jinyoung with eyes half opened but could still see Jinyoung’s adorable puppy dogface that he could never turn down.

Mark lets out a sigh, “Alright well I have to tell Hyung first and Taecyeon.”

Jinyoung quickly snaps his fingers in the air, “Already did.” A laugh escapes Mark’s smile and they both head down to the living room.

Mark was awkwardly sitting next to the practice mat watching his best friend throw and swing his saber as his coach continued to point out advice. Everyone was staring at Mark to see that Jaebum’s younger brother would come here to watch a fencer practice instead of somewhere else more important. Mark tried to ignore the attention and kept his eyes locked onto Jinyoung to avoid eye contact with anyone else. Taecyeon who was standing closely behind him noticed Mark’s uncomforting atmosphere and looked around to catch the trainee’s stares. Taecyeon straightened his posture and with one look he sent a chilling fear into the fencers who were quickly retracting their stares from Mark. Taecyeon looked around the room to see if anyone else was still trying to make Mark uncomfortable but all eyes knew better than to challenge Jaebum’s bodyguard. The coach then blew his whistle to give everyone a water break. Jinyoung jogged over to Mark who was holding his drink. Jinyoung pulled off his helmet and his hair was completely washed in his sweat. Mark watched Jinyoung swallow big gulps and leaned in closer to his friend and whispered in a tiny voice, “Do you always practice this hard? It makes me worry for you.” Jinyoung felt a small grip on his hand that was holding the helmet.

“Not really but I’ve been in a really good lately.” Jinyoung handed back the bottle and wiped his sweat with his sleeve.

“Why?” Mark reached to receive the empty bottle.

“Because it’s your very first time at my practice out of all our years as friends, my biggest rival hasn’t been showing up to practice and I have exciting news to tell you.” His perfect eye smile reemerged on his face and the coach blows another whistle. Jinyoung gives Mark a small wave and runs back onto the mat.

After a long practice, Jinyoung, Mark and Taecyeon were finally out of the gymnasium. “So what’s the good news JR?” Mark asked curiously, but Jinyoung could only smile and avoid eye contact. “Yahhh! JR what is it?” Mark almost yells as he grabs his friend’s arm.

The chipper friend raises his other arm to grab Mark’s left shoulder, “I’m guaranteed a spot in the upcoming Olympics. Turns out my biggest rival who originally held that spot missed too many practices and hasn’t called in even once about his absence. The coach hasn’t been able to get in touch with him either.” Mark’s jaw drops, “Oh my gosh are you serious right now!” The two friends hug and yell in celebration. Mark pulls himself together after realizing a crucial piece of information, “So since I never actually come to your practices and matches, who’s your rival?” Jinyoung’s smile slowly fades and turns around to continue walking, “He’s uhhh….Well I never call him by his name. I only refer to him as ‘rival’. He’s not a person I could ever learn to like.” Mark pulls a smirk across his face and catches up with his buddy, “I guess he’s the one who’s always winning gold and pushing you to silver all the time.” Jinyoung let’s out a short laugh and nods his head in agreement. “Well Jinyoung, you know you’ll always be a gold medalist to me and always be the number one fencer in Asia.” Jinyoung wraps his arm around Mark’s neck and pulls him into a lock, “But this time, I’ll bring home the gold for you.”

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People were running left to right from room to room. Shouts and yells were thrown from across each wall with directions and commands. Mark was caught right in the middle of it all with his clipboard full of papers and patient documents. But unlike the other nurses and doctors he stayed calm and swift on his feet. His hand was scribbling notes with lightening speed then passing the document to the nurse assigned to the patient. Mark would only have to yell when he had to get his voice across the room. He noticed more patients were flood