by the sidelines • haechan

ten

Lee Donghyuck?

His eyes widened together with mine as we stared at each other for a few seconds. What horrid coincidence it this? It wasn't long until his worried eyes soon turned to absurdity.

"It was you?" he scoffed, "Aish, what a waste of my time."

I remained silent, the spine-chilling incident still replaying in my mind relentlessly. Donghyuck moved closer, scanning my body thoroughly while I stared at him in disbelief. I should be grateful, but at the same time, I'm ashamed. He stepped back and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Don't you know self-defence?" he questioned with a hint of scepticism. There he goes again.

"Am I supposed to know?" I stuttered with my last bit of pride. I've just experienced some traumatic event, and he still found a way to disparage me? So much for his help.

"Of course! It's a basic skill, after all," He fired back, raising his voice as it echoed through the street. I was taken aback by his unexpected explosion. Why is he so agitated? It's not wrong to not know everything.

"I wasn't taught this, okay?" I defended in frustration, my voice quivering slightly. Come to think of it, I did had the choice of attending a self-defence class but decided to opt-out. What a series of unfortunate events.

Donghyuck stared at me for a while, before huffing loudly. I watched him pace around restlessly, running his hand through his hair as he bit his lip. But why is he bothered though, aren't I just another fly needed to be swatted away?

"Ah, I really don't want to do this," he sighed and finally turned back to me, reluctance in his eyes. "Follow me."

He walked ahead, but I remained rooted to the ground. Did I hear him correctly?

"Excuse me?" My voice cracked with utter confusion as he trudged back, grabbing my wrist and dragging me along with him. I struggled to pull away, but his grip was too strong.

"I'm gonna teach you some basics, so just follow me."

I unwillingly let him pull me along the streets, all the way until we reached the training centre that was now shadowed by the tall trees behind it. It would've looked like a sketchy warehouse if I didn't know about it.

Donghyuck finally let go of me and dug around in his bag, pulling out a bundle of keys. He singled out one of them and chucked it into the keyhole of the main door.

"You have access?" I asked in curiosity.

"Of course, I'm their most trusted member," he answered nonchalantly before pushing open the door. I followed behind quickly as the lights flickered on, revealing the quiet and empty gym. It reminded me of the first time I came here.

"Let's get this done and over with." He dropped his bag and headed to the centre of the mats. I lagged for a second before following suit.

"Firstly, the basic of the basics." He stuck out his right hand. "Grab it."

I stared at it suspiciously, then at him, a million questions filling my head.

"Why are you doing this?" I questioned with much suspicion, because I really cannot comprehend whatever is going on here. Is he trying to help me? And for what though?

Donghyuck sighed in exasperation, "Do you want that to happen to you again? Now just grab it."

He shoved his hand in my face, prompting me again. I sighed and gave in, loosely wrapping my fingers around his sweaty wrist.

Right away, he rotated his hand and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards him as an elbow strike came right at my face. I shut my eyes and embraced myself for the attack, but all I felt was wind whooshing against my face.