by the sidelines • haechan

sixteen

I take back my words. This was much more uncomfortable than I expected.

We trudged down the street with Haknyeon ecstatically leading the way, followed by the three of us at a distance. Of course, I was in the middle.

"Ta-da! Welcome to Grandmother's Seafood!" He brandished the restaurant name boastfully. I didn't even get a proper look at the exterior when I was pushed into it with force. Before I knew it, I was seated in the corner of a rectangular table. A waitress placed a menu on our table almost instantly and I glanced through the list of dishes.

"Seafood at night? You must be begging for a stomachache," Donghyuck complained as he was forced into a seat opposite me. I didn't even wanna lift my head.

"Leave then," Youn commented nonchalantly as she took a seat beside me, sparks forming between them immediately. Haknyeon sensed the brewing tension and hastily ordered four of the same hairtail soup to divert their attention. Yeah, I brought this upon myself.

"By the way, where were you last training?" He changed the subject, directing the question to Youn, "You never disappear without any warning."

"Guesthouse, there was a shortage of manpower so I had no choice," she replied flatly, to which her answer caught me by surprise.

"You work at a guesthouse?" I blurted out in shock as Youn laughed out loud. At least to me, she didn't look like the hospitality type.

"It's my family's business," she started, poking at the pickled radish in front of her before picking up a slice and placing it carefully into her mouth. "There's been an influx of guests lately for whatever reason, so I help out when I have the time or when they urgently need manpower."

She turned to an awestruck me and continued, "I have a life outside Taekwondo too, you know."

Somehow, I felt personally attacked by that comment, only because it wasn't true in my case. Even though I'm majoring in sports science, I find myself in the dojang more than in my classrooms.

"What a joke." A nasty comment caught us all off guard as we simultaneously turned to the source of it. Donghyuck was chewing noisily on one of the side dishes, a smug look on his face as he stared out of the window. I heard a scoff from my right as I turned my attention back to her.

"What's so funny?" Youn interrogated calmly as he turned to her as if expecting her question.

"From what I heard, you only sit at the reception counter, barely attending to the guests. Is that called helping out to you?" He raised his eyebrows, gleefully waiting for her answer as she let out another scoff.

"And who have you heard from?" She mocked, "From what I heard, you only live in the training centre and nowhere else. How dare you assume something when you yourself are nothing."

Her tone grew sharp with her last sentence, sending a chill down my spine. I glanced at Haknyeon, who had an uneasy look on his face as if knowing what would happen next but decided not to butt in.

Meanwhile, Donghyuck was unfazed by her comment, sniggering at her weak comeback. "Of course you'd feel offended, for someone who's been silver-spooned all her life, you don't know how to handle insults."

Youn paused before easing up a little, a smirk forming on her face as she replied, "I see you're not over that." She grabbed another slice of pickled radish and munched away slowly, while I anticipated anxiously for her reply. "I guess you still don't understand, but your father chose me because I'm clearly better than you."

A million question marks flew over my head as I toggled between the bickering duo, to which I don't think it'll continue as a bicker anymore. I sent an SOS to Haknyeon, who picked up my signal and immediately cut in.