Chapter Text
It was funny how Serim did not like Heeseung at first. In fact, she pretty much despised him.
He was way too loud and clumsy.
He had an awkward slouch and a terrifying, loud laugh.
He cut Sunghoon off mid-sentence one too many times, and slam dunked Jungwon into the poor boy’s own pool.
All the while laughing that horrendous laugh of his.
He broke Auntie Nishimura’s new chinaware and sat on Uncle Park’s glasses.
Just… what kind of idiot with a fat ass sits on someone else’s glasses?!
That was not all. The breaking point for Serim was the polo shirt he liked to wear. It just had to be in the most obnoxious shade of yellow that reminded Serim of mustard.
She hated mustard.
A few weeks ago, Kim Serim met Lee Heeseung for the first time. Their dads were golf buddies, who expected their children to be buddies too.
Even though they rarely spoke directly to each other, Serim found Heeseung’s presence so painstakingly annoying to the point she actually looked forward to starting high school. She was so glad that she enrolled in Ivy South High School instead of Cerulean College, the prestigious private school her sister went to. It was also the place where Heeseung was going to attend highschool.
Starting school meant less of these suffocating gatherings. It meant less summer parties. It meant less of the Lee family. Less of Lee Heeseung.
The boy was inescapable. He turned up at every social gathering Serim was dragged to. (He and his darned yellow polo shirt.) Serim hated how it was the summer and she had absolutely no excuse not to attend these gatherings.
She had no excuse to avoid him.
Summer was practically ruined at this point. And yet, there was still a long way to go. A month and a half, to be precise.
The only thing that was saving summer was the new swimming club Serim’s mother signed her up for. Apparently, the coaches trained their swimmers extra hard. But after training with them, you were definitely going to be a lot faster. Serim didn’t know anyone who swam with that club, because it was essentially dominated by the cliquey, preppy Cerulean swim team.
Serim was a good swimmer. She wasn’t a trained swimmer, but her elementary school sports teacher signed her up for a small regional swimming meet. After coming home with a plethora of first place ribbons, it was made official – she belonged on the swim team.
She didn’t like a lot of things, but she didn’t mind swimming. It usually took her a while to get used to new things, but the new sport was something she settled into quite quickly.
That’s why she woke up extra early one Tuesday morning to go and meet the head coach she would start training under. From the stories she heard, he was legendary . His track record was extraordinary. All of his students championed the swimming league. Even Serim had heard of some of these names, long-time champions, such as Kim Taehyung, Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, and the rising star Park Jimin. Oh, and of course, Serim heard that the head coach trained Jeon Jungkook himself, the famous swimmer from Ivy South. He was the diamond in the rough, the phenomenal swimmer who possessed the kind of talent that only very few had.
Everyone who knew what swimming was, knew who Jungkook was. He was the head coach’s pride and joy and a junior Olympic medallist.
An Olympic medallist.
That’s crazy.
In the back of her mind, Serim wondered if she could eventually be even half as good as Jungkook.
She was ever more excited to meet his legendary coach.
But that was until her first day.
She took one step into the sports center only to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of the one person she dreaded to see.
Heeseung’s eyes lit up with recognition when he saw her at the door. He was standing with a couple of his friends, who were all way shorter than he was. Serim tried to avoid eye contact, but it was too late.
“Serim! My mom told me you were coming today.”
It’s official. Serim thought. Summer is ruined .
“Don’t be scared, coach Bang isn’t as scary as he looks,” Heeseung went on about the head coach, not realising that the coach wasn’t the person Serim was afraid of. “You’re a newcomer, so if you bargain with him, he’ll take it easy on you.”
One of Heeseung’s friends called out to him, and he yelled something back. It must’ve been an inside joke or something of the sort, because Serim did not catch on. That was mildly uncomfortable. She looked up at the taller boy for the first time and watched as the corners of his lips curved up into a mischievous grin.
He turned back to her with that grin still on his face.
Serim flinched when he landed a pat on her shoulder out of the blue.
“I’ll be in the open pool if you need me.”
I won’t .
Serim flinched again when he landed a second pat on her other shoulder.
Their eyes met and she quickly looked away when she saw him smiling at her with that gaze. (The gaze that she would eventually adore more than anything else in the world.)
If any of her friends saw him then, she knew they’d be all over him right then and there.
But, not her.
She did not find him cute.
Not at all.