19-20 Preseason (2)
"Hah... hah... Was it always this hard?"
"That's what you get for packing on that much weight!"
Ha-neul had turned around to shout it at her.
Was Ha-neul always this fast?
She'd been running at her usual pace. So why had the gap opened up this wide? Camila had a pretty good idea why — she just didn't want to admit it.
"Ha-neul! Wait up!"
"Hurry up already!"
She wanted to go faster, but her lungs were already screaming. And there was a more pressing problem than that.
God, this is way too tight.
The sports bra and leggings she'd put on for the first time in nearly a month since the season ended were squeezing her chest and thighs so hard she could barely breathe.
Were these always this small?
If she kept running like this, she was genuinely going to pass out. Mid-stride, Camila hooked a finger under the band of her sports bra and gasped for air.
"Ca—"
Ah, shit. This is so embarrassing.
That was the exact moment Ha-neul glanced back, and their eyes met. He looked forward again without a word, but Camila's face was about to explode. Getting outrun by a guy was already humiliating enough — the fact that the reason was so obviously her extra weight made her want to just stop right there.
But giving up wasn't an option.
"Hah... hah..."
Camila gasped her way to where Ha-neul was waiting.
"Urgh..."
And of course, the moment she got there, she collapsed spread-eagle on the ground.
"Kami, you okay? I mean, if you can't even run five kilometers..."
"No, no. I can run."
"Then should we keep going?"
"...Just let me rest a second."
She couldn't let Ha-neul see her throw up, so Camila just focused on catching her breath.
"Hoo..."
What she didn't realize was that every time she drew a deep breath, her stomach was swelling up.
"Look at this stomach. What are we going to do with you?"
Ha-neul came over, crouched down beside her, and started poking her belly fat with his finger.
"Nnh... Stop... stooop..."
"How long has it been since you last ran?"
"Four weeks...?"
"Four weeks? So you haven't worked out once since the Champions League final?"
"...Yeah."
"Oh my god. Seriously. This — this, what are we supposed to do about this?"
Ha-neul poked her belly fat again. Breathing was getting hard, so why didn't this feel bad?
"Gotta lose the belly fat, right?"
"Mm-hmm..."
Ha-neul stood up and held out his hand. She knew that taking it meant a landscape of hell waiting ahead of her — but standing there backlit by the sun, Ha-neul looked so unfairly good that Camila had no choice but to grab his hand and get up.
"If you want to lose weight, shuttle runs are the way. Let's go."
"...Ugh."
Shuttle runs. The devil's workout — sprinting back and forth over a short stretch every time a beep sounded. The terrifying part was that you had to push yourself to your absolute limit. And since they'd done plenty of these during regular training, the fact that Ha-neul already knew her limits made it even scarier.
"Just stand there and catch your breath. I'll grab some cones."
Ha-neul fetched a couple of cones that had been lying around inside the track, roughly measured out twenty meters, and set them on either side. Then a familiar song and whistle started playing from his phone.
Beep! Beep!
"Volume okay like this?"
"...Yeah."
Unable to refuse that voice, Camila nodded and started shuttling between the cones with the whistle. About twenty minutes later, she was back on the ground.
"Hah... hah..."
Ha-neul, who'd gone back and forth maybe forty or fifty more times than she had, collapsed beside her, breathing hard. The moment he lay down next to her, Camila inhaled deeply without thinking. A sweet scent was coming off his body.
Why does a guy's sweat smell this good?
She felt it every time he walked past after training or a match — but why was a man's sweat so... fragrant?
"You that tired? You've been done for a while now, haven't you?"
She must have exhaled too loudly, because Ha-neul asked with what sounded like concern. Camila started to turn her head toward the voice, then looked back up at the blue sky instead. His face, lying right next to hers, was way too close.
"...Yeah, it's a little hard."
It was hard, but somehow she felt good. Sure, part of it was just working out again after so long — but being able to spend time alone with Ha-neul probably accounted for a bigger share. When they'd first started running, she'd been thinking, Why did I come back early? I should've enjoyed the whole vacation. Those regrets had already vanished from her memory.
"Want to call it there for the morning session?"
She didn't want to push her body any harder than this, so Camila nodded.
"Wait. Morning session?"
"Yeah. We've got to lose all this weight before we go to training camp, right?"
Poke, poke. Ha-neul's finger was in her belly fat again. Feeling how easily it sank in, yeah — she probably did need to lose the weight. Especially since Ha-neul clearly hated it.
...But why did I gain this much? It didn't used to be this bad.
All she'd done was eat whatever her grandfather served when he visited the family home, plus a few snacks between meals. Gaining this much from that felt completely unfair.
"...I don't think I even ate that much."
"Kami, even if you eat like usual, if you don't work out, the weight piles on immediately. You've got to think about how much we normally train."
"Is that how it is?"
"I'm gonna have to keep you in shape even after you retire."
Keep her in shape? The image of working out with Ha-neul even after retirement popped into her head, and Camila burst out laughing before she could stop herself.
"Why are you laughing all of a sudden? That tired? Still gotta lose the weight, though. Come on, let's go wash up."
Ha-neul got up first and held out his hand. After a workout that had them both pouring sweat, his hand was so warm. ...And soft.
After finishing the workout with Ha-neul, Camila stepped into the shower room. For the first time in a while, she looked at herself in the full-length mirror. Her thighs, plump and full. Her chest, swollen the way it got during her period. And beneath that, a little belly fat peeking out.
...Yeah. I really did put on weight.
Bigger breasts were a plus, but this wasn't a body that suited an athlete. No wonder Ha-neul had been so disgusted.
I really do need to lose some of this.
There was about a week left until training camp. Looking at herself in the mirror, Camila made a resolution to diet.
Rumble, rumble.
Dragging her suitcase, Yu-ri arrived at the dorm. The closer she got, the more her heart started to lift. After a vacation spent traveling with her family, she was finally going to see Ha-neul again.
And when she reached the running track in front of the dorm, she spotted him in the distance, running. He was pretty far away, but she could see him with perfect clarity.
"Yu-ri! You're here?"
He'd spotted her too — waving from afar, calling her name. Yu-ri beamed and waved back.
"Ha-neul! You came back early?"
"Hah, hah. Yeah. Came back a bit early."
He ran up to her, breathing hard. Looking down at him as he bent over with his hands on his knees, she could see a gap at the collar of his shirt — and through it, the pale skin of his chest.
This kid really has no sense of caution.
Startled, she whipped her head away — and Ha-neul started talking again.
"Being in Korea was kind of a hassle. Too many people recognizing me."
"...Well, yeah. You're a total superstar back home."
"That answer took a while. You're thinking I've got celebrity disease, aren't you?"
Ha-neul grinned and gave her arm a playful shove. But Yu-ri couldn't tell him the truth. The reason her answer had been late was that glimpse of his skin.
"...Yeah."
So she just went along with the joke.
"Well, well. Look who's gotten bold, Kang Yu-ri?"
Looking incredulous, Ha-neul went for his usual headlock. But unlike usual, Yu-ri dodged it. She had a strong feeling that she shouldn't let their bodies touch right now.
"Huh? You dodged?"
"Sweat! You're sweaty!"
"Ah, sorry."
Ha-neul stepped back, looking awkward. She wanted to grab him and pull him back, but she couldn't bring herself to reach out. And then a third person came running up, breathing hard.
"Hah, hah. Yu-ri. You're here?"
"Kami. You came back... early?"
Yu-ri was about to greet Camila warmly after so long apart — then her eyes landed on Camila's chest, and the words caught in her throat.
...Were Kami's breasts always this big?
Camila's chest, after all this time, was considerably more aggressive than Yu-ri remembered. It used to be smaller than her own. Now it was about the same size.
"Yeah. My parents wouldn't stop nagging, so I've been here about a week."
"You look like you put on some weight, though?"
"Do I? I actually lost some. Ha-neul and I have been doing nothing but working out for four days."
Camila casually lifted her shirt to show her stomach. There wasn't a scrap of extra fat on it.
...Does she just gain it in her chest?
A flicker of envy at Camila's blessed physique — then Ha-neul started poking the exposed stomach with his finger.
"You should've seen her when she first got here. Unreal. Now she actually looks like a person. I mean, the weight comes off if you just work out a little, and she couldn't even do that much? Shows up looking like a pig?"
"I was not a pig!"
The usual teasing between Ha-neul and Camila. But the way his fingers poked her stomach looked so familiar, so easy, that Yu-ri's expression hardened without her meaning it to.
...I should've come back with some extra weight too.
If she'd put on some weight herself, would Ha-neul have pressed her stomach that casually? She thought about it for a second. Somehow, she didn't think so. If it weren't for Camila's particular brand of easy friendliness, even Ha-neul — as unreserved and, well, girlish as his personality could be — wouldn't just go around touching a girl's bare skin. Especially not her stomach.
And with that thought, Yu-ri realized something.
The most dangerous person to her love... was Camila.
Always smiling, easy to get along with, a genuinely good person — Camila was the kind of girl anyone would like. Even Yu-ri liked her as a friend. Not as much as Ha-neul, but she considered them pretty close. And sure, she was a little on the short side, but that energetic, pretty face spoke for itself.
Until now, Yu-ri had just thought of her as Ha-neul's close friend. But if Camila liked Ha-neul... her position was far too dangerous.
"Look at this. You gained this much and you're saying you're not a pig?"
Ha-neul pinched Camila's cheek and stretched it. Most girls would hate that. Camila didn't resist at all — she just let him. No, more than that: she looked like she was enjoying it. It was the same old teasing, but now that Yu-ri was paying attention, the whole scene looked a lot more loaded.
Ah...
Coming back to Barcelona, it seemed like the starting lineup wasn't going to be the only thing she'd have to compete for.