Pre-Season 19-20 (3)
“So, you’re saying that guy came back as a complete pig?”
“Not that much…!”
Valentina let out a soft chuckle at the familiar playful teasing between Ha-neul and Camila, who still seemed just as lively after not having seen them for weeks.
“Tina, look. Doesn’t it look real to you?”
She didn’t have the habit of staring at women like that except when playing football, but she couldn’t refuse Ha-neul’s words, so Valentina turned her gaze to Camila. And her eyes stopped at Camila’s chest.
‘…Was it this big from the start?’
Camila’s chest, which had seemed smaller than Yu-ri’s before the vacation, had grown to nearly the same level, looking like it might be a D-cup.
Of course, it was still far smaller than Ha-neul’s, but the feeling that the once-childish Camila had finally become a woman was there.
Well, her height was still childish, though.
“It did get a bit chubby.”
“Right? Kami, Tina seems to have gained weight too.”
“R-really? I ran so much…”
“Why would I lie about this? If you get caught by Angela, you’ll be in the second team right away.”
“Hup…!”
“I was really a pig when I came, right? Want to see the photos?”
Ha-neul pulled out the photos behind the startled Camila. There, a photo of chubby-cheeked Camila was captured.
Those chubby cheeks had returned to normal in just a week.
It felt like how much hard training Camila had done in the time Ha-neul was away.
Although she liked exercising, she didn’t want to push herself that hard even in the off-season, so she felt grateful to her parents for arranging the last family trip before adulthood to last until her vacation ended.
Actually, when Ha-neul told her he was returning, she had wanted to return to the dorm immediately.
“You’re a pro athlete… Eh, whatever.”
Since he couldn’t let the pro guy who had gotten fat during the off-season slide, Valentina shot a line at him and shifted her gaze to Yu-ri, who was adjusting her breathing beside her.
“You gained weight too?”
“No, not really—just exercising together.”
From Yu-ri’s answer or her body condition, Yu-ri didn’t seem to have gained weight. Yu-ri’s mother had also been a football player, and Yu-ri was definitely pro in that aspect.
Probably, since there was nothing else to do, she was just exercising together.
‘If I had come earlier, I would have been running here too.’
Just as she was about to laugh at that thought, Ha-neul opened his mouth.
“Wow, interesting. When you just exercise, you recover bit by bit.”
“Ha-neul, do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because you keep exercising.”
“Do you know why I keep exercising, Kami?”
“…Why is that?”
“Because you gained too much weight.”
Valentina had been quietly listening to Ha-neul’s words, but the way he was talking felt like a boyfriend poking at his girlfriend, so she didn’t want to hear any more of this conversation.
“Hey, stop teasing. Kami, let’s go in. Tomorrow is a team training camp, so if we train hard today, only you will suffer.”
“Right, Tina? Ha-neul, then let’s end it here today…”
“Eh, go ahead, go. Well, since training starts tomorrow, resting a bit isn’t bad.”
“But what about Bruna?”
“Bruna? She hasn’t arrived yet? She said she took a flight in the morning, so she should be coming soon.”
“Okay. Hey, let’s go unpack and shower. I walked here, it’s hot.”
“Good. Today’s exercise is over.”
Camila stretching her arms, Ha-neul shook his head helplessly.
“Yu-ri, what about you?”
“Should I stop here too? Tina said there’s a schedule tomorrow.”
“Okay. Then I should go rest too. See you at dinner.”
With Ha-neul walking first, a good scent lingered in the space he had walked through, as if perfume had been sprayed. Just as she was about to take a deep breath to smell it more,
“Let’s go too.”
As Camila and Yu-ri walked, the space filled with disgusting sweat smell, making Valentina’s brows furrow involuntarily.
“Camila.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don’t come into the room. It smells like sweat.”
“Eh? Then what about my clothes? Shower products?”
“…I’ll bring them.”
“Then don’t organize and come out immediately. It’s uncomfortable.”
“Okay.”
“Then let’s meet in front of the shower room. Yu-ri, let’s go.”
With that mutual agreement, they headed to the dorm and soon gathered in front of the shower room. As the girls who were like the dormitory’s king in the dorm entered the shower room to wash their bodies, other female players who were soaking in the bath vacated their spots.
“…I wanted to soak in the bath like that in the old days.”
Camila muttered as if the culture was still strange to her, but Yu-ri, who came from Korea where hierarchy is strict, soaked in with familiarity and kept saying in Korean “It’s refreshing,” and Valentina, who was like the dormitory’s military commander, stretched her arms as if it was her own home and draped them over the bath’s railing.
And as Valentina relaxed in the bath, something floated up on the surface.
“Wow, if that was real, my head would break.”
“So, Tina said it’s like a weapon.”
Every time they washed, they saw it, but Yu-ri and Camila commented on the size that still didn’t adapt.
“Why? Jealous?”
After all, breasts are the symbol of femininity. Just as there is no man who feels bad when hearing that shoulders are wide or imposing, there is no woman who feels bad when hearing that breasts are big, so when Valentina heard that, she grinned.
“Uek, unlucky.”
“But, Kami. You seem a bit big too, don’t you, Yu-ri?”
“It did get a bit bigger?”
“Really? Is it because you gained weight?”
“My belly is flat though?”
“Wow, that’s mean. Why are you looking at someone else’s belly?”
“I wanted to see it? Ha-neul saw it because you gained weight.”
When Ha-neul’s name came out of Valentina’s mouth, the conversation among the three stopped. Actually, talking about Ha-neul in the bath wasn’t a good thing. Because there might be changes in the body.
Moreover, there were other female players here, so it was their tacit rule not to bring it up.
Even Valentina had spanked some who were making lewd comments about Ha-neul in the bath.
“Hey, but you guys went on a trip, right? Wasn’t there anything special?”
But since the topic they could bring up at their age was only boys or football, the topic naturally changed to the more interesting boy story. Of course, Camila’s wish that her friends would find boyfriends in the trip was there.
Especially Camila’s gaze was subtly towards Valentina. Like when they checked in the amusement park in Korea a few years ago, Valentina liked Ha-neul.
Moreover, Valentina was the woman among women. Face, physical, ability, nothing missing, so no matter how long the friend, she was the most competitive rival.
“…Nothing?”
“Eh, that’s a waste of that height. If I was your height, I’d really…”
“Even if I was your football skill, I wouldn’t have managed my body like that.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“I saw the photo earlier, you were a complete pig. How did you try to make your body so big? Are you participating in the team training camp with nothing but the ball?”
“D-don’t talk.”
Is the one who can make Camila angry only Valentina? With the two always in good terms, Yu-ri laughed lightly and spoke up.
“But it’s interesting. With Valentina’s level, there are many guys who contact her, right?”
“Well, there are. But I want to focus on football right now.”
Hearing her say she wants to focus on football, Yu-ri’s expression hardened. It was the words Ha-neul had said when rejecting her confession.
“Oh, Yu-ri’s expression hardened. You think you’re unlucky too?”
“…A little?”
“But, Yu-ri. Was there nothing for you?”
“Me? I was with my family the whole time… Nothing happened.”
Camila and Valentina clicked their tongues inwardly at Yu-ri’s “nothing.” Because the fact that Yu-ri liked Ha-neul was obvious even to a three-year-old child.
‘It’s not because I have someone I like?’
Valentina was about to shoot back like she does to friends, but swallowed the words in her heart. Because the mind of valuing friendship was quite big, like all women of that age.
‘Camila, Yu-ri, and me too. …Well, unless it’s Bruna who is crazy about football, there’s no way Ha-neul wouldn’t like her. Ha-neul doesn’t know that, though.’
How long could this state of hiding each other’s feelings continue? It was unknown, but she thought it wouldn’t last long.
Probably, someone who couldn’t hold back anymore would confess to Ha-neul, and Ha-neul would probably reject it. Like the words she said just now, with “I want to focus on football.”
Then, should she be happy that Ha-neul didn’t become someone else’s man, or should she be sad that her friend’s love ended in failure? Or did she think she might be the one who would be sad after being rejected in confession?
But the sure thing was that if the target was not herself, it would be a bit more joyful.
And Yu-ri and Camila probably had similar thoughts as Valentina, so silence settled between the three.
At that moment, the door of the bathroom opened and the voices of the juniors came in.
“Wow, I saw Ryu passing by earlier? He was sweating a lot, like he just came from exercise. His clothes were completely stuck to him?”
“Honestly, Ryu being in the dorm is a crime. How are we supposed to endure that?”
“Passing by, the sweat smell was disgusting too. I almost followed right behind. Wow, it was soaked just as I grabbed it?”
“Hey, hey.”
“Kid, honestly, you’re the same. Am I weird?”
“Hey, shut up.”
“This guy is pretending to be clean alone? I’m the pervert… Hey…?”
And the two who were spewing sexual words towards Ha-neul, with arms on the bath railing, met eyes with Valentina who was looking at them. Eyes like yaks.
“Hey.”
“N-no.”
“Since we’re the same sex, we understand, but making it noisy in a public place? As a mature cultural citizen of Barcelona, I think it shouldn’t be done.”
“S-sorry. Senior.”
No matter how free Europe is, there has to be some discipline in the dorm and sports world. And this sports dorm was even stricter.
With Valentina’s palm slapping sound, the two stood in front of Valentina like dogs being led to the slaughter.
“Let’s be quiet in public places.”
With Valentina’s cold words, Valentina’s palm hit the two’s heads.
“Ugh…”
But the two couldn’t resist. The fact that they had sexually harassed a Barcelona football superstar, Ryu Ha-neul, was the reason their football life wasn’t the only problem.
Moreover, Yu-ri, who was scared that she had made a senior who had sexually harassed Ha-neul with Korean traditional martial art ‘Taekwondo’ before they moved into the dorm into a mess and fired him, was also scary.
If Valentina was at the level of a senior disciplining a junior in common sense, when hearing the rumor, Yu-ri was beyond common sense.
‘Shit, I got caught.’
“Should I tell the supervisor? Or end it from my side?”
“From senior’s side…”
“It’s not because I have personal feelings, so don’t misunderstand, okay? It’s just that as a senior, I’m worried that you might drop Barcelona’s honor in other places, so that’s it? Do you understand my heart?”
“Yes, senior…”
“What are you doing? Did you get a show? Get out. Camila, Yu-ri. Please take care of the other kids.”
“Okay.”
With that, Valentina started showing the ‘role model’ as a senior for the first time in a long time.
Of course, that ‘role model’ contained the complicated feelings that had arisen from talking with friends just before.