The Catcher’s Gentle Embrace: A Game of Tease and Touch
“… Seungtaek-ah? Are you really going to keep holding me like this?”
“Yeah.”
Choi Seungtaek and Park Gayoung had been wrapped around each other for more than ten minutes now, yet Seungtaek still refused to let go.
“For real? You’re seriously going to do this all night?”
“Yeah.”
Choi Seungtaek’s voice was low and steady as he held Park Gayoung tighter. “I was really worn out today too. I just need some time to recharge.”
“This is charging? You call this recharging?”
“Yeah, it is. When I hold you, it feels good. Really good.”
“Ehh, what is this?”
Seungtaek’s blunt words, spoken while he still had Park Gayoung locked in his arms, made her heart melt completely.
“But my legs are hurting.”
“No way. I’m not letting you go.”
“What? Then let’s just sit on the chair.”
“No. You’re way too light to sit with me—I’d crush the chair. This one is for a girl as delicate as you.”
Seungtaek’s unyielding will was obvious. Park Gayoung had to think fast.
“Then let’s sit on the bed.”
“Doesn’t that look weird?”
Park Gayoung looked up at him.
“Creep.”
“Creep? I just want to sit on the bed and cuddle you, that’s all.”
“Umm… okay.”
Finally, Seungtaek released his hold on Park Gayoung and settled onto the edge of her bed. Park Gayoung sat right beside him.
“Liar.”
Seungtaek immediately pouted.
“Eh? Why?”
“You said you’d hold me.”
“Aigoo, fine, I’m sorry.”
Park Gayoung ended up sitting on Seungtaek’s lap instead, and he pulled her right back into his arms.
Just like that, Park Gayoung was nestled snugly against Seungtaek’s chest.
“Hee…”
“Does this make you happy?”
“Yeah, of course it does.”
Seungtaek thought how adorable Park Gayoung looked—tiny, nestled perfectly in his arms.
“But you were staring at other girls earlier?”
“Aigoo, Gayoung-ah, were you jealous?”
“Yeah.”
“So it actually made me feel really good?”
“Really? I felt really bad though.”
“Hehe. Still, you don’t have to worry about me.”
Seungtaek told her firmly.
“Don’t worry about me?”
“Our relationship is solid!”
“Solid? Please.”
“I already saw you as my grandparents-in-law! So how could it not be solid!”
“What grandparents?”
Park Gayoung burst out laughing at Seungtaek’s words.
“You didn’t know? When I first confessed to you, I was already thinking about having a son and a daughter.”
“Creep.”
“Creep? I was thinking about building a family, okay?”
“Then when did the grandparents appear?”
“When you kissed me?”
Seungtaek suddenly remembered the moment in the car and gave a startled, slightly shy look.
“Hmph… I’ll believe it.”
“Yeah.”
The two of them were still cuddling when Park Gayoung suddenly remembered something from a university conversation.
“By the way, Seungtaek-ah.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“I was talking with my university friends about all sorts of stuff.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And… it turns out a lot of girls are baseball fans too, surprisingly.”
“And?”
“But since I don’t know much about baseball, I didn’t have much to say. But I still had to talk, so I told them my boyfriend is a baseball player.”
“Eh?”
People are social creatures. They read between the lines and pick up on the next words from tone and expression.
If the next line had been positive, Park Gayoung would have been grinning and urging him to keep talking. But Seungtaek could sense something heavy coming.
Unnerving.
The terror of the underdog.
Right there in the Magpies locker room, Seungtaek suddenly felt that same old inferiority creep in.
“So… everyone went ‘Whoa! Whoa!’ and laughed.”
Is that it?
Seungtaek kept his voice calm as he answered.
“Then?”
“Then someone asked which team I was on.”
That’s even more unnerving.
“So I told them—Daejeon Magpies. But then… everyone laughed.”
“Aah… I had a feeling that might happen.”
Seungtaek closed his eyes tightly.
“They kept teasing me. Said I was on the comedy team. Showed videos of me dropping the ball and collecting them.”
“Cough.”
Seungtaek couldn’t find peace even here. The sting was too deep.
“They said I was on the cellar-dwelling team. That I couldn’t even defend.”
“Ugh…”
“Y-you’re okay though, right?”
“Yeah…”
When Seungtaek looked a little down, Park Gayoung quickly changed the subject.
“Aish! One of my university friends is from Busan.”
“Eh? And?”
“She’s a Seattle fan.”
Seungtaek’s anxiety spiked again.
“That team too? They can’t even play?”
Ugh…
Seven years in Seattle had hit harder than the college joke.
Seungtaek was still gloomy when Park Gayoung panicked and decided to cheer him up.
“Seungtaek-ah! You were the best at our school! If you made it to the Magpies, you’ll do great!”
“Yeah, I can.”
“Really? For real? Can you win the championship this year too?”
Some day he would win it. But if she asked about this year…
Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Definitely not this year.
“It’s tough this year, but I’ll do my best.”
Seungtaek answered seriously. Park Gayoung answered seriously too.
“Really? Then promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“If we win, you’ll do interviews and call my name.”
“Of course.”
“So at that time, call my name a hundred times.”
Eh? What?
“Eh? Why my name all of a sudden?”
“Last time you didn’t call my name properly. This time, if we win, you have to call it right.”
Seungtaek felt like dying of embarrassment.
She knew?
***
The next day, Seungtaek arrived at Daejeon Baseball Stadium early.
He had only gotten home before 1 a.m. and immediately crashed. Now he was here.
As Seungtaek changed in the locker room, the manager walked in.
“Seungtaek, you got here early.”
“Yes, Manager.”
“Good. I was planning to call you today anyway. We have an interview.”
“Interview?”
“Yeah. Since you performed well in the opening series and the other catchers struggled yesterday, they want to talk to you more.”
“Aah…”
Seungtaek’s face twisted a little.
“Also, they want the cheerleaders and the scanners handled this time.”
“Isn’t that something that needs control?”
“You would have controlled it if you were actually there, but since you weren’t, the front office doesn’t care.”
“Aah… I understand.”
Seungtaek changed into his uniform and followed the manager toward the interview area set up in a corner of the stadium.
“Is this Choi Seungtaek?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Hello, I’m a reporter from Sports Korea. Behind me is the photographer who will take your picture.”
“Nice to meet you, reporters.”
Seungtaek sat down with the two men.
One pulled out a notepad to take notes; the other stepped back to start snapping photos.
Simple combo.
“Okay, pictures are all taken. Now I’ll ask a few questions.”
“Please.”
“You signed with the Daejeon Magpies. How has your time here been so far?”
It was a very formal first question.
“I came to a great team and got to learn a lot from my senior catchers who are better than me.”
“Speaking of senior catchers… three of them got injured, so you became the starting one. But even if the other three had stayed healthy, could you have made the first-team lineup?”
Quite a sharp question.
Hmm… how do I answer? Ah! I’ll use Manager Han Geunseong’s name.
Although it was sensitive, Seungtaek answered easily.
“Manager Han Geunseong is the kind of person who gives you a chance if you play well in defense. I’m sure he gave me several chances because I played well.”
Ooh… the interview skills are pretty good.
The Sports Korea reporter was genuinely surprised.
“Then, what are your goals this year?”
“My goal? Or the team’s goal?”
“Either way would be fine.”
Seungtaek paused for a second.
“First, I want to stay as the starting catcher. Too many players have been injured, so I want to avoid injuries and lead the team well.”
“That’s a great answer. Then what about the team’s goal?”
“I want us to win the championship.”
“Eh?”
The reporter taking notes looked startled; the photographer behind him almost laughed before catching himself.
Winning? That’s crossing the line. Or did I cross it?
Seungtaek gave a relaxed, confident smile.
“You have a lot of confidence.”
“Yes! I’m really going to do it. Because I made a promise—I absolutely want to win!”
The reporter’s eyes sparkled.
“Aah! So that’s it. Is the person you promised to… Magpies cheerleader Lee Naeun?”
The reporter asked with a mischievous grin.
“I’m sure Lee Naeun would want us to win too. Though it’s nothing to do with me.”
“You still deny your relationship with her?”
“We don’t know each other well. That’s all we got from the accidental meeting at ‘Train’.”
Seungtaek answered calmly.
“We’re on the same team but we never ran into each other?”
“Cough… we have so many training sessions. It’s too much. Honestly, we don’t get much time to meet other people. Everyone is just trying to get better.”
The reporter stopped digging further. If he kept asking, the club might not even let him in.
“Aah, speaking of which, I heard a lot about Manager Han Geunseong’s training regimen. Is there any dissatisfaction about how hard it is?”
There was, but Seungtaek couldn’t complain now that he had a guaranteed night’s sleep.
“Um… I’ve been pretty well taken care of. Manager Han isn’t inflexible, so he gives us some leeway in situations like this.”
“But wasn’t you excluded from the lineup yesterday?”
Seungtaek suddenly remembered yesterday’s rushed memory and felt his blood boil, but he held it back.
That was crossing the line.
Instead, he used the head coach’s explanation.
“What I said earlier. It wasn’t ‘he excluded me!’ but ‘he gave chances to other players.’ That fits better.”
Really good interview skills. Never crossed the line.
The reporter was secretly impressed.
“Then, last question—how do you feel about Manager Han Geunseong?”
…
Seungtaek recalled all the memories from the Magpies: brutal training, being told to stay away and then suddenly called to the field, being told to prove himself for three days and then being cut from the lineup. All the bad memories came flooding back.
For a moment, Seungtaek felt unhappy.
His emotions slipped. He answered too bluntly.
“Not much…”
“Eh? Not… what?”
Oh crap! Never mind. Reporters understand nuance, right?
“Aah! It’s… Han Geunseong is ‘not much’ in my heart! Haha! Then I’ll head back.”
Seungtaek waved it off and left.