That's My Chest, Though?
"That's my chest, though?"
That had been one of the boxes on my ideal-type checklist.
A girl who worked out.
The problem was, girls who worked out didn't like me. I was a guy who fumbled his words and shrank from everything — average face, personality of a total loser. Even ordinary girls never gave me a second glance, so why would the athletic ones be any different? Girls who trained were already a rare breed. Guys flocked to them without anyone asking. There was no chance I'd even register on their radar.
I'd given up on dating, of course.
But today, it felt like my romance cells were stirring back to life.
"Let's start the last set."
"Okay."
What was I supposed to do with this pounding heart? I hid what I was feeling as best I could, took hold of her lats, and started her through the last set of pull-ups.
"Nngh...! Hah. Nnngh, pffhh...!"
This time her breathing was a mix of something sticky and something unbearably cute. The sound of it tickling my ears made my head go fuzzy.
"One more. Last one, so hold it as long as you can."
"Nnnngh."
Kim Sehee's arms trembled as her body slowly descended. The way she gave it everything until the very end — I liked that a lot.
"Good job. Grab some water, then we'll finish with push-ups."
"Hah, hah. Okay."
Kim Sehee answered between ragged breaths, then put a hand to her side and walked slowly toward the water cooler. Catching her breath made it impossible to go any faster.
I watched her back as she went. My heartbeat kicked into overdrive, pounding hard against my chest. I was just looking at her. Why was it doing this?
Had I fallen for Kim Sehee?
Those attractive thigh muscles. That passion for working out. The way she poured everything into it, dripping with sweat — yeah, I was into that. But fallen for her? I wasn't sure. My romance cells had been sealed away for so long that I couldn't quite tell what this feeling even was.
I didn't follow her. I stood quietly where I was and waited for Kim Sehee to drink her water and come back, drawing a deep breath to try to calm the heart hammering in my chest.
"Hss, hoo. Hss, hoo..."
It seemed to work — the pounding eased. But the moment I saw Kim Sehee coming back, my heart started hammering all over again.
"Oppa."
Oppa... she said. She'd been calling me that for a while now, but this Oppa felt different. Like a resonance waking up the romance cells inside me. They started dividing.
"Huh? Uh... what is it?"
"My arms are shaking like crazy."
Kim Sehee raised both arms like a jiangshi. Just like she said, her hands were trembling. If she tried push-ups like this, she wouldn't even get a single rep in before collapsing. We did some back stretches to let her arms recover.
A little later, I asked her once we'd finished stretching.
"Arms still shaking?"
"I think they're a little better."
"Let's go to the mats."
"Okay."
We moved. Four blue mats were laid out in a row in the corner of the gym, the color of PE class back in school. I dropped onto a mat and explained.
"Spread your hands about chest-width apart, arms perpendicular to the floor. Best form is when your chest is right next to your hands at the bottom. Lower yourself by bracing with your chest, then push up in one motion by driving through your chest. Got it?"
"Let me try."
"Go for it."
Kim Sehee got down on the mat next to mine. She spread her arms the way I'd shown her and lowered herself. Her arms trembled, and her elbows flared out to the sides.
"Don't let your elbows flare."
I tucked her elbows in against her body. The moment I did, her whole body sank to the floor.
"Ugh. I can't put any power into it."
Her arms were probably fried from the pull-ups. I'd gotten the exercise order wrong. Should've done push-ups first, then squats, then pull-ups. My mistake.
"Then let's try it from the knees."
"Okaaay."
At my words, Kim Sehee put her knees on the mat and got back into push-up position.
"Hup...!"
This time she lowered herself with decent form, then somehow managed to push back up. The descent was fine, but on the way up she seemed to be using nothing but arm strength — the irony of having no arm strength and still trying to push up with only her arms. They were shaking so badly that she was focusing everything on not collapsing, which meant she couldn't engage her chest at all.
"Right now you don't have the strength, so you're pushing up with just your arms, yeah? I'll spot you, so try thinking about driving through your chest."
"Okay."
I reached out to spot Kim Sehee as she lay there, then froze. The stomach was no good — nothing bony to brace against. I'd have to grab the ribcage right below her chest, and that was a slightly... awkward spot.
"I'm going to hold your ribcage, right under your chest. Is that okay...?"
"Ah, yeah. That's fine."
"Oh. Okay."
I'd gotten permission, but I still hesitated. The ribcage right under the chest wasn't a very wide area, and my hands were on the large side — one wrong move and I might graze her chest. I hovered there, almost grabbing, almost not, for a long time.
Meanwhile, Kim Sehee's trembling arms gave out and she collapsed face-first into the mat.
"When are you going to spot me..."
She turned her head and looked up at me, her voice pitiful. That accusing look left me flustered.
"Ah. S-sorry. I was being careful because I thought I might touch your chest."
"So what? You already did."
"Uh... let's take a short break."
"Ugh. Look at you getting all embarrassed."
How did she even know? My face was burning with embarrassment right now.
If I thought of it as spotting, it shouldn't have been a problem. I'd helped Choi Yeram with stretching that morning without thinking twice about physical contact. But strangely, I couldn't do that with Kim Sehee. Couldn't just touch her like it was nothing. It hadn't been easy ever since my chest started pounding after those pull-ups.
Come on, Beomjun. Get it together. You're in the middle of a workout. When you're training, you focus on training. You know perfectly well you can get hurt if your mind wanders. You almost dropped Sehee a second ago and nearly got her hurt — what's wrong with you?
I repeated it to myself, steeling my resolve. Right. If I didn't focus, Sehee would get hurt. Focus.
"Okay. Let's go again."
"Eek. I barely got any rest."
"Then ten more seconds."
"Okay. Hehe."
Ten seconds later, Kim Sehee got back into position. Knees bent against the floor, both arms spread chest-width, center of gravity forward over her chest.
"Hoo."
I let out a breath and wrapped my hands around Kim Sehee's ribcage.
Squish.
"Wait. Th-that's my chest."
"Ah. S-sorry."
She was lying face-down, so I couldn't see properly, and I ended up grabbing her chest. The sensation lingering on my hands scattered my focus.
Can't do this. Focus. Focus.
I wrapped her ribcage properly this time, taking Kim Sehee's weight in my palms.
"Brace with your chest on the way down, then drive through and push up in one motion."
On the way down, I took a little of her weight so she could hold the position. On the way up, the moment she started struggling, I pulled on her ribcage to help her rise. I spotted her through the push-ups like that, and we finished three sets.
Kim Sehee definitely had athletic ability. Even when she was struggling, her form snapped into place almost immediately. She had the will and the talent — she'd fall into the world of weights in no time.
"Good work."
"You worked hard too, Oppa, teaching me all that."
"Yeah."
I sure did. I'd worked incredibly hard trying not to notice her chest pressing against the side of my index finger. I thought I was going to lose my mind. That soft, yielding something kept brushing against my finger, and... wow. I'd never felt softness with that kind of weight to it in my entire life.
"You're going to work out too, right, Oppa?"
"I think I can skip today."
I'd burned through all my mental energy. I had nothing left for a workout. Days like this, you rest. I was too rattled — if I tried to train anyway, I'd just get hurt.
Kim Sehee's eyes went round.
"Huh? I brought the camera to film you working out, though?"
"Ah... but I've got nothing left in the tank right now. Sorry."
"Aww. And I even carried the bag here."
Kim Sehee pouted, disappointed. I was disappointed too. I had to rest today. I didn't even feel like doing a light session. Having her right next to me kept throwing my heart into chaos.
"Sorry. Let's film next time. I really can't today."
"Well, can't be helped. You worked hard, Oppa."
"Yeah. You too, Sehee."
And that was the end of the workout. While Sehee went to get water, I grabbed my stuff from the locker room and came out. I put the camera back in the bag and was about to sling it over my shoulder, but Kim Sehee volunteered to carry it again. I felt bad and tried to take it, but she snatched it away.
We said goodbye to Choi Heejeong and left the gym. We retraced our steps, and I only got the bag back once we'd arrived at Choi Yeram's place.
"Here. The camera."
"Okay. Thank you."
She was the one who'd carried it. I'd just taken the camera out for her, and she was thanking me. She had a good personality — that bright disposition. Of course you'd catch feelings.
"Let's work out together next time too, Oppa."
"Sure."
"And we'll film it then!"
I snorted a laugh watching Kim Sehee wave the camera around.
"Yeah."
"Get some rest!"
Kim Sehee waved and walked off. Anyone watching would think we were saying goodbye for good. In reality, she was just going to a different room. We'd run into each other anytime, and we were going to see each other again at dinner.
I went into my room, put the bag away, and took a shower. I dried my hair and came out to start on dinner, and that's when Choi Yeram got home.
"I'm home!"
"Welcome back."
Choi Yeram came straight over to me the moment she arrived. She looked up at me and asked.
"Did you get closer?"
"...To what?"
"To Sehee! Did you get closer to her!"
To Sehee? We'd gotten a little closer, hadn't we? Just thinking about Kim Sehee made my chest pound again. Worried it'd show on my face, I turned away naturally as I answered.
"A little."
"A little?"
"Yeah. A little."
And a little more.
I wanted to get closer.