"Rara,let's go!" Sunghoon takes her hand as soon as she steps out of her classroom the next day as they run for practice.

They change into sportswear and move towards the field.

Jaeyun looks at her and gulps.

"Dang it,I must have been blind all these ears not to have noticed how gorgeous she is..." He mentally cursed himself.

Meanwhile Ra and Hoon approach the other pair who were seated already,waiting for them.

"Hi...you must be-"

"Heeseung and Vinnie . Yes we are your partners. Nice to meet you!"  The chic looking girl offers her hand which Rara shakes.

"Ah Heeseung...you are from the art department right?" Sunghoon seems to recognize the guy.

"Yep. I major in music." He nods,showing his beautiful smile.

"We saw you at the tryouts the other day,you are really good at running! nEoMu PaLLa!" Vinnie gives them a thumbs up.

"You too! I know we all will make a good team." Rara high fives her.

They sit down as they wait for the coach to arrive.

Jake walks up to them and stands behind Rara,in such a way that he blocks the sun,giving her shade.

"What are you doing Sim Jaeyun?" She scoffs.

"Just protecting you from the sun-"

She gets up before he can say anything.

"I want the sun okay. The vitamin D is good for me. Now go back to your seat.'

He pouts ,"so mean" and slowly heads back.

Vinnie chuckles, "Looks like he has a crush on you."

Rara is flustered, "yah...why do you think like that?"

"Oh come on,no one would do that just for a friend, especially when it's burning out here. If anyone would do that for me I would just fall for them-"

"Let me protect you from the sun Vinnie" Heeseung stands behind her and smiles down at her.

Rara smirks while looking at Vinnie,who was blushing.

"Yah Heeseung hajima...just come down and sit next to me." She pulls him down to sit next to her.

"Then with the jacket at least." He outs it over her head to give her some shade and smiles brightly as she shakes her head and chuckle.

"Ooohh" Rara and Sunghoon tease them as they awkwardly exchange glances.

"We are just friends...." They tried to deny.

"Yeah yeah...we can see..." RaHoon smirked.

Meanwhile the coach had come.

"Alright my athletes! Sorry for keeping you waiting. Now we can officially commence our training! Let's all work hard and bring home all the wins!"

All the athletes cheer.

For the rest of the afternoon,they are busy doing warm ups,exercises and sprints.

At the end,they are all completely famished and finally dismissed for the day.

The Mixed Relay- team are all lying on the gound catching their breath.

Rara opens her eyes to Jay smiling down at her.

She gets up on her feet.

"Yeah Jay?"

"Water for you." He hands her.

She hesitatingly takes it.

"Thank you...."she takes a sip out of it as he carefully watches her.

She notices he was panting too.

"You should drink some too..." She hands over the bottle to him.
Just as he was about to reach out for it Jake comes in between,snatches the bottle and empties it in one gulp,earning a glare from Jay.

"Thank you Jongseong aa" he smiles mockingly as Jay scoffs.

Rara shrugs and just walks away.

Vinnie and Heeseung are watching the drama from afar.

"Looks like a triangle eh?" Hee says.

"Hmm...both of them are trying to woo her,but she doesn't seem interested in neither. She is quite cold with them also,wonder what happened." Vinnie notes.

Jay walks away from there only and Jake comes over to their side when Vinnie goes up to him.

"You are Jake right?" He nods.

"Listen Jakey...you like her don't you?"

He shakes his head, "No!"

"Eh?" Vinnie is confused.

"It's not just liking,I am in love with her!" He says in frustration.

Vinnie chuckles.

"Bruh,I understand how sincere you are,but probably she doesn't. That's what you ought to focus on. I can sense that you have been in a fight. So it is even more important for you to be persistent and treat her like the true queen she is!"

Jake ponders, "Your words make sense though...but wait,why are you helping me out?"

Vinnie chuckles, "I don't know...we probably have a connection is some AU,just felt like you are my bro. Good luck. Let's go Heeseung ssi!" She walks away with him.

Jake chuckles, "First figure out your own situation you two!" He yells out to them.

_________________________________

(Day Of The Competition)

The whole University was buzzing. With students everywhere cheering for their favourite teams.

Rara and Vinnie were in the bathroom as they were changing to sportswear.

Vinnie finished up first and immediately got a call.

"It's from Hee..." She blushed.

"Go take it. I will join you all soon!" Rara nudges her to go and smiles as she watches the chic girl melt into a softie as soon as she saw that one guy's name.

"They are head over heels for each other,seriously."she shakes her head and laughs.

Her tummy rumbles.

"Looks like I will have to go once-" she quickly went in to the rest room.

As soon as her door closed,an unknown figure entered the bathroom.

It was Jang Liyah.

She smirks.

"Now is the time you learn your lesson,you insufferable know it all. Acting all high and mighty,now let's see how proud you can be."

Rara comes out after a few minutes and washes her hands and face.

"Let me just quickly put on my shoes and I can get going "

She changes from her sandals to running shoes and when she stands up,a crack is heard and an intense pain comes onto her.

"Aah!" She collapses to the ground.

"Something is wrong with the shoes..." She slowly takes them off to see-

Glass,tiny shatters of broken glass. Someone placed it in there on purpose. They cut through her skin. She slowly removed the glass shards,wincing of pain.

She tried to stand up,but she couldn't.

Forget running,she couldn't even imagine walking with that pain.

__________________________________

Back at the main ground. Vinnie rushes across hurriedly after hearing what Heeseung said.

"Heeseung ssi! You okay?!" She panics as she watches him sitting.

"He isn't feeling that well,has a stomach ache. Must have eaten something bad." Sunghoon tells her.

"What do we do now..."Vinnie worries.

Meanwhile Rara also limped up to them,not that they noticed her present condition.

"I actually wanted to tell you something-"Rara is just about to tell them when she learns that Heeseung is not well. The coach is also extremely worried.

"Oh gosh. The races start soon. Now how do we replace him..." Seeing them worry,she cannot being up her injury.

Just then Jake comes up, "I will take his place."

"Ah Jaeyun...that would be wonderful of you!" Coach Park sighs in relief.

"Are you sure you won't be tired? You are going to have to race twice?" Hoon's asks and he firmly shakes his head.

"I will do it."

"That's great,I will inform the committe about the emergency replacement. " Coach Park hurries away.

"Okay,so the order goes like this- Vinnie starts the race,hand over the baton to Hoon,then Rara and finally finisher is Jake." They go over their line up and nod in agreement.

Rara decides to keep her injury a secret for now. It not like she could be replaced.

"Just ignore the pain." She told herself. She couldn't put the team in distress at this point when they were moving for the race.

Both the women's team and men's team won their races. Now it was time for the mixed relay team to get the all kill.

Vinnie got in position.

"I will give you the best start,I promise! Rara I trust you too!" She smiles.

Rara nods her head, "Yeah,she has to do this."

"On your marks....set...go!"

The pistols is fired and the contenders start running as the crowd cheers.

"KU! KU!!" The cheers came in for Vinnie who took an early lead.

She passed on the baton to Sunghoon who carried it forward.

He tried his best but he was overtaken by Yonsei University's rep as they changed to the inside line.

Rara was waiting in anticipation. She saw Sunghoon's figure approaching her,and she reached her hand out for the baton.

"Oh Ra Ra,you can do this." She breathed in deep.

"Oh Ra Ra! Get it girl!" Sunghoon passed on the baton to her.
She turned and took the first step-immense pain.

It was like walking on needles.

"Aarghh!" She groaned in pain as she continued running.

She was second place,but her competitors started overtaking her.

Her teammates watched in tension.

"What's wrong with her. Is she alright??" Vinnie bit her lip nervously.

Jay too was worried as he watched from the sidelines.

"I will not lose this. I will keep the trust my team has in me. I am Oh Rara!" She told herself.

No matter how it pained now,she was numb to it.

Her only goal right now- Run to Jaeyun-before anyone else does.

She picked up speed.

"That's right! She is back on track!" Hoon clapped.

She quickly over took the others to get into top 2,now there was only one girl in front-Yonsei-their rivals.

She went upto her and they locked eyes.

"We are winning this." She communicated through her eyes.

She could finally spot Jaeyun,waiting for her to come to him,his arm open for her.

"I am coming...I am almost there..." She put in her last ounce of effort.

"Jaeyun ah! Win it for us!" She got to him first,before anyone else did.

The baton passed on to him and he took off at top speed.

She collapsed to the ground,huffing for oxygen.
To anyone it might seem normal,no one could see she was in extreme pain.

She watched Jaeyun near the finish line.

"You can do it...you can do it...." Her lips chanted.

All kind of sound went mute,she could only see Jaeyun now,moving in slow motion towards the ribbon.

He jumped over it and raised his hand in victory.

"Korea University-Win!"

The students all rushed in to cheer for Jaeyun as they threw him up in the air.

"We did it!" She jumped on to her feet,to run to him,but she couldn't.

"Aah!" She collapsed.

"Rara!" Jay ran to her.

"Are you alright....oh my god....your shoes...they are stained..."he quickly takes off her shoes and gasps at the site.

He freezes.

"Rara...blood..."his breathing becomes faster,his eyes fixed at her foot. He doesn't know what to do.

"Jay...I need the doctor...help me please..."she winced in pain. But Jay doesn't move,he sits still,his face all pale.

"Jay yah..."she tries to reach out to him.

"Yah! What are you doing?!"
She is quickly swooped up in someone's arms.

It was Jaeyun.

He quickly hurried away with her in his arms.

"Rara... don't tell me you were running like that. Are you crazy? You are bleeding!" He yelled.

She could see his face up close,she couldn't hear anything now,it had all gone silent.

She could only see him now.

Sweat trickled down his distressed face.

Her heart felt something again in that moment.

"Doctor!"He rushed her into the University medical department.

"Her foot is bleeding. We need help." He found an empty bed and gently laid her down.

"I will find the doctor and be back. Wait for me." He held her and said before rushing off.

Rara couldn't feel the pain anymore now.

Jaeyun came back in with a doctor,she watched him panicking and being all over the place as he watched her getting treated.

"They said there are some shards gone in to your foot. They are going to remove those now...it might hurt...so just look at me okay? I will hold your hand,I will help you forget the pain."

She nodded obediently,as in some kind of trance.

He sat next to her bed and enclosed her small hand in both of his.

"It will be over soon..."he said as she looked into his deep eyes.

She chuckled as she saw him wincing in pain instead of her as they took out the shards.

He kissed her palm,making her flustered.

"It's almost done,hang in there..."

The same feeling came back to her again.

The doctors were finally done and wrapped her feet in a cast.

"Thankfully the glass didn't go in to deep. You will need to use a wheelchair for a few weeks, don't put any kind of stress on your feet okay?" The professor tells them and leaves..

After he is gone Jake gently slaps her arm.

"Are you crazy Oh Rara? Why in the world would you run when you were in so much pain! Why did you not tell us?" He asked in a frustrated tone.

"I just didn't want to...worry you guys...since there was already one replacement..." She said sheepishly as he groaned.

He took her face in his hands.

"You better not do anything like that again okay?"he says in a serious tone.

She nods slowly.

They hear a knock on the door. It's Heeseung,Hoon and Vinnie,who come with the shield.

"I literally had no idea you were that brave honestly...."Vinnie sits down beside her and gently squeezed Rara's hand.

"I feel like an idiot now."Heeseung puts his head down.

"As you should."Vinnie hits his back gently.

Rara chuckles, "I am alright now,and I am glad we won."

They take their winning picture right there.

"This will be an awesome addition to the yearbook."Rara chuckles.

They leave after chatting for a while as Heeseung still doesn't feel that well. Sunghoon accompanies Vinnie to take him back to his dorm.

"Here." Jake hands Rara her phone.

"You have to lie her for a while,you will be bored without it." He says.

"Thanks Jaeyun."she takes it.

"It's been a long time..." He says.

"Uh?"

"Since you called me Jaeyun..."

He goes back to sit in the bed next to hers. The whole air is awkward.

"I will just sleep for a while now,I am really tired after carrying you alm the way here!" He pouts and lies down to sleep.

Rara shakes her head and chuckles,scrolling through her phone.

Jaeyun watches her and smiles a little. He slowly drifts off to sleep.

Rara is scrolling through instagram,most of the posts being about today's sports page.

A video catches her eyes.

It shows how she was lying on the ground in pain,and Jaeyun came and scooped her up in his arms gently and rushed away.

It was trending on the school's blog page and student gossip pages.

"That's so cute!"

"If someone did that for me,I would fall so bad!"

"Jaeyun aa,I can take that pain every day if it is you who is carrying me!"

"Then take it girl. First feel the pain. It's insane." Rara scoffs.

"Ooh...beginning of a new love story? What's the ship name?"

------> RaKe
         "That sounds awful!"
-------> JaRa
          "Okay ...I guess"

Rara chuckled as she looked at the comments.

------->RaeYun

"I like this."Rara smiles.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door. She looks up to find Jay standing there.

"Jay yah....come in..."

"How are you now?" He asks gingerly as he sits across to her.

"I am fine now. Doesn't even hurt anymore."she smiles.

He nods and purses his lips

"I am sorry..."

"Why Jay...why are you apologising..."

"I have a phobia of blood..." He suddenly says looking up to her.

"I also found out only today. My whole body froze today when I saw your foot bleeding. I wanted to move ...but...my body didn't let me..."

"I don't even have any history which caused such a phobia...it's just...so random...and I hate it..."he said in frustration.

"I am sorry I couldn't help you."

"Jay yah...it's okay. " She looks at Jaeyun next to her , wo was soundly sleeping.

"Me and Jaeyun always got into fights since we were kids. While riding our tricycles,we would fall down multiple times and scratch our knee caps." She chuckles as she recollects the memory.

"He would always fall down from the trees and break some bones. So we always took each other to the doctor. So it's no surprise,he took me here again."

"You know something Jay...."

What she tells him next,made him smile.

He takes her hand in his.

"I am sorry,I wronged you...it's all my fault. But please remember,I really loved you..."he says seriously.

"I know Jay. I did too."

He slowly let's go off her hand and gets up.

"See you around."

After he leaves,she looks back at her phone.

"I am not even dating him. What's with the ships."

__________________________________

A/N: 17Th October 2021

Did you like the cameos by Hee and Vin😁

This chapter is full off hidden meanings. You have to read in between the lines.

Please vote on this chapter and the others,it would be very encouraging.

Saranghae💖

Author V✌️