The Perfect Pair

Walking past the university notice board, from the corner of her eyes, Younghee saw the poster for their university's yearly sports festival, an event organised by the student council and relevant clubs held over the span of three days. She paused as she saw the drawing of a shuttlecock. 

Hmm...

She started heading towards her lecture hall again without making a proper decision on whether or not to participate but by the time she had reached the door, she had reasoned herself out of it.

It's a waste of time. I can get a head start on next unit's reading while everyone's busy with the festival.

She glanced to the door as a loud group of guys walked in, wearing some sort of uniform, making her realise staying on campus probably wasn't going to be the best idea during the festival if she wanted to study quietly.

Oh right... I guess I can stay home.

Whilst she was zoned out, one of the guys had walked up to her. From a closer look, Younghee realised they were all wearing a basketball jersey. 

"Hi," he waved. The guy looked friendly with his slight baby face and hair still messy likely from practise. "You look really familiar. Did you go to S middle school?"

Younghee furrowed her brows then nodded. 

His face quickly lit up. "Do you play basketball?"

"No."

"Huh?" He paused for a second then sat down besides her. "But I swear that was you.." The guy mumbled to himself before sighing. "Have you signed up for any activities for the sports festival yet?"

This person talks a lot.

Younghee shook her head but her patience was starting to wear thin and it was obvious the guy had picked up on it. He cleared his throat then stood up, and in a somewhat tone, he introduced himself as Doyoung then left her alone.

To Younghee, most things were a waste of time. Her reason categorised as an excuse by many people wasn't all illogical. Making friends, pursuing hobbies, relationships, it was all pointless, so why bother with it in the first place? And if it was a pain, that's even worse. One thing that won't be useless was learning. Over the years, that's what she had told herself and whenever she had any desire to do something other than studying, it didn't take her long to talk herself out of it. 

"Oh yeah, I saw the poster earlier," Ari said as they sat down in the cafeteria. 

"Poster?"

"For the sports festival," she wiped the silver spoon with a napkin before handing it to Younghee, "I was thinking of signing up for something."

"Really? What do you want to do?" 

"There's a swimming race. I might try that."

"Want me to come cheer you on?"

Ari laughed. "Sure. But there's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Pair race, and they have a prize for the winners. Younghee, can you do it with me?"

Younghee nodded without a thought, "yeah."

She had decided she wasn't going to participate. She had decided it was a waste of time, but if it was Ari who asked, Younghee wouldn't even listen to herself. Her self-discipline was strong, but it wasn't strong enough if she was in the picture. 

Ari smiled and clapped her hands celebratorily, "I'll sign us up. Are you doing anything else?"

"No, I'll just do that with you."

"What about badminton? You're not going to try?"

Younghee looked at her silently but before she could shake her head, her heart thumped at the words that left Ari's mouth.

"I want to watch you play."

"...Alright."

Since most of the preparations were done over the weekend, when the day of the festival rolled around, the campus was covered by food stands and decorations most students hadn't seen before. The first day was scheduled with relays, marathons, and other track and field events, including the pair race Ari and Younghee had signed up for. The second day was for racquet and other team sports, and the third other solo sports.

The pair race was going to start from 11am, with each round having 5 pairs competing and whoever winning ascends to the next round. It was estimated to only take an hour but due to the unexpected large amount of participants, the final round rolled around close to 2pm.

Amidst the complaints over the afternoon heat and hunger, Ari and Younghee stood by the starting line alongside their competitors with their ankles tied together. 

"Alright, I get it's hot and everyone's getting a bit hangry but we're just waiting on the final two to arrive and then we can wrap this race up soon," one of the event hosts announced to the body of students sat under a tent to shield themselves from the sun.

"Can't we just start?" Someone asked.

"We'll give it another 10 minutes."

The spectators collectively groaned whilst the competitors complained amongst themselves.

"Whose the last two?" Ari asked.

Younghee shrugged. Suddenly a loud voiced shouted from up the track as three people came running towards them. 

"We're here! We're here! I'm sorry someone threw up on our side so we had to clean it up.." One of them said apologetically. She talked to the other organisers for a minute after directing the two girls she had brought to get ready. Younghee stared at the unique hairstyle, impressed how her braids shaped into a bow managed to stay in place during such a day.

Ari poked Younghee gently and whispered, "hey, I didn't know she was doing this too." She nodded at her side. Younghee turned around and paused as she made eye contact with Nari, her expression changing slightly as she realised she was going to be competing with her. 

Nari tightened her grasp on her partner's arm as they made their way to the start line, avoiding Younghee's gaze but making sure she could still see her in the corner of her eyes.

"You okay? You're kind of squeezing me," the girl next to her asked.

"Oh sorry, yeah," Nari smiled, turning to look away awkwardly as the girl stared at her. 

"Contestants, please get ready and stand behind the white line!" A voice called out from the speakers, "this is the final race and instead of one, we will have three final winners, each of which will receive a prize. What is it you ask? That's a surprise! And please do not let that discourage you because no matter the prize, you still have bragging rights! Right, let us begin, 3... 2... 1... Start!"

From the whistle, all the final 6 pairs began to make their way down the field. You would assume it would be a fair race as it's made up of winners from the previous rounds but there was an obvious difference in speed. With half of them probably slower than people Younghee and Ari had gone up against during the first race. But the other two pairs were just as fast as them, with one being two of the university's best track and field runners, and the other, Nari and her partner. 

The star athletes pair had competitiveness and Nari's team had good synchronisation but Younghee and Ari had both; they were the perfect pair for this race. And that was made clear to everyone as they crossed the finish line, breaking the ribbon.

"We have our winners! Congratulations to Bae Ari and.. Seo Younghee! Please come to collect your prize at the student council's room at 5pm. Second and third place prizes will be ready tomorrow morning by 8am at the same location, thank you to everyone who signed up today and everyone who showed up to support the race!" 

The girl put the microphone down as she finished the announcement, it was also then Ari suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, I just realised she's the student council president and she's in my class," Ari replied as Younghee untied the string binding them together. "Is Nari friends with her?"

Younghee looked up in their direction, "...I don't know, why do you ask?"

"I saw them talking the other day."

Younghee tossed the loose string to the side, "well, the president's a friendly person."

"You know her?"

"No, just what I've heard. Let's go, what do you want to eat?"

Ari stopped her. "Actually, I bought something earlier but I don't think it's been delivered yet. Let's find somewhere to sit first."

After another half an hour in the sun searching for a place to sit, they eventually found an empty bench under a tree just as some people got up to leave. They both slumped down and let out a long, exhausted sigh. 

Ari stared up at the branches coated by the golden glow of the afternoon sun, "Younghee."

"Hmm?"

"That girl's hair was really cool, wasn't it?"

Younghee laughed lightly, "yeah."

"I want to try it.."

"I can do it for you."

"Really?" Ari sat up excitedly but quickly pouted as she grabbed the ends of her hair, "but my hair's too short."

"That's true... should we get a wig?"

"That's not a bad idea.. but we could just do it with your hair."

"I thought you wanted to try it."

"Well if I can't then I want to do it for you." Ari suddenly jolted as her phone started to ring, "oh it's here. They said they're at the entrance."

Younghee sat up too, "let's go."

"No, you stay here, guard the bench," Ari smiled as she stood up, "I will be right back!"

"How does she still have so much energy.." Younghee smiled to herself as she watched the girl run towards the entrance, disappearing out of sight once she turned a corner. 

"Younghee."

"Oh my.. gosh!" She jumped at the sudden voice pulling her out of her daydream, calming down as she turned and saw Nari. "You scared me..."

"Can we talk?"