Chapter 64: Swimming Instructor (1)
Winter turned to spring, and then into summer. Even without drama shoots or TV appearances, Ra-Eun had exercised every single day for the past year since it was her hobby as well as her specialty.
Ra-Eun headed to the fitness center under the scorching sun on a summer weekend. She had not gone there for weight training, but the swimming pool right next to the fitness center. One could also freely use the swimming pool if they had a membership with the fitness center.
Ra-Eun headed to the changing room after showing an employee her membership card.?Before going in, she peeked inside to check if there were people inside the changing room and if there were, how many. There happened to be no one inside.
‘All right!’
Ra-Eun speed-walked to the deepest area of the changing room and opened the locker to change into the swimsuit that she had brought. She bundled up her hair to stuff into her swimming cap; her long hair could be a nuisance to others in the water if she left it loose.
She quickly left the changing room and made her way to the pool.
‘It’s pretty empty today.’
She had expected it from the state of the changing room. The pool was not as crowded as usual; there were only seven people, including herself.
‘Well, that’s good for me.’
She stretched before going into the water. After slowly wetting herself with the water, she dived straight in.
Splash!
There was nothing better than swimming to alleviate the stress accumulated from the scorching hot weather. She caught people’s attention as she sped along the pool lane.
Ra-Eun gasped for air as she reached the end of the lane with a freestyle.
‘I haven’t swam in so long. It feels so good.’
She had gone to a water park with her friends last time, but people went to water parks to go on the rides, not to swim.
‘And I wore a bikini there.’
It still made Ra-Eun blush just from thinking about that day. Today, she was obviously not wearing a bikini, but a competitive swimsuit which was less embarrassing. However, that was only in relative terms; it was still embarrassing. She might have picked the wrong size because it was tight around her chest and butt.
“...”
She searched her surroundings while in the water.
‘No one’s looking, right?’
She stuck her hands into her swimsuit and pulled out the fabric that her butt had slightly eaten.
‘God, what a bother.’
There were tons of things bothering her, the greatest one being her hair removal.
‘I did it last week. It should be fine, right?’
Ra-Eun had done all sorts of things after becoming a woman. She held in her self-deprecating laugh.
“Oh, what are you doing here, Ra-Eun?”
At that moment, Ra-Eun was surprised by a familiar voice. Rita, who was wearing a similar swimsuit as her, approached her with a smile.
“Oh, how did you come here, sunbae?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Have you forgotten that we’re in the same agency?”
“Oh... that’s right.”
It could be because it was something that she did not want to remember, but she sometimes forgot that they were part of the same agency. This sports facility was partnered with GNF Entertainment, so all talents of GNF were allowed to use all of their facilities free of charge. Thinking about it that way, it was natural that Rita would be here.
Meanwhile, Rita pouted as her beloved junior gave her no attention.
“Can’t you give your sunbae some more attention?”
“I’m all out of attention to give you.”
“Tch, you’re so heartless.”
Rita should have gotten used to Ra-Eun’s behavior toward her by now, but it looked like she still hadn’t given up yet. Rita seemed to have taken a liking to Ra-Eun that much.
“Are you here to swim as well?” Ra-Eun asked.
“No, I’m here to learn.”
“You can’t swim?”
“Yup. There’s an underwater scene in my next music video, so I thought I might as well learn how to swim from a friend. But something suddenly came up, so they couldn’t make it.”
“Really?” Ra-Eun said as she got out of the water and sat on the ledge. “You can’t swim at all?”
“Yup, I’m like a beer bottle. I sink even when I’m staying still.”
“Even beer bottles float if they’re perfectly still. The same goes for the human body.”
Splash!
Ra-Eun went back into the water and gestured toward Rita.
“I’ll teach you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I won’t be as good as a swimming instructor, but I could at least teach you the basics.”
Ra-Eun had been swimming for ten years. It was no exaggeration to say that she was well-versed in most sports because she loved moving her body, and swimming was one of her specialties.
Rita was so excited that the junior that she liked would teach her how to swim that she fearlessly dived straight into the water. However, she belatedly noticed that her feet did not reach the ground and started waving her arms.
Huff, puff!
Rita barely managed to grab onto the ladder thanks to Ra-Eun’s help.
“Ahhh... I almost died.”
“I told you, didn’t I? People float on water even when they stay perfectly still. You’ll only sink further if you struggle like that.”
There was one thing that needed to be done before teaching Rita how to swim.
“We’ll have to get rid of your fear of water first.”
Ra-Eun realized from Rita’s actions just now that she had absolutely no idea how to swim. It looked like they needed to start from the very basics.
***
Three hours flew by in a flash as Ra-Eun taught Rita the very basics, such as paddling in the water with her feet, while getting rid of her fear of water.
Ra-Eun encouraged her while moving backward and holding Rita’s hands, “Yes, good. You’re doing very well.”
Rita was still a little stiff from her fear of water, but she was doing much better compared to two hours ago. Ra-Eun thought about letting go of Rita’s hands, but she was still not at that stage yet. And not only that, Rita might get mad at her if she did such a thing without notice.
Ra-Eun did not hate Rita; she simply found the latter hard to deal with. And not just that, but she did not want to harshly treat a sunbae who liked her.
Rita reached the end of the lane through sheer will.
‘I’ll admit, she has impressive stamina.’
Rita was undoubtedly a dancing singer. Any normal person would have been exhausted after all that, but she looked like she was still raring to go. They could still go on stamina-wise, but not time-wise.
“Let’s stop here for today,” Ra-Eun remarked.
“Already?”
“Yes. I have somewhere I have to be.”
Ra-Eun had been planning on heading back home after swimming for about an hour to warm up, but that had changed after encountering Rita.
“Okay. I guess it’s time for me to go too,” Rita said as she got out of the water and gestured to Ra-Eun. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Where else? To shower and change our clothes. You have plans, don’t you?”
“Oh...”
Ra-Eun’s face flushed red for a moment.
“I-I’m fine. You can go ahead first.”
Ra-Eun was against the idea despite them both being women. It was not because Rita was a dangerous person to be around while naked, but because she had never showered together with another woman while naked. Even on her trip to the water park with her friends last year, she had showered by herself because she could not stare at another woman’s naked body without feeling awkward. At first, she could not even stare at her own body, and had just barely gotten used to it. However...
‘I... can’t handle looking at someone else naked yet.’
Rita had no choice but to leave first because of Ra-Eun’s strong refusal. Ra-Eun sighed deeper than the depths of the pool.
“You goddamn idiot.”
She couldn’t bear how extremely pathetic she was today.
***
Rita arrived at a broadcasting station to record a music program. She trained by watching a swimming lesson video on repeat in the waiting room. Although she was not in water, she could still practice swinging her arms as if she was swimming.
Someone knocked on her waiting room door while she was practicing the motions of the freestyle that Ra-Eun had taught her.
“Hello, sunbae.”
“Oh, Ga-Ae. What are you doing here?”
The singer Han Ga-Ae had come to Rita’s waiting room to greet her.
“I’m here to say hello, of course. What are you watching?” Ga-Ae asked.
“Oh, this? A swimming video. Ra-Eun told me to watch it.”
“By Ra-Eun... do you mean Miss Kang Ra-Eun?”
“Yup, that’s right. Come to think of it, aren’t you girls the same age?”
.
“Yes.”
Ga-Ae was already aware that they were of the same age. It was obvious, since Ra-Eun was a hot topic in the entertainment industry. There was barely anyone who didn’t know her.
“I need to learn how to swim too...” Ga-Ae muttered.
“You too? Why? Were you also told by a director to learn how to swim for a music video like I was?”
“No, nothing like that. I just thought it’d come in handy if I learned how. You told me that the more I know how to do, the more opportunities I’d be able to grab hold of, didn’t you?”
Just like how a singer who cooked as a hobby was often casted for a cooking program, people with special skills received offers even without lifting a finger. Only those with versatile talents could dominate in the TV industry.
“Are you gonna keep learning how to swim from Ra-Eun, sunbae?”
“That wasn’t my intention at first, but it just happened.”
Ra-Eun had been teaching Rita how to swim twice a week. Since Ra-Eun was still a student, they met on Saturday and Sunday.
“Then sunbae, could you ask Ra-Eun something for me?” Ga-Ae asked.
“About what?”
“Please ask her if she could teach me how to swim as well.”
Ga-Ae asked Rita of such a thing because she thought it would be more comfortable to be taught by someone of the same age as her, and also because she wanted to take this chance to get closer to Ra-Eun. There were several reasons mixed into her request.
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