Silvia looked up at him, "I was trying to grab on before you fell in the pool."
"I mean, what are you doing here in this pool hall?" He started to get even more pissed over Silvia's seemingly unchanging blank face.
"I came to swim."
The short answers without much of an explanation started to irritate him.
"No one swims at night."
"I do." Silvia kept words to a minimum.
The guy was on the verge of snapping when Silvia suddenly remembered the question he was asking before this incident.
Placing her hands on his shoulder and widening her eyes, "Please, can you be my muse?" without an explanation, Silvia asked, finally showing some sort of emotion on her face.
The guy was taken aback as he felt her warm hands on his shoulders, and the distance got even closer between them.
Shit, not good.
The guy, who realised he was still holding onto her waist, decided to turn her around, "Hold onto the edge," he ordered her.
Silvia grabbed on, but the guy used his other hand to grab the edge on Silvia's other side, too, seemingly trapping her between his arms, without even enough space to move.
With his face flushed, trying to calm down, he did not want Silvia to see him like that.
"Um... so will you be my muse?" Silvia urged him for an answer.
"What the hell do you mean by that? Muse?" he was getting frustrated every second.
"I am an art student and I need a model," Silvia replied, still facing away from him.
"Why would I do such a useless thing. I train and compete for swimming, so I don't have time for your bullshit." He was very stern on this.
Hearing this, Silvia could not accept his answer.
It has to be him!
Pushing against his body as she tried to turn around to face him, but the guy was too quick as he grabbed her hand and held it in place on the edge.
"Please! I will do anything!"
If she turns around again, I don't think I can hold myself.
"Stop it, don't you know saying things like that to a strange guy is not good? Who knows what could happen? It's the middle of the night, and it's just you and me in the pool together. Are you not scared?"
He tried to frighten her, leaning in closer.
"Then can I know your name?" Instead, she replied with a question, showing no signs of fear.
"Why?" He asked with confusion in his voice.
"My name is Silvia Elowen, 1st year, traditional art student. What is your name? Can I not know?"
"I already know who you are," the guy mumbled under his breath.
"Sorry, I did not catch that." Silvia could not decipher his mumbles.
"Lucas Han, 1st year, Sports, Swim Team." In frustration, he replied quickly. Even though they were submerged in the cool water, Lucas's face could not seem to stop burning. Lucas's grip had now loosened, taking advantage of this, Silvia turned her head around.
"Now we are not strangers anymore, right?"
Silvia's face, now facing him, made him freeze. Silvia stared at him with glistening eyes, her face with a short smile that lasted a few seconds. Lucas's heart started to pound rapidly, it was like he had witnessed a rare phenomenon.
Did she just smile?
Silvia was up close as he stared at her lips, her plump lips now slightly parted, breathing in and out. He could feel the heat on his neck as she did, each breath sending shivers down his spine, and the hairs on his arms stood up. He was getting drawn into her intoxicating gaze with every passing moment. Drawing closer to Silvia's face, unblinking, not wanting to miss even a second, his lips close enough to feel hers.
"So... will you be my model now?" Silvia asked, drawing him back to reality, the trance broken.
"No, I don't have time for things like that." He moved aside, releasing her from between her arms and turning away. He pulled himself back up onto the ledge to put his swim cap back on. "As you can see, I am busy training all the time. So just get lost, I am not doing your stupid art thing."
Silvia pulled herself out too, hearing this, "It's ok, I won't take much of your time. I will just watch you as you swim! I plan to come swim here at night, too, so you don't have to do anything. Just let me watch."
Silvia did her best to persuade him. Leaning in towards him, her brows creased. "Please!"
Seeing that she was not backing down without a proper reason, one he did have for such a simple request, he pressed the temples of his forehead.
"Alright!" He said, feeling the loud actions as she pleaded, "On one condition."
She won't be able to do this and can finally leave me alone. Seriously, can't she just take no for an answer?
"If you swim freestyle 100m under less than a minute, I will allow you to watch. But if you don't, you can't come swim here at nighttime."
Silvia thought about it for a moment and looked at Lucas, "It's a deal. Streamline pushoff ok, or set position??".
[Streamline: Missile-like body position to move through he water more efficiently. Also used after pushing off walls.
Set position: The start position is used when they are at the edge, crowding forward and waiting for the beep to start a race.]
"Set position, of course, I am not gonna make it easy for you." Lucas scoffed.
She put on her swim cap, "Make sure to time me," she said, pointing at his smartwatch.
Lucas grinned, continuing to amuse her by getting the timer ready. She readied herself.
"Go!" He started the timer. Silvia dived in, going into a streamline position and made steady dolphin kicks. She then seamlessly transitioned into freestyle right at the 15 metre length as if it were second nature. She sprinted rapidly in the water, and Lucas could not believe his eyes at her level of skill.
Reaching the end of the length, she turns perfectly tucked in, planting her feet immaculately on the wall and pushing off with the final 50 left. Again, back to her streamlined position, she powered through the water, going into the freestyle.
Lucas was not expecting to witness this as she made the final lunge, touching the edge and popping her head out of the water. Right where Lucas was sitting down with his legs dipped in, Silvia came between them, resting her arms on the edge.
"It was under a minute, right?" A knowing grin at Lucas, waiting for him to say something. The timer beeped a few seconds after she touched the wall.
No fucking way. No way she did that. How?
He sat there stunned, unable to speak. Silvia stared at him in silence and waved her hand in front of his face.
"Hello? Lucas? I did it so you will let me watch, right? You are going to be my model? Right?"
Lucas watched Silvia, who seemed to be grinning at him, taking off her googles and swimcap. He felt a sudden heat looking at her. Silvia was barely seen with any expression, so seeing her smile twice today and her impeccable skills in the pool, he did not know what to say.
Suddenly noticing the position they were in and how close she was to him, he stood up and spedwalk as fast as he could towards the male changing room. "No. I was just kidding around. I am not going to be your model. Leave me alone!"
Silvia looked at him, confused, "Lucas? What? We made a deal!". She did not know what went wrong for this to happen. Understandably, she never interacted much with her peers outside of swimming, never really had friends, only swim teammates, and was always focused on her studies, competition, and family. So she wondered to herself if she had done something wrong.
Am I really such an unlikable person? I mean, people do not like to talk to me anyway... so I should not have expected so much. Still, I will try again because I have made my choice... it has to be him.
-----
Lucas slammed the door shut and walked over to his locker, hoving over it. "Shit, shit, shit!" He banged the door of his locker, thinking back on the situation. "What the hell was I thinking?"
Lucas, in fact, knew who Silvia was already. A couple of years ago, when they were 14, Lucas had seen her in a swim camp. But Lucas had seen her even earlier than that at 13, when she saw her compete in the Ravessa national age championship. He was trained in figure skating, and when one of his teammates was watching a live stream of their gym friends' swimming competition. One look and Lucas was smitten at the ripe age of 13.
Immediately, he had urged his parents that he wanted to compete in swimming instead of figure skating. He fought hard, and eventually he was allowed to. He gave it his all with the transition and finally reached the same level as Silvia. She was his inspiration, his need to keep winning. Wanting to stand in the same position as her, I met her once again.
Then he was equally shocked when Silvia suddenly vanished from the competitive scene at the age of 15, his long-awaited reunion with Silvia in the World Aquatics, only to have her forfeit and never come to swim again.
[World Aquatics: Swimming competition recognised worldwide, split into 'A' cut and 'B' cut. Being in 'A' allows you to qualify for the Olympics, while 'B' allows you to be on the waitlist if no one in your country gets 'A' or needs to fill the quota.]
Without understanding the whole situation, Lucas had come to hate Silvia. Not knowing why an accident like that was all it took for her to give up. Was he the only one trying his best to rise to the top? Was it just his solo desire to meet each other at the end of the goal?
Vowing to forget about her, he had focused on his own journey, winning every competition he could. Now, he had already competed in the Olympics as a bronze medalist and was rushing for the gold.
Now that he was all grown up, he had not expected to meet Silvia here. She was just as he had remembered her. Beautiful and breathtaking, not only in her beauty but in her swim form. These are the same skills that got him so addicted to swimming itself, so much so that he had pushed himself to compete in IM, too.
[IM or Individual medley: A competitive race where the swimmer swims in all four strokes, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.]
But there was something a bit different about her in other ways. The once expressionless Silvia, who did not even turn his way or give a thought to anyone or anything other than swimming, was eagerly pursuing him as a model. Seeing a smile on her face and the grown-up, mature body she was in now, Lucas could not help but keep thinking about her.
He dropped down onto the bench and placed his face on his hands, going over the situation, but the only thing he could think of was how her breath felt on his skin, burning, still aching for it. He started to feel hot. He remembered the shape of her waist around his arms, a comfort, a feeling he wanted more of. Feeling a growing stiffness, he could not help but blush.
Dammit, what the fuck is wrong with me? I am not a kid anymore to be getting into situations like this.
He grabbed his towel and headed towards the showers, turning on the cold water, trying to shake it off.