On Saturday afternoon, Jihong parked his car in front of the hotel. Around twelve, Jaekyung appeared. He opened the door and, throwing down his sports bag, for some reason slid into the passenger seat.

"How do you feel?"

Instead of answering, Jaekyung just shrugged his shoulders. This meant that things weren't so bad. And if he said that everything is fine, then his condition is very good. Jaekyung's fitness has remained high over the past few days. So much so that the insane levels of lactic acid metabolites looked like an outright lie.

«... Really... How did I even fall for this: not 8 or 9, but as much as 11.7 mmol," Jihon grinned quietly.

"Hyun, you look better than I expected

In response to a strange comment, after typing the destination into the navigator, Jihong asked, "Better than I expected? Is there something wrong with me?"

"Well, the competition will take place in two days, and then we will have a long conversation. So I assumed that you would be a little excited.

"What should I worry about?, - Jihong interjected. - I know, I know. You have a tone like they're over."

Jaekyung, grunting contentedly, leaned his elbow on the window frame.

"You're not going to run away as soon as the championship is over, are you?" What do you plan to do after that?

"Wow, have you learned to read thoughts now?"

Although Jihon fought back in a joking manner, he was sincerely surprised that his heart was pounding at a frantic pace. Noticing the change in his facial expressions, Jaekyung turned around and added, "I think I could write an entire dissertation about you now."

"Okay, let's go," Jihong muttered quietly and started the car.

                                                                                                 ***

An hour and a half later, they arrived in Incheon. Residential buildings for athletes are conveniently located next to the swimming pool, which was also the venue for the competition.

"Do you want to go to the pool or have lunch?"

Jihong decided to discuss the next plan after throwing his luggage into the hotel room, but they were suddenly interrupted by a knock. Before he could give permission to enter, the door swung open and a huge man burst in.

"Hey, Jaekyung!"

It was none other than Noah Kenny, calling his opponent by name with a natural accent. Blond hair, tanned skin, and a smile as dazzling as the sun made Jihon replay the words of his colleague in his head: "Wow, he... Anyone can understand that he is an Australian alpha."

"You should have warned me as soon as you arrived!"

The guy went straight to the bed where Jaekyung was sitting and immediately hugged him by the shoulders, playfully squeezing and cursing that he didn't run to say hello to him.

"Yes, yes

Jaekyung spoke nonchalantly, even when half-strangled.

"And we arrived on Monday!" exclaimed Noah, and then belatedly turned his attention to Jihon standing next to him.

"Who is it?"

Jihong took out his business card and handed it to Noah, "I'm Jung Ji-heon, Kwon Jae-kyung's manager."

When he greeted the guest in English, Noah glanced at the card and then at Jihon's face. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he shouted enthusiastically, "Berlin!"

His voice sounded so loud that Jihong flinched and unconsciously blurted out, "What?" in Korean.

— The 11th FINA tournament in Berlin, right? In 2013?

And before Jihong could answer, he squealed again: "Wow! Wow!"

And then he looked at Jaekyung with a sly smile while he was still unresponsive and expressionless.

«... You were that Berlin warrior," Noah muttered to himself and began to pronounce Jihon's name syllable-by-syllable, "Jung Ji Hong?.. Heoni..."

He tried to pronounce it in different ways, but suddenly raised his head: "Honey?"

And again, without waiting, he concluded: "Good! Then I'll call you Hani."

In just three minutes, Jihong fully captured the personality of the huge Australian alpha - inexhaustibly cheerful, sociable, noisy and distracting. He is the perfect embodiment of his type.

When Noah joined them, the schedule was determined naturally. Since Noah was hungry, they went to eat together. He even took the lead in choosing the cuisine, mentioning how much he missed steak and barbecue after a week of eating only Korean food. So Jihong took them to the family restaurant near the camp. Given that there were two swimmers sitting at the table, the amount of food they ate would be enormous. In addition, Noah has just finished his morning classes. Four plates of steak, two salads, a variety of appetizers and side dishes. Only half of what was stated was served, and the table was already bursting. In the end, they ate and ate and ate, removing the empty plates and putting new ones in their place. Even with the boys' relentless appetite, the conversation was casual, mostly dominated by Noah's speech, while Jihon only occasionally intervened and mocked the interlocutor's fuss.

Watching their interaction, Jihong understood why they were so close. Although Jaekyung remained relatively quiet, his friend's enthusiasm and chatter did not completely fade. Surprisingly, Jihong managed to capture the essence of the conversation. Six months of language courses turned out to be very valuable... or perhaps it was Noah's own ability to use simple sentences with relatively easy words. The athlete must have honed this skill by contacting foreigners at international competitions. The conversation revolved around Noah's memories, particularly of Jaekyong and their experiences when they trained together at the Victoria Aquatic Centre in Melbourne.

"Our sports complex has a swimming pool right on the roof. Technically, it is designed for children, but it is also ideal for recreation.

"yes, and it's both open and closed, depending on weather conditions

Hearing Jihon's remark, he opened his eyes wide, "How do you know?"

"I've been there before

Melbourne was the city where Jihon's first overseas internship took place after he was invited to the national team in high school.

"I trained there for a month, following their system

Both then and now, Australia was the best swimmer in the world along with the United States. I worked with Jihong with a wonderful team, learning from their experience. By the end of the offseason, everyone showed noticeable improvements in their own records. Jihong himself won a medal at the World Championships that fall. This achievement greatly inspired the entire swimming community. The federation probably recognized the effectiveness of this method, which prompted them to propose a vigorous implementation of a selection system to find experienced young swimmers. In fact, that same year, children who performed exceptionally well in the National Youth Sports Competition were sent to Australia for a winter break. Kwon Jaekyung turned out to be one of them.

It turns out that Jaekyung's trip to Melbourne had such a backstory. Come to think of it, the reason I became friends with him is because of you, Honey

"Stop it, you're going too far

Jaekyung's words were sharp as a blade. Noah clicked his tongue and playfully scolded him for being too heartless.

"We are friends and rivals, so your success and my merit too. Don't you understand?

— No, I don't

Jaekyung said again as he cut it off. Eating fries next to the steak, he added, "My record is so high now because of Jihon-hyun."

"Don't exaggerate

Jihong laughed it off, but with a more serious look, Jaekyung said, "It's true. It was because of you that I went to Australia for the first time and decided to continue improving there."

"No, wait, you denied everything a minute ago, didn't you?"

"It's just that Noah is too interested in you

Jaekyung mumbled, feigning some displeasure.

Jihong couldn't help but wonder if he was calcium deficient, considering how irritated he was at every little thing. But, still, he did not say his objections out loud, because this grumbler would get even angrier. It is much more effective to offer him a beef steak, which is just rich in trace elements.

"It doesn't matter. Here, take it better

He held out his fork to Jekyon.

Jihon intended to just give it to him, but the guy clearly pretended not to notice. And calmly he took a bite of meat right from his hands.

"Hey, you need to take a fork first, and then eat

Unintentionally, Jihon glanced at Noah, who was sitting across from him, and immediately fell silent.

"Honey, I think there's something here...

He grabbed Jihon's wrist abruptly and carefully lifted the sleeve of his shirt. There was a plaster on the inside of his forearm.

"Oh! So you hid it intentionally."

He examined the bandage so carefully that Jihon, taken aback, recoiled rudely from him.

"Wait, that's it!" Chip, huh?