COLLIDE [PARK SUNGHOON]

5.

"Ye-Jun, you're here already?" I am met by a practising Ye-Jun in the empty rink with a few colour lights shining down on him, his face deep in thought. He nods and I quickly start putting on my skates so as not to waste any more time. This is the first training I have with him after my training session with Sunghoon and I'm very excited to work on our choreography again.

"So I've been thinking and maybe we could do that trick where you lift me in the air, you know that trick where you end up using one hand to hold me up" His head shoots up and his lips pout in agreement. 

"Yeah maybe that could work" He goes back to practising his footwork and starts to really feel like it when I get up to join him on the rink. It's a strange feeling to be back on wheels, as just a few days ago I spent hours on the ice.

"Okay let's start from the beginning and then when the main part of the song comes we can add that?" I ask. We've practised this move quite often, but never used it much in competitions. "Okay, okay I think I get it." Sending smiles to each other we do our moves, following the music as we glide and spin. When the time comes, I give him a firm nod.

He manages to lift me up and once I'm balanced I let go of my one hand, trembling slightly. Okay, that's something to work on. He gently steers me down and smirks. "Not bad, not bad"

"Thank you, but it could use some more practice, though" I think about my balance and get lost in my thoughts, dreaming about our competition. It's only two more weeks and after that we have a small break and if we win then we get to move on to Internationals, otherwise we compete in minor leagues. Our club loves to move on and seize every opportunity.

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"Yah! Dahlia, I've been screaming your name for ages!" yells Chae-Won, yanking me back by my backpack as I pull out my airpods. She sighs upon seeing them. "Of course you were listening to music. Anyway how was your skating session with Sunghoon?" She wiggles her eyebrows oddly.

I think back to last week and shrug. "He showed me the routine he wanted to do, I just need to practice a lot, but his competition is in two months, so plenty of time to sharpen my technique, besides, we are training again tonight."

She squeals and claps her hands in delight as we reach a much happier Eun-Ji. "Why are you so giddy?" Eun-Ji chuckles and I nod in agreement. "Yes Chae-Won, why are you so giddy?" Eun-Ji and I both cross our arms and send each other a smirk. Chae-Won raises her hands as if to defend her.

"Nothing, I just think Dahlia and Sunghoon are getting acquainted well." She's the one smirking now as my face falls into a death glare. "You wish, I still don't like that dork, but he's bearable and a good skater and actually he's not as bad as we thought, he's-" I start to rattle on, but realise my friends are now sending knowing smirks at each other. Did I just insult Sunghoon, but then defend him?

"Whatever... it's not what you think it is, I'm doing this for you guys." I remind them again, turning around to go to our first period of this cold, rainy morning.

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The rain hasn't ceased since this morning and I bite my lip in thought. If only I had brought an umbrella.

Sunghoon and I have agreed to practice once again and I'm just grabbing my training clothes from my school locker as I hear the loud drizzle of rain outside. He's probably already at the rink, so I decide to quickly make my way through the rain. Better now than never, besides, I won't melt away or drown, so that's another reason to keep going. As I exit the school building, the rain immediately soaks me. Great.

Securing the hood of my hoody over my head so it won't be blown away by the wind, I make my way to the building that has taken on a more important role in my life. Today we'll be watching the routine he and his partner recorded before she got injured and I would learn the first few steps, it's also the day his trainer will watch us and assess whether I'm good enough to be his partner. No stress at all, nope no stress.