"The whole campus knows. Figure skater Aria, a wonderful prodigy. Better than other skaters her age. Broke countless international records. Made it to nationals at just twenty-one. Yet she dropped out during the semi-finals, finally faced with skat...
**tw — the following chapter includes content that may be triggering to some readers such as mentions of blood, death and other themes. Reader discretion is advised.
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WINTER, 2014
THE RINK was Aria's stage. She bathed in the spotlight. In the claps and cheers. In the glory that came with winning.
She loved all of it.
It wasn't a surprise to see the golden trophy carelessly clutched in her hands. The other contestants scrutinised her with envy. They desperately wanted to hold the winning prize. Just once. But the rink was a jungle and only the most talented survived.
Two ladies sat ahead of Jungkook. They came to watch their daughters compete. At least they had a reason to attend the event, what about him? Why was he watching obnoxious Aria's competition?
One of the ladies scoffed. "Isn't that the prodigy everyone keeps talking about?"
"Yes, Ms. Choi," the other woman confirmed.
"Why are they letting someone like her participate in the under seventeens?" Ms. Choi asked.
She wasn't waiting for an answer though. Rather, she sought validation for her animosity towards a young child that had done nothing wrong.
And promptly, her companion was there to serve it. "Then again, Isabella has connections right and left," she said, her mature face twisted into a scowl, "who knows if she's even as talented as people make her out to be. Seeing her performances, this prodigy isn't even all that. Your daughter did so much better than that crook, Ms. Choi."
Crook. Wasn't that word too harsh for child? Aria didn't deserve to be insulted because she was better than the rest. Because figure skating came easier to her than the rest. And Jungkook didn't know who Ms. Choi's daughter was, but he knew she didn't do better. No one among the participants could compare to Aria. If anyone thought otherwise, they were delusional. He was an objective bystander and as such, he objectively picked out the best figure skater among the bunch.
It was Aria.
She didn't get her titles through any dishonest means. Instead, she deserved every single one of them.
But the women were blinded by their own envy. They couldn't see what he saw.
"Girls like that give me the chills. Both the mother and daughter have no shame," Ms. Choi said. The other lady nodded her head in agreement.
Jungkook could have said something. Anything.
Didn't his mother teach him better than that? She told him to stand up for people that couldn't. So why didn't he? Why did he silently listen to that atrocious conversation? The character of someone he knew personally was slandered. Yet, he sat there listening silently.
