Eyes on Ice [EDITING]

EYES ON ICE - 09

IX. Don't Cry at My Tombstone

"Here comes his signature move.. a quadruple loop at the second half of the program! That is incredibly amazing!" the commentator said from the television in Oliver's house where the four skaters and three coaches eat at the dining table while watching. "In order to pull off that jump at the second half, one must have a great amount of stamina. He looks tired considering the quads he executed from the first half but he still managed to nail it. As expected from the clean freak of Russia."

"Bakit clean freak, Sir?" Mavi asked Oliver, glancing at his coach for a second and then at the television.

Oliver drank water from the glass before answering, "though he has multiple quads in his free skate, it never looked messy when he performs it. Bilang na bilang ang beses na magkamali siya sa jump elements, lalo na ro'n sa quad loop. When he does it at the second half, reporters consider it at his signature move. Anyway, both of his short program and free skate are always clean kaya clean freak ang tawag sa kaniya. You'd often hear that from commentators if nanonood ka ng competitions niya."

"Ito, Sir? Manonood ng competitions sa men's singles?" Jess commented and uttered a tsk as a sign of disapproval. "Programs po sa women's singles ang pinapanood niyan. I remember one time he even asked me if I'm close to one of the female skaters at the internationals."

"Hey, I never did that!" Mavi defended himself.

"Baka naman kasi warm-ups mo ang pinapanood," Dravie interrupted, grinning.

"Shut your mouth there, Valdez," answered Mavi with cheeks all flushed as their coaches chuckled. He just continued eating while distracting himself in watching the men's free skate in the World Team Trophy season 2021.

"Now for the scores.. Maxim Belyaev in men's free skating.." All of them could almost hold their breaths, with enthusiasm filling the mood inside. Their eyes were fixed in front, and though the food smelled and tasted nice, it didn't matter at the very least. "207.54! He is the winner for the men's singles with a total score of 309.59! Team Russia leads on the current standings as they rack up 21 points from the men's free skating," the announcer said.

Mavi's eyes were wide when he put the glass of water on the table after drinking on it. "Gago," he whispered. "That's fucking amazing. Sobrang taas ng score. It's like he just casually walked past the three hundred point barrier. Bakit ang seryoso ng mukha niya?"

"Almost seemed like he expected victory," Sir Ryan answered with his hands below his chin, eyes focused in front. "I mean, hindi mo naman siya masisi. It's not like he's full of himself or he got lucky at his guess. His moves and skating skills.. kahit sino sigurong makakakita ay sigurado nang mananalo siya. Not to mention, his performance is really clean. His casual look and actions at the kiss and cry.. that's really professional. Well, not that I'm saying na hindi professional kapag nagtatalon-talon ka ro'n while you're announced the winner."

As they watched the Russian skater gently bump his fist at his side in the kiss and cry, Jess commented, "he doesn't look like he's friendly but he also doesn't look like he's mean. Nakapunta na po ba kayo sa mga competitions niya?"

The three coaches stare at each other as if they were trying to remember something. Sir Peter then snapped his fingers and said, "if I'm not mistaken, one of my seniors when I haven't started in coaching yet told me there was this one skater whose programs, both the short and free skate were clean. Sa tingin ko ay Challenger Series ang pinuntahan niya kasama ang representative ng Philippines. Maybe he's pertaining to that skater from Russia."

"This Maxim Belyaev.. sa palagay ko ay sinasalihan naman niya ang lahat ng international competitions ng ISU. He's already a senior we didn't see him kasi junior 'yong last year na pinuntahan ni France, Mavi, at Jess," Oliver uttered.