Hello Hurricane {English Translation}

4. Daniel - Oberstdorf - Day of qualification

"Well, you're just studying his technique, right?" Confused by his teammate's unusually intense reaction, Anders took his foot off the bench and positioned himself in front of Daniel. With a worried look in his eyes, Anders began to scrutinize Daniel. He looked pale. Somehow distracted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"No... um... I mean... yes, but... I'm fine." Daniel stuttered, his heart racing as if it was fighting for his life.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me." Anders looked him straight in the eye and Daniel had to muster all his willpower to withstand it. Somehow, Daniel even managed to twist his mouth to a crooked smile. Okay, it was more like a grimace, but it was the effort that mattered.

"No, er... alright... I just... I mean, how does he do that?" Daniel, rather preoccupied, tried to formulate a sentence composed of reasonably logical thoughts. The fact that he pressed his face against his knee, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with his relief, which anyone could have noticed all too easily.

"I don't know. But it's not as good as it's looked for a long time." Anders frowned at the Slovenians. Domen had just repositioned himself and jumped, agile, full of confidence, into his trainer's arms again. And the Norwegians weren't the only ones watching him curiously. The Germans also occasionally threw very curious glances at the Slovenian, who seemed completely engrossed in his exercises. One thing was absolutely true about Domen Prevc: he was very ambitious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, it's spectacular and everything, but vulnerable. It's not going to be as good as usual today." Anders shrugged, as if he didn't really know what he meant.

"It's often gone badly in training and then, later in the competition, he's been on top." Daniel reminded him, and he meant every word of it. He had complete confidence in Domen's abilities, though perhaps that wasn't quite appropriate for a rival whom he was attracted to.

"You've seen the same jumps as I have, haven't you?" Anders looked skeptically at the younger Norwegian again. This x-ray vision made Daniel much more nervous again. Did Anders suspect something? Was he using his own words against him? Again, his damn pulse shot up, and he felt the telltale heat spread across his cheeks.

"Yes, but I think he'll surprise us." Daniel forced himself to answer calmly, as he watched

Domen vanish into the container opposite them, much happier now.

Anders thoughtfully followed Daniel's gaze, which seemed sadly lost in the void. Something was up. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Daniel replied with a smile. "For real! Don't look at me like that. Worried. Everything is okay "

"No, I think there's something going on with you..."

"No, you're wrong. For real. Maybe I'm a little nervous. Nothing more." Daniel added a little more firmly and swallowed the lump which sat unpleasantly in his throat. He would never be able to tell them. And he hated having to lie to everyone.

Anders watched his teammate closely. Daniel hid his face from him and continued his exercises, which practically forced Daniel to turn away from him. But he had seen the young Norwegian's eyes, and one thing was clear to him: Daniel wasn't good at all. Something was bothering him, and not just since yesterday.

"Hey, do one of you want to join our team?" Richard Freitag came running up to them. "The first ones are on their way to the hill, so-""I'll join in!" Daniel burst out eagerly, even before the German had been able to finish speaking, which earned him astonished looks from all sides.