WITH GRACE.

30장

the sweet victory and moment of triumph was soon followed by another wave of anxiety.

sunghoon's return to the competitive figure skating field in what might be the last time he will challenge himself on the ice rink drew nearer. the crew had a celebratory feast for themselves right after they bagged the first place award, but sunghoon left as soon as the meal ended and hurried to practice his glides, jumps and spins. i turned down the meal invitation and was simply resting at home.

"did you have fun?" i asked the two upon their arrival.

"we did, but we don't know about sunghoon hyung, noona," dongkyu answered with a frown.

"why? did anything bad happen to him?"

"it's not like that, noona. sunghoon hyung left early, that's why. he left as soon as he finished eating and we think he's gone to practice," jungwon explained.

i look at the clock and saw that it was already ten in the evening.

"do you think he's still practicing right now?" i asked the two.

"maybe. hyung is very hardworking, serious and diligent about practices, noona. he often stays later than the rest of us during training hours," jungwon recalled.

i pondered for a while and finally decided.

"would you two be alright by yourselves if i leave right now?"

"we can take care of ourselves, noona. no need to fret. are you going to follow him?" i nodded at dongkyu's question.

soon, i was able to leave our apartment. i rode on a bus for around half an hour. the skating rink sunghoon practices at was quite a distance from our place. thankfully, i arrived there five minutes before the expected arrival. the ride was smooth because there were only a handful of cars tonight.

the skating rink was familiar even to me. it was the place where sunghoon and i first met, a place where my mother also used to visit. after all, she was also a figure skater.

i took a seat on the same area where i observed sunghoon glide across the rink for the first time. my memory may be vague, but the scene i'm beholding right now is itching in familiarity.

sunghoon attempted a triple axle. it was beautiful, but tragic. he fell to the floor, failing to perfect the move. just like when we were kids, he laid still on the ice for a long while ㅡ not minding the coldness. when he finally stood up, he was able to spot me in the distance. there was an adorable look of wonder in his eyes and i smiled at him. he went close to where i was.

"eunhye?"

"sunghoon?" i playfully replied.

"what are you doing here?"

"i'm freeloading. the air conditioning here is quite strong, the ones at home can't even compare,"

chuckling, sunghoon responded.

"of course. this is a skating rink and the floor literally thrives on intensely cold conditions. how did you even get in here without the membership?"

"well, the guard was kind enough to let me in. i guess he recognized me from the times i went with you during your practices,"

"oh,"

"is it tough, sunghoon-ah?"

"a little, but i deal with them better now."

"really?"

"how could i not? the scolding i got from you stuck quite seriously," he smiled, but i pouted.