༊*·˚ fools
the lights were blinding so hyerin couldn't make out anyone in the audience which helped her slight stage fright; it'd been a long time since she'd performed so she was anxious that something could go wrong.
her confidence grew as she slid, spun and jumped in the air performing the choreography she could do it in her sleep if she really wanted to. she knew it better than the back of her hand.
she knew it better than she knew donghyuck.
donghyuck.
her eyes searched the crowd for him but he wasn't there.
renjun, jeno, jaemin were all there - chenle and jisung even showed up. dongyoung was sat a few rows across with johnny and mark. people who she didn't expect to be there were there. and he wasn't.
she didn't know what she expected of course he wasn't going to be here.
hyerin continued performing her choreography as if her life depended on it so she ended up forgetting about donghyuck's absence and continued skating until the last beat of her song.
when it finished, she stood poised in the final position and the crowd erupted in cheers and claps as her chest heaved up and down. however, from the corner of her eyes, she saw someone sliding through the crowd facing her.
the leather jacket and fluffy hair made it obvious who it was.
she couldn't believe her eyes.
somehow, they locked eyes from across the room and his eyes. he looked tired. even with the lack of illumination, his eyes still sparkled.
quickly, she turned back around and went behind the curtains, taking off her skates as soon as possible so she was comfortable and running to the bathrooms to take a breather. what was going on?
the "breather" turned into her hyperventilating and before she knew it tears were falling down her cheeks and she didn't even know why. why was she so sensitive? what was getting her so emotional?
after blowing her nose and walking out the bathrooms with her head down, she ran into someone.
donghyuck.
his eyes searched hers looking for something she couldn't quite figure out what it was. but seeing her eyes puffy and nose red - seeing her vulnerable - made him want to wrap his arms around her, embrace her, hold her.
"what do you want?" she asked in a mildly annoyed tone.
he opened his mouth to speak but seemed to choke on his words. "you- you did good today. just now."
he was... praising her?
"thanks."
his eyes dug deeper. "are you okay?"
she wiped under her nose and flashed him a smile. "perfectly dandy."
she ran off and met her uncle and friends out.
words of praise rang into her ears from everyone that had come to see her and she couldn't wipe the smile from her face the whole time.
just a few minutes later, the winners were announced and everyone was hoping and praying that she would get at least in the top three. the whole row was filled with everyone having their fingers crossed.
"in second place... moon hyerin!"
she sat in disbelief as the cheers and claps echoed around her. if it wasn't for myunghee pushing her to grab the trophy, she would've continued to be in a daze.
while collecting the trophy, she saw him in the crowd and he seemed to have a genuine smile on his lips. he was happy for her. for once.
after the small awards ceremony, others headed back for kiya's game at the school including hyerin after a quick change of clothes. she hopped into myunghee's mum's car and before they could drive off, her uncle came to see her at the window.
"when it finishes, call me so i can pick you up, okay?"
she nodded her head.
"have fun and stay safe."
with that, the trio and other boys went to their high school to watch the game. hyerin sat next to myunghee and the whole time she could see that her friend was in awe at the girl playing below. she simply couldn't keep her eyes off her. so much so that it got hyerin rolling her eyes and grinning.
"you're really unobvious, you know that right?" she whispered to her.
myunghee appeared confused.
"you totally can't see that you like her."
"say it louder, i don't think the people behind us heard."
hyerin gasped. "so you admit it!"
myunghee's eyes widened. "okay, shut up we'll talk about this later."
she would try to avoid speaking on the subject at all costs but if that's what hyerin wanted then she would let it be.
after the game, myunghee gave kiya a hug that seemed too personal but nobody would seem to notice other than hyerin so she let it pass. not even dongmin had taken note because he was looking elsewhere.
after congratulating their friend, the group moved to the front of the school to be picked up by hyerin's uncle.
"so we're not going home just yet," he announced as he turned out of the parking lot. "i organised a little something for you."
hyerin looked at her two closest friends who had grins on their faces. "did you two take part in this?"
"it's nothing special," her uncle continued. "it's just a little dinner with some of your friends to celebrate your comeback into the ice skating world."
"are you serious? what do you mean that's nothing special?" she slapped his bicep.
upon pulling up at the restaurant, johnny and dongyoung as well as mark and renjun and jaemin were already there.
"who else is supposed to come?" she questioned.
"jeno, chenle, jisung and donghyuck are missing," he responded.
"they're on their way," renjun announced. "traffic."
"we can start heading in, then."
one by one, they all went into the restaurant and a massive table towards the centre back of the restaurant had balloons and decorations on the table you'd think it was hyerin's birthday.
jeno, chenle, jisung and donghyuck then all arrived together so she assumed they'd arrived all in the same vehicle. chenle and jisung sat opposite her, jeno beside jaemin and donghyuck with dongyoung and johnny at the other side of the table from where hyerin sat.
it ended up being a pretty interesting evening; they ate then time for pictures came and everyone wanted a picture with hyerin so she stood in the same spot as people came to her. donghyuck didn't even move. he was still sat at his chair at the table talking to johnny who stood in front of him. it seemed like they were talking about her because johnny was speaking and looking at her.
she tried to ignore it and went to mingle with the others, however, a while later someone softly grabbed her arm and when she turned around to see who it was she was surprised to see donghyuck standing behind her.
"can we talk outside, please?"
she considered saying no but she was curious as to what he had to say so she agreed to speak with him and he dragged her out by the arm to the patio.
"what do you want, donghyuck?" she snatched her arm away from his grip. "one moment you hate me, the next you're telling me i did a good job and looking deep into my eyes-"
"i'm sorry."
her lips pursed shut up. "you're sorry for what exactly?"
"i'm just sorry for not being there," he mumbled.
"it's whatever. it's not like you can turn back time and mend things."
"i know but we can go from here," he spoke, softly.
"why? why do you want us to be a thing again after so long of not even wanting to hear my name? what did you hear?" she crossed her arms.
"nothing, hyerin, i just want to be your friend again. for fuck's sake isn't this what you wanted?"
she scoffed. "what i wanted? so it's just me who wants it to go back how it was? you're doing this for me?"
"i'm doing it for me, too. but you make it so difficult."
"i make it difficult? me?" she shouted.
"yes, you! you're being so defensive. i'm trying to resolve things and you're acting like this! don't you wanna fix things anymore?" he lowered his brows.
"to be honest, i don't even know anymore."
he knitted his eyebrows together. "what does that mean?"
"it means what i said. i don't know if i want to be friends with you again."
he took a step closer to her, looking worried. "what did i do? what made you change your mind?"
"never mind, donghyuck."
"hyerin, please, fucking communicate with me," he begged, growing stressed.
"you left me when i needed you most without a fucking word of explanation. you don't look at me for a year and then when you do you treat me like shit, again, without a fucking explanation as to why you decided to do that." she poked his chest with each sentence. "now you're almost begging back for me? you're one to talk about communication." she scoffed.
"i'm sorry, i don't- i don't know what you want me to do or say," he stammered.
"nothing you can do or say will change shit, donghyuck. unfortunately or fortunately, it's like that." with that, she walked back inside the restaurant, raked a hand through her hair and put a smile on her face.
<3
why have i not updated in a month? well i had uni then went on vacay to see my family and i got sick and i'm still recovering so my motivation is below the ground BUT i at least have this chapter so see you guys in another month /: