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"good morning young skaters! a new student will be joining us today."
the little children looked at the girl who was hiding behind her mom.
"i'll get going now sweetie. enjoy."
"alright everyone. this little girl over here is choi gyuri. let's make her feel comfortable alright?"
the teacher said, gently pushing gyuri towards the kids.
gyuri stood at the end of the line, nervously playing with her fingers.
"hi. i'm park sunghoon."
she looked up to see a boy smiling at her.
she slowly started to calm down.
"hi sunghoon, i'm gyuri."
"what are you so nervous about?" he asked.
"well, i'm not used to being around a lot of people. and i don't really have friends to talk to here yet."
"consider me as the first!"
"huh?"
"i'll be your friend gyuri."
he took her hand and led her to the benches.
"come on, let's get you skating."
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"sunghoon, i'm doing it!!" gyuri happily mentioned as she skated nicely towards the other end of the rink.
sunghoon watched his friend successfully reach the end of the rink without falling.
it made him feel good.
she skated towards the exit and sunghoon followed along.
"hey sunghoon, here, have one." gyuri offered after grabbing two bottles of almond milk from her bag.
"i guess my mom accidentally put two here. i can't drink all of these so here have the other one."
"wahh i never had one before, does it taste good?" he asked grabbing one from her hand.
"it's the best." she answered giving him a straw.
"gyuri! your mom's here."
the two kids looked to see her mom waving at them.
"i'll go now sunghoon. consider the milk as a thank you gift for guiding me today. see you tomorrow!" gyuri smiled and patted sunghoon's shoulder.
"take care."
2 years later
"gyuri focus. you almost got it." sunghoon cheered at the girl who was practicing for the competition.
gyuri took a deep breath before performing her solo piece.
"come one choi gyuri. you got this."
she skated in the middle of the rink.
it was going good. all that was in her mind was acing this by doing it perfectly. on mistake is failure to her.
suddenly she tripped.
luckily, she didn't fall. but was frustrated at herself.
"come on gyuri!" she scolded at herself violently stomping her feet until she fell on the cold floor.
sunghoon sighed. he once again saw gyuri shouting at herself.
he entered the rink and helped the girl stand up.
"come on gyuri. you're only 7. stop putting so much pressure on yourself."
"i just don't understand how are you so good when we are literally the same age and here i am never getting an easy dance right." she ranted while exiting the rink.
she removed her skates having enough for today.
sunghoon watched her get textbooks and sat on the floor.
"what are you doing?"
"i'm doing my homework. my dad's been getting really mad because i focus more on my solo performance than my studies." she said while writing her answers."
"you're a busy kid."
"don't you go to school sunghoon? why don't you have any homework?"
"i do, but my parents always said to prioritize the things i enjoy, because you know what they say, you only live once." he said sitting down beside her.
"well, you're gonna need to study soon enough for the future." she joked.
"i don't need to. i'm gonna grow up being the best figure skater ever in korea." he said.
"really?"
"really."
"promise me that will happen then." she said sticking out her pinky.
"i will. if you promise me to support me forever." he responded and locked their pinkies together.
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the next day after that, gyuri arrived extra early for class. she had a little bit of confidence since she knew sunghoon will be there to help her.
but when she arrived at their spot, he wasn't there.
instead, she saw him at the other side of the room.
"um- excuse me, may i borrow sunghoon from you guys?" gyuri politely asked the other kids.
"oh- uh i'm actually gonna help them for today. that's okay with you right?" sunghoon asked.
"oh okay. have fun!" gyuri faked a smile and went back to her spot.
days, passed. sunghoon and gyuri barely spoke to each other compared to the old days.
as much as gyuri wanted to have fun with her friend, she didn't have the control to choose his friends.
competition day came. gyuri was nervous as hell. without sunghoon guiding her, her confidence went low.
she stood beside the entrance of the rink watching her competitors with no expressions on her face.
she wanted to take this serious.
it's either she will succeed or she will be nothing.
"gyuri, good luck!" the little girl heard and faced the boy who ignored her for days.
"thanks." was all she said and focused back to the person who's currently performing.
sunghoon felt something odd.
"is everything alright-"
"next is from ages 5-8 choi gyuri!"
"i have to go." she said and walked to the rink without looking back.
gyuri took one last deep breath. she wanted to win. doing her best won't lead her to anything.
the music started. her intro was already beautiful. people stared in awe.
gyuri smiled when she noticed the audience were enjoying her performance.
suddenly, she made eye contact with sunghoon. she got distracted and then the worst thing she expected happened.
"gyuri be careful!"
she lost balance.
people gasped.
as much as she wanted to exit the rink, she stood up and continued her performance.
the rest of her piece was perfect. everybody even forgot about her fall, but gyuri didn't care. she cared about the judges' point of view.
but she saw the judges' not so impressed looks.
so she sighed and quickly exited the rink.
"mom. mom!" the little girl cried, looking for her mother.
she found her mom and quickly hugged her, crying her eyes out.
"mom, i want to quit."
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sunghoon waited for his friend to arrive.
he saw gyuri's mom but there was no gyuri with her.
"thank you so much for having us coach. i guess gyuri was just having to much pressure. her dad wanted her to be the best in class and she hates disappointing him." gyuri's mom chuckled.
"it was nice to have gyuri experience this for 2 years. she's gonna grow up as a beautiful and successful lady."
sunghoon heard the two older people talk.
the little boy's smile faded after what he heard.
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gyuri forgot about figure skating. literally.
she focused on her studies so much, she barely remembers her horrible past.
and for sunghoon, he continued figure skating and decided to erase his childhood memories too. it's for the best.
both became introverted and cold ever since that day.
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