HIM AND I

16:" My ice-prince...."

Byeol's

It was my turn to go. Niki had just given a remarkable performance as usual, but I was going to give it back to her. Once Again by Kim Na Young and Mad Clown started.

Riki's

I stared at Byeol, still in my corner, thinking that her performance would be even more catastrophic than before. But something had changed, she didn't give off stress anymore, just nostalgia. Suddenly her music started. I was surprised. "Don't tell me..." She was skating to Once Again, Jungwon's favorite music, the one he had used at the Olympics the years before.

Her moves, her jumps, everything was wonderful, she was crushing the performances from before. She was not the music, she was the sport itself. The audience was shocked, they must have known that it was to pay tribute to Jungwon, because he had also engraved the memories of everyone with this song. Tears flowed from my eyes, without me realizing it. I felt sorrow. When I saw her, I saw Jungwon, our memories, our childhood, our laughter, our memories. I was so obsessed with my success that I forgot the love I have for them. I didn't even cry for Jungwon, because I was in another world. Did he come to punish me? No, she just shows her pain, her sorrow, her lack to the audience, she talks to us, she opens herself to us. That's why... She makes me realize my wickedness....At the same time, she finishes. Her posture was delightful, elegant. She is elegance itself, she shows us how elegant, graceful, classy figure skating is. She is the sport, she is a legend and she will remain in the history of figure skating. Her eyes met mine. They were soft, they smiled at me, as if they were teaching me a lesson but gently. I regret.... I overestimated myself, blinded myself, and forgot who I really was. My former self would be disappointed, Jungwon would be disappointed. No he would hug me and say, you're back....Byeol's The audience would applaud me and throw gifts at me. I was happy, Jungwon was there with me, I paid homage to him by skating one last time.When I left, my friends complimented me and gave me a hug. Sunghoon smiled at me and said that he knew, that he believed in me. "I have to admit that you were right Byeol, I was a real jerk to you, and I apologize. You were right, I was only thinking about my popularity and more about my love for you and skating. Sorry...""Don't worry coach the most important thing is that from now on you always treat us like your children!" "And the winners of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are .... Nishimura Riki and Park Byeol!" Everyone applauded us. Sunghoon came in second place with Ryunjin. He was disappointed that he didn't beat Riki but he was happy anyway. "Sorry Byeol...."My head turned to the one on my left."I was a jerk to you because all I could think about was beating you. I wanted you to feel the pain you made me feel, but I realized that was stupid of me.""Don't worry Niki, I betrayed you on my end so you had every right to be mad at me even though it was pretty hard. I never blamed you, on the contrary, I blamed myself because it was my fault that you were like that. We're even now." I took him in my arms and a new friendship was created. We reconstructed the exact same picture, which I had made several years before with Jungwon. We were happy and proudly showed our first place. "Look Yoru, our dream has come true!