My Secret Lover

Chapter 23

Pov. Jake Sim*

"Clean practice, boys! Now go home and eat something decent!" our coach shouted from the edge of the rink. Exhausted, Jay patted me on the shoulder, but my gaze was fixed on the ground.

It was more scratched than usual. An important match was coming up soon, so training was harder and more intense than normal.

Suddenly I could hear loud and fast scratching on the ice. One look told me that it was Riki, who must have wanted to dust me full of ice. However, he stumbled while braking. Sunoo caught him, but from the impact, they both fell on Jay, and it ended up with all three of them sliding around on the ice like penguins.
"YA, Riki! Are you trying to kill me?" Jay roared angrily and pushed the two younger boys away from him. "You're lucky you're allowed to train with us because of the important match, you little rascal!" he growled, rising, and gripping his aching back. "Does Angry Bird need a cigarette?" laughed Jungwon, putting an arm around the older one. "No!" he hissed rolling his eyes, tearing himself away from the younger one and leaving the ice. "Hyung! It was just a joke, come on!", wept Jungwon, following Jay.
"What the... Mr. Kang, what is this? How can I let my students train on this demolished ice? My students can get seriously injured like this! Look at the surface, are you out of your mind?" All eyes wandered to Ms. Jung, Sunghoon and Namra's coach, who was angrily clasping her hands on her hips. "You figure skating jerks had your competition recently. We have an important match coming up, so you have to expect the ice to look rancid after practice! Also, the coach's ice rink Excel list said that no one else would use the ice after the hockey players!" our coach yelled even louder. Annoyed, Ms. Jung turned to Sunghoon and Namra. She had a hand on his shoulder. Unconsciously, I bit my lower lip.

How did I always get jealous so quickly?

"Jake, are you coming? We want to go to the internet café," Heeseung asked, who had just come from the gym and was apparently waiting for me.

Because of his injured ankle, he was still not allowed to train on the rink, but only in the gym. The danger was too big that he would twist his ankle and therefore sit on the bench for the rest of the season. Because of that, he could literally kill Riki, that's how pissed off he was about the actually stupid accident. But he kept his composure and tried not to let his anger show.

My gaze wandered unnoticed to Hoon, then back to him. "I'm going to train a little more at the gym," I replied, whereupon he looked at me puzzled. "Uni, tutoring, training, and then gym? Don't you want to end the evening with a round of CoD?", Hee tried to persuade me, but I refused. He looked at me skeptically.

I became anxious. Did he suspect something? Did he know something? All day I had been thinking that he knew Hoon had been at my place last night. What if Nam had told him that Sunghoon was gambling at my place? After all, she stalked him with the Snapchat location to give him back his stupid jacket. I'm sure she wondered why her lover was at my place and must have asked Heeseung.
Although... no...
Knowing Hee, he would have called me out on it long ago if he had caught wind of it. But why did he look at me so skeptically?

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" he pecked out worriedly, I immediately shook my head. "No, everything's fine!"
"You sure? We're best friends, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?" He raised a brow questioningly. "Nothing happened! I just want to train a bit for the upcoming match."
"Jake, you are always so ambitious! How could I forget... Otherwise, let's train together, I'll quickly let Jay and the others know," Heeseung suggested. "What, no! Don't bother, I'll do some training on my own. Enjoy the free time, I'll see you again tomorrow at uni," I tried to talk my way out of the whole thing. He looked at me, undefined, and crossed his arms thoughtfully in front of his chest. "Well, if there is something, you have my number. Write to me unabashedly if something does come up! See you tomorrow. Here: It's going to be cold tonight... Fighting!" he said a little disappointed, threw me his all-familiar leopard beanie, and walked towards the exit to join the others. "Thanks..."

Now I felt guilty...

I slowly moved off the ice, put on the beanie, sat down on the stand with the racket, and pretended to be busy putting my things in the bag. The hall emptied, and only Ms. Jung, Mr. Kang, Hoon, and Nam were still present. The hockey players gradually disappeared, whereupon Hoon's individual training with Ms. Jung began.

His cheeks were a little reddish. Due to the cold in the hall, light clouds of smoke spread after his breathing.

He looked at me for a moment, my chest suddenly grew warm, and I felt my heart beating a little faster than I would have wanted.

Damn, I loved that guy.

He began his choreography. My eyes were mesmerized by Sunghoon's elegant and delicate movements. He controlled each step with such ease. His dark hair fluttered in the wind, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. I could have looked at him for hours.

(...)

It was about eleven at night. Ms. Jung had already left half an hour ago and Sunghoon continued training alone. At some point, I walked down from the bleachers and noticed that I still had my skates on.

Wow. As if I had forgotten these...

I put my arms on the railing and looked at Sunghoon. "You're still here? I hope it's not because of me. Come on, you must be tired. Go home, I'll see you tomorrow!" laughed Sunghoon who slid to the barrier, reached for his water bottle, and took a sip from it.
"I'm staying!"
A sheepish grin flitted across his lips. "All right!" He put the bottle back, swiped my beanie, and skidded away. "Hey!"
Without hesitation I jumped onto the ice, crunching skids could be heard, and I was close on his heels. In a flash, he turned and was now sliding backward on the ice before putting on my beanie and lifting his chin. "How do I look?" asked Sunghoon, making a face like a model, and although he was joking, I gave him a genuine smile and said, "Perfect!"
At this word, he slowly let himself slide further, but gradually stopped as if he had not expected the answers. At that moment, I spread my arms and immediately pulled him into a hug before kissing him on the forehead. Our eyes met afterward and a second later I pulled the beanie down over his face.
"Jake!" he growled, pulling the beanie back up and looking at me with a smirk. "Are you hungry too? Wanna eat ramen?", I asked, my arms still wrapped tightly around his waist. "Do you want to make a bet? Whoever gets to the gate last has to pay for the food. Deal?"
I raised an eyebrow and slowly let go of him. "So that's who you are? Although, I've always wondered if a hockey player or a figure skater is faster!", I grinned mischievously and without warning, I whizzed off. "YA! That's cheating!" he yelled after me and immediately accelerated. Of course, the next moment Karma had to say hello, Sunghoon picked up some speed and gave me a smack on the butt. After that, he turned around so that he could back up like a macho and look at my face.

Despite cheating, he was faster than me...

He jokingly stuck out his tongue and touched the bar on the railing first. "You grow from your mistakes. Don't worry, I won't hold it against you!" the younger one quipped provocatively. "Ah, but I'm smaller than you! That means you've made more mistakes in your whole life than I have, is that right?", I countered.

Oh my god I should stop with Friesian puns, it's totally embarrassing. But Sunghoon seemed to find it funny.

"So, you're saying I'm a bad boy?" Hoon grinned mischievously. "Something like that?" I looked around. "We are alone, aren't we?" He nodded and a second later I pulled the beanie down over his eyes again and this time kissed him on the lips. Slowly we broke away from each other, a little lost he pulled his beanie back up. He blushed slightly and already had his mouth open as if he wanted to say something back. But Sunghoon was obviously flabbergasted and at a loss for words. Meanwhile, I got off the rink, tried to take away his bewilderment, and casually said, "Come on, let's go eat ramen!"