Match Made in Heaven ❀ Wonki

Twenty

「 ☁️ 」

"This is so unfair. How is he so good at that?" Ni-ki spoke with a slight pout as he leaned backward with his elbows on the edge of the rink.

It was relatively early in the afternoon. Regardless, outside the streets were already packed with citizens. For a late-autumn day, it was a little warmer than usual; maybe that was the motivation behind the folk's decision of spending their precious time in the fresh air.

It wasn't the same for these three, though. While Sunghoon was gracefully skating, repeatedly performing the tricks he could still do flawlessly, Ni-ki and Jake watched him with quite jealous eyes. They were waiting for the rest of the group.

"Try ice skating for years, and then we'll talk," Jake shot back at the taller's remark from earlier.

Offended, Ni-ki pushed Jake, causing him to let go of the rim and slip with his not-so-amazing skating skills over the ice. The abrupt shove resulted in the older falling on the freezing floor with a loud thud. Angered, he figuratively threw daggers at Ni-ki with his piercing glare.

"You fucking—"

"Jake? Are you okay?"

Before Jake had the chance to spit curse words at the juvenile boy, the first people of their group entered. While Ni-ki could see who had arrived, Jake only spotted a tall pink-haired male, due to him still kneeling on the icy ground.

Heeseung rested his hands on the edge, standing right next to Ni-ki but from the outside of the rink. He gave Jake a concerned expression.

"Ask Ni-ki that," Jake answered with an eye roll, still not moving from the ground. The youngest snorted, afterward breaking out in laughter. It made Heeseung chuckle.

From what the oldest could interpret via text, he had always liked the dynamic of the friendship between Jake and Ni-ki. Secretly, he wished he could become just as close to Jake and possibly have their friendship develop into something more.

"Hey, you good man?" Just then, two other people appeared from behind Heeseung: Jay and Sunoo.

Suddenly, Jake's ego seemed to tone down as he simultaneously felt small, even when he was indeed the shortest present. While the tall pink-haired male continued to gaze at who was in front of him, the boy on the ice couldn't control himself when his sight diverted to look towards the one next to Heeseung.

The question Jay had asked caught him off guard. Embarrassed, Jake finally stood up and removed the invisible rests of ice from his pants to create some kind of sound that could conceivably break the tension which seemed so thick for him, almost suffocating.

Jay shot him a weird look as he could undoubtedly see that there was nothing on him but stayed at the thought that he just wanted to straighten his clothes.

"Hey, uh yeah... I'm alright," Jake hesitantly uttered. Ni-ki looked at him with disbelief. He almost wanted to laugh again at the fact that his older friend threw an insult toward him when Heeseung asked about his well-being, in comparison with Jay, who he suddenly seemed flustered around.

"Look at these hopeless bitches," Ni-ki chuckled as he lightly elbowed Sunoo, who stood on his other side. As he waited for a response from the short pink-haired boy, Ni-ki realized he wasn't going to receive anything.