Flower Lovers : the confluence of two souls

.Chapter 8.

   All the competitors had achieved their performance. All except one. Dean embarked on the skating rink and stood in the middle. Suddenly, the lights turned off, and a spot pointed at him. Then, the music played. The boy started with a few figures, the public was quiet, very impressed by the show. June, who was looking attentively, seemed very into the performance. Finishing some jumps he melted with ballet moves, he looked so gracious. His parents stared at him in the bleachers, especially his dad. He didn't seem satisfied, but his mother was touched. The music came to an end and Dean finished his choreography by a very hard figure he had created and had never revealed before the tournament. Then, he made an elegant salute to the jury, and turned on himself a hand toward the public. At this movement, the euphoria exploded in the bleachers. Everybody applauded the performance.

"Is he an angel? He moved so fluently, and he almost flew when he jumped !" Some people said

"It's amazing ! He's so handsome !" A woman of the jury complimented

"Wow ! He must have trained so much, I've never seen this in my entire life." Another ice skater said to his coach who replied

"Me neither. How could we have missed such a talented guy? Did you see the dangerous figure he executed without any difficulty? Watch and learn."

Few times after, the jury was about to make the revelation of the podium. The broadcaster took his mic and announced, "So, y'all, let's give a warm applause to the jury and the competitors !" At these words, the public applauded.

"Hello, hi !" Greeted the jury. "Thank you for being so many here, and for supporting our ice skaters. We have processed the vote and we are ready to announce the podium. But firstly, we'll thank very much the sponsors of the event without whom nothing of this could have been possible. And especially AussieAirTV that broadcast the tournament, but also Jones Corporation, owners of the big chain of shops 'Jones & malls'. A Big applause for them, please !"

"Okay, so now we can really start the rankings."

They called each ice skater turn by turn. It was time to announce the 3rd place

"Grisha Ivanov !" said the jury

A Russian girl walked on to take her medal. The crowd, in a frenzy, cheered her and the others ice-skaters. The silver medal was announced just after that.

"Lucia Costi !"

The young woman took the medal in her turn and thanked the public. She gave a hug to her coach and took place on the podium. The tension was at its height. Nobody knew who was going to receive the gold prize, and to win the competition. Dean's mother looked preoccupied. What if her dear son did not win the tournament? Everybody was thrilled. The announcer, seeing that nobody could wait any longer, decided to take the little envelope in which contained the crucial information that everyone waited for. He took his time to open it properly and extracted the tiny paper from it. Finally, he took a huge gap of air, and with all the attention of the audience, he announced :

"Well... Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of the Global Ice Cup that y'all waited..." he intentionally made a pause and the crowd started to cheer up once again.

"... Dean Jones !"

A thunderous applause resounded throughout the stadium. Dean's parents stood up and smiled at the camera that came to film them. The image was spread on a huge screen on top of the bleachers. Dean, who accepted his gold medal, stood on the podium's first place. Unlike his parents, he did not give a faint smile, but started the screen inexpensively. When all the euphoria was over, a journalist came to ask him some questions.