thin ice | mark lee

1

It was a fairly cold Saturday morning regardless of the shelter in the ice rink. The Spring breeze still founds its way into the ice sports centre, raising goosebumps along Ahyeon's skin. She blew out a hot breath of air, a white cloud of vapour making its way out before her chest ached for more.

"Again, one more time!" The voice of her coach rang through her ears as she straightened her posture again, gliding her way to the centre once more, pushing all whines and grumbles of how exhausted she was to the back of her mind.

"Stick the landing with your dominant foot, stabilise yourself quickly. You're not pushing yourself" Her coach stated, demanding more than what she was already giving, more than what she was currently capable of.

It had been over a year and a half since her injury, the complete tear of the ligament in her knee was enough to keep her off the ice for a full year. A year and a half with countless physio appointments, scans, medication, anything and everything her parents could find to make sure she was back to normal.

And for the 16 years before that, she was a prodigy. She started skating when she was 5, it was only meant to be a fun day out with her parents at the new rink that had opened up by their neighbourhood. But on that day she realised how much she loved it, how easy it was to glide around without a care in the world, and unfortunately, like most athletes, her passion started to turn into her career.

"You're doing it again! You're scared to land and because of that you footing is unstable!" Her coach roared as she completed a shaky landing from her double axel. She winced lightly at the throbbing pain that was starting to make itself known.

Come on, just one more.

"I'll go again." She said, wiping a sheen of sweat off her jaw as her eyes narrowed again. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to imagine how her performance night would go. The first night that she would showcase to the world that she was back for good. Although it seemed faint, she could just about hear the crowd cheering for her, hear her own breath along with her partner's, hear the music that was guiding her. And she opened her eyes again, ready to start her routine and take a leap. And in a matter of milliseconds, her fantasy was crushed--

"Okay, smash or pass...your mom?"

"Lee Haechan, there is something so severely wrong with you, you know that?"

"Don't you usually go for the crazy type--"

"Stop bringing that up!"

Ahyeon let out a loud sigh, whipping her head around to the loud group that was beginning to enter the rink as if they had owned the place all along. It was a public rink, the same rink where she discovered her talents, but her coach had booked it for the whole day. Saturdays were always for her.

"Can I help you?" Her coach asked, the same level of annoyance emitting from his words as he approached the group of boys until one of the rink managers stepped forward from behind them.

"We sent an email of notice out this morning. The Yonsei rink is closed up for maintenance so the varsity team needs to practice here on the weekends as well. You're going to have to compromise with half days--"

"Are you kidding me? I always book for a full day on Sat-"

"Like I said sir, compromise. Sundays are open to the public and the team will only use it in the evenings on the weekdays. Half days on Saturdays from now on" the manager stated with evident boredom in his tone

"Or just find another rink" he stated finally, putting an unlit cigarette to his mouth and walking off laxly. Her coach mumbled a few curses under his breath before turning back to Ahyeon, following her eyes that were looking towards the group of boys.

Two of them were dancing without a care in the world while another two were hollering to hype them up. The rest of them strapped on their protective gear. But before all that, the first thing she noticed was the smell. Sweat, protein shakes and an insufferable waft of lynx africa to cover it all up. She let out a sigh before turning to her coach.

"Let's end the session here. We'll pick it back up on Monday at 9. Practice your landing" Her coach said and she nodded slowly, clenching her jaw slightly at the fact that she couldn't live up to his set expectations today.

I could've done a better turn.

But the critical voice in her head came to a halt as a familiar voice entered her ears, making her snap her head up to meet the sharp dark eyes. Lee Jeno, her old desk mate from school before she dropped everything at the age of 16 to pursue her career.

"Ahyeon?" His voice called out again making her part her lips at the sudden attention from the boys behind him as well.

"Ahyeon? The prodigy?" One of the guys asked from behind him with a surprised tone. And who wouldn't be? The prodigy that was on national television, winning both national and international competitions from the age of 17 was now standing in front of them after being missing in action for 18 months.

"What are you doing here?" He asked again, carrying his hockey stick and helmet by his side as he skated over to her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She snapped lightly, still annoyed from the fact that her Saturday session was ruined. Jeno, however, didn't think too much about the rude tone, shaking it off lightly with a smile on his face.

"I didn't realise you were training again. Is it for the nationals--wait don't tell me...the olym--"

"I gotta go" She responded quickly, cutting his question short. He parted his lips with slight surprise before nodding

"I'll see you around then" He smiled, turning back around to put his helmet on as he approached his team that was starting to form a huddle.

She let out another sigh, making her way off the rink and switching from her skates to a pair of sneakers as quickly as she could, knowing if she was to have another interaction with the boys that ruined her training session, she might just explode. And unfortunately, it had to happen exactly that way.

"Ah-Fuck! Sorry!" A worried voice stated from beside her as she harshly hit into the boy that was making a turn around the sharp corner. She hissed as she lost her balance, having to shift her weight onto her weaker leg to make sure she didn't fall over.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking directly at her with worry laced in his eyes. But his eyes held no sign of knowing who she was. And the next thing she saw was the bright royal blue colour of his hockey jersey.

She glared at him, jaw clenched and teeth biting down at her tongue to prevent her from lashing out at him for all the other things that had gone wrong that day. Instead, she decided to be petty, giving him a harsh shove back before she turned the corner, leaving him standing there with a confused expression as he brought up a hand to his shoulder.

"Mark hurry!" Jaemin shouted, garnering his attention and he nodded, walking over to his team for the huddle.

"How's the shoulder coming along?" Haechan asked, lightly placing his arm over Mark's shoulder, wondering about his injury from their last intervarsity match

"Just a little bruised, nothing too serious" Mark said, turning back to Jaemin, the team captain, that led the huddle.

"Big dreams and big thrills! Let's go Dinos!"