Fighter

Chapter 11

            I grasp Seyoon's hand tighter as we skate across the ice. I had never gone skating before this and I was quite the fish out of water. I was constantly almost falling all over the place.
            Seyoon had one arm around my waist and the other on my hand at all times so when I fell he could catch me.
            "It almost feels like our roles are reversed." I glance up and smile at him.
            "Well it's not my fault your parents never taught you how to skate and mine did." He returns my smile.
            "Now how do I, uh, how do I be able to skate without your help?" I stutter out. It feels so strange to be dependent on someone for something so trivial as ice skating.
            "What do you not like me helping you?" I feel his chest move with his laughter.
            "No, it just feels weird to not be able to- Whoah!" I clutch at Seyoon as I almost fall again. "I just want to be independent."
            Seyoon stops the two of us and pulls around so he is holding both of my hands and skating backward.
            "Okay so you can't keep your feet straight. You have to turn them out slightly, like a duck. And then push of one foot at a time."
            I can't look up from my feet. I try to do as he says and push off.
            "Oh my goodness! Look I am doing it." No sooner had I spoken than I almost fall again.
            "Ha, you're almost there." He continues to pull me backwards as I trail after him.
            We stay that way for a while. Soon I gather enough courage to look up into his face. He is smiling at me without another care in the world. He had this special twinkle in his eye. His hair was still falling into his eyes and black as a ravens wing.
            I have to look back down at my feet in order to keep from falling.
            Finally after making a couple laps we pull off to the edge and I grab hold of the railing.
            Seyoon reaches his hands up to cup my cheeks. "Oh your face is freezing. Why don't we stop skating and go get something to warm you up?"
            I try to speak but my lips feel too cold and it is hard to make out what I am saying.
            "Do you need me to warm up your lips." Seyoon asks.
            I nod and before I can try to ask how, he is pressing his lips to mine. Our kiss is long and sweet but pure like honey on a hot day.
            When our lips finally separate I keep my eyes closed, trying to savor the moment in my head. I can feel myself smiling.
            "I'll take a warm up like that any day." I can't help the giggle that rises from the butterflies in my stomach.
            "Let's get going," he holds my hand as I waddle over to the exit. We both sit and carefully take off our boots and slip on our shoes.
            We head through the park and off towards the shops on the other side.
            "Wait, Uh, let's sit for a moment. I, I want to talk to you about something. We can get drinks later."
            I can feel my heart drop. When I glance at Seyoon he looks nervous and pale. "What's wrong?" He is going to tell me that this was all a lie or something. He was going to tell me that he took me on this date just because he was bored and wanted something to do.
            Seyoon grasps my hands as we sit down on one of the benches. He looks down at our hands in his lap. "I haven't ever done this before so I don't really know what I am doing here." He reaches one of his hands to rub the back of his neck. "Oh, man. How do I say this?"
            I can feel a tightness in my chest.
            "I really like you and you know that." His eyes dart to mine then back down to our hands.
            "If you have something to say, just say it. There's no reason to sugar coat it." I feel like there is something pressing down on my chest and I can't get enough air.
            "Well, I would disagree. I have the upmost reason to sugar coat it." He pauses for another moment before he clears his throat and starts again. "I have never felt this way before. You, you make my heart do backflips. You can stop my breath and you make me feel alive. I just, I want you to know how much you mean to me. And I could think of any other way to tell you," he takes a breath and reaches into his coat pocket to pull out a little black box. As he clutches the box he finally looks me in the eyes. "To tell you that I am in love with you, you mean so much to me. And I want to officially make you my girlfriend. If you choose to accept."
             I can see the blush spreading across his face as he opens the box and sitting inside are two small rings.
            "Seyoon." I can't find the right words to describe what I am feeling. Elation, Joy, excitement are some emotions that come to mind. I still can't find my voice and so I sit there trying to nod my head.
            "Is that a yes?" he gives me a nervous smile.
            "Yes of course. Oh my why would I say no?" I reach forward and plant a peck on his lips. He reaches up to grab my hand and pulls one of the rings out to slip it on my finger.
            In our moments of happiness as we huddled there together just spending time leaning against each other without a care in the world.

                    —————•••—————–

            I am just finishing up at the gym. There are only a couple more days until the championships and I had just finished a 3 hour training session. Seyoon had texted earlier to tell me that he was going to have to stay late at his company.
           I didn't really want to stay late at the gym just sitting around. After all Seyoon didn't have to walk me home. It just became habit after what happened with Dongho. And we hadn't seen Dongho in forever. I would be fine if I headed home by myself and met Seyoon there.
            I quickly pulled out my phone to send Seyoon a quick text letting him know where I was going to be.

To: Seyoon
Hey I am going to head home.
I will meet you there.

            I throw my phone into my gym bag before I push past the gym doors and start on my way home.
            The cold air bites as I walk home. Its late and getting pretty dark outside. I am starting to get the at feeling on the back of my neck again like someone is watching me or maybe following me. Something just wasn't right.
            I start to walk faster. The sooner I was home the sooner I would feel safe.
            I turned down an alley to take a shortcut to my apartment. No sooner had I turned down the alley then I felt rough hands on my back shoving me into the wall. My cheek burned where the rocks on the wall sliced open my skin. Whoever they were they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. I could take them down.
            I feel the person press they're body against mine to the wall. Ugh, I start to push against who ever it is. But my body freezes up when I hear the hot drunken breath in my ear. It is Dongho.
            "What the hell did you think you were doing?  You are some kind of Tramp going about like that. YOU. ARE. MINE. If you won't be with me, then you can't be with anyone else."
          "Dongho no. Let me go." I can feel my legs shaking in fear. Fear of what Dongho could do to me. what he would do to me if he got the chance.
           I feel his large hands grab me by my shoulders and flip me around. Pushing me back against the wall again.
He reaches his meaty fingers up and around my neck. He begins to squeeze.
          I can feel myself struggle to breath as my hands claw at his. I manage to choke out "please," I can feel my vision start to fade around the edges.
         He actually means to kill me. He wasn't going to stop. I try to choke out something else but I can't get any air. As I finally come to terms with dying my only regret is that I never told Seyoon I loved him.
         Right before I lose consciousness I feel the pressure on my neck is released. But it's too late and the world goes black.

                  —————•••—————–

          Seyoon was at the company practicing when he got a text from his girlfriend. He stared at it for a moment. What was she doing? He told her that he wanted to walk her home. Why couldn't she wait?
          He quickly presses he call button. Voicemail. He presses it again. Voicemail. Seyoon has a bad feeling in his chest. Something was wrong, he had to find her and make sure she was all right.
          "I have to go, somethings happened." He calls to their manager.
          "What's wrong?" The manager asks.
          "Hopefully nothing. I'll be right back." He is already scrambling to get his stuff and heading up stairs.
           He feels his heart racing as he starts to panic. She would be about halfway home right now. He starts to head in that direction.
          If anything, anything at all happened to her. If Dongho touched a hair on her head he was going to make Dongho wish he was dead.
          Seyoon almost passed by the alley way but something made him take a second look. In one of the shadows there was two people.
         Seyoon could never mistake the black and grey gym bag that was discarded on the ground next to them. It was hers.
         Seyoon couldn't even think anymore. He charged at the person. He couldn't tell who it was but by their lumbering form he guessed who it was. Dongho.
         Nothing else mattered other than pummeling Dongho to the ground. As he pulled Dongho off of her he could see her crumple to the ground. In the back of his mind he knew that was wrong but his anger for Dongho overtook him. Pushed Dongho to the ground and when he got on top to start punching he could smell how Dongho reeked of Alcohol, the dirty cheep kind.
          It was a while before Seyoon stopped punching. He got off Dongho and crawled over to where she lay crumpled on the ground. He quickly placed his fingers in front of her nose to feel for her breathing. She was just barely breathing.
         What should he do? Call an ambulance. No. He knew of a hospital that was near by he would just take her there himself.
          With that he picked her up and ran off to the hospital.