Slopes

t w o

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Mark sighs and stares at his empty room. The posters were taken down, the bed was stripped of its sheets and comforter. The dresser no longer had random objects and knick-knacks utop it. The room was bare, all personality gone from it. It was the shell of what was once his favorite place. Now baren, the bright orange walls seemed much blander now. Deprived of color. Heck the whole room looked like a sad, depressed alleyway.

"Mark, come on." His mother appears behind him, a hand placed on his shoulder.

"...right..."

"You'll be ok. And me and your auntie will come visit whenever we can." Mrs. Lee reassures her son. The mention of his aunt made Mark tear up, but he held it in. Him, his mom, and his mom's sister all lived together in a fairly large house. Mark's dad left him when he was still only months old. His aunt was like a second mother and he loved her dearly. Even though this was a huge opportunity for Mark, he would surely miss his mom and his auntie.

"Let's go Mark. Your flight is in a few hours." The boy nods and follows his mom downstairs. His suitcases were all by the door ready to be loaded into the car. He picks them up and he rolls them out to the car.

Before Mark knew it, they were driving to the airport.

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18 and a half hours. Mark was in the plane for 18 and a half hours. It was a non-stop flight from Toronto to Pyeongchang. And Mark did not enjoy it. He was bored, tired, and not excited to spend 18 hours and 30 minutes next to a sleeping old man.

Mark spent the first few hours listening to music, reading, and playing games on his phone. For another good two hours, he looked out the window, but by now it was all ocean and it got boring fast. He ate a bit, but the food was trash so he never finished it.

As soon as his seatmate began to snore, Mark figured he should just go to sleep and hope that he'll wake up when they land. Even though he still had 10 hours to go.

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"Donghyuk! I need to talk to you!" A tall man wearing a long winter coat comes up to where Donghyuk, Jaemin, and Jisung were sitting. The eldest raises a brow at his friends who just shrug, watching him leave.

"Coach?" Donghyuk sits in the chair across from his coach's desk, a concerned look on his face. The only times his coach would call him in would be to tell him to stop snowboarding at midnight.

"I got a call a few minutes ago from the board head of the Korean branch of the Olympics teams. He was calling about the winter olympics next year, and requested that you join the team. You're 18, which makes you 2 years over the legal age to join, so that isn't an issue. He said he sent a scout out to your latest competition and was immediately impressed. They want you on the team Donghyuk."

"Th- They want me on the Olympics team?" The boy's eyes were wide, disbelief running through him. His coach nods, smiling.

"I'm surprised they waited so long. Donghyuk, you have amazing skill and natural talent. You are hands down, probably the best player I've had in at least 20 years. I've had many people from this team go on to the Olympics and I'm very proud to see you going there as well. You're the best man we've got."

"But....I won't be on this team anymore..." His coach shakes his head.

"No, I'm afraid not. But you are always welcome back here to train. The Olympic training area isn't very far from here, so you won't even be going away."

"But Jaemin...and Jisung..." Donghyuk held his head low. Don't get him wrong, he was ecstatic about joining the Olympic team, but he had met Jaemin and Jisung here. On this team. And he didn't want to leave them.

"You'll see them again Donghyuk. But we do need to talk about official business." The boy raises his head. "You'll be heading over there for training starting next Monday. They train at Yongpyong Resort, around 19 miles away (31~ish km) from here. They only have two new members, you and someone else coming in from Canada." He had taken out a paper and was reading off it like a checklist, barely giving Donghyuk the time to understand everything. 

"–That's just about everything, and I'll send your grandparents an email as well. Goodluck Donghyuk, I'll see you tomorrow." He shoos the boy out of his office, and Donghyuk silently complies.

"Hyuk? What happened?"

"Yeah you look like you've seen a ghost." Jisung laughs.

"I....I'M GOING TO THE OLYMPICS!!"

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