Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Fifteen - A Christmas Date Pt.2

Kopter

Park's face had turned the same shade of red as the bows on the decorative wreaths lining the side of the ice skating rink. His eyelashes blinked rapidly as he seemed to come to his senses and tried to lift himself up off of me. His hands slipped on the ice and I let out a groan as he came crashing back onto my chest.

"Sorry!" He apologised under his breath as he carefully lifted himself back up. He stood up and began brushing some of the ice shavings off of his hands.

I reached out a hand, "A little help here?"

"Oh, right," he grasped my hand and heaved me back to my feet.

Park turned to leave, but before he could I caught his hand and held it tight. "Can you lead me back?" I whispered quietly. I had just fallen hard and my ears were still ringing, so skating really wasn't on the top of my favourite activities list right now.

Park sighed but held out the rest of his arm, which I gratefully accepted and clung onto hard. We must have looked like a right pair of idiots, slowly drifting our way towards the entrance like some horrific penguin hybrid.

It was so comforting to step onto solid ground and have full control of all my limbs again. I hastily hobbled over to an empty bench and pried off my skates. Park followed behind me and did the same, still not speaking.

Eager to remove some of the awkward tension that had formed, I grabbed Park's skates from his hands and grinned at him, "I'll take these back if you get me a hot chocolate."

Park rolled his eyes, but smiled, relaxing once again. He got up and made his way towards one of the many vendor queues adjacent to the rink whilst I made my way back to the rental hut to return our skates.

Now that I was apart from him and no longer concerned for his well-being, I was surprised to find my own body ached and creaked as I edged my way through the queue. I placed a cold hand over the left side of my chest, where I felt the uncontrolled and rapid beating of my heart.

What's going on?

I walked back to the bench and sat down, rested my head gently onto my hands, and analysed every moment that could've possibly led to this feeling.

Was I hungry? Well, I'm always hungry but that's nothing out of the usual.

Am I tired? Not really, although considering everything that we'd done tonight, I probably should be.

Was it... Park?

"You're working your last two brain cells way too hard buddy."

My head shot up and my eyes were immediately greeted with a cream-filled, marshmallow topped hot chocolate and a smiling Park. He tilted his head slightly and motioned the hot chocolate towards me. I grabbed it, shook my head slightly, "Thanks."

I blinked my eyes a few times to try to rid myself of the confusing thoughts that had just appeared and get back to normal. "Wait, what do you mean 'last two brain cells'?!" I exclaimed at Park.

He chuckled, "Oh, you know," and led the way through the bustling crowd towards the ice rink exit.

Park

Something seemed off with Kopter, but the minute we were out of the rink and walked along one of the fairy light entwined pathways, he resumed his usual self.