Ice Cold- Park Sunghoon

seven

Soojin wandered through the empty streets of Soul. It had become quite dark and she didn't know where exactly she was but the girl didn't care. She was lost in her thoughts, forgetting about the harsh reality around her and almost getting through with it. Almost. 

Something pulled her back into the real world. Footsteps. They were silent, so they were either far away- or someone didn't want to be heard. 

The girl truly hoped it was the first one, still speeding up a little in case it wasn't. She was sad, desperate, angry and frustrated, but she certainly wasn't ready to die yet. 

In fact, she was a strong believer that no matter how hard life was, there was always a chance of it turning out good for you. And she didn't want to miss that possible happy end. Maybe, after the whole competition thing was over, she could try to talk it out once again. Maybe when she didn't have to be around Sunghoon anymore, her little Crush or whatever it was, would just disappear. 

Soojin could imagine so many ways of her life changing to the better, and for almost all of those options, she needed to be- well- alive.  

Luckily, the steps behind got quieter the faster she walked and about a minute later they completely disappeared in the noises of the night.  

Still a little anxious, the tears slowly starting to flow again after that little shock, she stopped to finally look behind her. The girl couldn't see a lot, her vision was a little blurry and it was really dark outside, but there was something. 

She guessed it was a guy, he looked pretty tall but not too broad. The stranger stopped in his tracks when Soojin turned around.

She started to run, her tears still flowing, now in a mixture of panic and frustration. She didn't know where she was going, but she wanted to get away from there. Just somewhere safe, where she could calmly think about her options. Maybe her home, if she knew where it was from here. 

Then she noticed the steps getting louder again as if the guy was now running after her. 

"STOP! HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME!" she screamed, but no one was around to hear her. That's when she tripped, her knees hitting the asphalt, tearing open immediately. She felt the warm fluid slowly cover her leg, her breathing getting more irregular as she awaited the guy catching up to her, killing or kidnapping her when he did. 

But that never happened. Instead, she heard the guy stopping next to her, continuously asking her if she was okay. Well, this was strange? 

"Do you not want to kidnap me?" the girl mumbled, not able to think anymore. Her blood was still flowing out of her knees, seemingly replacing the tears. She felt kinda stupid for acting like that if he wasn't even after her. 

"Why would I want to kidnap you?" the guy questioned, being a little weirded out. 

"Wait, what is that supposed to mean? ", Soojin snapped, feeling slightly offended. That's when she finally dared to open her eyes and look at the stranger. Just that he wasn't. 

"Sunghoon?"

Sunghoon chuckled a little at her surprised face, before trying to help her up. "Let us talk about it on your way home", he smiled encouragingly. 

"I can't. I'm literally bleeding out right now", she panicked, thinking about all the blood. Sunghoon laughed. "You mean the little scratch on your knee?" 

Soojin stared at him. Then at her knee. 

"But the blood? It felt like I was bleeding a lot-" 

The boy sighed, pointing at the small puddle next to her, that she had previously landed in. "Oh", Soojin breathed, feeling slightly embarrassed for panicking like that.  "Yeah. Oh", he mimicked the girl's reaction before just grabbing her waist, pulling her up as if she weighed nothing. 

"Thank you", the girl mumbled. "So, you really didn't want to kidnap me?"

"No."

"Why did you follow me then?"

"I just wanted to get home you know? It's about 5 minutes from here", Sunghoon explained. 

"Oh. Right. Then why did you run after me? That was really scary!"

That's when she noticed the key in his hand. Her key. She remembered grabbing it to defend herself if she was going to be attacked and then? She must've dropped it when she ran. "Take care of your stuff. I don't want you to get seriously hurt, okay?"

"Yeah." She breathed, her cheeks flushing slightly. Did he really not want her to get hurt? Maybe he didn't hate her after all, maybe, just maybe, there was a small chance of him liking her back someday. 

"Would be a shame to lose the bet because of you getting injured", he added shortly after, without thinking too much about it. That's when he noticed a change on her face. Her smile dropped immediately. Her eyes stared at him, but something about them seemed off- empty. 

She must dislike the idea of losing the competition as well, he thought to himself.  

"You're right. Would be a bummer", the girl spat out, wanting to turn around and just leave him for the second time today. How could she think he was going to change? That there was actually a human with emotions behind that pretty facade? Well, she had learned her lesson now. 

Sunghoon on the other hand didn't know what was going on. He thought his reasoning was plausible, why was she talking like that then? Girls were just way too complicated for him. Why did he choose a girl anyways, he could've just chosen two guys for him and his trainer and everything would've been much easier. Maybe someone else would've appreciated his effort more. 

"Jesus, stop being so ungrateful Soojin. This isn't easy for me either. Now please, would you do me the favour to allow me to bring you home? So you can sleep before practice tomorrow?" 

"I don't need your help Sunghoon. From now on, every time I see you outside of the ice rink, I will treat you like a stranger. That's what you want, right?" 

"I mean basically, yeah-"

He was cut off by the girl just walking away, for the second time in a few hours. 

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CicLEs We'rE goINg iN ciRclEs, diZZy'S aLl iT mAkeS uS

sry.