Chapter 80
* * *
“···.”
Isol slowly walked toward the ice rink building, looking up at it.
Lee Seungho, walking alongside her, asked,
“Have you been here recently?”
“···Once on a field trip in elementary school?”
She couldn't even remember when it had been.
All that came to mind was a vague trace of having done something like that.
“Really? That's been a long time.”
“Yeah.”
That made sense.
It wasn't a place she particularly liked, after all. So she didn't come here often.
She wasn't good at ice-skating, nor did she like the cold.
‘I don't like moving around···.’
She liked exercise even less.
Even so, Isol had chosen this as their date location for a simple reason.
‘Shin Ayoung···.’
Because of her.
Because Shin Ayoung had come here with Lee Seungho.
That thing they'd done under the pretext of counseling.
“···.”
Isol narrowed her eyes as she recalled that time.
She still remembered the post Shin Ayoung had uploaded as though to show off.
“Should we take a picture?”
“···A picture?”
“As a memento.”
“···.”
Seungho seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded awkwardly.
“Sure, why not.”
* * *
······What is this? That's scary.
“···.”
I felt strange after reading Isol's thoughts.
She was saying she wanted to do the same thing just because I had gone to the ice rink with Shin Ayoung.
That decisiveness of Isol's was frightening.
So that was why she had suggested coming here? Was that her intention?
“Then I'll take it.”
Isol held out her phone and made a small V with her fingers.
I moved beside her so my face would appear on the screen.
“···.”
Isol's shoulders flinched, and she pressed the shutter firmly.
Clickclickclick—
It must have been set to continuous shooting, because it took quite a few pictures.
Isol looked at them and nodded with satisfaction.
“Let's go inside.”
There were more people inside than last time.
Maybe because vacation had begun, but there were especially many kids. A noisy murmur filled the air.
We bought our tickets and headed to the rental shop.
“What size are you?”
“Wait···.”
We rented our skates and then chose helmets from the ones laid out in front of them.
They were yellow, blue, and black, in order of size.
“···.”
I picked up a blue helmet, and Isol followed my example.
“Ah···.”
Slip—
The helmet Isol put on kept slipping down over her face.
“That won't do.”
The blue helmet was too big.
I replaced Isol's helmet with a yellow one.
“Do you want to go straight in?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Isol readily nodded.
She waddled along behind me.
“···.”
I stepped onto the ice first.
Perhaps because I still remembered the feeling from last time, I was getting used to the smoothness of the ice more quickly than before.
Isol followed me inside.
“Huh?”
Thud—!
She didn't make it very far before slipping and landing hard on her bottom.
“Are you okay?!”
Somehow, it was a scene I had seen somewhere before.
“···.”
Isol blinked with a dazed expression.
“I'm okay··· I'm okay.”
Flustered, Isol hurriedly got to her feet. Or tried to.
Perhaps she couldn't, because she pawed at the ice with both hands and feet, grunting as she struggled. She flapped around like a waterlogged hamster.
— “Ugh···!”
The Minimi wiped its face. Wisps of steam rose from it.
“Come here.”
I helped her up and moved her against the wall.
It was dangerous to stand still while people were zipping around.
“···I-it's more slippery than I thought···.”
Only then did Isol let out a deep sigh of relief.
Perhaps the aftereffects remained, because a flush still lingered on her face.
“Why don't you hold the wall and try following me slowly?”
Isol was an even more complete beginner than Shin Ayoung.
She was at the level where I had to teach her how to keep her balance from the very beginning.
Still, if I taught her slowly, maybe she'd be able to skate before the day was over.
“You do it like this. Move your feet this way—”
I demonstrated it myself.
Holding onto the wall, Isol crept forward one step at a time.
“Yeah, that's right. One step at a time.”
I nodded and encouraged Isol.
I praised her in between as well.
Once I taught her the knack while we moved slowly,
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Isol worked hard at moving her body. She alternated her left and right feet, tapping them against the ice.
She looked almost as though she were walking.
— “Should I try it once?”
Perhaps it was a problem that I had praised her too much.
Brimming with confidence, Isol took her hand off the wall.
She gradually moved away from the wall like a ship sailing away from a harbor.
“?!”
Soon, her body began to sway from side to side.
— “---------!”
Noise burst out like a warning signal.
A flustered look became tangled across Isol's face.
She stretched her arms sharply from side to side to keep her balance, but the shaking showed no sign of stopping.
I quickly grabbed her hand.
Somehow, I had a feeling this would happen.
“---------”
Once the noise began, it refused to shut off.
“D-don't let go yet.”
Isol gripped my forearm tightly.
— “H-huaaah···!”
The Minimi had already hopped off its main body. It clung to me, dangling from my arm.
It wore an expression that seriously said it was frightened.
“Calm down and follow me slowly.”
I leisurely guided her back toward the wall.
Isol was dragged along with her legs trembling like a newborn goat's.
“Phew······.”
Only when both her hands reached the railing did she sigh in relief.
— “Th···this isn't easy···.”
The Minimi above my head swallowed hard and muttered.
“···.”
Indeed.
It really wasn't easy.
* * *
Two hours had passed since we arrived at the ice rink. It was nearly lunchtime.
“···.”
Isol sat alone on a chair outside the ice rink. Lee Seungho had gone to return the skates.
“Haa···.”
Isol let out a deep sigh.
Her plan had gone slightly awry.
“···.”
Correction.
Her plan had gone very awry.
There had been one variable.
She was much worse at skating than she had imagined.
She had overlooked that.
‘No, putting aside the fact that I can't skate···.’
Whenever she stepped onto the ice, her mind went completely blank.
Because she was afraid of falling.
She had practically used Lee Seungho as a pillar, clinging tightly to his arm and being dragged around.
“Ugh···.”
Remembering it made heat rush to her face. Her feelings were complicated and subtle.
“Sss···.”
She couldn't touch her face for fear of messing up her hair or smudging her makeup.
Her hands, with nowhere else to go, fidgeted uselessly in the air.
Somehow, they had ended up having physical contact.
But at the time, she had been too frantic to feel anything about it.
‘This isn't it.’
This was far from the natural physical contact she had imagined.
If she was only moderately bad at skating, they could naturally hold hands···
And then··· uh···.
She had thought it would go like that···!
‘But even so, this isn't it.’
Wasn't this simply a rescuer and the person being rescued?
“···.”
Isol swallowed hard.
What if. Just on the off chance.
Though it really would never happen···.
‘···What if Seungho thinks I'm a nuisance?’
Cold sweat trickled down Isol's face.
She had been like that the entire time they skated. She had chosen an ice rink without even being able to skate properly.
Honestly, even she wouldn't have liked that if she were him.
“Ah···.”
If she had known this would happen, she should have chosen somewhere else from the beginning instead of doing something pointless.
“···.”
Just then, she saw Lee Seungho returning from the equipment desk.
“Hoo—”
Isol breathed out sharply and brushed away the thoughts that had been running through her mind.
Right. Don't think about it now.
This time together was too precious.
“···.”
Isol quietly rose from her seat.
Lee Seungho took the bag she held out. Then he asked,
“Shall we go get something to eat?”
“Mhm.”
Isol followed after him.
Their destination was the shopping mall beside the ice rink.
They decided to have lunch at the food court there.
“Hmm···.”
The two of them stood in front of a kiosk.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Hmm··· I want tteokramyeon.”
“Then, two tteokramyeon···.”
Lee Seungho tapped the kiosk and added the menu items.
“Like this?”
He pointed at the items he had selected and asked for her approval.
“Yeah.”
Isol nodded with satisfaction.
He had chosen the dishes she liked without her even saying anything.
The portion was neither too large nor too small.
The food came out quickly.
“Hoo— hoo—”
Isol blew on the ramen and ate it in small, dainty bites.
The taste was unremarkable. Just the taste of ramen sold at a food court.
Munch, munch···.
She was simply eating more slowly than usual. That was because she was trying to eat as demurely as possible.
“···.”
It had been like that for some time.
Everything had started to bother her when she was in front of Lee Seungho.
It was the same now.
She worried about whether he was enjoying himself, and whether she was the only one having fun.
“···Seungho.”
“Huh?”
“No, um··· how was the ice rink···?”
Isol gathered her courage and took the plunge.
“? What about it?”
“I mean, I was wondering if you had fun today···.”
Ah. Maybe she shouldn't have asked.
No. If she hadn't asked, she would have worried about it just as much.
“···.”
Lee Seungho watched her quietly, then said,
“You seemed to get the hang of it toward the end.”
He tossed out that one remark.
“Huh?”
“If we come again next time, you'd probably skate even better.”
“···.”
Isol blinked.
Did he mean they should come again next time?
Or did he mean that he hadn't been able to enjoy himself because he had been looking after her?
Which was it?
“···.”
As she pondered that, Lee Seungho added,
“I took a video too. Want to watch it?”
Lee Seungho played the video.
It showed her floundering around on the ice.
“···!”
Isol hurriedly snatched the phone from him. Her face grew hot.
Was that when she had been struggling to skate on her own?
When had he even recorded this?
Tap, tap, tap.
She kept pressing the screen.
Why wouldn't this thing turn off?
“···.”
At the sight of that, Lee Seungho let out a small laugh.
“···.”
Seeing that, Isol raised the corners of her mouth slightly in response. It was a natural smile.
Apparently, he had been enjoying himself in his own way, too.
Relief welled up inside her. She was glad.
“···?”
Chime—
Just then, his phone rang. A text had arrived at the top of the screen.
Shin Ayoung. It was a text from her.
— [Shin Ayoung : What time should we meet on Monday?]
— [Shin Ayoung : Is there any movie you want to see?]
“Hmm···.”
Having happened to see the messages, Isol rested her chin on her hand.
She forcibly pulled up the corner of her mouth that was trying to droop.
“···.”
So he had plans for next Monday?
And it was a plan to go see a movie.
A movie···.
“···.”
In that case.
“···Seungho, do you want to go see a movie now···?”
I want to do that too.
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(!Sign!)
(There is an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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(Soli Trembling)