My Secret Lover

Chapter 2

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Pov. Park Sunghoon

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Time went by in slow motion and when I finally left the classroom at 11 p.m. I felt exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. Outside, I took off my mask and breathed in the cool autumn air. After that I turned towards the entrance door to say goodbye to Namra. She, however, was discussing something with her younger brother.

"Guys, I'm really hungry. Wanna get something to eat together?" asked Jay to the group, pulling his mask off his face. "Right! Noona still owes me a pizza," Jake remembered and joined us. "Forget it. Why don't you buy the pizza yourself!" she growled irritably but received a small smack on the back of her head. Indignantly, she looked at her Heeseung. "You promised him," he hissed, grinning mischievously at her. "You have to keep promises and don't break them, remember?" he added provocatively, only grinning wider.

Namra was a very stingy person and the fact that she was unemployed due to the intense skating training was something Heeseung idly took advantage of. He likes to annoy his one year older sister and when it comes to the subject of money, he knew no mercy.

"Oh, you ice skaters can never be trusted! You stab everyone in the back, don't you?" playfully whined Jake, dramatically placing a hand on his chest as if his heart ached. The hockey players laughed in response. Even I had to chuckle because of the little scene.

"YA! Take that back, we figure skaters aren't that sneaky! Especially since I do couple dancing, you have to rely on the trust of your partner!", Namra countered sighing and putting her hands on her hips, whereupon Jake looked at me again. A small grin flitted across my face, and I just shrugged questioningly.

"Alright, I'll take it back! Sunghoon, do you forgive me too?" he pecked back, putting on the widest of smile. "All right," I laughed.

"Finished arguing, let's go eat pizza now!", Jay interjected impatiently, already rubbing his belly hungrily. "Hoon, are you coming too?" asked Namra immediately. "No, I'm going home. I'm really tired," I tried to talk my way out of it as I was discreetly in the mood for social activities.

My social battery was at least at 10%, so now I wanted nothing more than a warm bed and rest.

With big puppy eyes, Namra looked at me, but I refused. "But it's Friday night!" she begged, pouting. "If he doesn't want to, we should accept that! Likewise, you don't have to beg him like a little chihuahua, you're almost two years older than him," Heeseung interfered, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

I'm sure Heeseung said that on purpose, as he didn't want me there. However, it was an advantage for me because I had another reason not to go to the pizzeria with them.

"Alright... Then I'll see you tomorrow at training!" she said goodbye and the others also said goodbye to me before heading off to the pizzeria.

At the same time, I moved toward home. In my head, I was already planning how to sneak into the house unnoticed. The fact that my parents, as soon as I appeared in front of them, only talked about figure skating and university got on my nerves. The only thing I wanted now was rest and sleep.

When I arrived, I cautiously opened the front door. As I entered, I heard my parents discussing in the living room. They were probably talking about their New Year's resolutions, even though it was only autumn. Or even about the figure skating careers of Yeji, my five years younger sister, and me.

Whatever it was, the main thing was that they were busy!

As if it was a matter of life or death, I let the door fall gently into the lock. "Done!", I muttered and would have loved to dance with joy. But I had better turn my joy down a notch if I wanted to reach the room alive and undetected.

So, let's get out of here!

I crept through the corridor onto the creaking old wooden stairs. Every step groaned unbearably loud and for every second my parents could have heard some noise. At least that's what I thought.

One more step and another creak like in an old, haunted house. And then... then I would have loved to run for my life.

"Sunghoon?"

No answer.

"Jagiya... did you hear that too?" my mother asked anxiously, running quickly into the hallway where she met me. "Sunghoon? You're here already? Will you come into the living room for a moment? We'd like to talk," she said in a slightly worried voice.

Annoyed that my plan was going down the drain, I sauntered down the stairs and walked straight into the living room where the lights were softly burning. My father was sitting comfortably on the sofa, staring at a painting behind the armchair.

Next to him was a fireplace in which a fire crackled away, immersing the whole room in a cozy atmosphere. But appearances were deceptive; the atmosphere was tense.

Yeji was also sitting on an armchair, still wearing her training clothes, she also seemed to have arrived only recently.

"Sit down, we need to talk," my father began with a serious expression. Hesitantly, I sat down on the armchair. Before I could get comfortable, my father continued: "So, my dear: Next week you both have another very important competition. Therefore, we want to free you from high school and university classes again so that you can concentrate on training. I still need to decide if you need to take private lessons after training so you don't lack education. But your figure skating career comes first right now in my opinion, so I would suggest that you only go to the tutoring lessons. Sunghoon math, Yeji geography. Just that and nothing more", my father announced, while his wife just sat quietly next to him.

"Again?", I asked indignantly, not even noticing that I was getting loud. "You can't do that!" protested Yeji, rising angrily from the armchair.

Couldn't I have a normal university life for once? Because of all the absences, I had a really hard time making friends or even keeping in touch with them. I was always labeled as the "stuck-up, arrogant kid" or "the ignorant ice cold ice prince" who could buy his way out of classes with his rich parents.

That's exactly why I kept getting bad grades, because I was never taught by real professionals, but only by would-be tutors who were more interested in my parents' money than in passing on teaching materials.

Stunned, I waved my arms around and had my mouth open to say something back. But as usual, I couldn't think of any clever words. Yeji also looked at me in bewilderment, but it was our father who had the ropes in his hands and could do with our lives as he wished...