liar | p. sunghoon

21

"A quadruple lutz? Lada Nikolaev... why... why is she here already?"

**

3 weeks ago...

As practice was finishing up, coach Ji called Chaerim over.

"Chaerim," she said seriously, "This might be one of the most important competitions of your life. I've just received word that Russia's top figure skater, Lada Nikolaeva, age 17, number 1 of the senior women's division, ranked 3rd in Russia's national league, is going to be competing against you."

"Wait," Chaerim said as her eyes opened widely, "She's the one who hit the quad lutz last season. The one everyone is talking about."

Coach Ji nodded as she passed her tablet to Chaerim, containing a video of Lada's free skate performance from last season.

"Nikolaeva's won hundreds of medals and trophies. All I can say is she's going to be the hardest to beat," coach Ji exclaimed, "But I know you're better than her. I know you can take first place."

**

Present day...

"Chaeri, what happened? Are you okay?" Sunghoon asked in concern as he picked up her bag and handed it to her.

"Sunghoon... she... she's here," she exclaimed as if she was almost hypnotized.

"Who are you talking about? Is it the girl on the ice right now? The one who hit a quad lutz?"

She nodded her head.

"I-I'm screwed," she uttered with fear.

She was scared. Distressed. Terrified. Frightened of losing.

"Chaeri, yah Park Chaerim," he said firmly while grabbing her shoulders to face him, "You're not screwed. You're not going to lose. You know you're going to win. After all, you are Park Chaerim, right?"

She could barely look him in the eye as she focused on Lada gracefully skating.

"Chaerim, look at me." But she couldn't hear him over her uneasiness. "Chaerim, I said look at me."

She still wouldn't look at him due to her fear. He gave up calling her name and gently placed his hand on her face, turning her face to his.

"Chaeri-ah," he smiled warmly, "You're going to be fine. I promise you that. And even if you don't win first place, obviously you are, but you'll always be my number one."

She looked into his eyes and admired the beauty marks by his nose and cheek. When she realized what he said she tried her best to stifle her laughter.

"S-sunghoonie," she snickered while covering her mouth, "That was probably the cheesiest thing you ever said."

"Y-yah," he responded with embarrassment, feeling his face heat up.

"But thank you," she smiled as she hugged him.

He wrapped his arms around her fragile and petite body.

"Anything for you. Now, shall we go practice?" he asked happily as he showed his little canine smile.

"Yeah, let's go practice."

They quickly put on their skates and walked over to the ice, gliding casually. Lada was still practicing her routine, nonstop. It was as if she was a robot with no emotion at this point. When she saw them approach the ice, she immediately stopped skating and stared at the two.

"Shit. Sunghoon, she's looking at us," Chaerim whispered as she grabbed Sunghoon's arm, "What do we do?"

"Just act like we didn't see her," he whispered back.

"Shit! No, we can't! She's skating right towards us," she whispered in a panic.

Lada came closer and closer until she was right in front of the two of them. She scanned Chaerim up and down as she hovered over her.

"Damn, why is she so freaking tall," Chaerim muttered under her breath.

"You're that girl. That figure skater, Chaerim Park, right?" Lada uttered whilst glaring at her.

"Yes," she squeaked.

"Huh, I was expecting you to be... uh taller," she smirked, "My coach told me that you'd be a threat to me, but after seeing some of your performances, I'm not sure if I can agree with him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chaerim scoffed with disbelief.

"It's just that you seem easy to beat," Lada responded full of arrogance.

"Hey, just because you can hit a quad lutz doesn't make you all that, okay? You're not that great yourself. Hah, you look like the easiest person to beat in this whole competition," the short girl spurred with fury.

"Damnit, what am I saying," she groaned in her head.

"Hmph," she grinned, "Well, good luck then. See you in 6 days."

Lada smiled smugly at Chaerim while exiting the rink. Giving Sunghoon a small wink and waving her hand, she left Chaerim perturbed and disgusted.

"Just you wait, Lada Nikolaeva. I'm going to crush you."

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a/n: I just wanted to let you know Lada Nikolaeva is a character I completely created on my own and does not exist lol and it seems that Chaerim has encountered a new rival!!