WEAK

CHAPTER 8

Solar walked slowly behind Moonbyul and Sunyoung, who was skipping happily, as the three of them made their way to the ice skating rink. The remainder of the car ride was more than tense with Moonbyul choosing not to speak and simply staring out the window, while Solar ate her mother's words Yongsun, I hope you have a daughter with a mouth like yours, that way you can see how much you should watch what you say, and thought of how to approach the conversation with Moonbyul. Sunyoung, who sang along to every song on the radio, busied herself by staring at the Santa Tracker app on her iPad mini. Solar would glance at Moonbyul whenever they reached a stoplight, but the other girl never turned her head to make eye contact, she only spoke when Sunyoung would ask her a question. The first stop on their day, since Sunyoung got to pick everything, was to ice skate.

"I'll rent some skates for everyone," Solar stated as she finally stood next to them. "How thick are your socks, Moonbyul?"

"Why?" Moonbyul asked while adjusting Sunyoung's hat and looking at her.

"Because if you have on thick socks I need to get you a bigger size so your left ankle doesn't have too much pressure," Solar stated.

Moonbyul's eyes softened at Solar remembering something so small. "No, they aren't thick."

"Okay." Solar nodded before making her way over to the stand to get their skates.

"Can I skate first with you and Eomma, then by self with the other kids?" Sunyoung asked.

"Are you sure you can skate by yourself?" Moonbyul asked her softly.

Sunyoung nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm good at skating." She stated confidently.

"If your Eomma says it's okay, then it is, but you have to stay where we can see you, don't leave the ice for any reason without one of us, and remember stranger danger," Moonbyul told her. "It's a lot of people out today, sweetie."

"I know, I used stranger danger in the store with Eomma, but it was just her doctor friend." Sunyoung shrugged. "But Eomma said I did it right and she was proud of me, but I still got a little scared because I didn't know the person and they started talking to me, but Eomma wasn't around, but it was my fault for running away from Eomma in the store. I said sorry." She rattled off before taking a deep breath.

"Dr. Ji?" Moonbyul asked while raising an eyebrow.

"No, she was a lady," Sunyoung stated while scratching her leg, stopping only when Moonbyul grabbed her hand and patted her leg for her. "Her name was Sooin, she asked to see my elbow because I fell."

"Dr. Sooin?" Moonbyul repeated as Solar came walking back over.

"I got skates for everyone." She smiled until she saw Moonbyul's glare and rolled her eyes. "What did I do now? I know that glare."

"Nothing." Moonbyul sighed while lifting Sunyoung on the bench and taking her boots off of her. She accepted one of the skates from Solar and silently put it on her, making sure to tie it tight.

Solar shrugged and sat down to put her own skates on, glancing at Moonbyul every few minutes to see if her facial expression changed, but it didn't. She then lifted Sunyoung back on the ground and zipped her coat back up higher as Moonbyul put her skates on. Solar stepped on the ice and immediately fell. "Fuck." She hissed as Sunyoung smiled and laughed.

Moonbyul glanced up and raised an eyebrow at her ex-wife who allowed Sunyoung to help her up. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Solar sighed as Moonbyul gracefully got on the ice and twirled in a circle.

"Ready, baby girl." She smiled while extending her hand to Sunyoung, who nodded and latched on to Moonbyul. "Give your hand to Solar, you're never stable right away on the ice."