NHL 7

The sound of skates grinding against the ice as they passed brushed past his ears. When he became intoxicated with the conceit that he might not need to hold onto the iron fence, Joeon lifted his head to scan the ice. It was to check if there was any chance of colliding with someone else. Just as he felt reassured by looking at the open ice, a crunching speed approached quickly from behind. It was a bold dash, just from the sound alone.

A man, boasting incredible speed, grazed Joeon’s side. Contrary to the expectation that he would just keep going and move away, the man suddenly performed a U-turn at a sharp angle and rushed toward Joeon in an instant.

‘Does that guy have no eyes?’

Just as Joeon, startled and feeling like they were about to collide, tried to hesitate and step backward, the man stopped right in front of his nose, sending snow powder flying. A highly tense Joeon glared fiercely at the opponent. Then the man lowered the muffler that had been covering his chin and asked.

“John?”

Dylan was smiling brightly before his eyes.

“Oh? Dylan?”

“Yes. It’s me. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“It’s okay. More than that, how are you here… have you been doing well?”

Dylan smiled broadly with a face that couldn’t be any better than it was at any other time.

“Yes, how about you?”

“Just the same.”

“This is a great coincidence. I didn’t know I would meet you here again. Do you live around here?”

“Yes. Does Dylan also live around here?”

“I originally live downtown. My parents’ house is around here. I’m staying there for a while now.”

“I see.”

As Joeon nodded, Dylan scanned him from top to bottom.

“Wait. Did you buy these skates by any chance?”

As he recognized it at once, Joeon felt shy for some reason.

“…Yes. Do they look okay?”

Dylan’s face was filled with pride.

“They look good. Must have had a great time that day? Right? It was fun skating with me, wasn’t it?”

Whether it was because he was a one-day coach, or because of the pride of having guided a person with no athletic ability into a new world, Dylan looked more excited than Joeon. Feeling the pure joy being conveyed to him as well, Joeon, who was smiling along with him, braved his embarrassment and nodded his head.

“Honestly, that’s correct. It was fun. I even thought I wanted to skate more.”

At the honest admission, Dylan filled his face with a smile and wiggled his eyebrows as if to say, “See?” Joeon, who had seen his raised nose bridge, burst into laughter and added the finishing touch.

“This is all thanks to meeting the best teacher.”

“I think so, too.”

Dylan patted Joeon’s shoulder as if to say he did well, and then started to move naturally with his hand still on his shoulder. To match his lead, Joeon had no choice but to take his hand off the wire fence and skate in stride.

Dylan’s hand, which had been patting his thick padded jacket, slowly descended down his left arm and settled onto Joeon’s hand, which was wearing a glove.

“Shall we go?”

The movement was so natural that Joeon did not even realize the fact that he was holding his hand. Dylan naturally turned half a circle and stood facing Joeon.

“Will you skate with me today, too?”

“Once a coach, always a coach.”

“Thank you. But there’s no need to go that far…”

“Don’t feel burdened. I just came out to warm up because I was bored. If I can help John while I’m at it, that’s a good thing.”

At his affectionate voice, which sounded as if it were no big deal, Joeon worried about where to place his gaze and looked toward his ambiguous chest area while skating. When they had gone around about one lap, Dylan pointed it out to him.

“John, you have to look ahead.”

As he lifted his head slowly out of awkwardness, a jawline carved like a sculpture entered his field of vision. White breath spread from his slightly parted lips as he focused on glancing backward.

In fact, if one were to call it “ahead,” Dylan was everything. Blocked by his wide shoulders—a physique reaching 6 feet 5 inches—he couldn’t see ahead even if he wanted to. It was a height difference of over 15 centimeters.

Even though he surely knew that fact, Dylan kept instructing him to lift his head. Dylan, who was caught in his upturned eyes, was checking behind him by sending his gaze over his shoulder. His expression was serious without a hint of laughter.

Noticing his piercing gaze, he soon turned his head and faced Joeon. White vapor spread following his shortly exhaled breath, and the tip of his tongue that appeared between them licked his dry lips. His moist red lips soon gradually held a smile. Following him, the corners of his eyes, which wrapped around his blue eyes, also drooped softly.

“You’re doing well. Maintain this speed.”

The cool winter wind brushed past his ears and made a sharp sound. Still, he didn’t feel the cold. On the contrary, heat spread through his body to the point where he was about to sweat. Joeon was worried about his cheeks, which would have surely turned red in times like this. He tried to pull his hand out to touch his hot cheeks, but Dylan grabbed him and wouldn’t let go. It was the same even when he gave a signal by shaking their joined hands in the air. Dylan was laughing playfully while knowing everything.

“Why are you doing that?”

“If you could just let go of my hand for a moment…”

“Where is uncomfortable?”

“No. It’s just, my face…”

Dylan slowed his speed and stopped at a corner. As soon as he let go of his hand, he bent his waist, peered at Joeon’s face, and asked.

“What about your face? Is somewhere uncomfortable?”

Joeon touched his cheeks and then jumped back in surprise. Because he momentarily forgot the fact that he was on ice, he missed his footing significantly. When he had a premonition that he would fall on his butt, a firm hand wrapped tightly around his waist and forcibly stood up his body that was about to collapse. The foot that had slipped on the ice at will was already beyond control.

6

The center of gravity that had been bouncing here and there headed outward following centrifugal force at some moment. The world spun round and round. And in the center of that was Dylan’s face.

He showed off a smooth and soft turn like some athlete who was said to be a living legend in the figure skating world. Since they were at least two people, not one, it was closer to ice dancing than figure skating. It was an out-of-the-blue waltz in the middle of midwinter.

Joeon had no choice but to stick to his opponent as much as possible to avoid stumbling or falling. As he moved softly for a few more laps following his skillful lead, at some moment, the world that had been spinning round and round stopped.

“Haha. You have to be careful. You’re about to lie down between my legs again.”

At the low voice ringing in his ears, his back felt chilly even though he was wearing a thick padded jacket. His joke sounded double-entendre.

Perhaps because he was aware that he wasn’t the type to be full of a sense of humor, Joeon thought that other people might have taken his joke differently. Instead, this time, he countered his joke while pretending nothing was wrong.

“That’s true. If you don’t teach me properly, that could really happen.”

Dylan’s shoulders didn’t push away any further. He was hitting the brakes by bending his skate blade. When Joeon looked up at Dylan with a puzzled face, he saw a sculpture-like face with the laughter gone. Cold pupils swept across his face here and there.

Joeon worried that he might have made a slip of the tongue. Come to think of it, while it was not enough to decide that he shouldn’t fall, he even said that he would lie down entirely, so it might be absurd from the point of view of someone teaching. A flustered Joeon hurriedly added.

“No, of course, I will absolutely not do that.”

For some reason, Dylan crinkled his eyebrows at those words.

“Absolutely?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Hmm.” He rubbed under his chin with the back of his hand, retreated further, and held out his hand.

“Don’t ever say the word ‘absolutely.’ You never know what will happen to people.”

When Joeon grabbed his hand, Dylan stood looking in the same direction as Joeon instead of turning backward.

“Now, then, I won’t hold you like before.”

“Yes?”

“Shall we try holding with just one hand this time?”

Running while standing side-by-side was much more difficult than Joeon had imagined.

When Dylan stood in front and held him, his center of gravity was leaning toward him, so he could move forward with the power of him pulling.