Lee Joon’s POV

“I won’t let you fall. Trust me.”

I gave her a warm smile as I took her hand in mine and gripped on to it tightly. The moment our hands were entwined together, I felt a new surge of hope in my heart.

Perhaps now, Hyo Min has started to accept my presence in her life. Hopefully now, I can show her that I can take good care of her; just like Jun Ho had.

I led her towards the centre of the rink while walking backwards, my eyes never leaving her because I was afraid if anything would happen to her.

“Why don’t you try it for yourself now?” I asked her gently when I noticed she has become more comfortable.

Her eyes flashed anxiously at me.

“Can I?”

I nodded and smiled encouragingly at her.

“Of course you can. Don’t worry. I’ll stay behind you to catch you, in case you slip.”

I could see her taking in a few deep shaky breaths before nodding at me. I let go of her hand gradually and stood a few inches back to give her some way.

She was off to a rocky start but she still manages to stay on her two feet and before I knew it, she was skating perfectly well on her own.

I clasped my hands together as I skate faster to catch up with her.

“See, what did I tell you? You’re doing well right now.”

She beamed happily at me as she started to increase her speed.

“I’m flying!” she called out excitedly throwing up her hands high up.

“Hyo Min! Wait for me. And be care...”

The words were barely out of my mouth when I saw her started to wobble and she begin flapping her hands hastily.

Without wasting a second more, I threw in all my energy and lunged forward, stretching out both of my arms to catch her before her head could hit the hard frozen ice.

I expected her to fall on top of me but I didn’t know the impact could send such a huge blow to my body.

I winced silently as we crashed together onto the cold hard surface, my hands cushioning her head.

“Are you okay?” I breathed into her left ear when I didn’t see her making any sign of movement.

Silence.

“Hyo Min!” I shook her vigorously, desperate to get back her attention.

“I...I’m okay,” she answered finally, still half-dazed.

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Can you...try to stand up? You’re kind of crashing me.”

She immediately shot up into a sitting position and looked down at me in dismay.

“I’m so sorry. Wait, I’ll stand up first.”

I shut my eyes halfway, afraid that she would fall back down again on top of me but fortunately, she managed to grab hold of herself this time.

She held out her hand for me.

I didn’t think I would be the one asking her this particular question which she had been since we reached here, but I did.

“You’re not going to let me fall are you?” I asked her worriedly as I took her hand cautiously.

She gave me a sheepish grin as she shook her head slightly.

“Trust me.”

I did, I’ve never stopped believing in her for a second and I wasn’t planning to so I held on tightly to her as she pulled me back up with her own strength.

And I had to admit, she was kind of strong; to haul my weight back up without falling down again with the skating shoes. I was impressed.

“What?” she asked when she noticed the amused smile on my face.

“Nothing. Let’s get out of here shall we? I think we’ve embarrassed ourselves enough today,” I told her as I took a look around the rink and noticed some people were still laughing and pointing at us.

And I was then surprised for the second time; she threw back her head and laughed out loud.

For the first time in many months, I finally got to hear her angelic laughter once again. I swear, it was the sweetest melody to my ears.

I found myself laughing along with her although my back was hurting and I’ve probably got tons of bruises on my body. But it didn’t hurt one bit; because by seeing that beautiful smile on her face, was enough to make all the pain go away.

“I don’t blame them you know. It was probably a hilarious scene when we fell down together,” she finally spoke again after her laughter died down.

“Of course you can say that, you’re not the one who’s injured all over,” I feigned annoyance but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

“Ah jinjja, let’s go home so that I can see how badly I’ve hurt you.”

I held out my hand to her, gesturing for her to take it.

“Let’s hold hands, so that we won’t fall down again.”

To my delight, she gladly took it and even swings it back and forth as we made our way out of the rink.

As we sat down beside each other and untied our shoelaces, I felt my phone vibrating in my front pocket and took it out hastily.

I glanced down and saw Sori’s name flashing on the screen.

I hesitated for a moment before I cast a glance at Hyo Min who was busy fumbling with her shoe. Just one call wouldn’t hurt right?

“Hello?” I answered in a low voice.

“Joon!” Sori’s voice rang out clear in my ear. “Are you busy now?”

“Um, not really. Wae?” I asked as I juggled the phone to my right ear and faced my back towards Hyo Min. I wasn’t keeping anything from her but I just felt uncomfortable.

“I...Can you come over now?” Sori’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” she sniffed. “But I need to see you now.”

I turned to my right side and look at Hyo Min who was now smiling happily when she has managed to take off her skating shoes. She doesn’t seem to realised I was even on the phone.

“Alright. I’ll call you again later,” I told Sori before ending the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket.

“Hyo Min,” I called out as I scooted closer to her. “I...need to go somewhere. Will you be okay going back on your own?”

She looked up at me with those bright innocent eyes of hers and nodded thoughtfully.

“Sure. But, where are you going?”

“I’m...meeting a friend,” I said slowly as I averted her eyes. She didn’t say anything else.

After putting away my shoes, I leaned over to give her a peck on her left cheek.

“I’ll call you okay? Make sure you get something to eat before going home.”

“Nay, I will. Take care of yourself,” she gave me a warm smile.

I nodded reassuringly at her before waving her goodbye.

As I head out of the place where I had made my first memory with Hyo Min, I tried my best to ignore the nagging feeling inside of me.