“How are you doing over there?”

 

“I’m doing fin—“ With an awkward sort of thudding and skidding sound, Donghae fell flat on his and swiveled in an odd sort of circle as his friends watched, laughing.

 

“How in the world did you do that?” Sungmin chortled as Seohyun gracefully skated over to give Donghae a hand. Donghae shrugged and stood up with Seohyun’s help, dusting bits of ice off of his .

 

“I slipped. It’s not that big of a deal…”

 

Heechul, meanwhile, had fallen onto the ice as well, but from laughing. “Y-you spun a full circle on your !” He cried, nearly shrieking with laughter.

 

Taeyeon simply shook her head and coolly patted Heechul’s back as he sat in the middle of the skating rink, dying of laughter.

 

Leeteuk slowly, but steadily came over to Donghae and helped him rid of the few, clinging bits of ice. “I thought you and Eunhyuk were supposed to be good on your feet.” He chuckled gently.

 

Donghae frowned as he watched Eunhyuk spin around the rink like a maniac – but one that didn’t fall. “On solid ground, sure, not frozen water.”

 

“You’ll get the hang of it.” Taeyeon told him as she glided towards them, taking Leeteuk’s arm. “We’ll help you.”

 

Donghae waved them off dismissively. “You two have fun.” He told them with what he hoped was a kind, rather than curious expression. He glanced down at Taeyeon’s hand on Leeteuk’s arm, and back up to Leeteuk’s fond, affectionate eyes – of course, pointing at Taeyeon.

 

No, they’d be better off together.

 

Donghae awkwardly shuffled away on the ice, heading for the edge of the rink where he knew he’d have a nice little wall to hang onto as he watched the rest of his friends skate circles around him.

 

Figuratively, that was.

 

And it was there that he stood, watching as his friends spun, glided, and skated their way across the rink, that he saw an addition to the crowd on ice.

 

His friends already dominated most of the ice rink, with their large numbers and energy – but for some reason, this girl seemed to take up more – what, room? thought? – in the rink. Except… that he was the only one that seemed to be paying attention to her. A glance around to his other friends made him frown slightly, as he noticed that he seemed to be the only one even noticing her. Everyone else was…oblivious.

 

It wasn’t that she was extraordinarily beautiful. It wasn’t that she glowed, or anything of the sort.

 

It was simply… something about her that made Donghae unable to keep his eyes off of her. He had no idea what it was.

 

Until she began skating.

 

She made a small round around the rink, passing straight by him and leaving him with the faint scent of raspberries and water. But after only another round, she began to swerve through the throng of people, intricately weaving through his friends and spinning circles around everyone else.

 

When she spun into the air, arms tucked in and legs crossed gracefully, Donghae realized what it was that drew him to her.

 

Pure talent, and the love for what she did.

 

That, made her beautiful.

 

 

Donghae couldn’t stop thinking about her. This girl that he didn’t know.

 

Thoughts of her, and her magnificent skating distracted him all through the week, making him unable to focus on – well, nearly anything else. All he could think about was that girl.

 

That girl.

 

He resolved, half-way through the week, to go back and see if he could see her again.

 

 

And so it was that he found himself sitting behind the wall, hugging a foam cup of steaming hot chocolate – ha! like he was going to fall on his in front of her – watching that beautiful girl skating.

 

He began wondering what her name was, as she skidded to a stop in the middle of the rink.

 

“Ah, there’s Jessica again.” He heard a female voice say from behind him. He turned around and looked up the stands to see a group of girls staring right where he had been – at the skater. “She’s always here.” One of them huffed.

 

Another of the girls shook her head. “She can only get away from her parents on weekends. But still…” One of them scoffed as Jessica scratched a figure eight into the ice. “All she does is show off.”

 

Suddenly, Donghae felt incredibly defensive of this girl he didn’t know. But who were these other girls to say things like that about Jessica, when anyone could see from the determined expression on her face, that she was genuinely trying?

 

 

Donghae began coming on weekdays, rather than just weekends. He practiced on his own, trying, at least, to be able to make a full round around the rink without falling on his tushie. He came, also, on weekends, just to watch Jessica skate.

 

After three weeks of utter madness and a very sore backside, he found himself finally able to get onto the ice.

 

He had been doing so well.

 

But, of course, he fell.

 

Right in front of Jessica.

 

She skidded to a stop in front of him, chuckling and bending down to hold out a helping hand. “Hey, you. Need some help?”

 

Donghae stopped bothering trying to impress Jessica.

 

She was more than way above his level.

 

Now, he simply let her hold his hands and lead him around the rink.

 

But then again, this was now, and him falling on his had been then.

 

Years had passed since he had first spoken to her, and now, they had been together for so long, Donghae had become rather good at keeping himself on both feet, rather than on his tushie, or hands, or any other part of his body that was supposed to remain in the air and not on the ice.

 

But he couldn’t do anything she could.

 

Not nearly.

 

When they stopped to sti down, Jessica began to take off her skates and rubbed her hands together. “I’m going to go to the restroom a bit.” She leaned down to kiss Donghae’s cheek affectionately, and he watched her go with almost dazed eyes – so in love he was with her.

 

But the moment he was gone, he snapped out of his stupor and waved his hands wildly at the person on the other side of the rink.

 

 

When Jessica came out of the restroom and walked towards the rink, she found herself walking in the dark towards a pool of ice, glittering and shimmering under a set of spotlights.

 

And there Donghae stood, on the other side of the rink, with a bouquet of white roses in his hands.

 

In front of him, etched into the otherwise smooth ice, “Jessica, be mine?”