THAWCK. Sunggyu fell down for the Nth time. Myungsoo skated past holding his girlfriend’s hand and smirked at his hyung sitting on the cold hard ice. Sunggyu groaned at Myungsoo’s mocking smile. That little twerp. Argh, sunggyu thought to himself, why did he agree to ice-skating again? Right, because of her. He glanced at the other end of the ice-skating rink, where unfortunately, his object (or rather person) of affection was showing affection to another man. Myungsoo annoyed him, but watching his girlfriend (well, he hasn’t asked her out, but he was confident she would accept him… right?) behaving so adorably with another man made him really angry… not at her, but at his own failure to ice-skate well.

“I think ice-skating with your boyfriend is a very romantic thing to do. It’s so cute when a couple is facing each other and the guy skates backwards while holding his girlfriend’s hands. I wish I could do that when I get a boyfriend some day,” she had said wistfully when they walked past a public rink one day. And somehow, he suggested ice-skating with myungsoo and his girlfriend (also her best friend), even though he could barely stand on ice. He wanted it to be a double date, but maybe… he had overestimated himself.

Holding the barrier surrounding the rink, he slowly made his way to where she was standing with That Showoff. “Oh, oppa! Where were you? I lost you while skating,” she asked. “I was… resting at the side,” he grimaced. No way was he admitting he was rolling on the floor in front of That Showoff. “No wonder! I saw myungsoo and minhee but I couldn’t find you,” she said. “By the way, this is Joongki-ssi! He takes speed-skating lessons and he’s teaching me to skate backwards!” she said excitedly. “but I thought you like figure-skating?” sunggyu replied, trying to keep his sourness to a minimum. “yeah, but joongki-ssi says the basic techniques are similar!” she said, smiling at joongki. Don’t smile at him like that!!! Sunggyu screamed in his head. That was her problem. She always said she couldn’t do aegyo, but she didn’t need to. She didn’t know how cute she is even when she was just doing normal stuff. Forget it, that innocent girl will not get his hints. He turned towards That Showoff and glared at him instead, as if daring him to give a one-on-one lesson with her. That Showoff didn’t seem to catch his hint either and said “if you want, we can start now!” “sure!” she replied excitedly. “sunggyu oppa, you can skate on your own right?” without waiting for his reply she skated off with That Showoff. “b..but..” sunggyu stuttered. He let out a sigh. It being lousier at something than a girl he loved and being unable to impress her. Since hamsters were obviously not made to be on ice, he crawled pathetically out of the ice rink. Sunggyu groaned in frustration as he sat at the benches, watching That Showoff hold her hands and spend intimate time with her.  Unable to watch them anymore, he took out his iPod and closed his eyes, trying to block out thoughts of him not being good enough for her.

Tap, tap.  Sunggyu opened his eyes and stared at the face in front of him for a while. Then  he let out a small scream, and moved backwards. “why! Am I very scary?” she pouted. “no, no!” he quickly shook his head. It was just… seeing his unrequited love’s face so close to his almost made him want to lean in and kiss her. He had to exercise so much restraint to avoid shocking her. “kidding,” she laughed, “sorry I scared you!” she sat next to him and handed him a cup of hot chocolate. “thanks,” sunggyu said. “where’s joongki-ssi?” he asked carefully, trying to show a neutral expression (instead of a jealous one). “oh he went to meet his girlfriend for dinner. did you know he’s dating moon chae won? That music senior from our school?” her pitch raised as it always did when she got excited. Sunggyu shook his head and smiled at her cuteness. He was glad to hear That Showoff… I mean, JoongKi-ssi was already attached. “I think they’ll look good together! He’s so cute and she’s so pretty!” she chattered. “And how about me?” he blurted out when he heard her praise Joongki. “Hmm? What about you?” she asked. “…nevermind,” sunggyu muttered. An awkward silence filled the air.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Sunggyu turned and looked at her. “for?” he said. He didn’t think there was anything she had to be sorry for, except not accepting his heart. But then again, he hadn’t even confessed, so it wasn’t her fault. “I’m sorry I made you come ice-skating with me. I know you can’t skate very well. You looked quite moody the entire time,” she said, looking at her feet. Oops, she realized he couldn’t skate. It was really his own fault that he tried so hard to impress her. She didn’t force him to go ice-skating with her. Neither did she lasso his heart and hold it ransom. He was the one falling for her. “I’m sorry,” he said. Her head snapped up. “why! I was the one who forced you to come. Myungsoo and minhee are having such a good time, I was having fun, you’re the only one sad and unhappy. I should have called dongwoo or sungyeol inste-“

“don’t say that!” he cut her off fiercely. She stopped mid-sentence and was shocked at his harsh tone. “don’t say it like I can be so easily replaced by someone else. I was the one who suggested ice-skating. I was the one who wanted to make it a double date. I was the one who wanted to impress you. I was the one who fell for you. So even if you don’t like me back in the same, don’t make me sound so insignificant. Even if you don’t see me a that special man in your life, don’t make me sound so replaceable.” He breathed heavily after shooting off his mouth at top speed. Seeing her astounded face, the words he said impulsively started to sink in. He facepalmed mentally. Did he just confess? He wasn’t expecting it to do it this way. He wanted to plan a romantic confession, not an angry one when she wasn’t even ready. “I’ll… just go to the bathroom…” he said awkwardly and got up.

 “oppa,” he felt her grab his hand. He looked at her. “I’m sorry for making you feel like you’re insignificant and replaceable. You’re not. Let me tell you, you’re not. You’re more important to me than you know. I’m closer to you than all the rest of them. I tell you things that I don’t even tell myungsoo even though I met him before you. Oppa, you don’t have to try to impress me. You’re amazing just the way you are, and I like you like that…but…” She trailed off and paused for a while. “but I’m not sure if I like you that way… I mean I definitely like you. Maybe more than a friend. I mean, you’re a friend, that’s really close, but… I mean…” she was getting flustered. “argh!” she sighed. He bit his lip, trying to hold back a smile at her cuteness when she was frustrated. “I just need some time to sort out my feelings,” she said. “Can you… wait? I know it’s unfair that you have to waste your time and wait uncertainly… for someone who might not even reciprocate your love. But can you just hold on for a bit longer?” as she looked into his eyes, he could see her sincerity, and possibly a reflection of the same affection he had for her. She looked so worried and at a loss of what to do, he couldn’t help but comfort her. He bent down and gave her a hug. He heard her gasp, but didn’t let go.

“sure. I will wait. I will wait for you, because you’re the only girl I want. Don’t worry about me. I can live just looking at your smiles, even if you don’t love me back the same way. But just let me be there for you. Let me be the person you can count on when you need help. Let me be the person you can gain strength from when you’re tired. Don’t be shocked by what I’ve said, and let me continue to be your friend, at least, okay?” he said gently, petting her hair. He felt her body relax. “Thank you,” she said in a muffled voice and hugged him back.

They pulled apart and smiled at each other. “I’m tired of ice-skating. Let’s go to the noraebang!” he said. Laughing, she nodded her head, “let’s go do what kim sunggyu does best!”

author's note:
inspired when I was ice-skating the other day and I saw a couple skating together. And then I imagined a hamster skating and thought it would be funny. Not sure if sunggyu can actually skate in real life! Story is purely fictional, and he could be an awesome skater actually (: