𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 ⟡ 양정원

014

the crowd's volume turned into a muttering as a woman tapped onto the microphone in her hand to gather their attention.

There was a podium in the middle of the rink, where the lady with the microphone was standing and some staff that were holding the medals

Third place was announced and we gave the competitors a round of applause as they skated up to their place on the podium

"IN SECOND PLACE ..."

"Hwang Hyunjin and Jang Wonyoung!"

The crowd had a mixed reaction, some said "oh" and some said "wooo!! I heard that they were the reigning champions for the past 4 years in the U18 category

"AND IN FIRST PLACE ... "

I held my hands together in a clasp tightly anticipating to hear the results and praying to hear our names

"PARK SUNGHOON AND LEE HAYUN!"

The crowd roared, me and Sunghoon did little jumps while applauding ourselves. Then we skated onto the rink and had some help up onto the steep podium.

I was beaming a smile, it had been so long since something like this.

We leaned over as a staff out the medals over our heads and we posed a couple times with them.

Then the announcer lady gave Sunghoon a microphone and asked him

"Do you have anyone to thank for being here today?"

"Uh.. I'd like to thank my Mom, Dad and Sister for being here today, they encouraged me to continue my figure skating dreams" he kindly said and then handed the microphone to me

I took a deep breathe, thinking of what to say. Do I say Mr and Mrs Yang or- Dad and Mom? That doesn't seem right

Maybe i should thank Yoon and Eunji? But that seems kind of selfish for the other girls

"Um-.. I'd like to thank.. Yang Jungwon"

The crowd gave a confused reaction in response to the unknown name

".. he was the one that told me I should start figure skating again, and helped me regain my passion" as I pointed my hand at the boy who looked into my eyes at the barrier among our friends

The audience collectively said "awhh"

"We hope to be at other competitions too! Please stay tuned for it" Sunghoon announced and the crowd gave us a round of applause and many camera shuttered when we posed one last time before hopping off the podium

We made our way off the rink and put our guards back onto our skates, then we headed over to the friend group that waited anxiously for our arrival

"LETS GO OUR FOR DINNER TONIGHT!!" Jay screamed as everyone cheered loudly for us, making me and Sunghoon giggle in slight embarrassment

"Nah how do you guys just casually run in those skates" Ni-ki looked at us in amazement

"You get used to it after 10 years of skating, also we have guards on so it's a lot more balanced" Sunghoon remarked, pointing at his guards on the blades of his skates