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Ice Breaker (Jae and Hana)

Hana read through the article she was currenlt stuck on. She had been searching for something fun to get into, and the one thing she seemingly always went back to, was learning how to ice skate. She watched the Ice Skating tournaments they had on TV, and had claimed Tara Lipinski as her favorite figure skater. The way Tara owned the skating rink with such grace and elegance made Hana crave those skills. Her dream had always been to learn something between that and being a gymnastic; each really spoke to her, but both were dreams she had never expressed to anyone, not even her own brother. After giving it enough thought, she finally pulled her credit card out, and paid for the lessons on their website. Tomorrow was officially the starting day, for those who were joining, and with that Hana closed her laptop, and went to bed. She knew she'd need some sleep if she were to make it on time.

Hana's alarm clock caused her to jolt awake. But, she woke up excited, rather than her usual grouchy self, who hated morning time. She'd woken up early enough to shower and eat before leaving. After her shower, Hana spent the next hour getting dressed. Skating wear was definitely hard to come by, but she splurged just to dress for the occasion, and pulled her hair into a neat bun. She definitely looked the part now, and hurried downstairs to eat, so she could get a move on. Hana decided to leave Ha-joon a short note, to let him know she would be fine, and she'd be back home later before leaving and locking the door behind her. It didn't take long before a cab stopped to pick her up. Hana had never been ice skating, so she was extremely nervous about getting hurt, or embarrassing herself. But, since these were lessons, she was sure everyone there would be beginners, which eased her enough when the cab pulled in at her destination.

Afyer giving the driver enough money for the ride, Hana climbed out and hesitantly walked inside. There were several different lines, and since she had already paid online, she skipped the line for payment. The next line was where Hana found herself, and if she hadn't been mistaking, they were explaining how this would work. Her mouth dropped, and her heart sank when she heard "Couples Ice Skating". "Are you kidding me? Ive already paid. AS A SINGLE FEMALE" she said out loud, frustrated by the knowledge she hadn't gained before arriving. She figured she'd wasted her money, and with that, Hana turned, ready to walk back out and head home when she ran face first into a familiar face, nearly shrieking after nearly kissing the male behind her. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry" she expressed in a panic, covering her mouth as she gasped.

Hana found herself blinking, as if closing and opening her eyes a few times would change who it was. But, she wanted to be sure. Blushing heavily, she giggled. "Jae!" she finally said happily. "Fancy seeing you here" the human added, and eyed his attire, before looking to her own. "Well damn" she started off "you did a lot better than I did" she said playfully, commenting his outfit. She loved her own, but Hana was really into fashion, so she enjoyed seeing others outfits when they made an effort. The last time she'd seen him, was at the spookfest, where she ended up hanging around him and his partner for the night, finding them both intriguing. She had even went as far as to calling them her arm candy for the rest of that night. "You're here for the ice skating lessons?" she then asked, just to confirm. She wondered if he knew about the couples lessons, since he appeared to be here alone as well.

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Jaesung Moon on January 28, 2020 at 13:47

He shrugged slightly when she asked if he liked little spaces “I guess a little of both, I like places that are cozy but also it’s not like I can actually afford anything bigger” needs must and all, he would rather be living in his tiny little dorm room and being completely independent than he would be in the much larger house back home. He laughed when she said they should probably avoid a full-on faceplant, he agreed, but it wasn’t exactly out of the realm of possibility “He’d probably forget I went ice skating and worry I got in a fight” admittedly it wouldn’t be the first time Jae got into trouble for fighting, he definitely let his temper get the better of him sometimes but he’d been working hard to change that.

It seemed like they had more in common than he initially thought, though he wasn’t surprised really, he knew it wasn’t uncommon for parents in Korea to have an abnormal level of control over their children. Or rather abnormal when compared with the rest of the world. “Mine has been sending my siblings one by one to spy for him, problem is that he doesn’t realize that the four of us are pretty close” but it wouldn’t surprise him if his father showed up here sooner or later and when he did it was likely that he was going to finally need to come clean about his relationship. Definitely something he was dreading because he was almost certain that would see him cut off from the family he knows and loves.

He glanced down to her hands noting the way they were pretty holding onto one another in the hopes that would stop them falling, except it was basically a game of who was going to fall first at this rate because when he wobbled, she wobbled and the both of them barely managed to keep themselves upright. “You sound way more confident than I feel” he commented with a low laugh because he was getting used to falling at this point and it really wasn’t as bad as he expected it to be honestly. Then again he had spent his entire life up to now running into things, tripping over invisible objects and basically looking like he was at war with the world, ice skating seemed almost like tempting fate in perspective.

He nodded slightly when she said there were parts about her life back in Korea she missed and parts she didn’t “It’s never as simple as just being able to make a clean break, you tell yourself not to care about it or think about it but it doesn’t stop the topic from creeping inside your mind” he pressed his lips together because it was the same to him, he missed being around his siblings all the time, he missed his high school friends and he definitely missed his mom a lot. Sometimes he would convince himself he should go home, his mother was sick after all and he hadn’t seen her since she went into the hospital but then he would speak to Eun or see Han and he realized what he would be giving up if he allowed himself back into his father’s grasp “I’m staying as far away as I can for now, the less I think about going home the easier it is to stay here” he nodded a few times, that was how he saw it.

“Effort” he responded to her question without much thought “A real friend is going to be the one who puts effort into your friendship, whether that’s making plans and actually showing up for plans or remembering your birthday” in his mind they were the ones who spoke to you about random topics without you needing to constantly be the one who messages them first. He did get a little distracted by thinking about the topic so when she slipped all was over for him too and he tripped up too, when she tumbled to the ice he wasn’t long after her, landing on his side and sliding a little before he managed to slow himself and started laughing “I’m fine, everything is still where it’s supposed to be” he grinned slightly as he pushed himself up to a sitting position “I can’t believe we were actually doing it” he spoke with widened eyes before pushing himself back up and wobbling a little before offering a hand to pull her up “You’re not quitting on me yet are you?” he arched a curious brow.

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HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Hana Sae on March 2, 2020 at 1:28

Ha-joon and Hana's apartment was small, much like her college dorm had been, and that had been due to financial issues, so Hana understood what it was like to be content with small spaces, especially when you're used to them. "As long as they're cozy and have all the things I like in them, then I can deal with small places too. But if they're plain and don't have much in them, I get a little panicky," she admitted and blushed some. Small plain spaces just reminded her of being closed in, in a box, so Hana had done everything she could to make her and HJ's apartment comfortable. She couldn't help but giggle some when Jae said Han would likely forget that he had even gone ice skating and assume he got into a fight, "do you get into a lot of fights?" she asked with a brow quirked in his direction.

While it was sad, it was also nice to have someone that could relate to Hana on having a harsh Korean family. Korean parents tended to raise their children a lot more harshly than any other parents. Hana let out a soft sigh when Jae shared the fact that his father had been sending his siblings to spy on him but smiled faintly at the fact that Jae and his siblings were close "Well, at least there's that. There's nothing more powerful than the bond between siblings.. at least from my experience. My brother was thankfully never made to spy on me. I actually think my father is doing his dirty work, himself." she spoke that sentence through gritted teeth and anger. Why couldn't he just back off and let her live? Why couldn't he see that Hana had done right with her life, and pat her on the back a little?

Hana could hear that he was struggling a little when he said it was easier to stay put if he didn't think about Korea. "Sounds like you've found a couple of reasons to stay here. It's always nice to find people worth making you stick around for" Hana had found a nice little circle of her own, one she definitely would miss if she were to go back home.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion once Hana found herself tumbling to the cold, hard ice beneath them, and she couldn't help but hold her hand over her mouth and gasp with widened eyes as Jae slid a few inches away from her. When he started laughing, Hana did as well and shook her head at his comment "Thank God for small miracles" she grinned from where she currently sat and sighed to herself. She had gotten used to tumbling by now, so at least she wasn't embarrassed, and thankfully, she hadn't yet caused Jae to get hurt because of her clumsiness. It was weird for her to be clumsy though. A female so sophisticated and so used to being flawless, she certainly wasn't used to failing. But, it was something she could take as a learning lesson and grow from it. "That was one hell of a wipeout.. you slid halfway down the rink" she teased, and giggled cutely.

Hana decided she'd just sit there for a moment, and as she did that, she allowed her gaze to venture over to the other couples, smiling happily as she watched them struggle just like her and Jae were, and how cute they looked when they stumbled with each other and laughed when they'd realize they were both okay. Hana's distracted gaze was pulled back to Jae when he did a penguin wobble back to her, causing her to chuckle as she reaches her hand out, taking the one he had offered and allowed him to pull her up. Hana shook her head no, with a bright grin on her flushed face as he asked if she was quitting on him. "Not hardly. We're just getting started here. I'm not quitting until we can at least do a full lap around the rink, and pull off at least one move" be it a twirl, or properly skating backward with each other. Either way, she was determined to keep trying.

Hana pushed off again and began gliding with Jae, hand in hand, determined to get it right this time. It helped that a sweet song began playing in the background ❤.

"So, what was your dream as a child? Did you stick with whatever it was?" Hana asked curiously because it seemed that most people ended up doing something entirely different than what they had wanted to do as a child. "Have you done your service time yet?" she finished off with another question. Hana knew the ages were between 18 and 28, and if you didn't go before age 28, they'd drag you in kicking and screaming.

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Jaesung Moon on March 15, 2020 at 16:37

She was quite direct when she spoke about him getting into fights which made him look around a little shifty before he responded “I used to” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders “Didn’t particularly want to and regretted it after most of the time but I’ve never been good at backing down when I get angry” all through school he’d had to attend anger management classes and even then the techniques didn’t always work, he had been doing his best to get better control over his own emotions and for the most part it was working. Jae bit his lips slightly and shrugged when she mentioned that the bond between siblings was powerful “I’m just worried one of them will feel compelled enough by our father to actually believe him” and he could understand why they might feel like that because he had that same sense of loyalty to him in the back of his head too, it wasn’t easy to ignore.

“But at least if your father is doing the work himself then you have a little room to breathe right now huh?” he was sure she appreciated the opportunity to be able to just live her life and be happy for a while because he was certainly enjoying it himself, college and getting to meet new friends had been such a good experience for him and he didn’t want to let go of it. “You’re right, I never really thought I would get so attached to a city but now when I imagine myself going home like I promised my father I would if he let me study here” he shrugged, how could he leave behind all the great things he had here?

Overall this ice skating thing was interesting, Jae didn’t expect to be particularly good at it, he was after all a klutz and ice was very slippery and unpredictable but he felt like he was making progress and in turn, that progress gave him confidence, which is why although he just crash-landed on the ice and went skidding along on his back, he was able to laugh about it. “I think it gets a 7 for dramaticness” he responded with a cheeky grin when she pointed out how far he managed to go in a single fall “I think it’s going to be a lot of work to manage to get to the point where we can stay on our feet most of the time” he pointed out as he scooted closer so he could sit next to her while they watched all the other people in the lesson, not too different from their situation, attempting to skate, stumbling, falling but always getting back up again.

“But I think it’ll be worth the effort to be able to say we did it right?” he raised his brows in a challenging gesture, the two of them were probably the worst beginner skaters ever but he was sure things could only go up from here and he was determined to be able to prove to himself he could do this. So he supposed that meant he would be coming back for more lessons, though he wasn’t sure if all the falling had been putting her off. Thankfully though, she seemed just as dead set on managing to do this as he was and before long they were both back on the ice and standing relatively steady, hands linked and ready to try this backward thing again “Damn you think big” he responded when she mentioned being able to do one move, honestly, he would be more than happy to just be able to stay on his feet long enough.

This attempt seemed to go better though, he knew what to expect this time and so did she so he was able to correct his footing a little better when they stumbled, which they did a little but they slowly started to make it around “I wasn’t an ambitious kid, mostly because that’s what my father wanted me to be and so I ended up kinda rebelling against that in my own way” so he didn’t really have a dream, he just enjoyed making people happy “I guess making people smile was my main goal when I was young” cheesy he knew but that was just who he was “What about you? A big dreamer?” her question about service time made him go quiet for a moment before he nodded slightly “Yeah I went as soon as I turned 18, I knew I wanted to study abroad and it seemed smarter to have enlistment out of the way” it hadn’t been a great experience, but he was glad it was done.

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HumanPermalink Reply by ✓ Hana Sae on July 8, 2020 at 16:31

Hana knew how direct and blunt she could be, but perhaps allowing that to come to light with a perfect stranger, wasn't her best moment. The petite human smiled bashfully when he responded to something she maybe shouldn't have commented on in the first place, but, she could definitely tell Jae had a temper beneath that sweet layer he was putting off right now. "Well, I think we all secretly have that spark to us.. I guess the true test is how easily we allow it to ignite and consume us. My brother is one of the most humble guys you could meet, but i'd almost be afraid to see someone like him become angry.. I get what you mean by saying you don't do well at backing down. I doubt he would either.." Hana blushed slightly after realizing she turned a simple statement / answer into a ranting session. "Sorry" she said, followed by a soft giggle and a shake of her head.

Hana's smile slightly shifted to a frown when Jae said he wouldn't have been surprised for one of his siblings to end up believing their father. "After everything my own father has done, I get it.. It's still our fathers.. sadly we don't get to chose who we get stuck with and deep down you can't help but love them..." It was hard at this point for Hana to trust her father, but she doubted there would ever be a day where she didn't love him, unless he caused something to happen to Ha-joon because of his shady dealings with the Triad. Their parents were in trouble, and now... so were Hana and HJ.

Hana nodded in agreement when Jae said she was at least able to breathe and live a little since her father was the one doing his dirty work. "I guess you have a point.. my illness deprives me of plenty of living, but as far as my father goes, he's not stopped too much for me yet" Hana knew there would come a day soon where she'd literally have to go into hiding if this thing with the Triad and her parents got any worse, so for now.. she was going to do exactly what Jae had said. Breathe. She knew she couldn't control anything more than what she was capable of controlling.. the rest would have to be swept under the rug and not stressed over.

Hana too had attached herself to this city. She knew the feeling all too well of being sad that she might lose any of it, no matter how much she missed home some days."This city has been full of surprise and adventure, and even a lot of danger, but I don't think I could give it up now .." she admitted before biting her lip gently. Hana could only shake her head, amused by Jae's optimism about his slip-n-slide moment.At least Jae was still giddy with hope even after a crash like that.. he had a certain kind of glow to him, almost a proud one even.. and Hana felt that maybe she even had that right now. She'd never tried ice skating and no matter how many crash landings she'd had already, she was proud of herself for trying this evening.

Hana smiled over to Jae as he scooted next to her. Together the two of them ended up just sitting in the middle of an ice skating rink of all places, analyzing everyone else who seemed pretty much like Hana and Jae themselves, beginners who knew nothing, but people who had enough heart to keep getting back up every time they;d fall and that was only something Hana could smile about. "It's cute watching all of these couples, I think it's sweet.. and even though you and I aren't a couple at all, thank you for doing this with me" she said appreciatively. Hana definitely enjoyed Jae's company, and hoped this was the beginning of a true friendship, though admittedly, the person she saw herself getting more attached to, would be Leigh. Either way, Hana's been graterful for all the new friends, and it's made her love Evermore even more.

"Totally worth the effort" she responded and gave a gentle nod. Hana snorted, which caused her to blush.. damn did she hate snorting. "Yeah I suppose that's reaching a bit far huh? I think if we just manage to skate without falling, we can call that a big enough win for the day.." although she did kind of hope that they could learn the backward skating, because it looked really fun, and it definitely looked like a graceful thing when it wasn't her attempting it.

As they began gliding around on the ice a bit more flawlessly than last time, Hana's eyes lit up as she looked to Jae, with a look that kinda said 'we're doing it'. She listened intently as he spoke of how he rebelled against things in his childhood, giving him a nod to say she understood. "I think for us specifically, childhood is rough.. I haven't really seen American parents act as harshly as Korean parents, It's tempting to rebell against parents like ours.. I was the golden child, and I definitely found myself in a rebellious spirit for a while, even now as i'm grown up.. my father wants and expects so much that I don't want at all, it only makes a person want to do the opposite sometimes" Hana found herself ranting a little and lost focus on her balance, but since she was holding onto Jae this time, she was able to hold herself up rather than crashing again. She was sure he felt her feet slip a couple times, which caused her to giggle slightly.

"This isn't too bad" she smiled happily, because they were still on their feet, and had managed to get half-way around the ice by now without falling. Hana smiled once more when he said his goal back when he was young, was simply just to make people smile. "I admire that, we live in such a cruel world.. people need a reason to smile.. and I can definitely see you being a lot of people's reasons.." she loved the kind of vibes Jae gave off, it was the kind that you could only feel happy about. "Well, it all started with wanting to help troubled teens.. those on a path to destruction because ive seen so many who struggle not to get tangled up in drug use, and many more situations .. but then I also have a profound love for fashion, my dream is to make my own label and see people walking the runways with my clothes on" she wasn't sure if that was considered being a big dreamer, but that was certainly her dream. "I've been torn for the past few years over where to start first.. college ends for me soon and I have to make up my mind.. definitely not easy" she stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well, at least you got that out of the way.. It doesn't seem to be as big of a deal here in America.. are things just harder for us in general?" she asked jokingly but the question was serious nonetheless. ""Where do you see yourself in the next several years?" she then asked a pretty cliché question, but she enjoyed getting to know Jae.. that was always the best part of having a new friend. Hana's eyes widened as she realized they'd made it around the ring once, "Well, would you look at that? We did it!" she squealed happily, her smile reaching her eyes this time as they now seemed to be doing well enough. "I think that calls for a celebration" she chuckled playfully but felt proud of both of them. "I'm sure this is something you can take back home to tell Han.. I know my brother will be proud that I got out here and did something fun." Ha-joon had been telling Hana for ages now, that all he wanted to do was see her live her life for herself rather than for their parents.

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DhampirPermalink Reply by ✓ Jaesung Moon on July 18, 2020 at 19:57

He glanced downwards when she talked about forgiving a family member who did nothing but hurt you “Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I was brave enough to stand up to him and insist what I want but” he shrugged slightly “Guess I’m not brave enough to actually go there” for Han’s sake though, he really hoped that one day he would be. “Well if you can look your illness in the eye and say it won’t stop you then it shouldn’t be too hard to do the same right?” he offered a half-smile, he knew too well it was a nice and pretty bold thought but more of a pipe dream than something which would become reality.

As they looked at the people skating around them as though they actually knew what they were doing, he didn’t feel too out of place, having Hana here made him feel more at home with not being perfect at it. Maybe if they practiced enough they could be half as good as everyone else here “Evermore is really unique that way huh” he commented thoughtfully, it really did draw you in and make you feel like you belonged in a weird way. He chuckled when she pointed out that it looked cute “You’d think the whole skating thing would be adorable and fun but it’s actually really damn exhausting” he commented as he glanced over at her shaking his head in amusement “I think we should both be thanking each other for preventing the other from ultimate embarrassment” he commented with an amused grin, at least when they fell they tended to both fall together.

He grinned slightly “Well you know they do say to dream big, no point setting your goals too small right, then when you reach them you’ll have nothing really to look back on” that was how he saw it anyway, it was okay to reach for the impossible because then at least you kept moving “But some skating without falling sounds like a good first step” and the practice seemed to be paying off because the longer they got through the session the less falling there was and the more Jae’s body got used to how it was supposed to act on the ice. He beamed proudly when she gave him an almost shocked look noting that they were actually managing to skate a little across the ice “I feel like back in Korea I wouldn’t have dared to rebel the way I have but” he shrugged slightly “I guess being away from them and seeing everything they’d want me to give up for them has been a real eye-opener for me” especially after having the chance to fall in love with someone.

They had a few more wobbles but managed just about to stay on their feet which was relieving because he was feeling a little sore from all the crash landings against the ice. He arched a brow as he listened to her want ot help out troubled teens but also wanted to pursue her love of fashion “Have you thought about trying to find some sort of middle ground, maybe your own clothing line where you could help to hire troubled teens who need a creative outlet?” Jae could be imaginative when he wanted to be at least. He pressed his lips together when she asked what he wanted for his future “I wanna be an author, I wanna write a book which everyone reads and loves and people want to read it more than once” he nodded slightly, he wasn’t sure what the book would be about yet but that was his dream.

He grinned the moment they finished their full lap and he made a little victory dance which caused him to wobble a little but not quite fall down, before long the two of them were heading back to the entrance of the ice rink and stepping safely onto the hard surface, Jae was undoing his laces before long “I kept telling him I was gonna make it here” he teased playfully “Do you wanna get a quick drink at the cafe before heading off?” it seemed only nice to wrap up together and maybe get a hot cocoa because honestly he was very cold.