Page 7 of Melt His Heart

“Yeah, I guess I’m kinda special like that,” I mumble, going back to looking out the window.

“You are.” He says under his breath, staring straight ahead. And if I wasn’t so hyper aware of him, I’m sure I would’ve missed it. I’m still second-guessing if he even said it at all.

“So, anyways, what about your family? They’re probably so proud of you. I hear you’ve won mostly gold.” He smiles. So he has looked into me. I swallow.

“Yeah. I suppose they are. We’re all pretty close. It’s always tough though, being so far away from them sometimes. I even moved them to Seoul to be closer to me in recent years.”

I don’t know why I’m sharing so much. I feel like my walls are slipping in this car with him right now, like there’s nowhere for me to hide.

“Being away definitely sucks. But you take care of your family, that’s admirable. It’s nice to be able to give them a little something back, you know.” I hum in agreement.

“Make sure you give back to yourself too though,” He says softly. My stomach flutters when I turn toward him, and we lock eyes. I don’t like whatever it is I’m seeing, or maybe I don’t like whatever it is he’s seeing. And thank God it’s fleeting because we’ve arrived at my building.

“I should…head inside.” I stammer, fumbling with my seat belt, the stupid thing not releasing. I’m sure I look so silly in front of him right now. Carson moves suddenly, reaching over and unclipping it for me.

“You looked like you were struggling a bit there.” He laughs. Struggling? He has no fucking idea, seeing as he’s more in my space than he needs to be, among other things.

“Thanks, Carson, and thank you for the ride,” I say, my voice coming out much softer than I would like, and I know my face is red because it’s burning. He’s so close right now, way too close.

Our faces are only inches apart. I can feel the warmth of his breath on my cheek, and I want to die. Because I once again feel myself spiraling into this is he or isn’t he flirting with me rabbit hole. And he suddenly sits back with a smirk, that I’m one-hundred percent sure he’s using to torment me now.

“No problem. I have longer training days sometimes, so I can give you a ride, and you’re not that far from the rink, so.” He explains.

Yeah, that’s not happening.

I’m never getting in this car with you again.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks. See you tomorrow.”

I grab my bag from the back and head off to my door. I can feel his gaze trailing after me. He’s waiting until I get in before driving off, and that realization makes my entire body burn hot.

I’m gonna be sick.

Chapter 4

Carson and I have been interacting a lot more lately. I know I told myself I’d never get a ride from him again, but my bus route has yet to go back to its usual schedule, and I really do need to stay behind at the rink most days. These new program trials are kicking my ass, along with the intense gym sessions.

So, Carson giving me a ride on our longer training days has become a bit of our little thing. The rides are rather short anyway, and most of the time we just listen to music, not having much energy left.

I can’t lie, his brief company has become something I think I look forward to in my week.

An anomaly in my lonely routine.

Sometimes I want to start a conversation with him, but my lack of social skills obviously makes it hard, and I don’t know where to start. Though he never makes my silence feel awkward. I notice sometimes he’ll ask questions to get the conversation going, almost like he can sense I want to, but I don’t know how to.

I wish I could return this though, instead of finding out everything about him secretly through his socials like a creep.

“So, how long are you going to be training here?” Carson asks over the music playing softly throughout the car.

“Why? You want me to leave?”

“Of course not.” He says, his face pinched.

“A few months. Until after worlds.” I mumble, playing with the drawstring of my sweatpants.

“And you’ll be back home?”

“That’s the plan.”