Chapter 1.23

Exhilarating.

That was how Lucas Smith would describe standing on the ice after finishing a program.

Panting for breath, sure. Exhausted, sure. Dissatisfied with his performance, definitely. But it was all worth it when he remembered all the time and effort that went into each and every movement and the way the crowd went wild.

He loved figure skating. From the bottom of his heart, it was his life and soul, the center of his world. So he worked as hard as he could for twenty-six years to become the best figure skater out there.

And, now, here he was.

In the one place he had never imagined he would be in. The spot that was occupied by the people he despised the most.

They were accusing him of sabotaging last year's silver medallist's skates.

You see, just a few hours ago, there was a loud scream. Everybody rushed to the source and found the silver medallist from last year, Jain Michaels, clutching his foot in pain.

He had his skating outfit on and one skate. The other skate laid sideways on the floor next to his foot. Suspicious red droplets hung from the blade of the skate, threatening to fall to the ground.

Everybody's eyes travelled upward to the hands that grasped the young skater's foot. Red liquid leaked through his fingers, and tears streamed down his face. Suddenly, an ominous feeling filled the hearts of every person at the scene as they speculated what this red liquid was.

Concern filled Jain's coach as he knelt by his side. In a soft, calm voice, he asked, "What happened?"

Jain shakingly removed his hands, letting everybody see the atrocity that he had to go through. Behind his hands was a gaping wound situated right on the ball of his foot. Blood spilled out of it, creating a puddle on the floor. His coach gasped and immediately shouted for somebody to get the medical personnel.

"Get somebody to help!" he yelled, panicking. A few people obeyed, running out to inform a staff member.

Silence descended upon the room after the loud thud of the doors closing, everybody frozen in fear and shock. The only sounds came from the sobbing Jain who was being tormented both physically and mentally. His coach finally broke the silence as he enveloped the other in his embrace.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered in Jain's ear.

That was when the reality dawned on Jain. If his injury was as terrible as the pain he was feeling, he might never be able to skate professionally again. The thought crushed him.

He didn't know what he would do if he wasn't allowed to skate. He would be a mess, trying to find a new passion. The possibility sank in, and Jain froze for a moment before breaking down again. He hugged his coach back, his grip tight as if his coach was his only lifeline.

A skater under the same coach, Kudo Itsuki, suddenly gasped and pointed to his friend's foot in horror. "The... bone. It shows."

The coach glanced at Jain's foot again and caught a hint of white in the mass of red. His eyes widened, and he gulped. What person could possibly be this cruel?

He placed his hand on the wound, putting pressure on it after he remembered how much blood Jain was losing. Blood oozed through the gaps between his fingers making a plit plat sound that irked everybody. It only served as a reminder of the ruthlessness that occurred while they were blissfully warming up.

As the coach put more and more pressure on the wound, Jain winced. The pain resonated through his body, reaching all the way up to his thigh. It lingered there, before another wave came, asserting its dominance over the area as the young skater flinched again, unable to do anything but wait. He didn't want to wallow in his misery, he really didn't, but what else could he do until help came?

As the tears continued pouring out of his eyes, and sobs racked his body, the doors slammed open again, and medical staff rushed to his side. They pulled him up and helped him hobble away, his coach worriedly following after them.

And then came the long wait, where everybody was hoping for his well-being and for their own. If somebody could do this to him, they could very well do it to them too. Soon, everybody got the bad news that Jain decided to withdraw from the competition.

The audience was informed that the competition would be on hold until the investigation of the culprit was over. Everybody had to stay in the building, though, because everybody was a suspect.

But some were inevitably more suspicious than others. The ISU interrogated everybody in the vicinity of the crime, as well as every figure skater and person related to a figure skater. They were all gathered in one room for the investigation. The nerves and jittery feelings affected everybody at the thought of being in the same room as the criminal.

Ling Xia sat, calmly waiting for his turn. Beside him was the other figure skater from China, Xu Lijin. He sat with a straight back and sharp eyes. Other than his clammy hands, Ling Xia couldn't find anything that put him on the priority list of suspects.

But the man had no reason to hurt the Jain. Other than upping his rank a bit, it wouldn't do anything. Chances were, it wouldn't even earn him a medal. The only reason for his calm exterior yet nervous interior could be that he knew the person who committed the crime.

So Ling Xia decided to scope out the situation. "So who do you think did it?" he leaned closer to the other and whispered with schadenfreude on his face.

Xu Lijin snapped his head to the left. His eyes shot to Ling Xia, full of surprise and a hint of guilt before those emotions were obscured by an accusing look. "Are you enjoying this?" he whisper-shouted back, taken aback.

The loud whisper drew a few gazes to them, but, luckily, nobody heard the contents of the question. They turned away after a few moments, and Ling Xia gave Xu Lijin a smile. "Of course I'm not enjoying it," he said, as if his demeanor pointed to the exact opposite conclusion. "But isn't this interesting?"

He playfully jabbed Xu Lijin on the shoulder, encouraging him. "Come on, who do you think did it? I won't tell." His smile widened as he saw the other hesitate due to his guilt.

Xu Lijin opened his mouth tentatively, and after the first word was said, the rest gushed out like he would die if he didn't tell somebody. "I... I think somebody in the top six or seven from last year did it."

The vagueness of his response threw Ling Xia off a bit, but he soon noticed that Xu Lijin had averted his eyes. He deduced that Xu Lijin probably didn't want to betray his possible friend or keep everything in, so he only revealed a bit of information. It was useful, nonetheless.

Still, Ling Xia wondered why Xu Lijin mentioned the top six or seven. His face turned serious as he contemplated the situation.

In the men's singles field of figure skating, the top four were pretty much set in stone. The people that earned fifth, sixth, and seventh last year had close scores, but, even so, only the fourth place skater would benefit from this. Because the silver medallist withdrew, he was basically guaranteed a spot on the podium and medal unless there was a dark horse.

So why had Xu Lijin explicitly said "in the top six or seven"? It confused Ling Xia as he pondered. After trying many possible solutions to this problem in his head, he only came up with a single plausible one.

Somebody else before the sixth or seventh place was probably also going to withdraw. To draw less attention to himself, the culprit would probably frame a person for the crime he committed just an hour ago instead of hurting another person. So Ling Xia could definitely not believe anything the evidence or the interrogations might suggest!

Just as he came to this conclusion, a person sprinted past him with a file in his tight grasp. Ling Xia leaned back in surprise, trying to avoid a collision with the urgent man. He pushed the door of the interrogation room open and slammed the file down on the table. The door swung closed and Ling Xia lost sight of the happenings inside the room.

He didn't have to wait for more information for long, though. A few minutes later, a voice came on over the intercom. "We'd like to interview Lucas Smith next."

Yeah, they were calling it an interview. Probably to lower the 'interviewees' guard a bit. But that wasn't the important part. Everybody was being 'interviewed' in order. There was a whole queue set up, and Lucas was definitely not next in line. That information was probably from forensics; some kind of evidence to incriminate Lucas.

Sure enough, Lucas stayed in that room for much longer than everybody else. When he finally came out, his pale skin was even more pale, and he was escorted by two people.

They dragged him along. Everybody's gazes followed this scene, and Ling Xia's eyes hardened with resolve. It wasn't just speculation and his knowledge on crimes that led him to believe that Lucas was being framed. Ling Xia actually knew Lucas, and they had become good friends in the past few years.

But Ling Xia didn't dwell on this topic for too long. He knew exactly what to do next, but he needed to stop being confined to this seat. As if the ISU had heard his thoughts, they announced that everybody was free to go on the intercom in just a few seconds. Who really had the crow's mouth... or mind?

Ling Xia stood, speed walking over to the previous year's seventh place. He tapped his shoulder lightly, drawing the other's attention away from his efforts not to crash into others. Ling Xia didn't waste a single moment once he saw that Ivan Fedorov noticed him. "Did you do it?"

Ivan blinked, looking confusing. "Do what?" When he saw the accusing glint in Ling Xia's eyes, he understood. His eyes narrowed. "You think I hurt Jain?" Ivan asked incredulously.

Ling Xia returned his question with a calm nod. "It's either you or Lee Baek-hyun." There were two things he wanted to do with this statement. One, instigate conflict between the both of them, and, two, use that conflict to make Ivan defend himself by telling him information about the other. People were always more loose about information on other people.

As he expected, Ivan instantly took up a defensive position. "I would never do that! It was obviously Lee Baek-hyun! He was with Jain last! Jain trusts him a lot too!"

"If they were friends, wouldn't Lee Baek-hyun be less likely to harm Jain?" Ling Xia inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" Ivan frantically waved his hands. "Of course not! That guy is a snake! He always acts friendly with everybody, and then, when you least expect it, he'll stab you in the back!"

That matched with what Lucas had told Ling Xia in the past. In his eyes, Ivan was obviously frightened by the prospect of being accused of committing this crime, and he acted innocent. But he still didn't know Ivan's alibi.

"What were you doing at the time then? That's the most surefire way of knowing if you were involved or not," Ling Xia pressed on, determined to get the information he wanted.

Ivan pondered on the subject, trying to remember what he was doing at the time Jain was hurt. His eyes lit up. "I just realized, I'm not obligated to tell you any of this." He peered at Ling Xia with a smug smirk on his face.

Ling Xia shrugged. "Okay. I'll just ask Lee Baek-hyun then. I'm sure he'll have a lot of interesting things to say." Ling Xia turned on his heel, ready to go find the sixth place figure skater from last year. Before he could take even a step, he felt Ivan grip his wrist.

"Wait! I'll tell you!" Ivan called out.

Ling Xia twisted his body back into its original position. "Why? Why are you so adamant on giving me the information now? Are you hiding something?" He searched Ivan's face for any clue that Ivan was guilty, but found none.

"No." Ivan sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I just didn't want Lee Baek-hyun to give you some random false information that would be used against me."

Ling Xia nodded with understanding. "Of course. So what would your alibi be?"

"I was warming up with Lucas. You can ask him."

Ling Xia gave him a look that asked, 'Really?' "I can't actually contact him to confirm your alibi. He's in custody," he responded, scoffing.

Ivan understood what Ling Xia was insinuating. "I didn't tell you his name on purpose! Really! If you ask him, you'll know!"

Ling Xia reluctantly let the matter go. Now, all he had to do was go to Lee Baek-hyun and ask him if Ivan had really been where Ivan said he had been. He bade the other goodbye and left to find Lee Baek-hyun.

Weaving through the crowd, he eventually spotted the person he was trying to find. He jogged up to him, attracting his attention by tapping his shoulder. Lee Baek-hyun whipped around, immediately assuming a fighting stance.

Ling Xia blinked in surprise. This... What happened here? But once Lee Baek-hyun saw that it was Ling Xia, his tense body relaxed. He turned up his nose at Ling Xia. "What does he want?" he spat in Korean, thinking that the guy who lived so many different people's lives wasn't fluent in every major language.

But yes, that also matched Lucas's description. If a person wasn't worth sucking up to, Lee Baek-hyun wouldn't give them a second glance. "I want to know where Ivan was when Jain was hurt," Ling Xia replied in perfect Korean.

This obviously startled Lee Baek-hyun. He took a moment to react to what was happening, blinking in surprise. It didn't take long for his arrogant face to come back. He snorted and answered Ling Xia with a question of his own. "Why do you want to know?"

"I think Ivan framed Lucas," Ling Xia easily confessed.

A sly smirk crossed Lee Baek-hyun's face. "Finally, somebody realizes that he's the culprit!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "It's so obvious! Honestly, I don't understand how all those idiots didn't figure it out."

Ling Xia furrowed his eyebrows. "Really? I didn't think it was that obvious." Ling Xia was trying to coax some more information out of Lee Baek-hyun's mouth.

It worked. "Did you not see him lurking around Jain's stuff an hour before it happened?" Lee Baek-hyun asked, surprised. He had thought that everybody noticed it. "Are you serious? I thought you were a bit smarter than everybody else, but it turns out that you're also an imbecile!" He snorted and turned away.

"But if nobody else noticed it, then how do I know that you're not lying? What if you're the culprit?" Ling Xia had no other choice but to provoke him to keep him here, and Lee Baek-hyun took the bait very easily.

The other whirled around with an offended look on his face. "You think I'm the culprit? You're even more stupid than I thought. I was talking with Jain before it happened. When would I find the time to tamper with his skate?"

That matched Ivan's story of what Lee Baek-hyun was doing, so Ling Xia decided to believe it. "Then what was Ivan doing?"

At this point, everybody would get suspicious, even the stuck-up Lee Baek-hyun. His eyes narrowed. "Is this an interrogation? I'm starting to wonder if you actually believe Ivan framed Lucas." His expression turned contemplative before he snorted, letting it go. "Whatever, I saw him warming up with Lucas."

"Thank you for the intel," Ling Xia gratefully responded, blatantly revealing his intentions to the other person. He abruptly left the other, not leaving him any time to react, and made his way back to Ivan.

Right now, Lee Baek-hyun's alibi checked out, but not Ivan's. And fifth place wasn't even on Ling Xia's suspect list because then Xu Lijin wouldn't have said 'sixth or seventh place'. Therefore, Ivan was much more suspicious.

Once again, Ling Xia approached Ivan. "Hello!" Ling Xia greeted him cheerfully, making Ivan turn around.

"You're here? I thought you were off to catch Lee Baek-hyun?" Ivan's eyebrows pressed together.

Sometimes being honest was the best way of getting information. "Well, to tell you the truth... I still think it's you," Ling Xia said.

"What?! I told you! It wasn't me!" Ivan exploded.

"But when I told you that I suspected that the criminal was either Lee Baek-hyun or you, you immediately flung the possibility of Lucas, the person that was most likely arrested for committing the crime, being the criminal right out the window." Ling Xia crossed his arms across his chest in a victorious stance. This was the best way to provoke people in his opinion. But the result wasn't something he expected.

Ivan's frantic expression transformed into a calm one. His face smoothed out, his lips in a flat line, and his eyes lost the life in them. They held a dangerous glint though, one that foretold the calm before the storm.

In an extremely steady voice, he told Ling Xia, "I need you to stop investigating me." He walked closer to Ling Xia, his 1.86 meter frame towering over Ling Xia's. Ling Xia kept his stance, meeting Ivan's eyes in refusal to back down. His arms hung by his sides now, his eyes narrowed.

It seemed Ivan was the culprit. A serious expression appeared on Ling Xia's face. "You know that this is basically admitting that you were the person that hurt Jain, right?"

"Of course I know that. But I'd appreciate it if you stop investigating this situation. Or else I will have to take certain measures," Ivan threatened Ling Xia, trying to scare him out of this. But Ling Xia wasn't one to be intimidated by daunting tasks or threats.

He scoffed. "I'll just tell the authorities that you framed Lucas."

Ivan's lips curving into a mocking smile. "With what evidence?" He looked unimpressed.

Ling Xia shrugged. "Well... I suppose this would be the point where I tell you that I recorded this conversation, but I think bolting is a better idea," Ling Xia analyzed out loud with a speculative expression. Without another word, he turned tail and ran.