Chapter 11
566words
Outside the yoga studio, at the subway exit, even at my regular breakfast spot.
He never approached—just watched from a distance, his eyes filled with emotions I couldn't decipher.
And I did have questions that needed answers.
After class one day, I messaged him to meet at a coffee shop.
When I arrived, he was already seated in a corner.
I sat opposite him across the narrow table.
"Lucas, why did you falsely accuse my father of abuse?"
No pleasantries, no preamble—just the question that had haunted me for seven years.
His body tensed. He lowered his gaze and remained silent for a long moment.
"Sophia, I'm sorry. I truly had no choice."
"Emily approached me about joining Starlight Club. They promised the best resources, focused development."
"They had one condition—report your father. I refused initially."
I listened silently, not interrupting.
"Then they started targeting me. Locking me in equipment rooms, assigning menial tasks, withholding coaching, denying competition slots."
"I was just a kid, Sophia. I had no options. These years haven't been easy—everyone sees me as disloyal. I've trained obsessively to prove myself, hoping… hoping to return to you someday."
I studied him, feeling a heaviness in my chest.
"What really happened with the doping scandal?"
Lucas's face turned ashen.
"They ordered me to tamper with your belongings, but I couldn't do it!"
"But when they realized I hadn't gone through with it, they bribed the testing official directly."
My hands clenched into fists beneath the table.
"Why didn't you expose them?!"
"Sophia, who would believe me? And if I spoke up, I'd be finished. I'd already betrayed your father once. If I exposed Starlight, no club would ever take me. All my years of work—wasted."
He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I thought at least you'd still get your university admission. Your parents, despite everything, still had connections. I thought they'd protect you. I never expected…"
"But it's all right now, Sophia."
He suddenly looked up, a spark igniting in his eyes.
"I'm a champion now. Let's open a rink together with your father as head coach. We can go back to how things were, can't we?"
Go back to how things were.
Such empty, weightless words.
"Lucas, this is all your fault."
"My ankle needed six surgeries just so I could walk normally. I will never skate again. Do you understand? Never."
All color drained from his face.
"My parents sold our house to pay for my surgeries. My mother delivers food on her bike every day. My father drives rideshare despite his bad back, sometimes ten hours straight. All to help pay off my medical debts."
I thought I'd grown numb to these facts.
But the tears streaming down my face betrayed me.
I stood, vision blurred by tears.
"Go back? Lucas, tell me exactly how we go back?"
His mouth opened, but no words came.
Without another glance, I turned and walked out.
As I pushed the door open, cold air rushed in, drying the tears on my cheeks.
Behind me came the crash of an overturned chair and stumbling footsteps.
"Sophia!"
I didn't look back.
Some things can't be fixed with mere apologies.
What he destroyed was my entire future.
Soon after, my phone pinged with a transfer notification from Lucas.
1 million yuan.
Without hesitation, I accepted it.
