Sound of Your Heart

01: IF YOU DON'T USE YOUR VIOLIN TO HIT OTHER PEOPLE...

CHAPTER 01:

IF YOU DON'T USE YOUR VIOLIN TO HIT OTHER PEOPLE, YOU'LL PROBABLY NEVER GET TO USE IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE

3 YEARS LATER

IT HAS already been three years since that accident and nowadays, not many remember the name of Daniel Markov.

Ever since he first learned of the joy skating brought him, Daniel moved to Moscow from Sankt Petersburg and trained ever since he was just six years old. Although he never won a single gold medal in senior division, he had quite the number of gold ones in junior competition.

The first year after that accident, his fans weren't giving up. They still believed that their idol would return stronger than ever and crush anyone on his way to reach the gold. Although he didn't say anything about participating in the competition, they still came with hopes of seeing him on the stage.

Their efforts weren't wasted since he truly did come, however it wasn't because he was about to participate. Instead, he joined the press conference that were more than interested in him and his sudden retirement, and then told them the truth of his state.

Needless to say, many were shocked by his statement and even his rivals felt that this was a pity - unable to accept this outcome. They were all professional skaters like him, so they could feel his pain. They all knew how passionate he was about skating, which only made them pity him more.

If he was an old skater, near his thirties, then they would feel so bad - after all, that was the age when most skaters retired for their bodies weren't as flexible as before. But Daniel was in his prime. Without a doubt, had it not been for that incident, he could have truly won the gold.

After finding out the truth, no one dared to speak of pro skating to him again, even his fans retracted. No one wanted to rub salt on his wounds – and so, he slowly faded from people's memories. Some would still remember him and say:

"Remember that young skater that got in an accident? What a pity, we won't see him on stage again."

Or when another person performed, those who still remembers Daniel and his moves would compare the two skaters. Especially his fans.

After that year, Daniel moved to the land his mother came from: America. Both of his parents were pianists, and met in one of the music competitions. They were rivals back then and surprisingly had the same score, vying for the first place. Neither really noticed the other one before that, and not even a week later, two hot-blooded artist decided to marry.

Daniel couldn't believe that his parents actually married without telling anyone - and as their son he naturally knew a thing or two about piano. Many thought that he'll follow in their steps, and so did he – until he realized that ice rink was his true stage to perform.

Being hot-blooded artist they are, his parents fully supported him and most of his choreography and music was composed by them personally.

His mother came from somewhat influential family, so his life in America was good - his grandparents doted on their only grandchild so much that they supported anything he did without a question.

So when Daniel came back home, he told them that he didn't want to give up on skating itself, even though he won't gain anything. They thought that it was perhaps good for him to think so, so they proposed to him to become a coach on his own and helped him open his own ice rink studio.

Daniel wasn't really excited about it.

How could coaching possibly compare to the thrilling sensation of fighting on stage, with both your body and soul as you faced off against many talented people, just to stand on the top of world?

He wasn't really enthusiastic about this situation, and most of the students he got were just kids. It was fun, teaching them to skate, but the more he did so, the more he came to accept his own situation.

That is, until he found the same gleam he had in his eyes as he watched those children. Some were here for fun, some were brought by their parents, yet there was a part of those who truly wanted to improve and compete. They wanted to win and prove themselves as well.

Daniel didn't notice when he started to throw away his dream behind and wish to help those children fulfill their own. Back then, every thing about the competition was seared into scars over his heart, but now he had become completely indifferent to it. Before he even realized it, the spark in his heart has become extinguished, even his former rivals and coach could not recognize him anymore.

His bleak eyes that once had a gleam in them which drew people in like flame did moths, now became blank and void of emotions. He would only smile when his students won. When he was alone, he would skate for hours until the pain in his head became too much. When his students were about to compete, he would sit down on a piano and make masterpieces that would leave any other performer's in a dust.

At this moment, he was all alone on the ice ring, his body relaxed as he leisurely moved from one corner to another. Only the sound of his skates brushing against the ice could be heard, the lessons were long over. Only he alone remained in this huge circle of ice, he surprisingly didn't think of anything.

It's been long since he had to think while skating, now he didn't care about anything. The utter silence he's long been used to and cold were his source of comfort. In his ear he wore a hearing implant, since he couldn't hear well, he had to wear them.

The sound of cheering public that was long exchanged with the rugged sound of his own breathing as metal and ice collided now brought him the comfort he could not explain.

"Perhaps... This is the fate of a fallen star... Did I take my time for granted in the past, never seriously aiming for gold, so now I'm paying retribution for it?" He mumbled to himself, but his whispers were completely engulfed by the noise his skates made.

"When I had the ability to do so, I didn't try hard enough, but now even if I'm to bleed from giving my best, I'll never be able to succeed," he sighed before taking a U-turn and heading out of the ring.

Just as he managed to clear his head of unnecessary thoughts, his past caught up to him.

Whenever his past would catch up to him, he would make mistakes - and even if he's no longer a pro skater, it was unforgivable for him to make mistakes now.

He didn't expect much when he left the ice ring, he took out his hearing air and put earphones in. Even now, he still played games on his phone, so it was full of game OSTs, he didn't hesitate to put them in his playlist. Ever since he lost his hearing a bit, he disregarded everything else, playing music while rising the volume to the very end.

What was the worst that could happen now?

Since he just put the earphones, he was yet to browse through music and pick a song to play, so he didn't look around him at all. Just as he found the song he wanted to play, someone slammed in him, followed by the sound of something crushing on the ground.

Luckily, as a skater, he was used to falling a lot and getting up quite fast, so he managed to catch his balance before he fell down and glanced at the ground to see a broken phone. Glancing at the one he tightly clenched in his hand, he sighed in relief that it was safe. He really would've fainted if it was his that broke.

Don't underestimate playlists you took three years to make.

"Grandma! No, wait, MY PHONE!" the person next to him was so loud that he actually felt like his own ear drums will break, despite already being deaf.

He was about to turn to see who it was, but—

"You vile man, molester!"

And then something hard hit him with such strength that it broke that firm balance he had, making him fall face on the ground. And then, unmistakable sound of something else crushing could be heard beneath his body.

FUCK!

"You- you- you- you molester! A vile beast!" So it seems that the one who slammed in him and then hit him was a woman. But what the hell is with that "molester"? What has he done?

No wait, why was her cursing vocabulary limited to only those two phrases?

"How dare you attack me, you molester!" He almost fainted from anger, "You even dared snatch my phone, you vile beast! Wait, is that so I won't be able to call for help... You molester!"

He tried to get up, but when he heard her words and limited curse words, he stumbled down again.

"f**k, who is molester, you dumb woman! Don't you see that we simply collided?!" He raised his head and was surprised to see a woman with fiery red hair holding a violin case with both her hands. f**k, so that's why it hurt so much, she actually used that thing to hit him!

Her blazing hazel eyes hardened in rage and she was about to curse at him when her words got stuck in her mouth, her irises became pin sized. Eh?

The first thing she noticed was that the guy in front of her was too handsome to be real. If she had to say that her type was some blonde prince or something, she could confidently say that her preferred man looked like an old bald monk compared to this guy.

In fact, she was no longer sure what her type was, since it naturally became this man now.

But then she noticed his eyes.

Those grey eyes were incredibly pale and without any shine in them. Could it be...

"You, can you be... You are actually b- bli— I'm sorry!" Without letting him say another word, she crouched down, grabbed a phone and immediately ran away with speed that was comparable to light.

In her panic, she completely failed to notice that so-called "blind" man in front of her followed her every move until she was out of his sight.

"What the actual Hell was that? Bezumnik*," yes, the woman was certainly a demented one. He sighed before touching his head and hissing. f**k, that will leave a lump behind!

He was no longer a pro skater, he naturally didn't really care about his looks anymore, but the throbbing in his head was quite troublesome to deal with.

It reminded him of the headache after he tired himself, and also on that incident as well.

Sighing, he stretched out his hand to take his phone that was now most likely in pitiful state, but he comforted himself that all his playlists were kept on his memory card, so it's not like everything was lost.

But when he took a glance at it, his eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably.

"THIS ISN'T MY f*****g PHONE!" Cursing as he stood up, he turned in the way the girl ran away to and immediately gave chase. If there was one thing he was willing to kill for except for ice skating, then it's undeniably his phone and playlist. Games are okay, he knew all his usernames and passwords, and all data would be saved even if he got another device, but those songs were incredible pain to collect and no way in hell is he leaving them to a random girl that dared to attack him.

What the hell did she take that violin for anyway? Sister, you don't attack people's bodies physically with it, you attack their hearts playing it!