Ice Prince: Rewrite The Star

"Water isn't that scary once you feel your body wet. If you don't throw yourself all over, you'll only be shivering in the cold and making you even more hesitant to move. But when your body is completely covered by water, you will feel the warmth. Just try it first. If you don't like it, you can get out right away. After all, failing the one minor evaluation would not affect your graduation. Good luck." Alexis patted Chleo's head gently, making Chleo freeze in place.

Chleo watched the young man's back leave while touching her head with one hand.

It's warm.

It was the first time that her heart seemed to be filled with a feeling of kindness that she had never felt before.

No. Chleo had felt it before, only that she had long since forgotten about it.

She couldn't even remember what it felt like to be loved and pampered by her parents. Neither did she remember what it was like to be in the arms of someone who cherished her dearly.

"Chleo, Mr. Flynn is looking for you. Now it's your turn."

Chleo nodded once in response to a notification from one of her classmates. She glanced at the boy who had just spoken to her one last time.

Alexis.

She would remember this name as well as the boy's face.

Inside this swimming building, there were four different pools. Two of them were circular swimming pools and squares for visitors who want to swim as a hobby. There was also a smaller one at the end of the pool for small kids.

The other two pools were in the form of a presentation with a rope decorated with floating balls to form several columns in the pool.

Both of these places were used for professional swimmers. And these two pools were not intended for ordinary visitors. If someone wishes to use this pool, that person must rent one of these places at a ridiculous price because the only one who rents it must be a team of professional swimmers to practice for the Olympics.

Chleo's school only reserved a place for the regular pools used by visitors. Because they did their evaluation during school hours, no other visitors came to the pool other than the examinees and the examiners.

On the contrary, Alexis' school rented the other one, which aimed for the professional ones. Alexis and some of his friends were one of the Olympic swimmer stars at his school, so their school swimming assessment dared to pay a high price so that Alexis and the others could swim there.

Back to Chleo's position, the meek girl walked by the pool where one examiner was waiting for her.

What Chleo needed to do was the easiest one. She just needed to do a gliding way and then swim across with whatever style she was good at.

However, Chleo wasn't sure if she managed to swim to the other side. She didn't even remember how to swim. Whenever there was a swimming lesson at her school, she was always hiding in a corner and did not join her friends.

Even only sitting by the pool and soaking her feet, she refused to do it.

Chleo was too scared. She didn't dare go near the water that seemed ready to drown her at any moment.

"Chleo, I heard you never took swimming lessons. How about I make the exam easier this time. You just need to glide and float in the middle, and then you can go back and go home. What do you think?"

"I can do that?"

"Of course. I can't refuse Sir Regnz's request to worry about his daughter."

Chleo gasped at the examiner's explanation. Does that mean her father has spoken to the school about this evaluation?

Chleo wiped the trail of tears that pooled at the corners of her eyes. She didn't know why her heart was so sensitive today. She suddenly found the courage she never knew was still inside her.

Receiving a gentle pat from a kind-hearted older boy and hearing that her father was secretly helping her made her feel that she was not alone in this world.

Chleo walked towards the pool steps and slowly stepped on her feet. Her body instantly shuddered when she felt how cold the water was on her feet. But she tried to endure and continued to walk down the stairs.

She ignored her friends' curious eyes, observing her as this was the first time they had seen Chleo soaked herself inside the pool.

Chleo kept her focus on her feet so she wouldn't fall because the floor in the water was quite slippery for her.

She also refused to close her eyes for fear her helplessness in the river currents reappeared in her mind.

What Alexis said was true. When the water enveloped her up to her neck, her body felt warm in the water, and she no longer felt cold and began to dare to walk deeper.

But her steps stopped when her feet were almost on tiptoe on the bottom of the pool. Her heart was pounding loudly as water began to enter her mouth and nose. The courage she had previously had suddenly disappeared, replaced by a great fear that ran through all the muscles and nerves.

She couldn't do it.

Instantly Chleo panicked and turned to go back up to the surface. But suddenly, her feet felt like they were being twisted, and excruciating pain shot through her legs.

Chleo panicked even more, and the water got even more into her mouth and nose, making her choked and hard to breathe. Seeing Chleo's situation suddenly in pain made all her friends gasp in panic, and the examiner immediately dived in to save Chleo.

But before the examiner could get to Chleo's position, another person had jumped far and quickly plunged into Chleo's closest place. The person had carried Chleo's body until Chleo's head came out of the water while coughing.

Chleo even groaned in pain to the point of crying while gripping the shoulders of whoever was carrying her. She couldn't stand the pain in her legs and channeled her screams of pain by clutching until her nails pierced the skin of the person helping her.

Chleo couldn't see the person who saved her because her eyes were blurry and covered with tears. She felt the young man resting her by the pool and quickly straightened her legs.

Chleo felt one of her classmates hugging her while comforting her while two pairs of hands pressed on her painful legs due to the cramps coming uninvited.

Everyone could see Chleo's toes pressed against each other and bent downwards, making everyone feel sympathy for Chleo. It must be painful, they thought.

They wondered, did Chleo not warm up first before diving herself into the water?

They also wondered who the good-looking older boy who had helped Chleo was? Where did he come from?