Chapter 188: Soren Papanikos
Kayden
After leaving the cafe, my first thought was to call Rhys and tell him what had happened, but I knew he wouldn’t be available to pick up my calls.
They were still on the media rounds. I could have joined them, but due to what had happened in the past few days, the coach said it wasn’t the right time for me to be in the spotlight.
At least the media rounds would have been better than meeting Linda.
I couldn’t understand why, after so many years of abandoning me, she didn’t feel any remorse for the boy she had left behind.
Any mother would have acted differently upon seeing her neglected child, but what Linda had in her mind was Raymond — the son she had always cared about.
I hated that after trying to give her a chance to speak, to explain why she had left me all alone, her response was because I was an omega.
"Ugh!" I screamed out loud at the edge of the bridge where I stood.
After leaving the cafe, I had found a bridge and parked the car by the side of the road, just staring as morning turned into afternoon and then evening.
I had even counted the cars that drove past just to distract myself from the anger I felt deep inside.
And I counted three hundred until I lost count.
"How could she have done this to me!" I yelled angrily, pointing towards the sun that was setting. "I was just a child," I hit my palm hard on the railings of the bridge.
"I didn’t ask to be born, so why the hell did she have to treat me like that!" I hit my chest angrily as tears welled up in my eyes. "Do you think what she did was right? That I never should have been born? Do you agree with the universe? Do you!" I continued yelling and then grabbed a handful of my hair. "Is it that bad to be born differently?" Tears spilled down my face even when I tried so hard to hold them in. I couldn’t.
It was why I had stopped at this bridge. It was the only place where I could let out all my emotions, yell into the void until I had enough.
While I was crying and hitting my chest, I heard footsteps heading towards me.
I didn’t look at who had joined me. For all I knew, everyone had their reasons for wanting to be there.
It was only when I felt the railings shake under my palm that I looked up to see who had joined me.
It was a lean, muscular man wearing a dark hoodie that covered his face. It looked as if he was about to jump but was thinking twice about it.
I let out a gasp when I noticed his shaking hands on the railings and how he was about to let go.
"No!" I shouted as I rushed towards the man and grabbed his hand. "What do you think you’re doing?" I demanded, yelling at him. "I don’t..." I gritted my teeth as I tried to pull him back. "I don’t know what you’re going through, but you don’t have to end your life like this."
The man groaned as he struggled against me. "This is not your business. Why don’t you go about your day!" he yelled at me.
I still couldn’t see his face as his head was lowered.
"It might not be my business, but since I’m on this bridge, I would never let you end your life like that, no matter what has happened in your life. I don’t think ending your life is the answer!" I shouted, resting my other hand against the railings. "I don’t think you should do anything that could ruin you! I don’t think you should..." I groaned as it became difficult to pull him up because he was pushing my hand, trying to fall into the river below.
"Let me go!" he yelled.
"No," I screamed back at him. Then the wind grew so heavy that the hoodie slipped off his head, and I was finally able to see his face.
Soren Papanikos, the prince of figure skating.
I let out a gasp as our eyes met, and he cursed angrily when he realized that I had recognized him.
"Fuck this! Now you recognize me, so just let me go. You’ll probably make a lot if you reveal to the world that you saw Soren Papanikos falling to his death. You’ll make thousands or more with it, so now kindly let me go."
The frustration in Soren’s voice was evident even though it was soft.
He didn’t recognize me because I still had my dark shades and face cap on. He probably thought I was one of his fans, which wasn’t wrong because I liked how he had skated alongside Rio Takahashi.
I couldn’t understand why he was trying to end his life. He was a great figure skater, one of the best in the world, and he shouldn’t even be here in Oak City. He should be in London preparing for the Olympics, but here he was on the bridge trying to end his life.
Just why?
"Let me go!" Soren’s voice sounded again as he struggled against me, but I didn’t let go. Instead, I removed my face cap, threw it to the ground, then took off my dark shades.
"Soren! It’s me! I’m sure you know who I am or must have heard of me?"
He raised his head to face me again, and his eyes widened when he recognized me.
"You... you’re the hockey standout guy this year."
Hockey standout guy. That was a funny nickname, but I’d take it — especially in that situation.
"See, man, I don’t know what happened to you or why you suddenly tried to jump, but listen... My mother left me when I was a baby, my father was a monster who abused me, and I just met with my mother again, which is why I’m here. She still doesn’t want me. Whatever you’re going through, trust me, there will always be solutions to every problem. You can trust me on that. Everything will surely be fine."
Soren relaxed in my grip. He suddenly stopped struggling and let me pull him up.
As soon as I pulled him off the bridge, he fell to the ground beside me and broke into tears.