Page 141 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

Alisa broke into tears.

A sob escaped her chest so violently that her entire body shook with it. Arkadiy immediately placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to steady her, but she was trembling too hard.

She had lost.

Lost to Tora.

The gold medal she had dreamed about for years had slipped away right in front of her.

Alisa turned suddenly and buried her face against Arkadiy’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her immediately, stroking her back, trying to comfort her, but somehow it only made the pain feel worse.

Inside her, it felt as though a black hole had opened, swallowing everything whole from the inside out. The arena lights blurred together, voices became distorted and distant, and all she could hear was the buzzing in her ears mixed with fragments of people speaking around her.

Then Anfisa approached and hugged her too.

Anfisa had earned bronze—third place—and there was real happiness in her eyes. She hadn’t expected gold. For her, this was victory.

But Alisa had aimed only for first place.

And that was why second place felt unbearable.

Silver always hurt the most.

The arena erupted into applause and celebration around them, but Alisa barely heard it. Staff members and coaches were already preparing the podium ceremony, arranging the illuminated platforms for the medalists, while everyone around Alisa tried desperately to calm her before the awards began.

But she only shook harder.

Part of it was grief.

Part of it was rage.

And part of it was betrayal.

Tora had taken the gold from her. Torn it away at the very last moment.

It felt like everything Alisa had sacrificed had been for nothing.

And then the arena lights dimmed.

The pathways leading toward the podium illuminated softly across the ice, glowing beneath the stadium lights. Alisa stepped forward automatically with the others and then slowed.

Across the rink, at the opposite entrance, Tora stood waiting.

Their eyes met from a distance.

And strangely, Tora didn’t look happy either. There was no victorious smile on her face, no pride or celebration, there was only exhaustion and something painfully close to despair.

Tora stepped onto the pathway first and waited silently for Alisa to follow.

Alisa swallowed hard before stepping onto the specially covered ice herself.

For a moment, the entire world seemed to go silent.

They walked toward each other slowly across the illuminated rink, neither speaking, neither looking away. Then Anfisa emerged from the third entrance and moved between them, the bronze medalist unknowingly standing in the center of something much heavier than a competition.

The three girls stopped before the podium.

Silence.