All Chapters of THE ICE WE BREAK :Fake dating the ice king : Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

Maya POVKeeping secrets had always sounded easier in theory than it felt in reality, because most people imagined secrecy as a matter of simply refusing to tell anyone the truth, while the actual challenge came from remembering every expression, every glance, every unconscious reaction, and every tiny instinct that suddenly needed to be controlled, and by the second day after returning from Leo’s hometown I was beginning to understand just how difficult that would become when the person you were trying to hide mattered more than you wanted to admit.The strangest part was that nothing about our situation had been officially defined, because neither of us had attached labels to whatever existed between us and neither of us had made grand promises or declarations, yet despite the absence of those conversations there was no confusion about the reality itself, since every look we shared carried an awareness that had not existed before and every moment spent apart

Leo POVI woke before sunrise to the unfamiliar realization that for the first time in what felt like years I had slept through an entire night without waking to check my phone, without replaying mistakes from games that had already ended, without mentally calculating draft projections or sponsorship obligations or leadership responsibilities that somehow followed me into every corner of my life, and as the quiet of the old house settled around me beneath the pale gray light creeping through the windows, I became aware of Maya asleep at the opposite end of the couch and of the strange sense of peace that accompanied the sight, a peace made even stranger by the fact that nothing about our situation should have felt peaceful at all considering the championship aftermath, the unresolved tension between us, the fallout from Chloe’s betrayal, the letters that had consumed months of my life, and the uncertainty waiting for both of us the moment we returned to the world outsi

Maya POVI found out about Leo’s interview the same way thousands of strangers did, through a notification that appeared on my phone while I sat inside a production meeting discussing post-championship content plans, and at first I almost ignored it because sports media had spent months turning every movement of his life into a headline, yet something about seeing his name paired with phrases like immediate signing potential and professional contract discussions made me open the article anyway, only for a growing sense of disbelief to settle inside me as I read line after line describing a conversation important enough to potentially change the course of his future, a conversation he had never mentioned.The room around me faded into background noise.Cassandra continued talking.Producers continued arguing.Someone debated scheduling changes.I heard almost none of it.Because all I could think about was the fact t

Maya POVThe strange thing about Leo leaving for development camp was that I had fully expected to enjoy the temporary break from the constant complications that seemed to follow him everywhere, because for months our lives had existed beneath an endless cycle of hockey schedules and media obligations and sponsor appearances and emotional chaos, making the idea of several quiet days sound almost appealing, yet by the second morning after his departure I found myself realizing that the absence I had imagined as relief felt suspiciously similar to loneliness, and no matter how many times I tried to dismiss the feeling as simple adjustment, it continued following me through every part of my day.The documentary work should have provided enough distraction to keep my thoughts occupied, because the production team was already preparing offseason content while reviewing hundreds of hours of footage from the championship run, creating a workload large enough to consu

Maya POVThe argument between Leo and Jax continued hanging over campus long after it happened, not because anyone openly discussed it but because tension had a way of spreading through a hockey program even when people pretended otherwise, and while the team focused on offseason training and draft preparation, I found myself retreating deeper into the one investigation that had somehow survived every other storyline in our lives, because unlike hockey politics and sponsorship obligations and complicated relationships, the mystery surrounding Leo’s mother refused to fade into the background no matter how many months passed.What began as curiosity had evolved into something far more personal.Not because of the mystery itself.Because of Leo.Because every clue seemed connected to a wound he never truly stopped carrying.Because every unanswered question still followed him.Because every false lead left him disappoi