Breaking Ice: The Rival's Obsession

Ivanov spends the early matches insisting the only thing he feels for Simon is contempt, and that lie about his own feelings is what the story runs on. He beats Simon in the International Junior Hockey League final and treats it as proof he owes the American nothing but a rivalry. The cost comes later, once the two of them end up on the same campus. Ivanov transfers to Haye University, Simon's school, and the two are thrown together in classes and on the ice. An accidental kiss happens between them, and Ivanov cannot explain it away as easily as he explained the win. He starts to question whether the hatred was ever real or whether it was covering something else, and that uncertainty follows him through practices, arguments, and the ordinary business of sharing a campus with the person he used to call his enemy. Simon has his own unfinished business. His ex, Tom, has not accepted that the relationship is over and keeps inserting himself into Simon's life, showing up where he is not wanted and trying to dictate who Simon spends time with. Simon has to deal with Tom while also figuring out what Ivanov is to him now that the old rivalry has curdled into something else. Ivanov's confusion about his own identity puts pressure on both of them. He is used to being defined by winning and by the story he told about hating Simon, and giving that up means admitting the win mattered less than what happened afterward. Eventually Ivanov chooses Simon anyway, in full view of people who will judge him for it, and the decision changes how both of them are seen on campus and in the sport.