✔️ Body and Mind 3

Hearts melded and broken - II

Emily had to laugh seeing her full suitcase. Half of it being winter clothes for Christmas holiday in Japan and the other half almost summer clothes for their visit of Nyx and Javi in Spain right after.
She was glad the cafe had no issue giving her a full month off and couldn't wait to finally see Nyx again, being it over a month since they parted at the airport.

Emily finally closed her large suitcase and dragged it into the hallway, just to find there four suitcases of various sizes from Yuzuru.

-Zu? You know we will come back, right? There is no need to pack like....everything you own.

Yuzuru just shot her an agitated look but still a small smile was playing on his lips. He remembered all the times he teased his mum for packing so much anytime they went to Japan for a longer period of time. And now he was doing exactly the same.

He spent all the way to the airport answering Emily's excited questions about how does Christmas looks like in Japan and about his extended family that she is going to meet.
He couldn't wait for her to see all the streets covered in Christmas lights and to spend the holidays with his family and Emily by his side.
There was only one more competition to get through and then finally his home, Sendai, and Christmas. With just a small stop for Nationals in between.

He was lost in his thoughts as the plane took off and Emily put her hand on his.

-What are you thinking about? Nervous about the competition?

-Not really actually. I feel way more prepared than I was for the previous one.

Emily smiled, glad that all the extra time she spent teaching was directly translating into his skating and his confidence. And even though he was coming home with more bruises and way more exhausted, it only seemed to boost his spirits.
She was a little bit sad that he tried to keep this extreme competitive side of his from her, wondering if he did it just not to make her feel guilty for coming home to her earlier. But either way, at least now it wasn't necessary anymore. She knew about it and often prompted him to talk about it, making him visibly happy.
Plus his new long program was an absolute masterpiece and she could never get enough of it. Knowing very well it will one day go down in history once he manages to add the Quad Axel to it.

-I can't wait to see you skate Heaven and Earth again.

-You really love that program, don't you?

-Is it possible not to love it?

-Ask the judges after they underscore me again.

He laughed at that but Emily only clenched her fists, wishing she could give some of the judges piece of her mind. Ideally with an imprint of her guitar over their stupid faces.
Yuzuru noticed her white knuckles and laughed some more.

-I never noticed how passionate you are about figure skating.

-I always was.

Emily said but somehow the passion was now gone from the tone of her voice and rather replaced by melancholy.

-I never noticed it as much as in the past two months.

-That's because you made me love that sport again. After your last competition when I saw you skating.

-What?!

Yuzuru turned himself in the seat to face her directly, but Emily was staring at the fluffy clouds through the window over his shoulder.

-I liked figure skating even before I met Nathan, only that at that time I followed only pairs. Both sports and dance. Not singles. I kind of couldn't imagine that a single skater could create anything that artistic like what the pairs were doing. So, needless to say, meeting Nathan proved me wrong after I began to watch the men's singles too.