Change of Heart - Yuri Plisetsky x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Two

I spent what little time was left of the week preparing myself, mentally fortifying my brain for the colossal task ahead. Talking to Yuri helped minimally, but did little to truly calm my nerves. I'd been so confident on the day that we'd met each other again, and now I felt like hiding under a rock and not coming out until there was nobody left for me to answer to.

Furthermore, my parents had provided me with some not-so-great news.

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"Opening word?" I repeated, staring dumbfounded at my mother. "Like, that speech they do in the beginning to open up? I have to do that?"

"I'd say it's more of an opportunity," she replied, as if this wasn't the biggest bombshell she'd dropped on me since she'd informed me that we were going to Russia. "Giving the opening word will give you experience in handling pressure, and it will also put you out there as a worthy participant for other competitions."

I couldn't argue with that point, though it hadn't made me very happy to learn this a mere three days before the event. She'd given me this news and then allowed me to mope to my room, to have a panic attack and then frantically try to scratch out a speech that might have passed as eloquent and well thought-out.

The only good news was that this surprise allowed for a whole realm of possibilities... And a chance for me to make my exit from the competitive world of Taekwondo quite interesting.

I managed to get a rough draft of my speech written on that first night, and then spent the next few days finalizing it. This was going to be my outlet, my chance to get my message out. It wasn't meant to be particularly inspiring under normal circumstances, but I'd decided to tweak it a bit to get my point across. Selfish? A little bit, perhaps. Effective?

God, I hoped so.

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Facetiming "Yura <3"...

Click!

"Hey, Yuri!" I whispered, trying to muffle any noise by hiding under the blankets. My parents thought I'd gone to bed two hours ago, preparing my body for the big day. But that was a load of shit, now - I wouldn't be doing any sort of strenuous activity tomorrow, if everything went well.

"(Y/n)!" Yuri exclaimed, looking both shocked and pleased to get my call. "Shouldn't you be asleep by now? You have to be well-rested, don't you?"

I giggled, then peeked quickly at the door from under the covers. My parents were in bed, but I was still worried they might hear me and come to check out the noise.

"Actually," I murmured. "That's what I called to talk to you about. I have sort of a big thing planned for tomorrow - Thanks to my wonderful, thoughtful mother."

"Oh, yeah?" He chuckled, sensing the sarcasm dripping from my voice. "What's that?"

"Basically, there's this short speech thing that happens at the beginning of all the big-shot competitions," I explained, kicking my feet as I thought of it, the geniusly-crafted speech I'd prepared for the occasion. "And my mom sort of signed me up for it without asking me, so I decided to incorporate that into my rebellion."

Yuri shifted, peering at me with an intrigued look on his face.

"Go on."

Fighting to keep my voice down, I told him about the plan I had in as vague and mysterious terms as possible. The gist of it was that I would be stepping down publicly, to send a message that my parents would have to face whether they wanted to or not. At the very least, they'd have to answer a lot of questions if they managed to keep the reins on me after this.