Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

35.

The knowledge that Sophia's friend passed away hit Yuzuru like a ton of bricks.

He watched Josh wheel himself out of sight without a word. He didn't know what to say.

Yuzuru didn't know Hilary that well but knew how important the girl was to Sophia. Realizing how close they were during the accident made him gulp. Even if his girl was still in danger, she was there and she was alive, unlike her friend.

Almost afraid of what he was about to see, the skater limped into her room after some guidance from a nurse that helped him disinfect everything and make sure he didn't put the injured woman at any more risk.

The sight of Sophia completely immobilized and connected to all the machines brought tears to his eyes immediately. Every time he processed part of the hurtful sight, another detail would engrave itself into his mind.

It was easy to tell just how bad recovery would be, everywhere he looked there were bandages, her face a bit swollen and dark on one side, the bruise covering her whole cheek. The one detail he focused on was her left hand, completely involved in gauze and making a ball of some sort, presumably to protect the area.

Yuzuru sat by her side and breathed in, he had to be strong for her. She was fighting for her life and he couldn't just stand and cry.

He couldn't even tell when he fell asleep, his body had been deprived for far too many hours and was too hard to resist.

🎻

Sophia felt herself wake up and the first feeling she notice was pain. Everything hurt in ways she couldn't possibly even begin to describe. The next thing was the unknown room where she was currently at. And the third thing was the head laying on her lap, peacefully asleep.

Opening her eyes slowly she was surprised to see that the person by her side was Yuzu. How long had she been out?

Memories of the accident started to show in her brain, the sudden hit, feeling the bus turn quickly and roll over, the broken glass, blood, too much blood.

Her left hand was surrounded by gauze and she couldn't move her fingers. The other was being held by Yuzuru's hand softly and caring.

In the middle of everything, having him there made it a bit better. Sophia allowed him to sleep peacefully, he looked like he could use it.

She was still staring at him lovingly when a doctor entered the room.

"Oh, you're awake" was the first reaction she heard from the physician. "How are you feeling?"

"Pain... everywhere" she muttered, using her voice for the first time in what felt like days. It was rough and low, vocal cords were a bit too dry.

"I will increase your painkillers."

"What happened?" Sophia finally asked.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember the accident, I mean here..."

"You were severely injured, there was damage in a few internal organs and you had surgery to fix those as well as to stop the bleeding. Your left hand had several lacerations and nerve damage."

Sophia heard the doctor rambling about her injuries but her head was fixed on one thing. Her left hand.

"My hand... How bad is it?"

"It was badly injured and you will have a long road ahead of you in recovery"

"I play the violin... it's my job. Could this be...?"

"Only time will tell, Miss Jansen. Right now we have to focus on making sure you're alive before worrying about anything else." The doctor said making Sophia feel slightly bad about only caring about her hand. "If you stay stable today we will move you to a normal room and out of the ICU. If you need anything, please do ask the nurses. We allowed your friend to stay despite it not being usually allowed"

With a nod, Sophia confirmed she understood and took her gaze back to the man sleeping with his head on her lap.
"Thank you doctor" she said in a dismissing tone that the woman understood, disappearing from the room.

The time to worry about her hand was another, right now she just wanted to speak with him.
Sophia wouldn't wake him up, she had a feeling he hadn't slept in a while.

Waiting for the skater to wake up made her think of the rest of the orchestra. From what she remembered, some people were in bad shape, others were for sure already dead on the scene with the severity of their injuries.

Sophia could feel the tears in her eyes but couldn't cry. She was alive... Who knows how many of her colleges weren't?

Small movements made her focus on him again, he stirred in his sleep and grabbed her with a bit more force, making her believe he was probably having a nightmare. Her uninjured hand freed itself from his and ran through his head, caressing his scalp in a way she knew he loved to try to calm him down.

A final stir and she saw his eyes opening, immediately turning to her.

"You're awake!" He said excitedly and almost jumped out of his seat.

"Hey Yuzu" she said with a smile, voice still rough.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok"

"Don't lie to me"

"Fine, everything hurts"

The man was about to get up to call a doctor when she grabbed his arm and stopped his actions.

"The doctor was here already and will increase the painkillers"

"Ah, that's good... I slept through that?"

"Yes, you seemed tired, I didn't want to wake you up"

"You could have...I was a bit tired, yes, I couldn't sleep until I got to your side"

Sophia eyed him carefully, how exactly did he find out about the accident and how did he get here so fast? What about the competition? Was it over?