Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

36.

The violinist was moved to a regular room almost right after waking up, and everything looking on a good path for recovery.

Sophia had too many questions in her head, but a lot of them were put to the side when she saw the very serious look on Yuzuru's face when he said the dreaded words.

"I have to tell you something"

She was beyond scared but still nodded, gulping.

Yuzuru's hesitation and the way he was trying to find the best way to tell her whatever it was made her realize it was probably bad.

"Is this about my hand? Did they tell you something?"

"No...huh... Hillary"

The way he said her name, lips slightly trembling made her know before he even said anything else.

"She didn't make it, did she?" Sophia asked, gathering all her courage.

"No" Yuzu said, tears already in his eyes "I'm sorry for your loss".

Usually, that expression would make her even madder but coming from him, she knew how much he meant it.

"Can you hug me?" She mumbled almost silently and was sure he didn't hear her. Soph was wrong because almost as soon as she said those words he stood up and sat on the bed close to her, wrapping his arms around her figure as gently as he could.

None of them knew how long they stayed like that, their hug only broken by another voice.

"Uh... I can come back later" they heard. Sophia recognized Josh's voice right away.

"Josh...please. Don't go. How are you?" Soph asked, worried for her friend when she saw him in the wheelchair.
Yuzuru just stayed on the bed next to her holding her hand, rubbing soft circles on her skin.

Josh reacted with a smile, not believing Sophia.

"You're the one all stitched up and are asking me that? How are you?"

"I'm ok" she said curtly, knowing her body and mind would take a long time to heal.

"I'm ok too" he answered and she looked at him with doubt.

"Liar." She called him out.

"Not the only one, am I? You know don't you?" His question was clearly about the friend they lost and she nodded gently. It was better if they didn't talk about it, not now.

"We are both liars." She said with tears on her face.

Yuzuru felt like he was intruding on a private moment and stood up, her eyes looking into his as he did.

"I will leave you alone for a bit. I don't want to intrude." He told her, clarifying his intentions and not giving her a chance to complain. "I will be outside"
Yuzuru kissed her forehead in a loving gesture, one Josh didn't miss at all, the questions in his head growing with each interaction.

For the first time since she woke up, Sophia noticed the limp on Yuzuru's walk and made sure to remember to ask him about it once they were alone again.

Yuzuru wasn't out of the door for 2 seconds when Josh started throwing questions.

"What the actual fuck?!" He said with an expression clearly more excited and contrasting to the previous mood. "I feel like the world is crashing beneath us... But somehow, in the middle of it all, you have Yuzuru Hanyu flying across the ocean for you, with loving hugs and kisses? Spill!"

The change in atmosphere was good for them. Sophia needed encouragement to recover and having something good to talk about was nice.

"What do you want me to say?"

"How about you start with the beginning and why he's acting all lovey-dovey around you?"

"You know how we met..."

"Yes, and I was sure something was going on between you two. The only thing that made me change my mind was our concert when you spoke of another man and clearly had fun. What happened to the other guy ?"

Sophia almost felt guilty for hiding Yuzuru but she knew why she did. Up until this point, she wasn't convinced of the skater's feelings, maybe not even her own. Soph knew their relationship was far more than what they let on, but it was never clear if it was their friendship messing up and confusing things.
Seeing the way Yuzuru ran to her when he heard of the accident and how caring he was with her was enough to reassure her.

"There was never another guy..." She admitted with slight guilt.

"What? But the flowers? The way you showed up the next day in men's clothes...oh shit"

Sophia couldn't help but laugh as her friend slowly came to the realization of whose clothes she was wearing.

"Sorry I didn't tell you"

"He was in London? At our concert? He watched us play and you didn't warn me? I could've played better that night!"

"Josh... He wouldn't notice. There are almost 100 other musicians on stage. Besides, I didn't know he was there until the end"

"A surprise? Damn he is whipped"

"Josh!! It's not like that. We aren't..."

"If you say you aren't dating I will strangle you myself." He threatened, immediately regretting it from her frown. "Sorry, too early?"

"Yes..." Sophia confirmed. "And we aren't... It's complicated"

"The man was here the whole night, sleeping in an uncomfortable position and you dare to say that? I'm not even speaking of how he rushed from Russia to here."

"Listen...I... I love him."

"No shit...and it's definitely mutual. What the fuck is the problem?"

"Maybe... But we haven't spoken about it. We have just been into the friends-with-benefits thing and got kinda wrapped around it."

"Make sure you do talk. Because I have no doubt he loves you and you're just wasting time with nonsense at this point."

"Thanks, Josh... Feels good to talk about other stuff besides... You know?"

"Yes..." He said sensing the change of mood again. Trying to break the sadness, Josh remembered one small thing that he was now curious about. "Speaking of Yuzuru... What exactly didn't he want me to see on your WhatsApp messages?