The Minnesota Miracle [kirill kaprizov]

Chapter Nine

The next day was extremely rough.

I decided to text Story to tell her what was going on.

Dude I'm pretty sure Kirill's been cheating on me

What???

Yeah. Last night when we got home and when he went to the bathroom I saw a notification from this Russian chick named Anika. I even got a picture.

Damnnnnnn well did you break up with him?

Not really. I'm just gonna ignore him and delete the posts off of my Instagram and stalk this girl

What are you gonna do with his sweatshirts then? Or his jersey? Or his stick?

Burn all of it.

That's a little too far, Kenzie.

Well I don't want to be associated with a downright cheater.

What if it's his cousin or something?

Why would a cousin be sending that? It's clear that Kirill never had feelings for me probably cause I'm not Russian

Story never responded to that text.

I sighed as I put my phone down and stared at the hanging Kaprizov jersey on the closet door knob.

Then I got a text from someone I never wanted to see again.

When am I picking you up? I got us a reservation with Jared and his wife at that one restaurant downtown.

I didn't want to be an asshole, but I just ignored the message. He can go by himself with Jared and his wife to be humiliated that his girlfriend didn't show up to a date. If I'm even considered his girlfriend anymore and just some side hoe.

I looked at the lock screen photo of Kirill and I. I changed it to a picture of Story and I, then deleted all of my posts associated with Kirill and/or the Wild. No more hockey for me for a good while.

Maybe him being silent all of yesterday was starting to make sense. Maybe he didn't care about me and didn't want to do anything special between the both of us.

I felt a tear run down the side of my cheek as I stared at the Kaprizov jersey again.

Never have I been hurt by a foreigner, even compared to my Slovakian ex-boyfriend. This hurt worse. Kirill made me fall for him both for looks and personality. I hated him for that, but it made me happy.

Now I believe that all of it was just a blurred lie.

-

I texted Jared to clarify some things.

Hey Jared, Kenzie Kaprizov here. I just wanted to say that, and I trust you not to tell anybody about this, but Kirill is cheating on me with another chick from Russia. So I won't be coming to dinner tonight. Trust me, I want to come, but I just don't want to see or be associated with Kirill right now and probably never again.

Surprisingly Jared responded pretty quickly. What a captain.

Oh damn I'm so sorry Kenzie. I won't tell anyone unless it's necessary. I'll call off the reservation then.

I smiled as I texted back a smiley and a thumbs up emoji. Sometimes heartbreak could turn into happiness.

Though I did miss Kirill. His smile really empowered my day.

But I couldn't get that to my soft side. I needed to be angry and mad for him hurting me like that.

Not long after, Kirill texted me about the reservation being called off. Though he still wanted to hang out at least.

I made up some shitty lie to get out of it.

Actually I had plans to go bowling with a couple of friends tonight. We've already got our lanes picked out and reserved.

But it's Christmas?

Yeah, we did this last year and we found it fun. Maybe next week?

Kirill didn't respond. Probably needed to text his Russian girlfriend.

However, my phone started to vibrate as his name came up on my phone. He had the audacity to call me.

I sighed and declined the phone call. I never wanted to speak to him again, including phone calls.

I powered off my phone and left it on my bed before going to the bathroom. At least I don't have a boy I speak to when I leave my phone out whenever I go to the bathroom.

-

A week has passed by, and by examining Kirill's stats from the Washington and Calgary games, his stats have dropped significantly to the point where the team is worse when he's on the ice. Dean Evason has actually scratched him in tonight's home game because of his poor performance.

Of course I've been getting constant texts from Kirill to the point where I blocked his number. If he loved that girl so much why isn't he giving her attention? Surely a girl from Moscow is more important than a girl from a rural city in Minnesota who can't even speak fluent Russian.

As for the stuff he's given me while we were together, I just stuffed it into a box and hid it in the back of my closet, including his hockey stick.

"Are you excited about tonight's game? I heard Kirill was scratched," Corey says.

I shrugged. "I'm not watching it. Good for Kirill that he got scratched after those horrific performances while they were on the road in D.C. and Calgary," I sneered.

Corey looked at me in confusion. "Shouldn't you be supportive of your boyfriend?" She asks me.

I rolled my eyes. "He isn't my boyfriend," I muttered.

"What? You guys broke up already?" She questioned.

I sighed as I sat up from my sitting position in my bed. "He's been cheating on me with this bitch from Russia for God knows how long," I said. "I was probably just some side hoe for him."

She frowned as she set her keys on the desk. "I'm sorry, Kenzie. Have you confronted him about it?" She asked me.

"No, why would I do that?" I answered. "He's just gonna say I'm overreacting. Besides, I already blocked him everywhere. He can't talk to me anymore,"

She sighed as she glanced out of our window in our room. "I feel like you should've said something about it before," She says. "considering he still thinks you're his girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, he isn't my boyfriend." I retaliated.

"He might be an athlete, but he's a person with feelings. Perhaps text him sometime?" She insisted.

I scoffed. "I'm good-"

My phone dinged from a notification. It was a message from Jared.

Hey I know you probably don't feel like coming to any Wild games for a while, but I was able to get you good seats for tonight's game. Kirill wants to talk to you.

And no, I didn't say anything. He just wants to know why you literally cut him out of your life for the last week out of the blue.

I reread the message again and stared at Corey.

"Jared just messaged me. He's insisting that I go to tonight's game because Kirill wants to talk to me," I told her.

She smiled. "Like, Jared Spurgeon? I would go only because my 'partner' wants to talk to me about whatever this situation is even if you feel like you're not dating anymore. You should definitely go," she says.

I glanced back down at my phone, then back at Corey.

I sighed. "I suppose you're right," I said. "I'll go, on one condition."