Safe Haven | Yuzuru Hanyu

4.

Emma's realization that everyone was constantly looking at her was only a matter of time.

"Yuzuru, I hadn't realized you brought a guest." The man that spoke to him before was saying.

"No guest... This is Emma. She is assistant."

"Oh! You have an assistant now? It's nice to meet you. I'm Ghislain, Yuzu's jump coach."

"Hi. You too."

Emma was very curt with her answers to try to bring the attention somewhere else besides her. She did however notice the nickname that the coach used for the skater.

"Team and mom's orders."

"I see... Your mom didn't come from Japan?"

"No, because of the virus. We didn't want to risk"

The news of this new virus from China was scaring a lot of people because of the numbers it was already reaching, but people on the Western side didn't seem too worried.

"So now you have Emma to help you out."

"Yeah!"

He said way too excitedly.

"Well, take good care of our boy, Emma"

"Of course! You know, just doing my job!"

Inside, the girl was certainly cringing at her own voice and fake excitement. What a way to go

Thankfully, the man didn't question anything else, merely ordering Yuzu to get back to training.

A few hours later they were finally leaving the building again and going back home.

"Yuzuru" she called out as they made their way back home.

"Yes, Emma?"

"Why was everyone staring at me?"

"I don't usually bring people around... And you're probably around my age."

"Am I? How old are you?"

"25"

"You are? You look younger."

"Yeah, you?"

"That's not polite!"

"Huh?"

"Asking the age of a lady!" She said with a fake offended tone that scared him right away.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Pretend I didn't ask."

Yuzuru was too easy to mess with just with a simple sentence.

Emma didn't manage to hold in her laughter and chuckled loudly, making him stop in his tracks and turn around.

"I'm 26, Yuzuru. You're way too funny."

"You keep doing that!" He said with a pout.

"Doing what?"

"Teasing me! You think I don't notice, but I do."

He didn't allow her to answer that and turned his back on her again, rushing inside the condo without waiting for her.

Oh shit, Emma thought. Well, that's life.

She closed the door since he left it wide open and just settled on the couch.

"Are you pissed with me?" She asked when he finally got out of his bedroom.

"No."

"You seem to be mad."

"I'm not." He said sternly " I will heat food. You want anything or you will fix food for yourself?"

"I need to check what you have, but I might go grocery shopping."

"Do whatever you want. As long as you clean after."

Holy... He is mad after all.

"Ok. Thanks."

She could have pushed a bit further but he already looked mad enough for her to keep trying her luck. The last thing she needed was to lose the client because of her dreaded humor and personality.

Emma did end up going out to buy groceries since all he had was pre-made food.
Even if it was made for an athlete, she doubted it was the best option for him to survive on, but she wasn't going to question it.

She decided to just lock herself in her room since he was staying in, but it was better to warn him before.

The girl knocked softly on his door and opened it when given permission.

"You need anything?" He asked. She noticed that he had his laptop right in front of him but the one thing that stood out was the glasses on his face.

"You wear glasses?"

"Just for the computer... Is that all?"

"No. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to my room, if you need anything or plan to get out..."

"I won't go anywhere. Feel free to get some rest."

"Ok. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Obviously, her plans for the night were very different from sleeping. She had a lot of work to do and a lot of information to find out about the mystery that was Yuzuru Hanyu.

Not only that, for the first time in years, the girl found an interest in figure skating, being quick to start binge watch a few videos from the previous years.

Before she knew it, she had been researching about Yuzuru for 3 hours and was caught on a loop of binge-watching his programs all at once.

Emma had to admit he was good, probably the best she had ever seen and it didn't take too much to love his programs and skating.
The other thing she had to admit after her binge was that despite all of her teasing, the dude packed some serious muscle, especially on his legs. It was hard to miss on a few of his costumes.

He was very different from the military men that she was used to having around, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a nice body.

Her investigative report took her way back, from the death threats when he won the first nationals to rumors of his own federation being against him.
Something else stood out, not only did he manage to get plenty of injuries along the way, he had surgery a few years back from a rare case of urachal remnant and even had serious Asthma.

It bothered Emma that she had to find this out and no one bothered to tell her. What would happen if he was having an attack and the bodyguard didn't know about it?

Sure, Emma would be able to recognize an asthma attack because of her background, but would anyone else?

She was now developing a whole file on him, going as far as finding pdfs of his autobiographies to read and trying to find other information.

By the end of the hours of work and unlike she expected, Emma found herself legitimately admiring the guy. He was made of hard stuff too and maybe she had been quick to judge him as a spoiled Japanese Kid.

Kid?

Yuzuru was just a few months younger than her, he was no kid.

A grown ass man that you're admiring... You are screwed, Emma. Utterly screwed.