Icy Highness | Yuzuru Hanyu

43.

Athena tried to convince herself that this was for the best, that a future with Yuzuru, as much as she wanted it, wasn't possible given her position.

Her mission was to marry whoever her mother deemed fit and forget about the man that so easily conquered her heart.

He had his second Olympics to focus on and she had Royal duties to attend.

At first, Athena just tried to ignore him, the karma of it all inevitable given that he had given her the silent treatment before when he was injured.

Now she was paying back in the same coin for entirely different reasons.

Yuzuru called her insistently and when that didn't work, she started receiving texts of all sorts, asking if she was ok.
They changed nature with time, asking what he had done, if she was mad at him.

It broke her heart to see him like this, Athena could see from his texts that he was suffering as much as she was, maybe even more since he didn't have any answers as to what was happening.

The decision to call him took a lot of courage, a lot of effort. Athena knew well how much it would hurt to do this to him, but he needed this to be ok.

She fumbled with her phone in her hands as she considered how her words could be delivered and what she wanted to say. It was best to be prepared than to wait for things to crumble.

And there were no doubts in her head that she would crumble if no plan was in her mind.

"Athena!" He said, answering the phone immediately as he received the call.

"Hey."

She knew that he was very aware of the way she spoke and that he would be able to tell that there was something wrong right away, and he did.

"What's wrong, love?"
The term of endearment brought tears to her eyes right away, he was too sweet and she was about to break his heart. "Thea, tell me where you are, and I will fly to you. Whatever it is, we can fix it."

"No!" She found herself saying desperately.

"No? Why not?"

"We can't see each other again."

Yuzuru was silent for a few minutes and Athena was just glad that she chose against a video call. Right now she couldn't possibly see his face in reaction to her words.

"What happened? Who found out?"

He was too smart for his own good. It didn't surprise her that he knew that she wouldn't do this willingly.

"Nothing. This is for the best."

"Don't lie or try to fool me. We were fine, happy."

"We have to get back to reality, Yuzuru."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That we can't keep fooling ourselves into thinking that there is a future in our relationship."

Athena cringed as she said those words out loud, she didn't believe them one bit, but it was what she had to do.

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

His stern words hit her more than she expected, Yuzuru knew her well enough to understand that something was going on.

"Yuzuru, don't make this harder."

"That's just the thing, it wouldn't be hard if you truly wanted it."

"Some things we can't control."

"Who was it? Who's forcing you to do this?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Thea, we can fight this."

"You don't understand, this isn't about me. You have a bright future ahead, I don't want to take a possible chance of ruining everything for you."

"You wouldn't..."

"Goodbye, Yuzu."

Athena was fully crying as she turned off the phone, this was too painful, he was too sweet, she loved him too much.

Joanna entered her room at that particular moment and was stunned to see the princess in tears.

"Your Highness? Is everything okay?"

"Yes."

The princess cleaned her eyes. No one was supposed to see a Royal crying, not even those close to her.

"You know you can tell me and trust that I won't tell anyone."

"I know, Joanna, but I can't."

"Is this about Yuzuru?"
Athena was stunned looking at her, did everyone around her know about him?
"Oh shit, it is."

"How do you...?"

"It was a lucky guess. I had a feeling you two were talking since the GPF, and when you went to Canada..."

"Yeah."

"Were you at Worlds?"
Athena merely nodded, not trusting her words or her weak voice. "Did something happen there? Is that why you're crying?"

"No. It was when I came back."

"What happened?"

"My mom found out."

"Oh..."

"Yeah."

"Did she make you break up?"

"Not directly, but I understood quickly that I didn't have many options."

"You talked with him?"

"I broke his heart, Jo."

All of the cleaned tears were back once again, and no good thoughts going through her mind.

Athena had no idea what her life would become now.
As dramatic as it was, her only reason to keep going now was him, no other motivations or life goals in her head.

She always knew what being a Royal entailed, but it isn't until you lose the things you love that it starts having more meaning.

"You really like him, huh?"

"Yeah."

"When you love someone like that, things have to work out somehow. You two will find a way."

"This isn't a fairytale, Joanna."

"You're a princess, you deserve a fairytale."

"This is real life."

"And you're not one to give up lightly, don't tell me that has changed?"

"No, but the last thing I need is for his career to go south because of me."

"Wait... Is that what your mom told you?"

"He can lose his sponsors if they twist the story."

"If that's the problem, the solution is easy."

"What do you mean?"

"They can't control de story if you're publicly dating."

"Are you crazy?"

"Yes... Just think about it, sometimes crazy is the answer"