Safe Haven | Yuzuru Hanyu

29.

Emma received her bodyguard access mere hours after.

Brian made her promise not to mess with Yuzu until after he was done and she had absolutely no problems with it, she even agreed that it was the best choice.

She wandered around the venue and memories of her competition days naturally showed up.

The woman remembered how nervous she would get and how much pressure there was on that small amount of time that they were performing.

There was no way she could've done it now.

More than anything, it just made her admire Yuzuru. Doing this for so long required patience and guts.

"You look a little lost" she heard an American accent say.

Once she turned, Emma found herself staring at Nathan Chen, one of Yuzuru's biggest rivals.

"I'm not."

"You sure? Because I don't think I've seen you here before today?"

"There are a lot of people around, you can't possibly notice everyone."

"I would've remembered you."

The sheer will to roll her eyes was ever so present. What the hell did this guy want?

"What do you want, Mr. Chen? My ID card? Backstage pass?"

"So you know who I am... Your number would do."

"And what could you possibly need that for?"

"To ask you out, obviously."

"Not interested."

"But... Don't tell me you have someone."

"I do, but maybe you could've started by asking that"

"And where is this guy?"

"Getting ready to skate, like you should be."

"Oh? So I know him."

"Why do you care?"

"Just to gather if I still have a chance or not."

Emma was getting sick of this exchange. Each minute that Nathan spent next to her was an increased chance for Yuzuru to notice her presence, something she didn't want at all.

"You don't... Now, please, leave me alone."

"Such a shame... Lucky man"

Thankfully that was all it took for Nathan to leave her alone again and give her a chance to breathe normally again.

It was only then that she noticed the distressed state of Yuzuru's coaches.

Brian stared at her and gestured her close.

"Did you say anything to him?" He asked as soon as she was close.

"Me? I haven't seen Yuzuru like I promised. What's going on?"

"He locked himself in his room and Yumi is trying to get him out."

"Any idea why?"

"No."

"He wasn't particularly nervous or anything like that?"

"He just complained a bit about his breathing, but it wasn't anything too unusual."

Yuzuru complaining about anything is always unusual, and definitely alarming. He only complained when it was bad and his coaches should know this by now.

Emma was about to head to the room herself when Brian received a call from Yumi saying that they were on their way.

She was now more nervous for him than she ever remembered. This was, of course, the first competition that she watched of his, but even so, her concern only grew with his supposed complaints.

The girl went back to her secluded corner and watched Yuzuru enter the venue a few moments after, dragging his suitcase with him.

He looked tired, far more tired than usual and her concern spiked even further. Whatever was bothering him had to be serious.

Even as he warmed up, there was this unsettling feeling creeping on her that he shouldn't skate.

The thing was, Emma knew him well enough to know that nothing would stop him from skating now. We are talking about a guy that skated with a possible concussion after all.

It turns out that her concerns weren't unjustified at all.

Emma watched him absolutely crumble during the free skate.

You could see just how much he was fighting, but whatever was going on, affected him more than he probably expected.

Yuzuru finished the program panting extremely hard, even if he tried to hide it with a smile.

There was no doubt in Emma's mind that he wasn't okay. If she had been worried before, now it was far worse.

All she wanted to do was go to him, hug him tight, and order him to rest.

But she couldn't do that, not with so many cameras capturing his every move.

Because of this, she patiently waited and allowed him to go with every single obligation.

From the kiss and cry, to the quick interviews and even the medal ceremony where he, unfortunately, had to settle for a bronze medal, everything seemed to take ages to pass.

As the ceremony was being held, Brian approached her and gave her a small note and a key from Yuzuru's shower room.

"Meet him there, there's no cameras."

Emma sighed audibly and went on her way, choosing to ignore the pain in her chest as she tried to imagine all the possible reasons behind what happened today.

In the end, it could have been just the weight of training alone in Sendai, but she doubted that.

It was only ages after that she heard movement outside the door and finally saw him close.

Yuzuru entered his room with Ghislain, still panting slightly, heavy breaths audible in the small room.

He didn't notice her immediately but once he did, all of the pain from that day disappeared.

"Emma?"

"Hey, superstar." She said with a smile and opened her arms.

He was on her before she could say anything else, giving her the tightest of hugs.

To say that it felt incredible to feel his warmth again couldn't possibly cover all of her feelings at that moment.

Once he looked into her eyes, she saw tears on his face, making her wipe them away with her hand right away.

"You didn't tell me you're coming!"

"That's the point of a surprise, silly."

Ghislain was staring at them with a weird look on his face.

It was expected, of course, because this was not necessarily a normal interaction between an assistant and her boss.

Yuzuru was too oblivious to his coach's confusion as he kissed her lips.

"Yuzu!" She reacted as soon as she could.

"Couldn't resist." He said with a grin. "I missed you, kitten."