one-shot and short story

2019

AN: this is my first time writing a story in English. If you notice there is a sentence with grammatical errors or something else, please tell me! Thank you so much!

TCS & CC.
Almost every figure skating athlete was having a "not so good" practice today. Fall, fall, and fall again. But, not for Anna. Everyone knows Anna as "Unbreakable Ankle" because she never falls on her jumps both in competition and practice time. Anna finished her practice and took a seat on the nearest bench from the rink. (i know this is weird but please just accept it)

"Enough, Yuzuru! We've ended our practice today."

"One more time, please!"

Anna turns her head. She saw that Yuzuru still insisted on practicing but Brian chose to end it because he had already fallen too many times. Her eyes following every time Yuzuru moved. It was blessing to have a great skater practice in the same club as you. Finally, Yuzuru got out of the rink and started to untie his boots.

Anna chose to approach him. "Hey ... Hum ... Are you okay?"

Yuzuru turned his head and looked at her. "Yeah, I'm okay. As you can see."

Anna took a sit beside him. "Oh, that's good. Hum, your lutz its getting better, I hope you can land it on Grand Prix."

"Thank you. I hope so. What about you? I heard that you'll start inserting quadruple jump on your program in this season."

Anna smiled. How could he know?

"Well ... My quadruple jump is quite consistent, maybe not as good as you, but I'm ready to do it. You know ... these days ... you can't win if you can't execute quadruple jumps. The Russian athletes receive high scores because of it."

"Ah, I understand. But how about your principle? Didn't you say that you don't care about scores and medals?" Yuzuru sips his water.

"Yes. I still hold my principle. But it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna learn how to do quadruple jumps just because I don't care about it. Being competitive for me it's important when you choose to compete ... in healthy way."

Yuzuru nodded. "Well ... good luck."

"You too. Oh, I have to go now. See you."

Anna bows to him and tries to run while walking, covering her face with her hand. Too shy. Deep in her heart, Anna was falling in love with him. She watched him from his junior days. That feeling of amazement slowly turned into love.

"Guess that I'm blushing right now. God, please not now before anyone see these red cheeks."

It's not that Anna and Yuzuru always talked like this. From the start, especially when Yuzuru joined TCS & CC, they only had short conversation ... or just said hello and asked how practice was going. She was too afraid.

Back in 2016, during one of Yuzuru's practice sessions, his mother dropped a bombshell question on Anna.

"You and Yuzuru are not together, right?"

The question caught Anna off guard, and she couldn't understand why Yuzuru's mother would ask such a thing. They were just two skaters who talked to each other, or so she thought. But deep down, Anna knew that there was a special connection between her and Yuzuru, and that love had already taken root in her heart. It was a secret she had kept hidden, knowing that Yuzuru's mother would never approve if they were together. The tension and excitement in the air were palpable as Anna tried to process what had just happened.