Unforgettable | Yuzuru Hanyu

22. Invitation

You could almost say that Kana's doubts were completely ridiculous.

In a way, that was exactly what her best friend tried telling her once again but it didn't seem to work as well now that she was constantly subjected to the sight of another woman attempting to touch a man that she really liked.

All of it felt like a high school teen crush that she couldn't have and the Russian woman was clearly winning.

Well, Kana couldn't even blame her. Zhenya was young, beautiful, and had an otaku heart. Everyone with eyes would be interested in Yuzu but this girl just had what Kana never did, the courage to show it to him with not-so-subtle touches. There was nothing that made the other girl particularly unlikable besides the obvious fact that they were both interested in the same man.

The reality was that Zhenya didn't even seem to be aware of Kana in any way and maybe that was probably for the best.

That whole thing would only change when the man himself finally realized that nothing about her behavior was normal in comparison to the past few weeks and finally acted on it.

You could say that Kana was more than surprised when he pulled her aside after the session with everyone's eyes on them and whispered a soft "I want to talk to you."

Nerves quickly consumed her, wondering what was on his mind. If she had learned anything about Yuzu was that predicting his thoughts and actions was completely impossible.

So when she answered a soft "Alright" his bright smile still affected her in the same way as it once had. He was like a light shining bright on everyone's lives given how easily he could make others smile.

"Will you have dinner with me?" he quickly said in the follow-up, leaving her speechless at the unexpected invitation. Sure enough, he decided to clear it up quite fast from the moment he saw her reaction "Just so we can talk more privately."

Maybe Kana could have given him more fight, teased him a bit, and shown how disappointed she was in the past weeks but the truth was that the soft spot that he seemed to occupy in her heart was never gone. She liked him more than wanted to admit to herself. Hell, she might even love him given how her body seemed to react to his every action.

She found herself nodding faster than her brain could process the information and in no time, his grin seemed to get even bigger and brighter.

In just a few seconds, he was giving her the details behind the arranged meeting that would take place in his house, even if the whole thought by itself managed to stress her out more than the actual dinner.

Why did she have to overthink everything?

In a way, the fact that he didn't give her that much time to think and offered her a ride straight away made it impossible to overthink what she should be wearing or even if she should go for makeup or anything. Straight out of the rink without a single ounce of production and dressed in her sweatpants seemed to be the way he wanted her on that night so Kana just accepted it.

It was so freaking odd to enter the car with him with so many eyes of other skaters watching, the driver in front not saying a single thing about the guest and just driving without a single word.

The atmosphere in the car was tense as if none of them knew what to say or was in fear of saying the wrong thing. Maybe that was why the whole ride was done in an uncomfortable silence that seemed way too hard to break. All of it only made her brain go into overdrive mode, thinking of all the possibilities behind his sudden invite and wondering what the hell he had been thinking.

Only by the time they arrived did he throw a small smile her way, offering a single hand as he opened the door for her to leave the car and silently guided her after bidding his goodbyes to the driver.

The contrast in his gentle motions to what she was used to seeing in him wasn't lost. Yuzuru handled her on that night as if she were a porcelain doll who could break at any given time.

His condo was empty despite the fact that she was aware that his mother lived there. Yuzuru had told her that in their past sessions and the knowledge was still deeply engraved in her brain.

"My mom isn't home so I felt like it was a good time."

Her overthinking brain could only consider that he didn't want her to meet his mom but every action he showed her seemed to say otherwise so she just tried to wipe it off her brain.

"Okay."

"I was thinking of ordering too."

"That's ok by me."

Now seemingly sick of the short polite words, Yuzuru closed the door behind them and quickly turned her around to face him, her back hitting the door softly in an almost inaudible thud.

Kana felt her heartbeat increase drastically, she now felt hyperaware of his every movement and the way his fingers touched her skin, leaving an electrifying trace everywhere they graced. She wondered what had gotten into him and maybe he didn't even know himself.

There was no doubt that she wasn't the only one affected. One look at him and you could see his almost breathless state as his eyes stared into hers with an unexplainable intensity. Only then did he finally speak.

"Hit me, punish me, scream at me... do whatever you feel like but at least tell me something because I can't handle not having you in my life."