Love on the Ice (Victor Nikiforov Love Story)

Chapter 11: Weights Lifted

Disclaimer: Everything besides Katerina and her family belong to Mitsuro Kubo.
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He had certainly changed since I had last seen him. He had grown taller and muscular. His height was about five foot eleven inches. He had cut his hair short with bangs on his left side. His eyes were more blue than ever.

{He looked the same in my dream.}

"Bark."

Victor looked down at the puppy. "Makkachin. There you are. I was looking everywhere for you," he said and picked the puppy up. He looked very relieved to see the puppy. Makkachin started to lick Victor's face.

I felt myself smile from the sight. The puppy was very happy. Victor looked up at me with a smile. "Thank you so much. Where did you find him?" he asked me. "I found him last night in front of my door," I told him.

He gave out his hand to me. "I"m Victor Nikiforov. Nice to meet you neighbor," he introduced himself to me. I returned the smile. "Katerina Chernishova," I introduced myself to him. His eyes widen a bit. {Does he recognize me?}

"You were the one who made my costume for my Junior Grand Prix," he remembered. {I guess he doesn't remember me.} "Yes. I remember. You looked great in it," I told him. He gave me a smile.

Next thing I knew, Makkachin kept squirming in Victor's arms that Victor let him down. "What's wrong Makkachin?" Victor asked him. Makkachin ran through the living room and into my office. "Makkachin," Victor called out to him as he walked into my apartment. I followed after him.

We followed him inside my office. "Makkachin," I called out to the puppy. {Where are you?} Victor looked around the closet while I looked around my supplies. "Where are you?" I moved some boxes and there he was happy.

"Playing hide and seek?" "Bark." I picked up the puppy and looked at Victor. "Found him," I told him. Victor was preoccupied at my desk. I walked over to see that he was looking at pictures of us when we were kids at the St. Petersburg Championship.

{Is he going to recognize me?}

He picked up the picture frames in his hands and looked at me. He looked very surprised and shocked. "How...where...How did you get these?" "I..." I knew what to say but, I didn't know if I could tell him.

I could feel the emotions that I had buried since the incident. Victor looked at my neck. "That's the necklace that I gave for her birthday," he reached out to me and held the pendant in his fingers. He was waiting for an answer.

Next thing I knew, I felt myself crack. My tears ran down like a creek. I covered my face so that he couldn't see me. "That's...because...it's me," I struggled to say.

"....." "...." Makkachin started to cry. I wiped my tears the best I could. "It's me. Katerina Samarina," I told him. I saw his expression soften. He deserved an explanation.

"Right after the competition, I locked myself in my room. I felt so depressed and guilt for hurting you. A few days later, my parents told me that we were moving to England. We were in a plane crash as we were landing. My parents were killed in the crash. Ivan and I managed to survive. For some reason, my adopted family didn't get custody of me so Ivan and I were separated. Luckily, my biological family adopted me back so I had my name changed," I explained to him.