|| Hold Me ||: A Yuri Plisetsky Story ||

Chapter XII

As soon as Yuri left I let out a sigh of relief. Of course the fact that he was concerned made me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside but then I had to stop myself. I couldn't pull him down, not since he just won the Grand Prix at his age. He was at the top of his game and despite being one of the most determined people I've ever met, he was also one of the most emotional.

Under all those 42 layers of rage and hostility was a boy still finding his way through life. And small things have been important to him, his friendship with otabek, meeting and being introduced to the senior skaters, Nikolai's pirozhkis, etc. Small yet normal things like these seem to make a big impact on his life and I wasn't gonna let a huge mistake, which may probably be caused by me, ruin what he's been training for his entire childhood.

I decided to rest my head instead of letting these trains of thoughts give me a headache. Unfortunately my mind couldn't shake off the feeling and before I could do anything my phone began buzzing. I quickly grabbed it, considering the fact that the buzzing could worsen my headache.

"Hello?"

"Yulia? Are you okay?"

"Um, who's this?" I asked rubbing my temple with my thumbs. This headache was killing me.

" It's me, G. Are you okay Yul? You sound awful like..."

"I'm fine!" I quickly responded, "just kinda had a rain day that's all." The other end of the phone was silent, as if he was contemplating whether to take my lie or call me out of it. "Yul, please. I know you and you don't sound so good. Are you upset? What happened?"

"I'm okay G. I swear."

"Yulia..."

"I'm fine Guang, you should get back to practice. My dad's calling me, talk to you later," I lied and quickly hung up. The last thing I wanted was to let Guang worry about me too. He already failed to compete in the Grand Prix, he couldn't afford to mess this one up. Laying down again I realized how tense my face had gotten, I must've been more stressed out than I thought. Letting out a sarcastic laugh I slowly got up and made my way to the door.

Opening it up a bit I noticed that all the skaters were watching someone practice on the rink. Blonde hair tied and clad in black clothes. His jumps were perfect with arms raised over the head completed with perfect landings. I shook my head while a small smile formed on my face. This boy was sure gonna make it to the Olympics.

I quickly made a dash for the door while everyone was still left awestruck with his performance. I just opened the door when someone grabbed my arm. Realizing that there was no use in resisting I sighed before turning to face the person. A woman with bright red hair and a flawless figure stood before me with a concerned gaze. She looked vaguely familiar..

"Yulia," my eyes widened as she spoke my name, "you were just in the clinic moments ago because you burst in here soaking wet. You then caused a ruckus because the Russian Tiger over there began yelling before proceeding to assist you in the clinic. Afterwards Yakov over there held a yelling match with him before he and Lilia let him repeat his program to perfection. So you better have a good enough reason to escape since you've caused quite a scene for us here today."

She took a deep breathe before continuing, "So please. You'd better have a good excuse for suddenly showing up and leaving after all you've done so far." Her eyes gazed at me expectantly, letting me she was finished and was waiting for my response. "I just remember that to run a few errands so I must get going." I said to which she raised an eyebrow to, "Honestly, I was stopping by to say hi that's all." And with that I turned my back to her and went on my way.