Second Chance :: Nathan Chen

Chapter 3

Song: Nervous by Shawn Mendes

Kierra's POV

I desperately attempt to shove my sweats into my luggage and slam it close.

"You okay?" Mirai asks as she walks by helping me pack.

"Totally fine," I say angrily as I sit on my suitcase. It still doesn't shut.

Close to 5 minutes of slamming my suitcase and a little help for Maia and Alex my suitcase finally closes.

"It's probably going to explode when I open it at home," I say. "All that hard work gone to waste."

"Is there some sort of party going on in here that I was very nicely not invited to?" Adam asks snarkily.

I walk over to the door and pull it open. "We're having a suitcase shoving session," I say giggling.

"You guys should come help me with mine," Adam says.

"Why, can mister 6 pack not do it?" I ask laughing.

Pretty soon close to the entire figure skating team is hanging out it my hotel room.

"I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" I say as we clean up.

"It's only a couple months," Vincent says as he steals my phone from off the table.

"Vincent!" I scream.

Vincent smirks before handing me back my phone, "I'm gonna miss you beautiful," He whispers.

"What's going on?" Nathan says as he steps over the door to my hotel room.

I shake my head ignoring him. 

It still hurts. 

After all these years it still hurts. 

Grabbing my suitcase and purse I give a round of hugs to everyone else before walking down to the front desk and checking out.

I board my flight back to California and then for the first time I pull out my phone. As I open my messages I see what Vincent has done, he's put his number in my phone.

I smile as the plane takes off, a couple of months and we'll be back together.

Nathan's POV

"Are you excited!" My mom screams. "My son is going to the Olympics!"

"Uh, mom, tone it down a notch. Our neighbor already thinks we're crazy." I say as I begin pulling my clothes out of the drawer.

"This has been your dream for so long!" My mom screams excitedly.

"Honestly you're more excited than me," I state.

My phone dings as I pull it out, "Kierra Yu has posted a photo to Instagram," my notification reads.

I open the Instagram app and I stare at a photo of Kierra and Vincent smiling, I read the caption "#PACKINGGOALS, #2018PYEONGCHANG."

"Who's this?" My mom says reading the Instagram post from over my shoulder.

"A friend," I stammer.

"Kierra Yu, isn't she, isn't she Paul Yu's little sister?" My mom questions.

"Yeah," I whisper.

"She's an ice skater?" My mom asks.

"Uh, do you not read the news?" I question. "She's the only women's singles gold hopeful for the 2018 Olympics."

"So you do like her," My mom states.

"Uh, what?" I scream defensively, "I do not like her."

"What, you stalk her on the news, on what is this like snapgram or something," My mom rambles.

"Goodness gracious," I whisper as I slap myself.

Kierra's POV

"What else do we need?" I ask.

"Honestly you're so freaked out about packing, I just threw whatever I could find into my suitcase. It's a miracle my suitcase even closed." Vincent says calmly.

"Hey!" I say as I throw a hanger at him.

"You excited to see everyone?" Vincent asks.

"Everyone other than Nathan," I say rolling my eyes.

"What happened between you guys?" Vincent questions as he sits down on the bed next to me.

"He was my brother's best friend. He promised Paul that he'd be there for both Paul and me. He packed up and left after Paul died, didn't stay for the funeral. Moved to Utah without a goodbye. Broke the one thing that Paul wanted." I state tears clouding my vision as I remember the past. 

"Oh," Vincent says quietly.

"Whatever it doesn't matter," I say shrugging. "The past is the past, and we can't change it. "

"Where do we go?" I ask.

"Aren't you supposed to know you live here," Vincent replies as he stares down at his boarding pass. "I'm pretty sure they said to go to security."

Close to an hour later and a lot of arguing over why we had skates in our bags, we finally managed to make our way to the gate.

"Kierra, Vincent!" A voice yells from behind us.

"Oh my gosh!" I scream. "MAIA!"

"Wow, I feel offended," Alex laughs.

"Why are you guys here?" I question.

"This is one of the few flights out to Pyeongchang, so we decided to take it," Alex says calmly.

"Who else is on this flight?" Vincent asks.

"Well we saw Adam, you guys and I think Nathan," Maia replies.

"FLIGHT 134 TO PYEONGCHANG IS NOW BOARDING AT GATE 73," One of the flight attendants read over the loudspeaker.

The four of us quickly take a selfie and I post it to Instagram tagging Maia, Alex, and Vincent.

We worked through the impossible, through the pain and hardships for one goal. To stand on top of the podium with a very specific medal around our neck. 

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Seoul, South Korea. The current time is 2:51 AM and the current temperature is 61 degrees Celsius. We hope you have an enjoyable stay." The flight attendant says.

We quickly make our way off the plane and grab our baggage before making our way to the train to Pyeongchang.

"Kierra!" Says a snarky voice.

"Rippon!" I scream as I throw my arms around Adam's neck.

"Did you miss me?" He asks.

"Maybe," I respond smirking.

"Hey," says a voice from behind me.

I turn around and come face to face with Nathan.

"Hey," I say coldly before turning back to Adam.

An icy silence falls around us.

"So how was California?" Adam asks.

"Boy, you do know you train in California as well, right?" I question.

"Hmm, new fact!" Adam replies sarcastically.

"So how was training?" I question.

"Totally amazing!" Adam says sassily rolling his eyes.

"But you still love it," I say smiling.

"Welcome to Pyeongchang 2018," The trains automated voice says.

I stare out of the window, and that moment all of us Olympians in the train realize that this is everything we worked for. Every single second has been for this moment. A moment we might never get.