viii

Here's chapter 8 guys! I hope you're enjoying the story so far ❤️ -------------------Luna's POV

For approximately 17 hours, I sat beside Yuzu in the plane. Here's the thing though. I couldn't even sleep a wink. I told Yuzu to sleep though and not mind me. Unfortunately, he was being hard-headed and stayed awake with me. And so to not get bored, we watched movies. We watched Kimi No Nawa and guess what. I cried buckets and buckets of tears with Yuzu just handing me tissues while I was sniffing my snot as he just caressed my back. And then we also watched A Silent Voice.

So yes, along with our movie marathon, was my crying marathon with Yuzu beside me slightly laughing at me because I became so damn emotional with the movies we watched.

There's another thing. A lot of people were waiting for us at the airport. And by people, I mean Yuzu's fans. There were also fans of Zhenya and Jason but they were easily outnumbered by Yuzu's.

Now here we are in the car, heading for our hotel here in Moscow.

"I can NOT believe you have so many fans, Mr. Olympic Gold. You could've warned me about them. I could've sworn many girls were glaring daggers at me when you put your arm on my shoulder to protect me from the mob." I laughed jokingly at him. Javi, who seated in the middle row with Zhenya and Jason, looked back at me and said "Get used to it, moon. Its gonna get worse when it spreads on the news that you and the Ice Prince are a thing. OWWW!"

It looked like Zhenya pinched Javi's arms and said "What he means to say is that the people are gonna love you guys together. You're just so adorable."

"We aren't even together?" I replied to them in confusion.

"Yet. When I get my hands on that gold, then it'll be official!" Yuzu said teasing me and oinching my cheek. Everyone shouted "OOOOOOHHHH" and even both coach Tracy and Uncle Brian reacted. So I decided to tease him back.

"Who said I agreed to that?" I raised my eyebrows at him, keeping my poker face. Before Yuzu could even reply, Coach Brian said "WE'RE HERE GUYS." And one by one, we stepped out of the car. Fortunately, there were not many fans as its already super late.

As I got out of the car, Yuzu shouted behind me. "Hime! We had a deal! Hey!"

I just smiled to myself and continued walking as I ignored his calls.

*************Two days before the competition

When we arrived last night, me and Zhenya literally just dropped to the bed and fell asleep because of exhaustion. Which actually, is a good thing, because we have a morning practice at Megasport Arena for our short and in the afternoon for our free skate.

Its now 6 AM and we're here at the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. We're all seated together (without Javi because he doesn't need to get up early) and it was uncharacteristically quiet. Like, not peaceful quiet but tense quiet.

Mindlessly, I was just poking my fruits. Until Coach Tracy cleared her throat.

"Guys hey. Are you fully awake? Nervous?" She said tying to lighten up the mood.

We just looked at her and we all smiled.

"Luna. You have to eat breakfast okay?" My uncle said to me looking at me seriously.

"I know, I know." I just nodded at him and proceeded to eat my fruits so I can drink my stupid medicine. Because y'know. We don't want anything to happen to my damn heart this early stage of the season.

I felt Yuzu look at me with confusion as I just continued to eat and ignore it. We don't want him getting suspicious all of a sudden. Like I said, he doesn't have to know.

When we all finished eating, we were given 30 minutes to brush our teeth and just do our morning rituals or whatever before coming down to the lobby and head to the arena.

"Hey Zhenya. You could use the bathroom first. I'll just fix my things." I said to her to which she replied an okay.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, I gulped down my medicine. As I was putting the bottle inside my bag, I panicked when I heard the bathroom door open and I hurriedly put it inside. I looked up and saw Zhenya looking at me.

"Luna? What were those?" She cocked her head to the side.

"Oh. U-uhm... Vitamins. Vitamin C. I've been having colds these days sooo.." I just straight up lied to her while flashing a fake smile. I hate doing this but I have to...

"Oh okay then! You can use the bathroom now and then we'll go down." She returned her smile and proceeded to her bag to fix her stuff.

As I closed the door, I just looked at myself in the mirror and took a deep sigh. How long can I keep up with this?

*********** At Megasport Arena, 8:30 AM

Me and Zhenya are gonna be skating in the same group, which is gonna perform the last. We're just waiting for the zamboni to finish as the third group finished their practice a few minutes ago.

"Luna? You okay? You look pale." Zhenya said as she held onto my shoulders.

"Uh yeah. I'm fine. Just nervous." I reassured her. I don't want her getting worried. She just nodded to me.

But no. I'm not fine. My heart is about to beat out of my chest. I was palpitating and I feel like I'm gonna throw up. As I was about to step on the ice, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Luna. You don't look so good. You okay?" It was my uncle. He saw how I was breathing rapidly to keep up with my heartbeat.

"Uncle. I'm fine. I just. I'm palpitating. I think I drank too much caffeine this morning." I just laughed nervously at him. The way that sentence rolled off my tongue, it was like I was assuring myself that I'm fine.

"You don't have to practice if you don't feel good. You should just rest. We've already practiced plenty." He looked at me worriedly.

"Are you kidding? I have to practice here. Besides, Yuzu, Zhenya, Javi and Jason is gonna think something's up if I don't show up at practice. I'm already here. I'll stop if I feel worse." I just stared at him as if saying that nothing's gonna happen.

Uncle Brian hesitated before saying "All right. Now go out there. Don't go all out and tire yourself." I just nodded at him.

And so I skated off. My music is gonna be played last apparently. I was just skating around , visualizing my performance and choreography as I was warming myself up with single jumps. Just then, I saw Yuzu waving at me from the rink side and I skated towards him.

"How're you feeling? Feels good to be back?" Yuzu smiled his adorable smile. I immediately felt better even though I was still palpitating.

"I'm good. I'm nervous. But its so so good to be back. Oh wait, its my turn. Bye!" I winked at him and skated away. As I turned my back at him, I clutched my chest as if it was going to stop my heart from beating abnormally fast.

I took my position and my music started playing. I was feeling good when I started and I did my opening jumping pass. Halfway during my step sequence and choreographic sequence, my heart just started beating not only abnormally fast but I could actually feel it beat irregularly. Its as if it was gonna pop out my chest.

I slowed down. As I was skating, I made eye contact with my uncle and I just pouted at him. I know that look he gave me. So I followed him. I did not do my second jumping pass.

Which on my part was a bad idea. I saw Zhenya flash me a look of worry and Yuzu from the side line who looked like he was gonna skate out to come and get me. So I continued my routine again despite my situation. I did my last jump and my spins.

As soon as I finished my routine, I felt worse. My head's throbbing so bad. I skated away out the rink fast and went straight backstage. I need my medicine.

I arrived backstage with Uncle Brian trailing behind me. Before I even arrived at my spot where my things are, I fell and sat on the floor breathing heavily and clutching my chest. I just closed my eyes and heard my uncle.

"Zhenya! Where's her bag? Her medicine! NOW!"

"Right! I'll get it!" Zhenya said as I heard her voice shake. This is why I don't want anyone to know. Why does this have to happen now...

Just then I felt Uncle Brian hand me a tablet and a bottle of water. I immediately drank it and after a few minutes, feel my heart go back to its normal pace.

As I breathed normally again, I opened my eyes and saw Zhenya and Uncle Brian look at me with wide eyes.

"Oh my gosh Luna are you okay?" Zhenya said. As I nodded, she then sat on the floor and heaved a sigh of relief.

"We should go to the hospital, Luna." Uncle Brian said as he stood up. I stopped him and held his wrist.

"I'm fine. I just needed my medicine. I'll be fine. Besides, my family's arriving tomorrow. Let's not worry them." As soon as I said that, I suddenly realized something.

"YUZU! Where is he?! Did he see me?!" I said fast, feeling nervous. He's the last person who I want to know about my condition.

Zhenya just sighed and looked at me. "I stopped him Luna. Coach Tracy also stopped him because they were gonna practice next." She continued to stare at me. "What's wrong with you Luna? You can tell me. I was scared as heck."

I sighed in relief as soon as I heard the Yuzu didn't see me like this. However, I was taken aback by Zhenya's question. Then, I looked to my uncle and he just nodded at me.

"Well I'll come back out there. We wouldn't want Yuzu to worry because I'm supposed to be out there. I'll tell her you had to go to the bathroom or something." He said as he tapped my shoulder and nodded towards Zhenya who nodded back.

As soon as Uncle Brian walked away, I looked to Zhenya and said "Why don't we talk over there." I smiled as I pointed to the seats where our stuff was.

As soon as we got seated, I started to tell her everything.

"Zhenya. I have Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. That's why I quit skating. My family didn't want me to come back to the sport because its gonna kill me. Until recently..." I trailed off.

"Recently what?" Zhenya asked. Should I tell her? She'll be the only person to know. I trust her enough.

"Zhenya. Promise me not to tell anyone. Even my family doesn't know about this. I'm gonna trust you with my life so please... Especially Yuzu. He should not know about this no matter what. Even if this happens again." I looked at her with anticipation.

"Luna..." Zhenya said as she nodded slowly. "I promise with my life."

"Zhenya, I was given 1 and a half years to live. Well now its just 11 months. That's why I came back to skating. I wanted to. Before I die." I smiled sadly at her as she held a hand to mouth and let tears stream down her face.

"Hey don't cry. Its not a big deal. It's gonna be fine. I have enough time to go to the Olympics with you guys!" I tried to cheer her up as I felt my own tears fall.

Zhenya just hugged me and said "This is so unfair. You don't deserve this."

"No one does Zhenya. Its juts my fate. And I've come to accept it. Now. Let's forget about this okay? Let's stop crying." I chuckled at her as we wipes each others' tears.

Zhenya took a deep sigh and said "You can trust me with this. I promise. But Yuzu..."

I looked at her seriously and begged her "No Zhenya. Absolutely not. Please."

"All right... but I'm just gonna say this. He deserve to know, Luna." She smiled sadly at me which I returned with my own.

"Let's go! I don't want Yuzu them to think something's wrong." I stood up and held my hand to her. She took a deep breath, took my hand and smile. "Right. Let's go!"

And with that, we skipped together back to the rink to watch the guys practice.

We sat at the benches and I smiled at my uncle saying I'm fine.

I saw Yuzu looking around as if he was looking for someone. Just then, we made eye contact and I immediately gave him a huge smile and waved excitedly to him to ensure that I was okay. He just smiled widely and took the center of the rink to start practicing his program.

As soon as he started, I felt Zhenya's hand on my lower back as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

I just whispered to the point only the two of us can hear "I'm okay..."

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AND CUT! That was chapter 8 guys! Thank you so much for reading this randomness of mine 😂 I hope you stay until I finish this.

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Stay golden, lovelies! ✨