xxvii

3rd Person's POV

After an emotional and sleepless night, a venti caramel macchiato, a ton of press at the airport, and about 14 hours later, Luna, Yuzuru, Javi, Coach Brian, Coach Tracy, and Sky have arrived at the Olympic Village at Pyeongchang. 

Their rented van had dropped them off the entrance gate and they had to walk some distance towards the towering buildings which will serve as their accommodation for the next weeks. However, it wasn't the high-rise buildings that caught Luna's attention. It was the massive Olympic rings a few meters away from her. Like a little kid, Luna ran up to the rings and pointed at it excitedly. 

"見て, 見て (mite, mite) Yuzu-kun! Quick, here's my phone and take a picture of me." Luna said, dragging Yuzuru and handing him her phone. 

"Ugggh. When did you become such a little girl, hime?" Yuzure replied jokingly while groaning and rolling his eyes. Despite this, he happily took Luna's photo.

"Is it good? Let me look at it." Luna walked towards Yuzu after posing and the two checked out the photos. "Eh? I look bloated in that. と早く (hayaku), again." She ran back to where she was standing, now holding a new pose in front of the camera Yuzuru was holding. 

"Uncle. I suggest we go ahead and leave these two alone. You know how Luna takes her photos. They take centuries and millions of photos for her to pick one to post." Sky snickered and nudge Coach Brian. 

"Oh nope we are not going to stand here and wait for that long. You guys! We'll go ahead. Javi's going to take your bag to your shared room, Yuzuru. Sky will take Luna's bag to her room." Coach Brian said and caught the attention of the pair.

As the group started walking, the rolling sound of the wheels audible against the concrete road, Sky looked back and shouted. 

"Oh and Yuzu!!! Good luck with that!" Sky said teasing him and pointing at his sister who just stood there with her arms crossed over chest and an eyebrow raised. 

"SHUT UP SKY! Okay, Yuzu-kun. Where were we?" Luna shouted at her brother loudly before turning to her Yuzu-kun and changing the tone of her voice to a sweet one.

Talk about duality. Yuzuru thought to himself as he felt himself take a tiny gulp. But that's why he loves her. And so he holds his girlfriend's phone up with no hesitation, ready to capture into photographs the breathtaking sight of the woman he loves so dearly. 

-timeskip-

Damn, Sky and Coach Brian was right. Yuzuru's arm is sore to say the least, after taking nearly 500 photos of Luna around the Olympic Village. After every 10 photos, Luna stopped and walked towards Yuzu to check, constantly asking her boyfriend to go again because she either 'looked fat', her hand 'was out of place', her face 'looked stupid' because her cheeks puffed up whenever she smiled, etc. But Yuzu negated all of them honestly and say she looks amazing and to stop bringing herself down, not forgetting to plant a soft hum on Luna's forehead. Even so, the cycle repeated until there was approximately 500 photos on Luna's photo gallery with a couple of pictures of the two of them. Nevertheless, despite the exhaustion, Yuzu thought it was worth it to spend time like that with Luna. 

Today, Coach Brian and Luna decided to start training again in preparation for the Team's and Single's event which will take place in a couple of days. Yuzuru wanted to train too, but he was asked by Coach Brian to start his training the day after tomorrow instead in order to avoid overstraining his ankle. Yuzuru totally agreed with the idea because the last thing he wants to happen is to injure himself further that can lead him to forfeiting the competition. Hell no. No way. 

Yuzuru is being obedient. Luna, on the other hand, wasn't even trying to listen to her uncle. Yuzuru is currently on the bleachers, watching Luna practice her first run of her short program. And although she didn't go all out, the fatigue and exhuastion was evident as Luna hunched back trying to catch her breath. The sight pained Yuzuru. He remembers how during the first months of their training, Luna doesn't get tired as much as the past few weeks. This is a sign that definitely, Luna's health is deteriorating. And Yuzuru is worried, to say the least. He is terrified. He still wants to stop Luna but he knows her the best, and he knows she won't listen. Instead of thinking so selfishly, he just let Luna do whatever makes her happy. That is her wish, after all. And he doesn't want anything else in the world but happiness for her. 

Luna skated towards her uncle to receive feedback for her run through. After catching her breath, she gestured for her uncle to get her water bottle and RJ tissue box. As she gulped the water down, hydrating her dry and raspy throat, Uncle Brian started to speak.

"You feeling good? Too tired? Wanna take a break?" There it goes again. People worrying about her. She gets it. She's dying. But she doesn't want that to hold her back and she doesn't want that to change how everybody treats her. 

"Uncle. We just started. Don't worry too much. I'll stop when I can't go on. So, hit me with it." Luna replied as she closed her wattle bottle and wiped her nose. 

"Fine. Your movements get sloppy halfway through the program. Your hands were flailing all over the place during the step sequence and during the most of your jumps. You should tighten your form. Also, it would be best to practice which parts of the program should you breath so that you could keep it in pace and not go huffing throughout the whole thing, trying to catch your breath. People could see that you know. So let's practice pacing your breaths for the next days. Other than that, you're good to go." Uncle Brian said, not missing a beat after all the words that came out of his mouth. 

"Well okay then, Min Yoongi wanna-be. I didn't know you could rap with no cap, Uncle. You're full of surprises. Anyway, let's run through it again let's figure out where to do the thing you want me to do?" Luna chuckled at her Uncle's 'rapping' skills. Uncle Brian nodded and Luna skated back to the center of the rink. 

She really is something. Tenacious. Persistent. Passionate. Uncle Brian smiled softly to himself and looked over to Yuzuru who was closely observing his niece. He could see Yuzuru's gentle gaze at the athlete in the middle of the rink. Brian's heart ached at the thought of the tragic story of the two skaters. 

His thoughts were interrupted by his nephew, Sky, who placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at Sky who was holding a carton tray of 4 steaming hot coffees. Of course Sky knows the thoughts running through his uncle's mind because he had the same exact thoughts, too. But he just learned to accept everything even though he doesn't want to. It's his sister's wish, after all. Sky just patted his uncle's shoulder thrice because looking at Luna. 

"Hey sis! Starbucks delivery! Take a short break before your coffee gets cold." Sky said as he raised the tray up, showing Luna what he bought. As if on cue, Luna's eyes lit up more if that was even possible at the mere sight of a cup of coffee. Without hesitation, she darted towards the two and grabbed her coffee before walking towards where Yuzuru was sitting. 

"What the... So that's how you get her off the ice." Brian said, shocked at how quickly Luna stepped off the ice when he was trying so hard in doing so for the past few training sessions. Sky just chuckled and shrugged before following Luna and sat beside her. 

And so, the rest of training passed by quickly with Luna trying to adapt, slowly but surely, at the pacing of her breaths in the middle of the her programs. It was tiring. Luna felt herself slip out of consciousness a couple of times, leading to Yuzu almost running to her and make her rest. But of course, she held on like the fighter she is. After how many run-throughs of her short and free, she started getting the hang of it, although she still needs a couple of days to get used to it. Nevertheless, she is proud of herself. Just a couple more weeks. Just hang on. 

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CUTTTT!!! Hey guys. First of all, i apologize. I'm so sorry for updating so late. Its just that this is the first time in the past weeks that I got time to write. I even updated my other story late last night, too, because my prelim exams just ended. However, I can't assure that I'll be uploading consistently even after my exams because we're always bombarded with quizzes and case studies. I hope you guys understand. I'm currently writing this in the middle of class actually but the prof is absent so here I am!

I hope you guys liked this chapter! Our story's nearing the end :((( What do you guys think? Voice out your thoughts in the comments 💕

Also, 5k+ reads. Oh my gosh I am overwhelmed. To everyone reading this story, thank you so much! I did not expect that people would read this but look at where we are now! Its all thanks to you guys! If you guys have time, go check out my other story, Abyss too! It only has 4 chapters so far but the word count is sheesh. I go wild. 

Anyway, stay safe and stay golden, lovelies! ✨