Chapter 10

"Don't try to get on my nerves." I said with a frustrated voice.

"You guys still fight. No one can change you." Otabek laughed.

The teacher came and the class continued. It's been 3 days and the girls are still acting all lovey-dovey to me, it's irritating me. I'm starting to lose my temper. But every time I start to lose control, Yuri comes and saves me, more like he saves them.

We were practicing our new move, Yakov ordered me not to go home til I learn to balance when I do a salchow. I lose balance and fall on the rink every time I do that. It's evening, everyone left and I was still practicing my move. I was alone when I heard the footsteps, I slowly turned around when Yuri skated fast and stopped in front of my face and said 'boo', it was so fast, that I only saw him saying 'boo' when I turned around. I screamed, I was scared to hell, when he did that. And there he was laughing while looking at me.

"Yuri, what the hell." I yelled. My heart was still pounding.

"You should see your face when I did that, you seemed damn funny." Yuri laughed like an idiot.

"Damn it Yuri. Stop laughing." I said in frustration.

"Okay, okay." He tried to control his laughter, but he couldn't.

He burst out laughing sitting on the ice rink. After a few minutes he got up with his face red like a tomato with all that laughing.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I saw Yuri in normal clothes, he changed his clothes too , then why did he enter the rink?

"I was about to leave but I saw you practicing alone, so I thought of…." Yuri paused

"Scaring me?" I added.

"Helping you.What are you doing anyway?"

"Coach told me to practice the salchow and ordered me not to leave until I do it perfectly.." I said with a sigh.

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it."

"You'll stay with me?" I asked in surprise.

"Well, there should be someone to judge you when you do the salchow, let that be me." Yuri said with a slight tilt of his head.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and did the salchow, I lost balance when I landed.

"No wonder you can't balance when you land. Your shoulders should be leveled when you're about to do the jump. And when you're about to jump do a half turn on the ice and then do the remaining half in the air. And if you're gonna do a mohawk, then before jumping your ankle and knee should be bent and your hips should be a bit down, they help to push you up in the air when you straighten and do the jump. And for the entrance you can go in from a forward outside three turns or from a forward inside a mohawk, you can choose between these two." Yuri explained to me how to position.

He showed the two entrance ways and asked me to jump and I did that.

"Looks like you feel comfortable with the forward inside mohawk. Do it with that and when you jump bring your knee towards your chest. Like this." Yuri showed me the way I should position when I jump.

He asked me to do it and I did it, this time while landing, I lost balance and was about to fall but Yuri caught me. He helped to stand back.

"When you land try to keep the same position you've before you jump. Keep your arms at the same level." He showed me by keeping my hands and body in that position.

At this point, he was so close to me that his chest is touching my back and I can feel his heart beating. His heart was beating just as fast as mine and we stayed like that for a while. I didn't wanna move and neither did he move.

"Understood?" Yuri spoke and brought me out of my imagination.

I simply nodded my head slowly. He asked me to do the salchow and I did it, this time it was perfect, how do I know? It's because Yuri applauded when I did the salchow.

"See, you did great. Don't forget to concentrate on landing. You seem to be slipping." Yuri advised me.

"Okay, thanks for the help." I said with a smile.

We both came out of the ice rink.

"Change your clothes and come, I'll send you home." He said while untying his skates.

"You'll send me home?" That was really more of a shock than a surprise. He seemed different than usual.

"Yeah, is there any problem with that?" He questioned

"No, it's just you didn't send me home before, so I'm a bit surprised."

"It's late and you know the people out there, even though they aren't that good and I can't risk them getting hurt by you." Yuri said while standing.

"Ohh,....... What?" I didn't get him at first, but after thinking of what he said, I understood.

"You sure are an idiot, now go and change. I've to go home too." Yuri turned me around and pushed me forward gently.

I went and changed my clothes. I was in a hurry not to make him wait, so I changed my clothes and came out wearing the necklace. As I was coming along I saw him staring at me making a weird face and looking at my pendant without a blink.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Your pendant... It kinda looks familiar." He said, still not taking his eyes from the pendant. I kept the pendant inside my t-shirt.

"Yours looks the same too." I reminded him of his pendant.

"Yeah, but... Who gave you that pendant?" He asked in a hurry.

"It was my father's. It's the last thing that's left with me as his memory." I said holding the pendant.

"Your dad...…..." He hesitated to complete.

"He died in a car accident, it's been years since that happened." I said in a dull and low tone.

"I'm sorry. I know how it feels like to lose someone, at least you got to spend time with him." His voice was sad.

"Your dad...."

"Not only dad, mum too. I don't even know how it feels like to have parents, they died when I was young. Young enough not to remember anything about them. Since the time I remember, I have lived with grandpa."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place." I said and looked at him. I saw his face dull and I can see he's crying inside.

I didn't know how to comfort him, but I wanted him to feel better that I'm here for him. I turned and stood in front of him and hugged him by the neck.

"I know how we both are feeling but they don't want us to feel this way do they? It's okay." I said in a quiet tone and caressed the back of his head.

His hands slowly wrapped around my waist and he held me tight. I can feel his sniffling and water in his eyes.

"It's okay Yuri. Everything's fine, I'm here for you." I whispered.

His hands tightened.

"Thanks Roze." He said in a quite yet dull tone. I can hear him sighing in relief.

Even after saying that he didn't break the hug and nor did I. It felt good, I felt warm, the warm he described, I felt good and the loss and grief wasn't with me anymore.

We both stayed in the same position for….. I don't know how long. We broke the hug when my phone rang suddenly. I checked my phone and it was mom. I answered the call.

"Cordina, where are you? You know what time it is right?" Mom yelled, as I expected.

"I knomom m, Mr. Yakov ordered me to learn the salchow, it's a bit late, I'm on my way."

"God, he's too stubborn. Are you alone? Shall I come and pick you?" Mom said in a worried tone.

"It's okay mom. I've got company, Yuri's with me." I said looking at Yuri with a small smile.

"I'm relieved now. Tell him I'm thankful to him and remind him of our lunch at his house tomorrow."

"What lunch?" I asked in doubt.

"It's the weekend tomorrow and Nikolai asked us to join for lunch. Come fast, let's have dinner together."

"Okkay, bye mom."

"Bye sweetheart." Mom said and ended the call.

I turned towards him and saw Yuri looking at me. The situation became so awkward right now.

"Um…. Mom called. It's the weekend so your grandpa wanted us to come over for lunch." I exclaimed.

"Oh okay, so see you tomorrow then. I booked the cab and it'll be here in a minute." Yuri said in an awkward tone.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I'll go home after sending you."

He finished talking and the cab came. I got into the cab and looked at him.

"Thanks for the help and for the cab." I said with a smile.

"Thanks for comforting me earlier." He said rubbing the back of his neck and smiled.

I smiled in return and the cab started and I went home. I reached home and greeted mom, I came downstairs after getting fresh-up and we both had dinner. I went back to my room and laid on bed. I closed my eyes and I saw Yuri, his smile.

Don't know why the smile seems familiar like I knew him long time ago, but I can't figure out when. I have this same feeling everytime I see him close, but today even my heart started beating fast. I tried to think of something else or distract from his thoughts but every single thought I think of to distract myself ends up me seeing his face.

I washed my face, drank some water and slept, letting those thoughts of him take over. I know I can't win over those and after sometime sleep takes over.