14

Chapter 14

For the last 10 minutes, Hiroko had been watching Yuuri as if he would disappear at any minute, completely unaware that he was even listening to a word that she was saying. She was worried sick about him, and even though her son had assured her a hundred times that everything was fine, she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was hiding something important from her. The only person in the family whom Yuuri actually trusted enough to confide in was Victor, and even though Hiroko had known Victor for a long time, she had never seen her son act like this before, which concerned her greatly. Her heart ached at the thought of her son being upset and sad because of the things that had happened in his life. After all, Victor had become such a wonderful friend, and although she was proud of the accomplishments that he had made, she wanted nothing more than to protect him from harm. Even more so when she remembered how hurt Yuuko had gotten when she lost her boyfriend. It must have been awful.

Hiroko sighed deeply and looked at Yuuri, noticing the sadness evident in his expression. A lump rose in her throat as she tried to fight the urge to cry, knowing that she would just upset him even more. Instead she settled for hugging him gently and rubbing circles into the small of his back, trying her hardest to comfort him.

Suddenly, she heard someone clear their throat and she pulled apart from Yuuri as he turned his head toward the source of the sound. He looked confused at first, wondering what had made her pull away from him, but after he recognized the person who was standing there, his face lit up and he ran towards her happily. She returned his hug before holding onto her son tightly, letting out a relieved sigh upon realizing that he had come to accept her presence with open arms. As they broke away from her, she took a step back to look at him and smiled lovingly.

"Why didn't you ask me if you needed a hug before you left?" She asked, causing him to blush slightly.

Yuuri shrugged, "I thought you'd want to talk with Nikiforov." he admitted sheepishly as a blush appeared on his cheeks and he rubbed his hand nervously on the back of his neck.

She let out another small laugh, unable to help herself. Yuuri was cute. He reminded her quite a bit of her late husband. They may not have been married for very long, but she loved every second that she spent with him. No matter how short her marriage was, it was worth every single second, regardless of whether it lasted long or short.

"You're forgiven then." She said simply, ruffling his messy bangs.