nevertheless || yuzuru hanyu

eighteen - sinless with consequences

She was in a lost state of panic. Her thoughts were all over the place. Upon reaching Joanna's apartment, her first mean was to call her coach. She was confused.

Questions of how and why were all that filled her senses.

Dial Once—no response. Her emotions were dire, desperate but not enough.

She dialed for the second time—still no response. The reposed nature that was within her slowly dissipated. She was in passive distress. As minutes passed, she became more desperate.

She figured that she would stop calling after two failed attempts, she tried to think outside of her own emotions and problems. Maybe he can't answer because he too is very much distressed about the situation. By that time, the doors opened once more and Joanna came rushing in.

Her face wore a serious and concerned expression. She appears to have seen what kind of conundrum Gabriella was currently under.

Their eyes met, and upon Joanna catching glimpse of the pensive and panicked look in Gabriella's eyes, her serious expression softened and everything that was left was concern and empathy.

Swiftly, she closed the door and approached Gabriella. She pulled her in an embrace trying whatever she thought that may comfort her. "It's okay. It's going to be okay." She repeated as she tried to compose whatever soul was left in Gabriella's exhausted demeanor.

Almost in a seize of breath, Gabriella could not hold her pains to herself. She was more upset than her tears and her exasperated breathing could ever tell. The world is so unfair. She thought. After all, she was promised that Jung Na-mi would be removed from the national team indefinitely, and now that apparently isn't the case.

Still warmed by the embrace of her roommate, Gabriella then received a call.

Finally, it was her coach.

At this point on, she couldn't stop her wailing despite how much she tried. "Coach..." She uttered, her voice was breaking apart. "What happened? I thought she would never..." She couldn't even continue before being stumped by her sobs.

No reply came from the other end of the line, because behind the strength of calling Gabriella as he was responsible for her, Coach Browne was barely holding back his own pains about the situation. For more than ten years, Gabriella has been his student, but more than that she was special to him. After all, it was her skills that changed his life for the better.

Every time Gabriella is not treated the same way as with other athletes, he always remembered what Gabriella told him a few days before her first international competition. She had overheard him having a conversation with his wife—about financial problems and how they were about to lose their house. That was when an eleven year old Gabriella Kim approached him with a crushing expression on her face. He looked at her in a curious juncture, but she couldn't meet his eyes.

Nevertheless, she was able to say her heart's intentions, "I will win the competition, coach. I promise I will win the competition." She asserted in a loud voice. She repeated herself, almost seeming as if she was crying, but still she refused to look at him. That whole conversation ended with Gabriella never meeting his eyes. She just turned away and pretended like she never heard anything.

During the competiton, despite being one of the younger participants, she was the one who received the gold medal. When she was asked how she was able to accomplish such a feat, there was no moment that she did not mention her coach. And from that day on, Coach Browne started receiving more aspiring athletes to train, his reputation as a coach also peaked. That allowed him and his family to live a stable life, and he owe it all to Gabriella.