nevertheless || yuzuru hanyu

twenty-nine - you can't have it all

Yuzuru::
As my eyes were closed, there was only darkness and the faintest of sounds.

There was a small tone of knocking. Knocking that became louder as I slowly woke from my slumber.

I tried to open my eyes, the left one first, then the right one after. As followed by a few sets of blinking, I was finally able to fully unfold both of my eyes.

The knocking would occasionally halt, but after my eyes were fully unfolded, it continued once more.

Who would be knocking at an hour that seemed so early? At an hour where even the sun seemed to just have risen? Of course, unless I actually woke up pretty late which I hope is not the case.

"Just a moment." I groggily spoke as I slowly took my foot off the bed. I checked my phone quickly for the time, and it read, '8 AM'.

With a less tight schedule today, it means that I... was woken up at the right time.

I steered through the wooden floors as I hurriedly opened the door

And when I did, my eyes immediately met Gabriella's mild and quiet ones. A sheer glimmer of curiosity reached my thoughts as to why she was knocking on my door at the eight hour of the morning.

"Good morning, do you need anything?" I asked her as I pushed the door to a wider capacity.

Upon observing her further, specifically, her white running shoes that had untied laces, it would seem that she had just come back from somewhere. She also wasn't wearing clothes that you would usually wear at home. She just had a plain white shirt on, a blue jacket on top of it, and some loose pants that also had a bit of dirt on its ends.

I looked at her face once again, her look was stern, almost as if she was going to burst out crying any second now.

"What's wrong?" I rushed closer to her as I asked.

There was dead silence before the ends of her mouth curled and lifted.

She was going to lie. Even that smile was a lie and I could tell.

"I just wanted to see you." She softly uttered. Her voice was sluggish and faint. And it doesn't help that the state of her clothing and the way she's acting is out of the ordinary.

My eyes furrowed. I was not stupid to not notice how strange she was being.

"Let's run together this morning. Well, I'll wait for you if you want to run as well." She said. Still with that lie of a smile sitting plainly on her face.

As she went to turn around, I took hold of her arm, stopping her from walking away completely.

"Is there something wrong?" I inquired out of deep concern.

She just looked at me, her eyes still as down as ever, with that smile that was now haunting in a way.

"I plan on retiring after Worlds." She spoke.

My hold on her arm dropped as I stared at her in question.

Her laughter spoke her passion for badminton, one can even see her deep love for the sport even when she just holds a racket or anything related to badminton...