Playing with Fire | Yuzuru Hanyu

29. Failed Plans

Yuzuru may have been a bit hurt by Aria but almost as soon as he turned sad, the skater was elaborating a whole plan in his head.

He just needed to show her he was serious about it.

Really, he understood her side of things. He literally disappeared for months and came back wanting her to treat him normally as if nothing had happened. It was only natural that she didn't, only normal for her to want some distance.

Either way, he wouldn't just stop trying.

After being sure of what he wanted and how serious he was about the will to know this woman better, Yuzuru wouldn't give up just because she denied him once.

So if he made plans to try and show her that he wouldn't just give up, no one could blame him at all.

Going home on that day still hurt and he couldn't hide his disappointment.

Thinking of the events of the night and how he had straight-up left Julia hanging was almost too hilarious to think about.

Maybe he shouldn't have, but the revelation he suddenly had was too sudden to deal with.

That night was almost sleepless, turning in the sheets as he thought of his next plans. The action plan was slowly built and he couldn't wait to make it all happen.

Then again, there was always a chance that she would hate it all and end up hitting him or even worse.

His first attempt to make it all better came after extensive research on Google.

It seemed like he was going back to the time after Julia left him and he decided to learn extensively.

This was no different.

Now, however, he was mostly just trying to get the attention of this beautiful woman whom he had, in a way, mistreated in unforgiving ways.

So he eventually found the best flower shop and ordered a huge amount of flowers.

Given that he had no address, sending them to her workplace was the one thing he came up with.

One thing that he never truly accounted for was that Aria was unlike any girl he had ever met before.

He asked them to send the flowers but the only way to know the reaction was actually going there so he ended up walking there in the afternoon with hopes of finally being allowed some words, only to find all the flowers in the trash outside.

Yeah, ain't no way this was going to be easy, she was about to make his life a living hell.

But well, in the end, he had asked for it and he still wanted it as much as before, even if she was going to play hard to get.

Maybe his determination was foolish but he had never been one to quit on the first fall and this was certainly not going to be like that.

On that day, he didn't even bother entering the store. He moved on, went to his late afternoon practice session at the TCC, and just decided to rethink it all at home.

There had to be something he could do to make her change her mind and give him a chance, no matter how small it was.

Once he was at home and thinking of his options, Yuzuru couldn't help but chuckle at himself. Were you to tell him the efforts he was making for this woman, a younger him would have never believed it but then again, he already had plenty of medals, maybe it was time to think of other things for once.

So placing all of his focus on this one thing, Yuzuru carefully crafted a plan. He was going to go there, flowers in his hands and he wouldn't leave until she forgave him and finally allowed him a chance to talk about them.

It seemed easy enough yet he had a strong feeling it wouldn't be. Better be prepared for the lack of success than not at all.

After once again stirring on the bed for the majority of the night, Yuzu tried to find some energy for his training and failed miserably. It was a huge irony that he had always avoided relationships to avoid having it mess with his skating and now it was the lack of relationship that was making him crazy. 

How the tables turn...

Later on the day, with dark circles under his eyes and a small yawn leaving him every few seconds, Yuzuru was finally on his way to the grocery store with a determined expression.

He could do this!

Nothing of what happened previously was affecting him too much since he still stopped to pick up some flowers from the florist. At that point, there was even a chance that she hated the roses he had gotten but given how they ended up in the trash, he just chose another flower this time, orchids.

The nervousness only started to hit once he was close enough to the dreaded entrance door.

Fighting against all the will to just go away and give up, Yuzuru gathered all of his courage and tried to cheer himself up.

What was the worst that could happen?

Well, she can probably punch your face... Or kick you in the balls...

Even with all of those very likely scenarios, he still wanted to try.

It was like he always heard: you can't complain if you haven't tried and none of this was different.

And the result? It was only dependent on them both.