Playing with Fire | Yuzuru Hanyu

30. Small actions

Aria was very confused when a giant bouquet of flowers was delivered to the front desk at the grocery store.
She was already making all sorts of plans to mock whoever had received them when her name was called in a scream.

"Aria! There's a delivery for you!"

Her eyes widened in confusion. It couldn't be for her... Who the hell would send her so many flowers? And how would she even explain it to the already questioning eyes around her?

When a possible answer settled in her brain, she just dismissed it right away.

He wouldn't.

Just the mere possibility that he had made her brain foggy and confused. The more she knew about him, the more he confused her to the point of no return.

No. They were probably from some creepy old client who found his way to her somehow.

So she ended up doing the only logical thing in her brain. Aria just signed off the delivery and immediately took the flowers to the trash bin outside, ignoring all the looks from customers and colleagues.

It didn't mean that she could escape the questions when she came back.

"Damn Aria, who pissed you off?"

"Oh... I bet it was that guy that asked for her when we were closing."

Yeah, because she was the most interesting gossip around there lately and they didn't have much more to talk about, making her life apparently very entertaining to these people.

"Can you guys not?"

"So it is?"

"No clue, I didn't see."

They stared at her as if she had grown two heads and wasn't normal at all, which by now she figured they already knew but apparently not. Maybe if they knew even just part of her past, they would understand why she was like that.

Aria wasn't necessarily in the mood to explain how seeing those flowers from an old client could bring shivers to her skin.

It could be the damned creep that made her give it all up or it could even be one of her regulars who was obsessed with her. None of the options were nice to think about.

Given just how small the possibilities were of that whole thing actually being from the one person she wanted, it was just better not to know at all.

So she just resumed her work as usual, ignoring every plea to tell her all about the mysterious sender of the flowers. The one incredible thing about this job until that point was how much everyone respected privacy. Gossip was common, sure, but when someone asked for distance of a certain subject, it was usually respected.

The newest employees just weren't familiarized with this rule that they had made for themselves and straight-up ignored it.

She just endured the questions and the bickering, trying her best not to go completely crazy as they questioned her about the topic on a daily basis.

As her boring life moved on, exams and all, Aria barely even thought of the Japanese man during the course of the next few days.

Yuzuru, however, seemed to have other plans.

Aria had fully convinced herself that whoever sent those flowers had long given up but once again, that man would prove her wrong on completely new levels.

It was a late night again. Everything was pretty much settled for the closing hours when he came into the store with a bouquet of orchids in his hands, dressed in a suit that she hadn't seen since her escort days.

Her eyes widened as she fully grasped the reality of the situation. Had it really been him sending those flowers in the first place?

Emotions filled her. Aria didn't know at all how to react when he looked so damned handsome in front of her eyes. This guy, who apparently had a big collection of medals was somehow there.

Was it for her?

She was so incredulous that it was even hard to think normally. Who else would it be for?

The worst of the situation was that her brain was trying to compute all of that information while he stared directly into her eyes. Of all days to be the cashier, she had to work there when he came into the store.

Aria swallowed dryly as he approached her slowly. Looking around, all of her colleagues seemed to be busy working around the store so that gave her some leeway to deal with the situation in a somewhat more private scenario.

Yuzuru grabbed a chocolate bar from the cashier and placed it on the conveyor belt, never once moving his intense gaze off her.

She didn't know what to do or even what to say to him. The situation was so odd and unexpected that it caught her completely red-handed.

Eventually, gathering all of her courage, she looked him in the eye and decided to treat the man in front of her eyes as any other customer, speaking in English and doing her best to not showcase how nervous he made her feel.

"Good evening, do you want a bag?"

Yuzu gave her a gentle smile, one she barely remembered, and eventually answered.

"Good evening, no need"

"That's 1.25$, please."

He silently paid and took the receipt from her hands when she handed it to him, being completely surprised when the next question came.

"You don't happen to have a pen you can borrow me?"

Aria eyed him cautiously as if trying to understand what was going through his mind at that moment but without any success whatsoever.

Yuzuru acted completely indifferent as he grabbed the pen and slowly started writing on the receipt in silence. The whole scene was completely unreal to her.

Once he was finished writing, Yuzuru smiled, handed her the receipt again, and placed the flowers in front of her without a single word.

As dumbfounded as she was, Aria still found the courage to call for him.

"Yuzuru, you forgot your chocolate."

"I didn't. It's for you."

And just like that he left her, Aria's mouth slightly agape as she tried to process what had just happened and how everything seemed to change in a matter of seconds.

Her eyes drifted to the paper he handed her, written all in Japanese.

'I want to be with you, please go out with me.' all followed by digits that she assumed to be a number.

As shocking as it all was, one thing made her laugh unlike she never expected. Under the number, there was a very small PS: 'Please contact me via Line.'

Somehow, that tiny little thing was so on brand that it ended up being her demise.

Let's just say that after that small scene, all of her walls crumbled. The number was quickly placed into the safety of the pocket of her jeans.

How could such a small action have so much power in her? How could he make such little things have more meaning than a lot of love declarations?

Maybe she was just a sucker for him.

The truth was that she couldn't wait to get home.