Potential To Be Strong

Chapter 23: Working

As soon as I woke up the next morning, I texted Yuzuru that I had good news. He didn't text me back immediately, which happens in the mornings before practice. I know I'll see him once I'm in the rink. I arrive at the same time as him so I don't feel the need to push the conversation over text.

I grab my work bag, filled with things like my laptop, Japanese to English books, Korean to English books, and other important items. I make sure I am dressed for the cold in the rink. At the beginning of my job, I sorely underestimated the temperature of the ice rink at the Cricket Club. I mostly wear a pair of dark, mostly black, jeans, a long sleeve, a coat or jacket, and a scarf. I usually wear a pair of boots or sneakers.

Once I have breakfast, I head out to the Club. My mother is already at work and my brother is still asleep. I know he'll be fine by himself. He'll go to a friend's place later and he'll be picked up from the house. My drive to the Cricket Club doesn't take long. Only about 20 minutes. I also have a designated parking space near the coaches' parking spaces. Coach Brian got me one after learning I got my car from my father. Thankfully, it's not too far from the entrance.

I enter to the lobby of the Cricket Club and head towards the ice rink. The Club is such a large place as it holds many other sports. The rink isn't far from the lobby either. I greet the receptionist as I walk by. It's still early in the morning as it's almost 7 am. I slip into the rink. I greet Coach Brian and Coach Tracy as they are chatting on the edge of the ice. Both have coffee in their hands to help them wake up. They have a lot of work ahead of them as the season is slated to start soon.

Yuzuru greets me as I settle down by his stuff. I stay along the side as I never walk onto the ice.

"I saw your text," Yuzuru states after he takes a swig out of his water bottle.

"That's good," I reply back. I put my backpack down by Pooh-san, making sure to give Pooh-san a pet. "My news is that I'm moving."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to look for an apartment in between my school and here."

"Oh. That's good. Your mother is okay with this?"

"Yeah. She was the one who told me I should do it. She's going to sell the house and get herself an apartment with Mateo."

"That's exciting. We can spend more alone time at your new place."

"Are you trying to insinuate something, Hanyu? Suddenly you want to get me alone?"

"I just want quality time with you."

Yuzuru starts to blush as he realizes what I meant. Yuzuru can be so innocent sometimes. I've seen the comments his fans make as they think he's sexy and knows when he's being sexy. Half the time, Yuzuru is just acting and his acting is just so believable. Yes, Yuzuru and I kiss, because we are a couple and we can do that, but we've never taken that next step. We've only been dating for so long. I'm fine with waiting till marriage and I'm sure Yuzuru feels the same way. We've never talked about it, but neither of us have every tried to go farther than kissing. Also, we've never had a place to be as private as we want to be as we both live with our parents. We definitely don't want any of our parents to know we're doing intimate things. I don't know if me having my own apartment will change that.

"Okay," I tease as I give him a kiss on the cheek.

Yuzuru blushes and nods his head. He skates off to do laps around the rink.

"Marie, can you not tease my skaters so early in the morning?" Coach Brians pleads jokingly as he comes over to my spot.

"I can't help it, Coach. He's just so fun to tease." I reply back with a chuckle.

"Well, I hope this doesn't affect his skating."

"I'm sure this liven up his spirits."

"Let's hope it does just that."

Coach Brian gives me a playful shoulder bump before meeting Yuzuru in the center of the ice. I notice the other skaters waiting for Coach Brian to start their warm up. I generally wait till it's Yuzuru's session with the coaches to be useful. Until then, I study up the languages I've been studying. Sometimes I converse with Jun Hwan to practice my Korean. He's been so helpful with correcting my pronunciations and conversing with me in full Korean. He also uses me as a translator when I'm not working with Yuzuru.

My days as a translator aren't that exciting, but I have fun being around such great people. I'm glad I decided to check out the Cricket club and find that flyer. You would've thought that Yuzuru would have had a personal translator from Japan, but I guess he is very particular with who he works with. I asked him once why he didn't have a personal translator before me. He just told me he would use whatever translator was available at competitions. He didn't think he needed one during practice. Coach Brian was very grateful once I joined the team. Apparently Yuzuru was too busy to maintain his English lessons so I came at the right time. Yuzuru has been getting better at speaking English since I have to coax it out of him, but I know he get lazy most of the time. Sometimes, I force him to practice answering questions in English for when he's at competition panels. If I can learn several languages, Yuzuru can learn one more. He is grateful for the lessons, considering he gets better every day. All thanks to his personal translator.