Chapter 52 Let's Run Away

Yuzuru Hanyu always says that he is afraid of running away, but everyone has their moments of willfulness.

"There's nothing wrong with being willful sometimes," Nian Le had told him. When he wore his first Olympic gold medal but still regretted his mistake, she smiled and raised her hand to ruffle his carefully sprayed hair. "Let's run away~"

Sochi was still covered in ice and snow in February, and there were almost no pedestrians in the early morning. Two people wrapped in thick down jackets ran to the empty outdoor ice rink.

On Valentine's Day night, the colorful hanging lights and the song "Love Story" still playing in a loop indicate that the open-air ice rink is still in operation.

Le went and knocked on the glass of the management office and asked for two pairs of ice skates.

"Come on, revenge, Romeo." She handed the shoes to Yuzuru Hanyu as if he were handing her a weapon. He looked at the rental skates with disdain, but Le smiled instead, "I'm just kidding~ Who can do a quadruple jump with these shoes? Even a double jump is hard~"

Encouraged by her words, Hanyu immediately took the shoes, put them on, laced them up in a flash, and hit the ice. He quickly skated around the rink twice to get used to the shoes, which didn't fit him well. As soon as he entered the skating track, he got caught in the grooves on the rough ice and fell flat on his face.

Hahahaha!

Le laughed unscrupulously and reached out to pull him up, but he was pulled so hard that he lost his balance and fell on the ice.

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting all we have to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

In Taylor Swift's singing, there are no princes and princesses on the ice, only two little fools who fall and smile foolishly.

"Revenge must be won on the court." Le leaned on the ice and looked up at the sky. "The stars and the moon are witnesses. Quick, tell them you're going to impress everyone at the World Championships!"

"I will definitely win!" He shouted to the sky, "I will win so that everyone will be convinced!"

That was their first spontaneous escape, avoiding all worldly troubles.

This time, it was a hot spring trip that Romeo spent most of the day planning.

Le tentatively paddled the surface of the water with his toes, adjusting to the temperature before stepping in. He slowly immersed himself in the water. As his shoulders and neck submerged, the warm spring water enveloped him, caressing him like a gentle relaxation device, forcing him to close his eyes and let out a comfortable sigh.

Watching the steam rising from the surface of the hot spring, drifting around the chandelier on the wooden ceiling, Le buried himself deeper in the hot spring and exhaled, the water bubbling.

I really want to pull the things I can't decide from my mind and let them float away with this heat.

The new dance drama project launched by K Troupe is indeed a great opportunity for her.

Le scooped up a handful of water and watched it slowly slip away from between her fingers. She suddenly tightened her fingers and retained the water droplets that were about to escape.

As expected, I still don't want to miss the opportunity...

In the room, Yuzuru Hanyu also emerged from the private bath and changed. Luckily, the private bath in the room he'd reserved was also courtyard-style, making up for missing out on the natural baths. The baths at this hot spring hotel boast a renowned natural hot spring, renowned for its refreshing and nourishing properties.

Le must have been enjoying the soak. He was packing up his things, thinking about it, when the sound of a door opening startled him and he stuffed his things into his backpack.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Are you hungry?" He stood up and kicked his backpack against the wall. "I'll ask the housekeeper to prepare dinner."

Le didn't ask any more questions, but sat down at the table as he suggested. He rested his chin on his hand, watching with interest his frantic attempts to cover up his clumsy behavior, and it took a great effort to conceal his smile. Yuzuru Hanyu was always like this, always getting incredibly excited when he had a plan. He was so completely tight-lipped and secretive when preparing for competitions and facing the media, which was strange.

Following Yuzuru Hanyu's instructions, the housekeeper brought in dinner one by one in the order he had ordered. The time seemed to be calculated according to the amount of food. Every time Yuzuru Hanyu finished his portion and put down his chopsticks, he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of the door being pushed open.

The meal was eaten in silence. Finally, when the housekeeper brought in the fruits on an exquisite tray, Yuzuru Hanyu found the opportunity to speak.

"Um... Le, do you have anything to tell me?"

"Hmm?" She was stunned for a moment, lowered her head and thought for a while, then slowly spoke, "Well... actually I can't eat anymore..." Then she put the melon on Yuzuru Hanyu's plate.

Yuzuru Hanyu blinked his eyes and looked at the extra melon on the plate, feeling a little breathless for a moment.

What is all this?! Who wants to ask her if she can finish it?

His inner cry came out accidentally as he poked a piece of melon with his fork. Or maybe not entirely accidentally.

"What's this..." he poked.

"You know that's not what I'm asking..." He poked again!

"You refused to tell me anything. I looked like a fool preparing the hot springs," he poked viciously.

"If you keep poking at it, this melon will turn into mud~" Le tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth, but her voice still revealed her uncontrollable smile. "Besides, I'm not the only one who said nothing."

She said, raising her eyebrows and pointing at the backpack behind him with her eyes.

"I don't know who was sneaking around just now." She shrugged and happily stuffed the last piece of kiwi in her bowl into her mouth.

Just like the previous dishes, the housekeeper came in at the right moment and asked without blinking if the meal was over. Yuzuru Hanyu took the initiative to push the dishes in front of him to the housekeeper. The professional housekeeper immediately understood and quickly cleared away all the tableware.

"The bed in the tatami bedroom is made. Feel free to call me if you need anything." The housekeeper finished his routine and quickly exited the room, breathing a sigh of relief. He had unexpectedly encountered Hanyu and his girlfriend; they were a perfect match. But Hanyu seemed to be in a bad mood. Although curious, he quickly left, adhering to basic professional ethics.

In the room, Yuzuru Hanyu was the first to compromise. He dragged over his backpack, took out a few letters from it and put them on the table.

"I'm not hiding anything. I was thinking of telling you slowly after dinner." He pushed the letter in front of Le.

The Japanese writing with Chinese handwriting and the Chinese stamps and postmarks on the letters indicate the origin of these letters. They are letters sent back from the Beijing Winter Olympics, some of the 20,000 letters.

"I received them a few days ago. When I was at home with nothing to do, I picked up a few letters written in Japanese and English and read them. There were also some written in Chinese, and I wanted you to read them to me."

"Is this what you were doing secretly just now?" Le asked with a frown. But he didn't care about his answer. Instead, he picked up a letter with beautiful and easy-to-read handwriting on the table and unfolded it.

She translated the letter, which was filled with blessings, encouragement, and deep admiration, sentence by sentence. Yuzuru Hanyu also moved from across to her side, leaning in to carefully examine the language he couldn't understand.

After reading the last letter, he took the letter from Le with a gentle smile in his eyes.

"Sure enough, no matter what language is used, the feelings you want to convey are the same." As he spoke, he carefully folded the letter paper according to its original pattern and put it into the envelope bit by bit. Finally, he wiped the envelope with his fingertips to smooth out the wrinkled and raised corners.

"Yes, it's really enviable to have so many people supporting you, athlete Hanyu~" She rested her chin on the table and sighed.

"Yeah... I've actually been thinking lately. I clearly failed, didn't I? Why do people still encourage and support me? I've been thinking about it for a long time and still can't figure it out. Reading so many letters has only made me feel even more guilty. I didn't achieve my dream, and I've let everyone down... Am I really worthy of encouragement and support?"

He seemed to be narrating, yet also seemed to be talking to himself. His voice was slow and gentle, but he paused at this point. Perhaps he truly hadn't figured it out.

"Have you figured it out now?"

"No~" He smiled and looked up into her eyes, "But at least I understand one thing. It turns out that I can lose and fail. As an ordinary person, I can also be accepted by everyone."

He finished speaking in one breath and then breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. "Losing is losing, failure is failure. I have to learn to pick myself up together with my failure."

"Great~ Our athlete Hanyu is really great~" Le smiled and reached out to rub his hair as if rubbing the head of a small animal.

Before I could rub it for a few times, he grabbed my wrist.

"So I've decided. I'm going to FAOI and will start rehearsals next month." His eyes sparkled.

"Well, I support you."

"Yeah, I support you too~"

"What?" Le tilted his head, unable to understand his inexplicable answer.

"No matter what decision you make, I support you. If you decide to join a dance company as a choreographer, I will support you and support you in going to the audition as many times as you want. I will do my best to help you if you feel it is necessary." He looked at her seriously, and before she could react, he continued, "So whether the interview results are good or bad, you can tell me. I absolutely support you."

"I……"

"I've been thinking about this for a long time. Let me finish." He waved his hand, interrupting her. "I know that if I go to a dance company, I'll inevitably have to face the media again. If you don't want to, you don't have to go. I think it's a good idea to stay in Sendai and be a ballet teacher. Aren't you the dance instructor for Baiyin recently? After I retire, we can teach students together and do ice shows together. In short, it's all good."

"Do I have to face the media even if I do an ice show with you?"

"I will protect you!" he answered anxiously, as if afraid that Le would then say that being with him would involve the risk of facing the media.

His eager expression suddenly resonated with the image of him in her dream. Le raised her hand and used her fingertips to stroke his bangs along his brow, then touched his cheek. Something in her chest felt like it was heating up. She leaned forward and kissed his soft lips, her eyes filled with tenderness.

"Well, I believe you."