Chapter 102 Partner
In the rehearsal room, the two lead couples were in full rehearsal. The music was the third movement of Chopin's Third Piano Sonata, which He Jiu was already very familiar with. Armand, however, sat alone in the lounge area, gazing at the center of the dance studio. He listened to the solemn introduction, which seemed to draw the curtain, and watched Marguerite and Armand, their backs to each other, gradually approach each other as the oppressive piano music played.
The notes floated into the air the moment the two people approached each other, a light and quiet transition. The dancers entered into the role and began to dance gracefully as the music played.
"Tohara-san, how's your rest been lately?" A colleague came over and naturally put his arm around Kazuki's shoulder. "Sugihara's been resting lately, but you came to rehearsal alone? Are you nervous?"
"I have my own part to practice too." He Jiupi smiled, not avoiding the arm hanging on his shoulder. "There is no group dance rehearsal today, what are you doing here?"
"I was originally planning to come and see what the legendary 'Best Couple' looks like. Hey, tell me the truth, did someone buy you some marketing? You've suddenly become so famous. If you become famous, remember to take me with you, Gou Fugui."
The colleague's expression was ambiguous, but the reference to someone was clear. It was a name He Jiu had particularly disliked hearing in the past two days.
"I don't even want this marketing gift..." He muttered subconsciously and rolled his eyes in his heart.
"What did you say?"
"I say, that blogger named Maiko who's bringing in so much traffic this time, you should just go find her," he said, moving his shoulders and shaking off his arm that was in the way. "You've seen that girl. She's always on SD. She has a cute doll pendant on her camera."
"Tsk——" Seeing that there was no gossip to be gained from him, the other party left angrily.
This was the first person today to deliberately "show concern" for him. He Jiu glanced at his colleague's departing back, then looked back at the two dancers rehearsing. The music was long and full of beautiful atmosphere. Both Armand and Marguerite pairs seemed to have perfect rapport after this short practice. Except for He Jiu's Armand. His Marguerite was far away in Hachinohe, so naturally, he, the Armand, didn't feel any rapport at all.
Even though I'm sick, I still go
He Jiu lowered his head and turned on his phone, staring at the chat interface on the screen. The last message in the chat box was still stuck on the call log from that day. It had been a few days since any message came in. He had hung up on that call, which lasted less than three minutes. That morning, Le's weak and apologetic voice had made him lose his mind. He hung up the phone, grabbed his coat, and drove to their house without even changing out of his training clothes.
It was Yuzuru Hanyu who opened the door. He didn't even bother to say hello. He pushed away the person in front of him who was still smiling politely, kicked off his shoes and rushed into the house.
Le was wrapped in a blanket, reclining on the sofa, holding a steaming mug. He looked at him in surprise, his eyes flickering between him and Hanyu Yuzuru. Hanyu Yuzuru's expression must have been displeased, but Kazuki didn't seem to mind at that moment. Le's somewhat embarrassed expression, however, only intensified his anger.
"How did you..."
Le finally spoke to break the silence, but before he could finish his words, he was startled by his roar.
"What's wrong with you? I've told you so many times not to go on a diet. Your stomach isn't in good condition!"
He didn't know why he yelled at Le so loudly, which scared her so much that she shrank her neck and looked at him with an innocent face.
"I'm not on a diet..." she whispered back.
"You have such severe gastritis, isn't it because of dieting?"
He didn't know why he was so angry at that time. His eyes widened with anger must have been very scary, which made Le shrink back and made Yuzuru Hanyu, who had been standing silently behind, finally unable to hold back and take action.
"He Jiu, that's enough!" Yuzuru Hanyu pulled him away suddenly. "Le said she's not on a diet. Can you understand what she's saying?"
"You know shit!" He swatted Hanyu's hand away. "Do you know she never eats properly when she's nervous? Do you know how she handled it when those losers blamed her for being fat and too heavy to lift? What right do you have to talk here? You didn't even know where you were when she was vomiting!"
"I'm not on a diet! I'm not vomiting!" Le was also annoyed. She slammed the cup of water in her hand on the coffee table, and the tea inside splashed out. "I said I'm not! What are you doing here?!"
"Oh, you said that before."
Recalling this, He Jiu turned off his phone and observed his expressionless self in the black mirror. His deep eyes, devoid of any smile, did indeed look a bit cold and arrogant. Le had once told him that he looked unpleasant without a smile and urged him to smile more.
That day in their living room, there was no mirror, so Hejiu couldn't see his own expression. But it must have been full of sarcasm, even more annoying. He still remembered that day, when he angrily ignored Hanyu Yuzuru's attempts to stop him and listed all of Le's past as evidence of his current conviction, her eyes were filled with anger and disappointment.
Tian Le's face was already pale due to gastritis, and after hearing his words, her face turned even paler. She wanted to retort excitedly, but Yuzuru Hanyu hugged her shoulders.
"He Jiu, are you finished?"
Yuzuru Hanyu spoke very calmly, rubbing Le's shoulders to comfort her, while looking up at him calmly. His sharp eyes that seemed to see through people's hearts successfully shut him up.
"Yes, when Le was under a lot of pressure as a child, she did some things that harmed her health. I really don't know what she felt like back then, but now I understand her. If she says no, then she means no."
"No? You believe her when she says so?"
"Why don't you believe it?"
Yuzuru Hanyu spoke those simple words slowly and calmly, successfully making the furious Kazuki freeze in place.
"Le is willing to believe me and tell me her thoughts. Why shouldn't I believe her? Hejiu, don't be so self-righteous."
Every word was powerful. Even now, in this rehearsal room filled with the energy of music and dance, He Jiu felt that these words hit him on the forehead with such force that his face numbed.
[He Jiu, don't be so self-righteous.]
He seemed a bit self-righteous. But why shouldn't he be so self-righteous? He'd been hearing the lie that "it's all right" for over twenty years.
When he was nine years old, Le said it was okay when he took off his pointe shoes, and Ye would still accept the ice pack he handed over with surprise; when he was eleven years old, Le answered the teacher that it was okay while being held high up, and Ye would still smile as if he had been saved while he was trying hard to cushion his fall; when he was sixteen years old, Le said it was okay with an ugly smile in Boston. That was the first time he forced himself to believe the "it's okay statement", and he regretted it to this day.
He clearly has every reason to be self-righteous.
What is Yuzuru Hanyu?
My fingers unconsciously typed these words into the input box on my phone, then pressed the delete key to delete them one by one. The chat history from four days ago was hanging there, especially glaring. He Jiu sighed and clicked on the input box. He wrote half of the three words "I'm sorry" and deleted them again.
Why should he apologize?
He Jiu thought about it and closed the chat box angrily.
It was clearly Le who didn't take care of herself, causing a hiatus in rehearsals. I don't know if she's recovered yet, but she was so in love that she accompanied her boyfriend to Hachinohe without even sending him a reply. She really doesn't take her partner seriously.
When the word "partner" popped up in his mind, he was stunned for a moment, looked up at himself in the mirror, and suddenly felt a little ridiculous.
Rehearsal for the third movement concluded. Marguerite, who was in the center of the rehearsal room, stepped aside, leaving Armand and the others standing in the middle. The piano began to play again, and He Jiu flipped open the prop letter in his hand. In the storyline, it was a farewell letter from Marguerite. However, on this blank page, he seemed to see a single sentence: "You're just a partner."
Dancing from the heart can move hearts, and everyone can sense Armand's heartbreak. His partner, in a hotel room in Aomori, is also immersed in Chopin's piano music. Le, wearing headphones, is practicing her passage. The room is limited, and the carpet isn't suitable for pointe shoes. She can only review her upper body and interpretation over and over again after completing auxiliary exercises.
She was careful not to make too much noise.
In the room, there was a person suffering from a cold who was sleeping soundly after taking medicine.
Hachinohe welcomed them with a dramatic drop in temperature. The romantic, heavy snowfall excited many, but it also managed to put Yuzuru Hanyu down. Two days before their departure, he had a bout of gastritis, vomiting violently after eating, which frightened him. With the performance approaching, he had a lot of work to do and also had to take care of her. After a few tiring days, a cold wind from the north blew in, and Hanyu's fever reached 39 degrees Celsius on the rehearsal ice in Hachinohe.
The Line message interrupted the music in her headphones, and the volume returned to normal in an instant, but it still interrupted Le's practice. She paused, went over to grab her phone, and turned on the screen.
[Lio: He Jiu had a great practice today! I just happened to see it, so I took a picture for you!]
【Lio: Video】
"What are you looking at?" The person with a cold had a heavy nasal voice and had just woken up. He came close to Le and spoke in a sticky voice, acting like a spoiled child.
"Rehearsal with Jiu," Le said, pushing his bangs aside and testing his forehead with his palm. It wasn't as hot as before, and there was still a slight sweat at the roots of his hair. It looked like he was okay. Reassured, he took off one earphone and placed it in Hanyu's ear, then offered his phone to him.
"He seems to have improved?" Yuzuru Hanyu narrowed his eyes. "I remember watching the video before. He was more controlled in this part. His emotions didn't show up in his body..."
"Yeah, I think so too..." Le nodded in agreement. "Come to think of it... I seem to have forgotten something..."
After exiting the video and clicking on Hejiu's Line avatar, Le verified that his intuition was correct.
"Tohara, your dance segment today was really great!"
He Jiu finished his rehearsal today with the praise of his colleagues. He went to the dressing room to change clothes while looking at his phone. The new message on his phone made his eyes light up.
[Le: I saw your rehearsal video today. It's pretty good! Even Yuzu could tell at a glance that you made a significant change in your dancing style this time! I won't lose either. I'll dance with you again when we get back.]
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