Disclaimer: I do not own YOI, just this fanfic.
My March break just started and I'm not enjoying it at all! I wish I could, really, but how could you enjoy a March break when teachers decide to give you homework and a project that's due the week when you return? And to top it all off, I'm sick with a stuffy nose, bad cough, and a bad bad bad headache!
I swear! School holidays nowadays are just excuses for teachers to hand out extra work! They're not 'breaks!' They're 'study time!' I wanna real break!
So I decided to hurry up and finish this chapter so I could focus on my schoolwork for the rest of the week. I originally planned to have this released a little later, but I knew that it would never get released if I kept on pushing this down the schedule so this is better than nothing. (I hope...)
Anyways, thanks for much for your lovely reviews on the last chapter! From here on, please ask any questions you have about this story in the reviews or via private message.
I'll see if I can answer them without giving too much away in the next chapter and the chapters to come!
Please enjoy.
Ch. 10: How hard is it to pick a song? (Before YOI)
Wednesday. May. 15, 2013. Victor's apartment.
Victor opened the door wide and Makkachin immediately pranced over to greet him. "Hey, boy! Missed me?"
Makkachin barked in reply. Victor began removing his exterior clothing and threw his skating bag in the corner of the front hallway where he always kept it. Turning more lights on, he made his way down to the kitchen for a quick snack before heading to his bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes.
He slumps on the bed right after changing with Makkachin cuddling around his abdomen. Victor turns the tv on and clicks on several different channels as usual.
He never really watches anything, it's just a habit of his to look through the channels in case of something interesting and worthwhile. But there usually isn't.
And that's why he always has his phone nearby. After skating practice when he gets home, is his time for freedom. Being lazy, filling up on the food and drinks Yakov always forbids him from consuming, and of course, checking missed calls and messages.
His heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw some texts from Max Noda appear on his screen. They weren't anything too special, just messages asking about how his personal life is going and more questions about the friendgirl he was texting that day during lunch break.
Speaking of friendgirl, Liv also began to text more often and in a less formal tone. Victor always felt a smile grow on his face whenever he sees Liv's messages.
She's finally starting to open up more to him as a good friend. Personally, Victor is unsure of what his own feelings on Liv are. He thought that when he asked her what he is to her, he would finally get a clear view of his feelings.
But it didn't work. Liv called him "the greatest thing that's happened to her." So did that mean she only sees him as a superior and not a peer? But if she did, then she wouldn't be opening up to him just recently.
It was always during these times that Victor wished that he had some kind of female guide in his life.
Someone like a sister, cousin, or even a female family friend who could help him understand the world of women. His own mother wasn't too much of a help when it came to these topics.
"Oh, just find a nice girl who has a good heart and a good family. She'll take care of you. Make sure she's around your age, ok? I know that you don't think a lot before you go into something, and I don't want my son to have a wife who's 5 years older or younger than him!" His mother would always say.
Victor rolled his eyes at that memory before getting off his bed and stumbled to the kitchen, where he checked the fridge for any leftovers to heat up for dinner. Surprisingly, there was a lot more than he expected.
More than enough for him to share…
Without thinking he picked out some of the most delectable looking plates and turned the stove on, boiling some water.
It took a few minutes before Victor got the leftovers all heated up and packed in several little containers. He wrapped them up with a little string before stuffing them into a large fabric bag.
Walking out to the foyer with the bag, Victor put on his jacket and shoes as Makkachin barked after him.
"Want to come along too?" Victor asked. Makkachin nodded. "Alright, it's time for you to meet a new friend, boy."
Grabbing his keys and the bag of food containers, Victor turned the lights off in his apartment and went out the door.
At the grocery store.
Liv desperately searched through her wallet for more change. The cashier looked at her expectantly while the other customers in line behind her sighed.
That did not make her feel any better. Liv did not pay attention to the activity of her debit card over the past few weeks and as a result, failed to check her mail for her new debit card due to this old one expiring.
She was short on cash. The cashier managed to offer some advice when she saw the look of desperation on Liv's face.
"Listen, I'll let you choose whichever items you need the most that you can afford and you can take one item for free." (I'm not Google Translating anything, so these italics means they're not speaking in English.)
"Really? You're allowed to do that?" Liv asked incredulously.
"Manager allows it. Part of store policy when it comes to situations like this. Gives us a good name and reputation." The cashier explained.
Liv began picking out the items she finds to be the most essential for this week while leaving the rest. But she realizes that even with the cash in her wallet, she wasn't able to afford all of the essentials.
Liv cuts them down in half once more and chose the box of microwaveable food to be her one free item. The cashier checked out her items before she put them all into her own reusable shopping bag.
Walking to her car in the parking lot, Liv sighed as she felt the lightness of her groceries. Was she really going to be able to get through the week with only tv sized meals?
The last thing she wanted was to ask Angela's family for some support, even though Angela would probably be ok with that. Unlocking her car and putting her items in the seat next to her, Liv drove back to her apartment.
The sky was turning a deep orange colour when she got to the front lobby of her building with her bag of groceries. She went up the elevator feeling stressed and tired. She wanted nothing more than to just take a shower and get this semester over with…
Liv's eyes widened as she saw the person at the end of the hallway when she stepped out of the elevator. A large brown dog was standing next to him, but other than that, Liv knew who it was.
Victor turned around when he heard the doors to the elevator open. He smiled and waved cheerfully upon seeing the person he was planning on seeing.
"Hey, Liv!"
Liv unlocked the door to her apartment and desperately tried to clean everything up. Throwing pieces of paper into her garbage can, stuffing all of her textbooks and utensils into one drawer and straightening all of her furniture.
Victor decided to let her do what she needs and gives her some space as he and Makkachin paced around the simple apartment complex.
"Sorry for the mess! I skipped a few days of cleaning this week! So sorry!" Liv cried as she picked up piles of thrown clothes into a laundry basket.
Victor shook his head as he kept his eyes glued on several little photos kept on the door of the refrigerator.
"No need to rush. I came over without any warning." He looked at the photo in the middle of the fridge. It displayed a large group of people enjoying themselves in a downtown.
"Is this your family?" Victor asked as Liv ran into the kitchen to wash her hands over the sink.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah! That was taken the last year before I left America! The summer of my grade 12 graduation." Liv pranced up to the fridge, pointing at each person in the photo.
"Parents over there, those two are my brothers. Rudy and Sam, they're five and four years older, they're already married and have families and jobs and stuff…"
"So you're an aunt?" Victor asked.
"Mmhmm. I only got to see few of my nieces and nephews on video chat but they're so darn adorable!"
Liv continues naming. "That's my younger sister, Mikayla, she's still in high school. She's a...bit arrogant, but I tolerate her."
Victor looked at the happy family in the photo. There was a large museum in the background. Coming from a small family, Victor doesn't know the strength of sibling bonds. He used to envy his rinkmates who had siblings, despite the countless times they told him that siblings are practically demons.
"Did you want to leave America?" Victor asked suddenly.
Liv brought in her groceries and set them on the small counter. She thought for awhile. "It was a hard decision. I didn't want to leave. But I was also in high school at that time and kind of had my head up in the clouds and thought that I could really become big here if I moved with Angela."
"Were you big back in America?"
"Sort of. You could say it's beginner's luck. I won a Junior Grand Prix Final and two Junior World titles and won my first Grand Prix Final in the senior division. And also claimed the National title that season too! I never placed lower than third when I was representing America."
"You'll make it big here too, you just need a little push." Victor encouraged. Makkachin went over to the counter where Liv had set down her groceries, sniffing through the bag for anything edible.
"Oh, Makkachin! You can't hold it in any longer?" Victor went over to his dog and gently lead him away from the counter, a soft whinny was heard as Makkachin turned in the opposite direction.
Liv felt slightly guilty. She opened the fridge and looked through piles of wrapped up leftovers, half-empty cans and boxes, and barely-filled up containers of vegetables.
"I'm sorry, he must be hungry. I don't have much to offer right now. I can't really make anything that'll fill."
Victor waved his hands. "No, no, it's alright. That's why I came over in the first place. Here."
He leads Liv out of the kitchen and towards the living room where the small rectangular table stood in the corner of the room. Victor commanded Makkachin to bring over his large fabric bag, and he obeyed, picking up the straps with this mouth and placing the contents before Victor.
Taking out the items, Victor laid out the individual plastic containers of leftovers he heated up from his home. He carefully put them out in an organized array on the table. Makkachin eagerly looked at the food, his tail wagging with enthusiasm.
Liv was speechless when Victor took out the containers from the bag and placed them on the table. Her eyes fixated on the individual boxes of food—real food—that she hasn't had in a long time.
Victor gestured to his array. "I, uh, had a little too much in my fridge and thought it might be nice to share." He looked at Liv, who wasn't responding at all. "Liv?"
Upon hearing her name, Liv's lip began to quiver, her vision became hazy as tears welled up in her eyes. A soft voice crack escaped from her throat as her tears finally spilled. Victor took a step back in shock as Liv wiped her eyes with her sleeves.
Makkachin stopped wagging his tail and curiously walked up to the crying woman, tilting his head at what had caused her to feel so sad. Or glad. Liv couldn't stop crying, she continued to wipe her eyes and attempted to collect herself.
"I'm sorry, it's just—I've never—this place—it feels like a real home now…it's the first time I've felt this way..." Liv broke down.
Makkachin whinnied softly, and sat down in front of Liv, staring up at her with his big curious eyes. Victor sighed in relief, at least she wasn't crying because she was upset or anything, but now...he has no idea what to do. He was never good in dealing with crying people. Was he supposed to grab them a kleenex box or a mug of hot water or something?
Or was it different for crying females? What would they usually want? A bouquet of flowers or maybe ice cream? He was absolutely clueless. So he did the first thing his instincts instructed him to do. This time, without holding back.
Victor reached his arms out and wrapped them around Liv's shoulders, pulling her in. She continued to cry, and he was able to feel every shiver and vibration coming from her body. He did not let go, he did not tighten nor loosen the embrace, he just held her there.
Like any coach—and good friend—would do.
Thursday. May. 30, 2013. St. Petersburg Ice Rink.
Victor stood in the middle of the rink, waiting for his music to come on. Well, it wasn't really his music, just something that he found and liked, and wanted to try it out in performance. Something called Requiem for a Tower.
It was a dark sounding epic song, that gave Victor chills whenever he hears it. Just like now when the first note plays out from the speakers in the rink. Victor started off his trial short program for the 2014 season with a violent jolt before going into his opening step sequence.
He kept his arms and elbows tight and his hands balled into fists throughout the turns and pivots until he begins to build up speed via backward crossovers into his first jump, the triple axel. He slightly pre-rotated on the takeoff but was able to hold himself together midair. However, it did not fly by with an examining Yakov standing by and watching.
Victor transitions with powerful choppy strokes into his next jump, his signature quadruple flip, which he lands with ease. His favourite part of the music comes up immediately afterward and his heart races as he goes into his back camel with a change foot spin.
Yakov looks on closely at Victor's skating. There wasn't anything too off, but there was definitely something—a microscopic something—about Victor's skating, that made it look like he wasn't improving his skills. In fact, it looked like Victor had hit a wall in his skating skills.
And that made Yakov afraid.
The music reached its climax as Victor goes into his final jump, a combination jump of the quadruple loop/triple toe. It was landed, but the triple toe could've been performed better in Yakov's mind. Victor enters his final combination spin as the music finishes and he holds his finish stance.
Yakov called him over to the boards. "Victor, are you working on your jumps at all lately? I mean, you have been coming to practices regularly, but I haven't been with working you all the time, so I just assumed that you would practice on your own. What's happened?"
Victor felt a different kind of chills race up his back. "N—nothing. I don't what you're seeing, but I feel great. I just wanted to show you what I've created with the song I chose. What do you think, Yakov?"
Yakov nodded. "It's good, we can use it for your upcoming season. Now the question is, are there more?"
Victor laughed. "You know me so well. That's only option 15 out of 29! Who knows? I might take a few or add a few to the list!"
"Don't forget about your free skate either!" Yakov reminded him. "2014 is the year of the Winter Olympics, Victor! And they're being held here, in Russia! Sochi! You are planning to go, aren't you?"
The Olympics...the ultimate competition for any aspiring athlete. The dream of every young child when they began some sort of athletic. Victor placed second at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and he had been berated by Yakov for a long time for not getting gold. Now, it's four years later, he could finally try again.
"Of course I'm planning to go! I'm not crazy!" Victor exclaimed.
Yakov sighed. "Good. The 2014 Russian Championships are the deciding factor for who gets sent and who doesn't. Thanks to yours and Mila Babicheva's placements from the 2013 Worlds, we get to send 3 men and 2 ladies for the singles' event.
"Now listen, there is also a team event, but we'll be going into more details about that later. Right now, you should focus on getting your skills back up because you want the Skating Union to pick you." Yakov pressed.
Victor pursed his lips when Yakov mentioned the Skating Union. His view of them has now changed drastically thanks to Liv. He no longer trusts the scores he receives from them, but will still skate to the best of his ability nevertheless. Wait a minute...Liv! If she does really well at Nationals, then maybe she'll make the Olympic team!
But first, she still needs to pick a song...it's almost the end of May. There's still one more month left before she said that she would have a song chosen by. Victor knew that choosing a song to skate to is important, but it's also important to actually create the program too!
How hard is it to a pick a song? Clearly, there's something wrong. If Liv is overthinking the process, then expression won't come naturally in the performance. What would a coach do in a situation like this? A light bulb flickered above Victor's head.
"Yakov! Uh...what would you do if I was taking too long in selecting a song for my program?" Victor suddenly asked.
"Huh? How long is your list exactly?" Yakov questioned suspiciously.
"No—no! Don't worry! I'm just giving scenarios! Let's say that I'm a struggling skater, who's trying hard to find something to skate to that'll really bring out my best qualities!" Victor tried to explain.
"Well...if you're a struggling skater. I'd say that it's because you're trying too hard in being just like the rest of the competitors. If you want to make it big, you're going to have to create your own style." Yakov explained.
A wave of energy filled Victor. Of course! Why didn't he do this from the very beginning? Victor resisted the urge to smack himself for his own stupidity. And instead, gave Yakov a quick pat on the back and ran past him.
"Thanks, Yakov! I got to go now! See you tomorrow!" He cried as he went towards the change rooms.
"What? Victor! You only just got here! Are you trying to skip practice?" Yakov demanded.
Too late, Victor already disappeared into the change room. Yakov pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. What on Earth was going on with his top skater lately?
It's almost like that Victor has another priority besides his own training. Yakov is not ok with this. They've worked hard to get where they are now, he's not about to let Victor take it all for granted and fall back down.
But first...Yakov needs to find out what Victor is doing behind his back exactly.
Victor drove all the way back to his apartment. It was only three in the afternoon, he got plenty of time before his lesson with Liv began.
Plenty of time to do some proper research on what kind of skater Liv is.
He barged into his apartment and saw that Makkachin was asleep on the couch. Victor gave his pet a gentle pat on the head before grabbing his laptop off of his desk and settling down on the empty space beside Makkachin.
He typed in the search bar of YouTube, Olivia Nguyen. Immediately lines of suggestions came up right underneath the search bar. 2011 world championships, 2011 skate Canada, 2010 European championships, etc.
Victor selected the 2011 Grand Prix Final. The first video came up, displaying Liv's free skate at that event. He clicked on it and let the advertisement play to the end. He hated it when there was no skip button.
Finally, the actual video began and the English commentators in the background could be heard as Liv squeezed the hands of a healthier-looking Angela Raskalov at the boards, who helped straighten the straps on her violet dress before sending her off.
The commentators introduce a brief recap of her past season and the name of the song she's skating to, Moonlight Sonata. Liv's movements were smooth and lyrical throughout. Her jumping passes included the triple flip/triple toe, double axel, triple loop, and more. Victor kept a careful eye on her face throughout the program.
Seeing if he can see her feelings, her thoughts of her own free skate. Sure, it was expressive and she was very consistent, but it wasn't deep. As if he the commentators could hear what he's thinking of, they say the exact same thing.
"You know, Paul. I think she has a lot of potential. But she's just not quite there yet. I mean, she's just so consistent, but her jumps are so small, and she doesn't exactly fill up the entire arena with her skate."
"I know what you mean, Gord. It's like she's a present just waiting to be opened. She has the skills, she just lacks the 'flare' and I think that's what causing her to be unable to beat the American and other Russian ladies, unless of course, one of them completely bombs their free skate today."
Liv finishes her program and skates over to Angela, who joyously hugs her and hands her the skate guards. They sit down at the kiss-and-cry to wait for Liv's scores to be announced. A total of 121.73 points, which puts her in second place for the time being.
The overall score was alright, but it was the program components that really caught Victor's eyes. It was lower than he assumed her PCS to be. The technical scores weren't too odd, it seemed pretty fair considering her jumps and the quality in which she executes them.
It wasn't too high, which is fair, considering that she may have underrotated on a few of her jumps and some of her landings were scratchy. But the program components! How is it so low? He thought hard, and then clicked on the next video in the suggested list.
Several minutes passed by, and Victor had watched the majority of Liv's 2011 and 2010 seasons. From what he saw, Liv often skates to music that's rarely been used and displays a broad variety of emotions in her performances. It's sometimes difficult to guess what kind of character she's embodying.
Victor also saw a pattern in the majority of her scores. Whenever Liv skates cleanly, her program components gets attacked. Whenever she falls on her jumps, her technical scores gets attacked while her program components remain the same as always. And it's due to that, Liv is unable to claim gold at the majority of her events.
Victor put his laptop away and stretched his arms out, standing up from the couch. Makkachin was still sleeping, and it was almost time for him to go to the rink and meet Liv.
He prepared to leave the apartment as he checked to make sure Makkachin's food and water bowl has been refilled and he has his keys on him. Picking up his skating bag, Victor left the apartment.
At the ice rink.
Victor patted Liv on the back, who has the face of a ghost currently. He held back the urge to laugh over her appearance and tried to comfort her instead.
"I'm sure you did fine. Everybody's like this after the exam."
"Sob, sob. I think I failed it!" Liv cried.
"That's a slight exaggeration, you think you failed it, but watch. You're going to get a mark higher than you thought it was when you get it back."
"Victor...how did you survive college?"
"By not going on to take a Master's degree! I mean seriously, Liv! Why did you add an additional two years to your studies?"
Liv pulled herself together. "So I can increase my chances of getting a job that I want. Not everyone out there is so blessed to have things handed to them. I had to work hard to get where I am now. And I will continue to do that."
"If you get a job offer that's out of this country, will you take it?" Victor asked.
"I don't know. To be honest, I think it'll be easier to look for jobs back in the US. Not that I'm planning to quit skating or anything...just saying."
Victor didn't like what his instincts were telling him. He doesn't want Liv to leave skating, to leave this country. But what's his right to interfere with her life? She's already struggling enough, she deserves to go where she'll be successful. But he wants her to stay…
"You really want to me to stay here?" Liv asked, she almost sounded hopeful.
That question caught Victor off-guard. How was he supposed to answer that? But he did hear a slight tone of joy in her voice, so did that mean she's glad that he wants her to stay? What does that mean?
"It's not that I want you to stay here...but, uh...alright, yeah. It'd be great if you stayed here, but if things really aren't working out, you can always leave." Victor explained.
Liv smiled. "You're so weird."
Victor nearly fell off the bench. "What? Why?"
"Before we met, you always seemed so high and mighty, out of reach. All those times when you appeared on the tv screen, you were in a completely different world." Liv explained. "But now, you seem pretty...human. Having normal conversations, doing normal everyday stuff...it's just so contrasting."
Victor stood up and hit Liv on the shoulder. "You think way too deeply about life. Sometimes, it's better to get off your butt and just go on with it! Now, are we going to get on the ice or not?"
Liv rubbed her shoulder as she nodded. "Let's start."
They both step on the freshly cleaned ice surface and began warming up with some powerful stroking. Forward, backward, clockwise, and counterclockwise. After that, Victor had Liv do a few backspins to prepare for the jumps they'll be working on soon.
Liv completes one more backspin and Victor commanded her to do some single jumps, and work her way to the doubles while saving the triples for last. As she practices on that, he skates over to the audio system area and attempts to connect his phone to the correct cables and tested the sound quality by selecting a random song.
A loud violent blast of music escaped from the speakers, giving both Victor and Liv a scare. Liv fell down in shock and covered her ears. Victor began apologizing as he turned down the volume.
It took a few moments before everything is adjusted properly. By then, Victor was back on the ice with Liv. He prepared to talk to her about her 2014 programs today.
"Liv, June is almost here. Have you got a good idea about what you're going to skate to for your short and long programs?" Victor asked.
"Uh...not yet, but wait. Like I said, I'll have things ready by the end of June—"
"You should have a good idea of what you want by now." Victor pressed. "And then have a confirmation by the end of June, so we get all of July and August to make up and refine your programs."
"You don't understand, it's difficult to choose music—"
"No, you don't seem to understand. You're trying too hard to be something you're not."
Liv opened her mouth to complain, but Victor silenced her with the stop of a hand. "I've watched your past programs. You always skate to something that's uncommon, and I like that. But story and meaning behind your programs? Well, it's not very clear to interpret."
"I try my best! It's not easy expressing myself to those songs—" Liv covered her mouth as she realized her mistake.
Victor pointed at her accusingly, with a smug smirk on his face. "Aha! So you never really wanted to skate to those songs after all! Why make your programs around them?"
Liv sighed in defeat. "Alright, you got me. I choose songs based on judges' preferences."
Victor blinked. "Judges' preferences?"
"It doesn't matter how much the audience cheers for you or loves you, in the end, your placement is given by the judges' scores. I thought that if I could at least skate to something that'll get their attention, maybe I could finally...finally become a real winner." Liv admitted.
Victor crossed his arms and blew out a low sigh. Liv had her head down and looking in the other direction, she quietly waited for his response.
"Look at me." Victor commanded.
Liv slowly turned her head around and looked up in front of her. That was not enough to satisfy Victor.
"Look directly at me. Into my eyes." He squinted down at Liv as he skated a few centimeters closer.
Liv did as he commanded and looked directly in his eyes. Victor still had his arms crossed as he looked at Liv, making sure that she's making absolute eye contact. And she was. Those large brown almond-shaped eyes were forcing each of the two dark pupils to focus on his own pupils.
Satisfied, Victor precedes to talk. "That's not how you win." He simply said. "That's pretending, faking. Even if the judges give you the winning score, you're not a 'winner.' You hear me?"
Liv nodded fiercely, gulping a bit as well.
"Real winners make the judges give them the winning score. Not begging them to give them the winning score. Pretenders do that, and under my tutelage, you're not going to be a pretender any longer."
Victor put a hand on Liv's shoulder. She felt the strength of his palm and fingers through the thin fabric of her gray scoop neck shirt.
"You're going to be a winner. A real one. And real winners create their own style. Starting from the songs they choose to skate to." Victor said.
Liv felt slightly intimidated by all of this, she did not feel ready to pursue whatever Victor had in store for her. It was so new and different, it made her feel scared. But at the same time, also excited. She was going into unknown territory, he was going into unknown territory, they only have trust to support them.
"Well then, I suppose that choosing my songs would mean choosing songs that I enjoy listening to?" Liv asked.
"Not just that. Songs that connect to you, relate to you, make you feel something inside. From there on out, your whole program will just fall into place naturally, because you know how you're going to skate! You know how you're going to express yourself! You know what your angle is!" Victor cried.
"I don't know. What if it's not appropriate for skating? What if the public dislikes the theme? I know that there are plenty of haters out there, and I don't exactly want to start up anything." Liv replied.
Victor blew a few strands of his hair out of his face for a couple of seconds. He dragged his toepick across the ice, scraping bits of snow up.
"Liv, all you got to do is think about things that you enjoy. Things that you think are impactful for you. Things that you like."
"Like what? What's your story behind your programs? What things do you like?"
"I like men."
The sound in the arena died down. Victor just stood there with his arms held at his sides, looking absolutely neutral. Liv, on the other hand, looked like she had just encountered Medusa. Her entire body was frozen in place, like a stone statue. An eternity had passed before a word was finally said. By courtesy of Liv.
"I beg your pardon?" She said.
Victor repeated himself casually. "I like men."
When Liv didn't say anything, Victor elaborated. "People say that women are always so confusing and hard to understand. But to me, men seem more complicated. I always find them so...interesting to analyze. Based on all of the stereotypes, I look at men with a different perspective, and I try to understand them.
"They're always hiding something, keeping one part of themselves hidden away. I guess that's what triggers my interest. If I dig deep enough, I may uncover that part they've hidden away. And that's what I skate to. My eternal struggle to understand people of a gender I belong to."
Victor expected Liv to be speechless. Usually, he wouldn't have revealed such a thing to anybody else, especially to a female. But this time, he's trying it out. He's testing Liv. Would she be able to understand him?
He's been having a hard time determining Liv ever since they've first met. He knows that there's something about her that made her stand out from the other females he's befriended in the past. None of those women were as implicit as Liv.
The way he analyzes Liv is the same way he analyzes Max. And other men he finds so interesting. So this is the moment of truth. If Liv is able to know Victor's inner feelings, then it's confirmed.
She's significant in his life. She means more than just a student and a fellow skater friend.
Liv shuts her eyes for awhile before reopening them with a warmer tone and smiled. "Oh...I get it now. And I'm glad I get it too. Thanks for telling me this, Victor. I really appreciate it."
Victor was shocked. "Wait, so you know what I mean?"
"'Course I do. You like what you like and I'm fine with that. You've been helping me so much, what kind of person would I be if I became indifferent to you now?"
"And knowing this fact now, is it safe for me to ask you once again, what I mean to you?" Victor asked carefully.
"You're still the greatest thing that's happened to me here. And I still want to spend more time with you like that morning when you dragged us around the waterfront area of this city." Liv confessed.
Victor felt like the happiest guy on Earth. Everything was happening perfectly. Nothing was going wrong. This is amazing. This feels amazing.
He skated out to Liv and wrapped his arms around her joyously. This time, Liv returned his hug, smiling profoundly against his black t-shirt.
"Alright, Liv. Let's see how this goes. Let's see how this goes. But first! You have to pick your song. So I'll ask you one more time, what do you like?" Victor whispered.
Liv thought deep and hard about it. "I like...anime and video game osts…"
This chapter was a little difficult for me write at first because I was running out inspiration in how to tell this story. I have this whole story mapped out in my head, but it's really hard to get it down word for word. Not to mention I always leave out small details that are absolutely vital for story writing.
But the main thing I'm having a hard writing is probably Victor's thoughts. He's just a really interesting character, and it's difficult to get what he's thinking of sometimes. I always try my best when writing him, but there are many times when I think that I may be ruining his character...
I don't know! I'm just working with the knowledge and experience I have! (Which is not a lot...)
But oh well, it's not like I'm writing for a living or anything. I'm writing because I like to write. And I want people to enjoy what I write.
Thanks for reading. Please FAVOURITE, FOLLOW, and REVIEW! :D