This is solely dedicated to x_justafangirl_x aka my best friend! Love you and Merry Christmas dear!

(Lexi's pov)

It's Christmas Eve and as I stand outside the skating arena where the Japan Nationals of Figure Skating has just been held successfully, I shiver in my puffer and pull my hood up as the wind chills my bones.

It's a freezing cold winter here in Hokkaido.

But I don't care. For the sake of finally getting the chance to get a photo and an autograph with my long time athlete-crush, I would do anything.

Shoma Uno, the one guy whom I spend hours of everyday, seconds of every minute thinking about.

He's right there, 10 feet away from me surrounded by security guards protecting him from the hoards of screaming fans of which I'm a part of.

If only he could notice me...

As I stare at his big bright smile, smiling at all these other fans, I get lost in his eyes. I sigh under my breath and feel myself melt as his gaze suddenly falls on me.

For a second there it almost seemed like he was stunned by me. But then that gorgeous heart-melting smile reappears and so does mine.

He suddenly walks over to me and offers me an autograph.

I'm so shocked that I take a step back and blink twice. But once the fans around me notice he's walking towards our direction, there's a big shove and push as everyone tries to get to the front.

As I feel myself being swept away, I accidentally slip on ice underneath the thin sheet of snow that I was standing on.

As I feel my body give way and start to fall backwards, gravity pulls me down and I land quite ungracefully on my back.

Dazed from all that shuffling and movement and of course, my ungraceful fall, a hand reaches out to me to help me up.

Once I grab the hand, I feel his eyes lock on mine. In that moment, my heart and mind completely stops as I lose the function to think. A meteor could fly in from space and crash around us, but I couldn't care less.

'You okay?' His soft and gentle voice asks.

I struggle to find a reply as I realize that our hands are still locked together.
'Yeah, thanks.'

I hear him tell the guards to back off and to tell the other fans to back off to give me room to breathe.

'What's your name?' He hesitates in English.

'Uhm, Lexi.'

'Lexi-chan, would you like an autograph?'

'And a picture!' I get too excited that I'm afraid that I scared him but he doesnt seem fazed.

He only smiles and puts his hand out.
'What?' I ask.

'Your phone?'

'Oh, right.' So we smile at the camera and my spine tingles as I feel his arm wrapped around my waist.

It's probably just a normal thing he does with all the fans but I can't help but feel extremely elated.

But this special moment we shared was gone.

It's all gone when the other fans start rushing back to fight for an autograph with the famous Shoma Uno.

He opens his mouth and he may well have said something, but I never heard it as the sweeping sea of fans come again and I once again get shoved aside.

Getting pushed to the back, I try to look over the crowd of people and make eye contact with him again, but as I'm short, this doesn't serve me well.

Giving up, I turn back and start heading back to my hotel where I'm staying at temporarily for the holidays.

My mind flashes back to that time when he held my hand and looked me straight in the eye.

I think I saw something.

Oh well...

Sighing relentlessly, I remind myself that atleast I still have the picture and the autograph.

...

Once I get back to the hotel, mum greets me and calls me to dinner with Dad and Will.

'Did you get an autograph with Shoma?' Dad asks.

'Yep.' I dare not say more for fear of letting them know that I'm actually in love with him.

We sit around and talk like a family on this beautiful Christmas Eve night. But no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to stop thinking about that short yet will-last-a-lifetime moment I had with Shoma just a mere hour ago.

Soon it gets late and we all decide to go to bed.

I lay wide awake wondering if Shoma felt anything at all when we held hands and locked eyes.

Maybe...maybe not...

...

I sneak out the door of my room just after 1am.

Walking up to downtown Hokkaido, just a few blocks away from the hotel, my thoughts shift to that one guy who I can't ever get out of my head.

His skating, his smile, the way he speaks, everything about him, I love.

'If I was to wish upon a star, would it get me very far?' I whisper the song tune aloud in this cold, quiet Christmas night. Silently wishing that I could see Shoma again.

When I reach the town centre, my eyes immediately catch light of the beautifully lit Christmas tree standing in the centre of market square.

Thinking I'm all alone, I sing out to myself, 'Somewhere in my memory, Christmas joy all around me...'

The icy winds surround me but doesn't faze me or make me want to go home any sooner.

'Lexi-chan?'

That voice...I can recognize anywhere and everywhere...

'Shoma Uno?'

Shoma walks towards me and I smile at him, trying not to blush.

'Hey, what...you doing outside here so...night?' He asks, fumbling with his limited English vocabulary.

'I could ask the same of you.' I joke.

'I just wanted to...come for walk. It is Christmas'.

'Yeah same.'

'You.. not scared? Come here alone? Shops are closed too.'

'Nah. Just solely because it's Christmas, it doesn't feel scary. And the town is all lit up so pretty and you can see the stars clearly.'

'Yeah, Hokkaido a... a safe place and it is beautiful.' He breathes a breath of mist.

We stand in awe of the beautiful Christmas decorations for a while.

'Uhm...can I...have your...number?' He suddenly asks out of nowhere.

This shocks me. But it's more of a pleasant surprise.

'Oh, of course.'

'So you can send the picture to me, of course.' He smiles right after and I don't question him anymore because my smile is much too big for me to be talking right now.

'Screw that actually. I like you.' We've stopped walking and he looks me directly in the eye again and there it is again. That feeling. That magic.

Those words lit up my whole face in an instant.

'I don't know what to say. I-I have had a massive crush on you since the day I found out you existed!' I smile and laugh a little, visibly joyful, heart pounding in excitement.

He reaches forward and picks me up gently in a hug.
I swing my arms around him and close my eyes and sigh.
I wonder if this is a dream?

'You have no idea how happy it made me to hear you say that. Before, I never believed in love at first sight, but now, I think I believe in love in second sight.'

I chuckle and kiss his cheek.

There's no way this is not a dream. That innrer voice in the back of my head insists.

I snatch my phone from my pocket and give him my number once he sets me down.

'Anyways...it's getting late.' I say, trying to break the silence again.

'Yeah, we should probably go home.' He suggests, to which I agree.

'Yeah, that's what I was thinking.' For soem reason, there's this gloom looming over us.

As we continue walking, we reach the junction down towards my hotel and I stop.

'Well, I walk down there to get back home.'

'Oh, well see you, Lexi-chan.'

'Later, Shoma.' I smile back.

As I start walking downhill towards the steps leading to my hotel, something doesn't feel quite right.

I'm smiling because I'm happy he likes me too but the way we parted seemed too abrupt.

That's when I realize that I don't hear his footsteps walking away.

So I turn around.

And I catch him watching me walk away as he stands there.

When he sees me looking at him, he nervously looks away and waves slightly.

I burst out laughing.

He's just too cute.

He walks towards me.
'I think it's better if I walk you home.'

Though I really want him to, I protest against it.
'No, you don't have to. Besides, then you'd have to walk back up to your hotel and that'll be twice the distance.'

'Yeah, but it's dark and not safe for you.'

'You just told me Hokkaido is a safe place.' I laugh and tease him.

He opens his mouth to say something but then closes it again once he realizes that there's nothing he can argue against that.

'Running out of excuses?' I tease him some more.

'What excuses?' He laughs.

'Well it'll be nice to have you walk me home.'

'Yeah, walking back home with someone is alot better.'

'Not just anyone.' I try to imply that it's only better because it's with him and that he's special to me.

He might've got it cause he doesn't say anything after but smiles.

We talk about other things on the way back and I can't stop smiling.

Being with him lights up my day. Or night.

'So did you have fun here? I guess you're only here on holidays?' He asks out of the blue.

'Yeah, I love it here. Watching you skate live for the first time is like a dream come true. And then of course actually meeting you is just icing on cake.'

'Meeting you too was for sure the best thing that happened to me this year.'

'Really? You think I'm that special?'
I stop again to look at his expression because this is a serious question and I really wanted to make sure I heard that right.

'When I first saw you, I was stunned by how beautiful you were. And then when you left after, I said, in Japanese, that I hope I'll see you again. And after I went back, my Christmas wish was to see you again cause I could feel that you were the one for me.'

My mouth is half open by the end of his story.
'You wished that?' I whisper as I can barely get the words out of my throat.

'Yes.' He cups my cheek with one hand and holds my other hand with another.

With one strong pull and my lack of balance, he pulls me towards him and I fall on his body with his arms wrapped around me in the warmest hug ever.

I wish we could stay in this position forever but eventually we do pull away and he gently kisses my forehead.

'Is all your family asleep?'

'Yeah, I kinda just snuck out.'

'Hahahaha sneaky.' He comments. 'Well then again, I snuck out too.'

'Exactly! Hypocrite!' I laugh at him.

He walks me right to the lobby and we stop again.

'Well, goodnight. And uhm...thank you for walking me back.' I smile up at him.

I step forward and hug him again.

'Anytime, Lexi.' He whispers in my ear and I feel his warm breath.

I gaze into his eyes and smile. Glad that it all turned out well.

Before I can turn to leave though, he says something that makes my heart explode into a million pieces of tiny hearts.

'I... I need you. Stay in my life. I know that you'll have to return home soon, but once you leave, I feel like I'll never see you again. And I really don't want that to happen.'

'But I have to leave, Shoma. I wish I could stay too.' I say unwillingly, the tears streaming down my face.

'No, Lexi-chan. We don't have to let this be goodbye. I refuse to.'
He looks so sincere and stubborn and persistent that I can't help but let out a giggle.

'You will see me again. I'll make sure it happens.'

His eyes fill with tears too but he refuses to let them fall.
'I love you...'

'I love you too.' I whisper, 'and its okay, you said you loved me, that alone is enough to keep me happy for a long time.'

I wave goodbye and start to leave before I find myself unable to leave.

'But it's not enough for me.' His hand reaches out to mine and grabs it tightly.
'It may be enough for you just to hear me say it, but it's not enough for me. I need us to not give up and I need you to be mine. Only then can I be truly happy.'

My smile grows brighter by the second and I have to blink a few times just to make sure this isn't actually a dream.

'Okay, Shoma.' I smile.

He relaxes his intensity and softens.
'Okay, goodnight. God led me to you again, and I can just feel it in my heart that you're the one.'

'Shoma, I've wished you were the one for me since I found out about you. So I'm not about to let you go either.' I squeeze his hand and wave one last goodbye to him.

As I close the door of my room behind me, I lean on it and close my eyes and smile.

Best Christmas present ever!

...

Merry Christmas to my dear friend Lexi!!! Have a good time on your holiday and I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you once again for my Christmas present! I love you ❤❤