Friday
February 5th
Evening
Men's locker room in the Cricket Club
Just before training...

Javi was back from Europeans and was immediately caught on with what had happened over the last week, thanks to Yuzuru and Nam, those gossip boys.

The three were huddled around each other in a circle, just, you know, chatting away, or more like, planning something mischievous...

'Sota and Dy obviously aren't going to make up unless we do something about it,' Javi and Nam insisted.

Yuzuru, being all don't-wanna-interfere-with-other-peoples-issues, was hesitant to go through with the plan, but eventually agreed to.

...

Melody strolled along the St. Lawrence River as the sun was about to set. She skipped training today, as she cut her foot on some broken glass earlier on, and was forcefully excused from training by Brian.

Gazing out to the large body of water, glimmers of light rays shimmered off the clear water, glowing it and enhancing the beauty of it. As the sun slowly dipped downward, scattered beams of the setting sun shone across the river and lit up the area. The reflection off the sun's rays glamorously shot out from the river. And the river itself was tainted with a tinge of crimson and chartreuse.

Too engrossed in the magic of the river, she never noticed him standing behind her, watching her.

When she turned around and went back, he watched her whisk by him, without even noticing him.

Just like a Phantom,

floating and falling,

and then completely disappearing into the shadows,

walking like a day dream,

and slipping in between,

how could you not see?

Drifting away with no one behind you,

To catch you, to call you,

Why have you transformed into being my Phantom?

Why couldn't you stay, and be my Christine?

His thoughts clouded his head even when he had headed back to the rink to start training. All through, he couldn't seem to focus.

And to add on to that, he certainly had not been expecting a special meeting with someone.
Someone he didn't know, but who knew him.

Celest came to Toronto for the weekend with her family.
And she took the opportunity to do this...

A very determined Celest Hollister came trudging though the Cricket Club uninvited. She went to the rink, which really wasn't that hard to spot.

As the four boys were taking a break, they saw her and wondered who she was.

Her booming voice yelled, 'WHICH ONE OF YOU IS SOTA YAMATOTO'

Sota snapped his head up and corrected her, 'it's Yamamoto'

'Whatever, do I care? Now listen closely to me'

Sota looked at her in confusion.

'How dare you break my poor best friend's heart! I'm telling you, you break Dy's heart, and I'll break you!'

Celest stormed off, leaving him standing there in deep thought.

...

Melody got up the next day thinking, 'oh yeah, today's the day! I will do it! And I will succeed.' She said with such control, it almost seemed as if she was willing herself to succeed.

She recalled the conversation with her sister last night.

Brogan: So are you gonna do something about it? You should apologize, after all, it was just a silly misunderstanding, so no big deal'

Melody: Yeah, but...but what if he asked if I really meant it? What should I say then?

Brogan: I dunno, do you like him?

Melody: Argh, why do you have to ask that? I don't know myself...I said that I do love him to Celest some nights ago, but I was really emotional then and wasn't really sure I guess...

Brogan: Well then, tomorrow just apologize and be friends. You are hurt because you're lost a friend, right? So the reason you apologize is to heal your friendship. Even if you don't yet know how you feel about him, just stick as friends and then when you've got it all figured out, then you can tell him. You don't have to know how you feel to be friends.

Melody: That's actually one of the wisest things you've ever said, sis.

Brogan: Yeah, shut up! I'm wise, okay?

Melody: Hohohoh, and pears might cry...

Melody had planned this all out perfectly.
At 6:27 am, she was waiting at the subway stop Sota always takes.

He seemed to have came late and so she got on the subway first. Not long after, he appeared, with his skating bag slung over his shoulder. But before he could even find a seat to sit on, Melody stepped out in front of him.

He blinked at her in shock.
She too, was paralyzed by his stare.

'I....uh....uhm.....ahem......ah....,' she begun. So apparently, things didn't go as perfectly as planned.

He waited patiently for her to pull herself together.

'I'm sorry,' she blurted out. It was way easier than she imagined it to be.

'I'm sorry too,' his eyes softened and became more warm and gentle. After all, he was dealing with a very delicate flower. If he said something wrong, or had the wrong facial expression, she might just slip through again.

'I'm sorry you overheard that, and I just wish you'd forgive me, I-'

He interrupted.
'No more words need be said. I understand, and I hope you'll forgive me too'

'Of course I forgive you'

'Now, just promise me one thing'

'Yes?'

'Don't keep slipping away. I know this time was my fault you were hurt, but I need you to not run away.'

'Okay, I won't. I'll stay as close as possible. Just don't hate me if I'm annoyi-'

She felt a warm touch again her face as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

The whole subway riders heard and saw what just happened, and all at once, said, 'Awww'

She was blushing.
He was smiling.
'I couldn't ever hate you, I love you too much'

Inside she was panicking. But she tried to keep her cool outside.

Did he just confess?
Oh my goodness, he loves me! What do I do? What shall I say?! Why am I freaking out?

Okay, okay, keep calm...

Arghh, he loves me! And do I love him? Maybe I do? I did say that I loved him in front of Celest the other day, but that was when I was really emotional and wasn't really thinking straight....

He pinched her cheek and snapped her back to reality.
'Hey, I love you!'

'Ah...uhm...'

'It's okay, I just want you to know that. You don't have to say anything at all. When you've got it all figured out, you can tell me. I can wait forever, just don't expect me to only treat you as a friend, since you already know how I feel'

The rest of the ride in the subway was spent in silence.
Mostly Sota smiling and Melody frowning, lost in her thoughts yet again.
'Hey, stop looking so cute. I'll have to pinch your cheek again if you do so,' he threatened.

She looked up and suddenly remembered the cheek kiss he gave her and flushed, then looked away.

This caused him to frown too.
But they were back to being friendly towards each other again, though he had made it very clear that he didn't want to be just friends.

When they reached the club, Brian was as shocked as Yuzuru, Nam and Javi to see them walking together like they used to.

Javi sighed and whispered to the other two, 'Well, I guess Operation Phantom Of The Cricket Club is now abolished'

Yuzuru smirked, 'See? I told you those two wouldn't need anyone to heal their relationship for them'

As they approached the rink, Nam winked and said, 'Oh yeah, Dy? Has Sota told you about the Friend that came yesterday'

'What friend?'

'Uh, she never said her name. But she's your best friend probably and she had long platinum blonde hair and lime green eyes.'

'Could it be Celest?' What was Celest doing here?! Oh yeah, she did say she was dropping by Toronto for the weekend...

'Maybe? Anyways, she came in storming to Sota and yelling at him for breaking your heart! Hahaha, it was so funny'

Melody's eyes widen in horror.
'What did she say?'

'Oh you know, just that she would break Sota cause he broke your heart,' laughed Javi.

Oh no!! Celest!
That....

'I'm sorry!' Melody apologized to Sota for the third time that day.

He laughed and assured that it was alright, he understood the protectiveness of friends.

....

After training, when they were warming down and doing laps around the rink, when Melody turned around, she found Sota right behind her and skating very closely.

She jumped back in surprised and panic and pushed him away from her harshly. The thought of him kissing her appeared before her vision again, especially now that he's said he loves her. Her little jump backwards caused her to trip on her toe pick and fall butt down on the ice. She didn't even process the pain in her butt as she was highly distracted by how close he was to her just now.

Seeing her being distant and different because of what he did and said earlier, he decided that this won't do. Somethings got to be done.

And something was done.
As Nam had spilled the contents of his bag over, Sota rushed over to help him. And after that, when he was sure Melody was looking, he kissed Nam on the cheek and whispered, 'I'll explain later,' he pointed to Melody discreetly and winked so Nam knew he wasn't kissing guy's cheeks just for fun.

Melody saw and laughed and relaxed inwardly.
Oh, okay....so this is what he does to everyone....hahaahahaha, and I got all worked up cause he kissed me....

So it worked in getting her to feel more comfortable around him and less jumpier than she was.

When Melody had left, Sota explained to Yuzuru, Javi and Nam as they were all there, that he did that to make Dy not feel as uncomfortable around him now that she knows his feelings.

Yuzuru teased, 'Ohh, so you told her eh? I admire your courage'

Javi just hooted for Selody.

And all the while, Nam was yelling at Sota, 'YOU STOLE MY CHEEK VIRGINITY!'

Thank you for reading! This was really fun to write, hopefully you had fun reading it too.

Also shoutout to x_justafangirl_x for finishing this amazing story, Finding Her Again. And to navybluefoxes for almost finishing this also amazing story, Destined. And also, to harikun for starting the rising action of Jealous hahaa :)