✍🏻 Little Matchmaker

14 - Three Suitors

Oh, shit.

She pulled out an almost fully eaten bag of popcorn, dangling with it in the air.

"Oh, that was truly impressive, mum! How do you do this? You are so coo---"

"Stop buttering me up, Aki. There are greasy fingerprints all over the papers. You will have a stomach ache."

"I won't!"

"You will!"

And he did. He woke up in the middle of the night but his pride was stronger and so he just suffered through it rather than go and wake her up to get some medicine.

"Slept well?" She asked him the moment he got into the kitchen and sat down to the breakfast, afraid to touch any of the food as his stomach was still fighting with the late-night snack. He merely nodded at her question and she brought over a sirup with a spoon.

"That would help you in case you would have a stomach ache. Just two spoons and you would be fine in no time." She smiled and sat down on the chair next to him, eating her portion of the breakfast.

"That is good to know."

"Yeah, I thought you might like to know that." She popped a strawberry into her mouth and went to check the news on her tablet.
Akira wiped the sweat from his forehead and almost reached for the bottle but last second re-directed his hand and took a plain toast instead.
He was hoping for an unguarded moment to be left alone with the bottle but she kept watching closely his every move and just as they were leaving she took it with her.

"I will have it in my bag, just in case...maybe...somebody at the rink would have a use of it today."

"That is very nice of you." He gave her a weak smile and moved slowly to the hallway, hoping that his stomach won't be growling too loud in the elevator.
It wasn't much better at the rink either and she was just provoking him by displaying the bottle on her table at the cafe that he could clearly see through the glass.

He tried to mind his own business as much as he could, avoiding looking at her but with each stomach growl, his eyes immediately darted to the table.
He went to practice some spins and in his vision was just the damn bottle. Column, bottle, black stain - probably Yuzu -, bottle, column, definitely Yuzu, bottle, huh? He stopped the spin and saw that a new stain entered the rink. The black stain that was now back to the shape of Yuzu skated towards the newcomer and gave him a friendly, but quick hug with a pad on the shoulder.

Others noticed the new person too and Nari together with the dance pair skated to him, saying their hellos.

"That's Lewis Gibson." Akira turned his head up and saw his training mate Peter next to him. "He is Nari's choreographer as well as Darya's and Roman's."

"Oh, thank you, I was wondering who he is."

"Yeah, I noticed." He chuckled and added that the guy is from Scotland and used to be an ice dance skater before retiring and becoming a choreographer.

"Oh! Then my mum will definitely know him! She is a fan of that." Akira looked towards his mum and just seeing the bottle made his stomach growl again.

"You alright, Aki?" Peter asked with a concerned voice and Akira wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I just have some stomach ache. It will be fine. I think."

"Oh, should I go and get your mum?"

"No!!" Akira exclaimed and began to skate again, Peter following next to him. "I don't want to prove to her that she was right. She won't let me snack on popcorn in the evening if she finds out."

Peter chuckled and turned to skate backwards in front of Akira just as he always used to do with Yuki. "Is the popcorn really worth suffering through a stomach ache?"

"Of course!" Akira frowned, wondering what kind of question is that.