Moment of Truth

Chapter 4: Him

6:50 am is when I arrive at the Cricket Club. I am snuggled in a thick sweater as it is still early in the morning. And the ice rink will be cold. When I walk in, I see Claire at the reception desk.

"Good morning, Claire," I greet her as I walk up to the reception desk.

"Morning Marie. It's good to see you here. I'm guessing Coach Brian contacted you?" Claire says.

"Mhmm. He wants me to meet the skater I'll be the translator for."

"Great. Well just walk over through that door over there and there will be some benches you can sit on. I'm sure the guys are already on the ice."

"Thanks, Claire. I'll probably see you later."

"Bye Marie."

I walk through the door Claire pointed out to me. Once through the door I see benches against a wall on a small platform to the side of the rink but no barriers. There are benches against the opposite wall, but I would have to get across the ice to get there. There is a wall with several panels of mirrors. It doesn't look like a typical ice rink. This must be for professionals. On the ice is an older man in front of two younger looking guys. Probably the skaters. All of them have skates on.

"Excuse me. Are you Brian Orser?" I call out to the man.

He turns around as the two guys who look around my age turn to me. They look confused as the older man smiles at me. He skates over to me. "That is me. You must be Marie," Coach Brian says holding out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

I shake his hand politely. "It's lovely to meet you too."

"Coach, who is this chica?" A Spanish looking guy asks Coach Orser as he skate over to us.

"Hello there, I'm Marie Vincenté. I'm here to be a translator," I say explaining myself.

"Yes. We are testing her out to be a translator for Yuzu," Coach Brian says pointing to the other guy still standing in the middle of the ice. He's just watching us. This guy looks Asian. Probably Japanese since they're looking for a Japanese translator.

"So you can speak Japanese?" The Spanish guy asks me.

"Yes, I am fluent in Japanese as well as Tagalog and English," I respond.

"Wow, estupendo*! Yuzu! Come here! We have a translator for you!"

The Japanese guy looks at me with a blank stare as he skates over. I present him a smile so I can give him a good impression. I wouldn't want him to hate me and make me lose this opportunity. He just continues to stare at me.

"You can speak Japanese?" 'Yuzu' asks me in his native tongue.

"Yes. I can read and write in it as well," I respond back in Japanese.

"Oi, chica. Speak English please," the Spanish guys chides jokingly.

"Sorry, He was just asking me if I could really speak in Japanese."

"So far, so good," Coach Brian interjects. "These are some of my best skaters. This is Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu. You'll be translating for Yuzuru. Sometimes he doesn't need it, but there are times when it's easier for him to explain himself in Japanese. Or I can't get him to understand what I'm telling him in English so I need Japanese to get to him."

"That's perfectly fine with me. I'm glad I'm able to put my Japanese to great use. Well it's great to meet the both of you and I hope I can be of great help."

"You're already doing a great job. Now why don't you come to my office and we'll work on some paper work for you? Guys, do a couple laps while I'm gone and no quad battles."

Coach Brian and I leave the rink. We walk into a small office. I hand him my resume that I created last night. It doesn't have much on it, but this will be the stepping stone to making it bigger and better.

"Just so you know, you will be traveling with us internationally," Coach Brian comments as he finds the right papers to for me to fill out.

"That's okay with me. I still have my Philippines passport. It should still work until I get a Canadian passport," I inform him.

"Did you just immigrate over here?"

"About a month ago. The Philippines is my homeland."

"That's a long way to travel from. And Canada is completely different from the Philippines."

"It is, but I like it here already. I know I'll love living here."

"Good. Well I welcome you here and I'm sure you will be a great addition to our team. Yuzu will definitely appreciate having a translator as young and as pretty as you."

"Oh don't say that. He barely knows me. We haven't even started my job yet. And I'm just average looking."

"Don't say that about yourself. I saw the way Yuzu was watching you walk away. He only does that when he sees a pretty girl."

I blush at the thought of Yuzuru watching me walk away. I barely know the guy. He can't find me attractive. The Japanese people are some of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. I'm sure he has seen prettier people in his own hometown.

"So, are you okay to stay for the remainder of practice?" Coach Brian asks as I finish up the proper paperwork.

"Most definitely," I reply smiling.

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Foreign words:
Estupendo: great