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Ilya was pleased with how his knife skills had improved over the last year or so. He had gotten more precise, but also pretty fast. And he loved doing things faster. Well, most things.
He’d carefully dissected a branch of leafy herbs and cut them into ribbons, while Yuna added spices to a pot on the stove.
He also enjoyed the simple and steady pace of helping with dinner prep, tonight with Shane’s mom, Yuna. David was on a rare business trip out of town. Shane would be over later, for dinner, but for the moment it was just the two of them.
She mentioned how she had recently been to Shane’s cottage and had seen the framed photo of them both laughing at the CCM ad shoot from 2010, that he’d given Shane at Christmas.
“I’m really impressed at how you figured out how to track down the photographer to see if he still had them. That was such an exciting day, and he hadn’t even started with the team yet.”
“Yes, that was a fun day.” Ilya said, quietly.
“And I’m sure that evening was even more fun.” Yuna said in a gently sly tone.
Ilya stilled for a moment, then busied himself putting a few dishes back into the fridge, as he wondered if Shane had said something. It would be out of character for him. Ilya silently wondered, had she just figured it out? Maybe she meant something else?
Yuna put her hand on his arm and said gently, “We love you Ilya. And we love that you’re Shane’s partner.” Ilya relaxed a bit. He turned to face her, and felt a little more at ease. She continued “Since your whole relationship developed in secret, we missed out on hearing about all the little milestones, first date, first kiss, that sort of thing. I don’t want to ask anything too private, but I’d love to know, some of those, if you’re okay with that. When you two have kids you’ll understand.”
He actually immediately warmed with the idea that Shane might have spoken to her about them starting a family and asked “Has Shane talked about us having kids, someday?”
“Of course.” She smiled up at him and continued. “I‘m pretty sure we know about one of those milestones. I don’t need any details. I don’t even need you to confirm it. I just wanted you to know, that we know, that that evening, after the shoot, was yours and Shane’s, umm… how shall we put it? - ‘First date’.”
Ilya eyes opened wide, and he shifted his gaze to look away. She definitely knew. And ‘we’ meant that David did too. If Shane had told them it would be okay, but it seemed doubtful. So, he asked “Did Shane say something?”
Yuna immediately put him at ease “Oh no. He would not be too happy if he knew that David or I knew. You know how private he is and how protective he is, especially about anything related to you and your shared history.”
Ilya nodded in agreement “Yes.”
He wondered, had she come to Shane’s room unannounced and heard them through the door? They had been pretty careful, and with the exception of a few short outbursts, pretty quiet too. He wanted to know.
Yuna continued “So, I’m guessing that you’re probably wondering how I know, right?”
He nodded slightly and affirmed that with a simple “Yes.”
She turned to face him and proceeded. “Do you remember when we ran into each other at the elevator, that evening after the shoot. I was on a lower floor, trying to get to the lobby. You were going up.“
“Ahh. Umm yes.” Ilya had forgotten all about that till just now.
Yuna explained, “The shoot was in July, in Toronto, and you and Shane were the only players in it. “
He quietly replied “OK..” since it still seemed to be the safest thing to say.
Yuna went on “It was such a busy summer, getting Shane ready for the season. So many details to take care of.”
Ilya started to relax. She wasn’t going to tell Shane, and she seemed to be pretty comfortable talking about it. He realized he was smiling, nervously, but no longer worried. This seemed a bit strange talking about when he and Shane first hooked up, with his mother of all people, but somehow it seemed fine and weirdly natural. And he also figured, he was probably a lot more comfortable talking about this with Yuna, than Shane would’ve ever been.
“So, how exactly do you know?” he inquired.
Yuna gently laughed, reached up and gently put a hand on Ilya’s arm and said calmly. “You kind of told us.”
He nervously replied with “What, when?”
Before he could slide into worry, she explained “Shane was with me or David all summer. That day in Toronto was one of the few exceptions. I had left him to go to my room early, so he finished up the last of the shoots on his own, including the one with you.”
Ilya recalled looking around for her and noticing that she was no longer in sight, which now that he thought of it helped him relax and move ahead with his plan. Things might have been a bit too risky with Mama Hollander standing by.
“That evening would’ve been the only time you two were in the same country, same city, and in the same hotel, all summer.” She stopped to let it sink in, but when Ilya didn’t seem to make the connection, she spelled it out. “It was the only time you two could’ve possibly connected - ‘in the Summer before rookie season.’ “When I combined that with your up elevator stopping on the 14th floor, Shane’s floor, that evening, it all became pretty obvious. “
Ilya suddenly realized he was the one that gave it away. Shane’s response to his parents' inquiry about when their secret relationship started, gave a perfectly vague timeline, ‘rookie season’. Ilya, though had fucked that up by getting too specific. His words rang in his head, as he remembered sitting at Yuna and David’s kitchen table that summer day, when they found out. ‘No, is not true. Since before that. Summer before.’ ‘Holy shit’ he laughed to himself. He’d basically told them exactly when. All she had to do was put the pieces together.
He felt a warming sensation in his face and just to be sure asked “You will say nothing to Shane, yes?”
Yuna confirmed with a smile “Of course not.”
Ilya breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good. He would murder me.”
Yuna nodded in agreement as their both smiled as Ilya let out a bit of nervous laughter.
“May I ask a couple more questions?”
“Sure.”
“If anything is too personal or you just don’t want to say, just say ‘pass’. “
Ilya had heard the term ‘20 questions’ tossed about, but had no idea that it was a game or how it worked, so he defined it his own way. “OK. So, you can ask me 20 questions about us and I will answer them, unless too personal.”
Yuna quickly agreed. She had hoped for just 4 questions.
“Question #2 When was your first kiss?”
“Same night.”
“Ahh, so you moved quickly,” Yuna teased him.
“Yes. Is habit of mine.”
“Question #3: When did you fall in love?”
“Ahh. You go big, right away.” Ilya noted.
“Why tip toe, when you can skate?”
“Ok, I cannot say I know exactly when. But can tell you when I realized it. I think it had started happening for a while back, but I pushed it away. Ignored it.
“We had been going along the same way for years. Then one day, when I saw his team would arrive the day before an afternoon game, the next day, in Boston. So, I made plans, and when he came over I asked him to stay the night. Everything seemed very good. The best ever really, but then, he suddenly said he had to leave. I could tell he was having panic attack, was pulling away from me, saying he could not do this anymore. Too much change, too fast, I think.”
“Our Shane has never been a big fan of change, especially fast change.” Both smiled in mutual understanding.
“I tried to get him to stay, but no good. He left.“ Ilya let out a breath, casting his eyes upward as he relived the day. “I had pretended this was not serious, but when he left like that, it felt very dark. This was new for me. Then came Rose.” Ilya noticed Yuna’s face as it registered surprise at the timeline this represented.
“So, this was fairly recent. “
“Yes, late 2016. Not long after, I saw them all over online, happy at his game, wearing his Jersey. Then in person, at a Montreal nightclub, I saw them dancing. He never went to clubs so I was very surprised. Her hands were all over him, up under his shirt and he was loving it. I wanted to kill something - probably Rose.“ he gave a short laugh to relieve the tension. “This was new to me. Never felt like that before.”
“Jealousy.” Yuna gave a knowing nod.
.
“Yes. Terrible feeling, angry, sick and sad all at once.”
“But something must’ve changed.”
“It did.“ He smiled and his whole face relaxed. “Two weeks later, was All Stars in Tampa. He shows up at the bar, looking so fucking beautiful, in nice new clothes. He never wore clothes like that before, so I knew that must mean Rose was dressing him. He sat down, right next to me. Told me he had a secret or something to tell me. Was sure he was going to say he was engaged or something. Finally he told me that they were no longer together. Then left me to go talk to other team members” Relief registered on his face, and his smile widened. “Never been that happy before. Could not stop smiling. Had to cover my mouth, so people would not see.”
“So, what happened?”
“After the game, he came to my room, and we had a serious talk. We did not figure anything out, but we were better, you know. Two weeks later after Boston game, my father died and I flew to Moscow.“
“I’m sorry, Ilya.”
“No, was good. Sad, but good in a way. In Moscow, I realized I was in love. I did not know anything else. What that meant and still saw no future for us, but was honest with myself. Felt better, but also very sad, because it all still felt impossible.”
“Question #4, when did you two first feel a connection?”
“The spark?”
“Yes, when did you two first feel sparks fly?”
“Night of the draft. Very late. We were both in hotel gym at same time. So, had a chance to talk. Was good.“
Knowing that Shane had gone to bed early that night, she asked “What time of night, was it Ilya?”
“12, or 1, maybe, not sure. ”
“Shane probably woke up, couldn’t fall back asleep and went to tire himself out. He’s done that before. “
Ilya looked away and stated flatly “Time change can do that.“
“Yes. It can…” her voice was low and had a knowing tone to it. Ilya could feel her eyes on him. She went on “So, the time change made you wake up or not be able to get to sleep - right, Ilya?”
Why couldn’t he just say yes? He actually wanted to tell someone what really happened. And he realized that he kind of wanted to tell her.
Her hand rested on his back, near his right shoulder and she said in a low, steady voice. “Did that just happen? Or did you make it happen?”
He was trying to figure out if there was a chance he could still lie, when she closed the deal. “I won’t tell anyone. Not even David.” And since she had 16 more questions to go, he turned to face her. She smiled and tilted her head up to meet his gaze.
Sheepishly, he smiled. “I thought, next time we see each other would be at Juniors, in December. Too long. So, when I saw a chance …”
“You took it.”
“Was coming back to the hotel, from party with other players, at about that time.” He looked back down at her.
She smiled to reassure him. He knew there was no going back, now.
“On way to the elevator, there was a door to the gym. It had window and lights were on…”
“And you saw someone in there?”
”He does not know. So, if I tell you…”
“Yes, I understand. I promise I won’t tell him.”
“I never lied. He just never ask. So, yes, I see him on standing bike. I go to my room, change clothes and come back down.”
“And if what happened there is too personal, we can stop right there.”
“No, is OK. Nothing happened, but uhh, good signs. There seemed to be interest two ways. ”
Yuna nodded and her smile widened.
“I don’t know for sure when or if he felt something before that, but that was not my first time feeling some kind of spark for him.”
“So when was that?.”
“When I first met him.” Smiling and gently laughed. “It was not love yet, but definite interest.”
“Tell me only what you’re comfortable with. “
“I expected to not like him. My father and coach always said I must defeat him. So I was determined to win in any competition we were in. Would have never tried to meet him. So, when he walked up to introduce himself, complemented my playing, I was - how you say? Taken aback. He was so warm and friendly, I was very surprised. And, I could not help but notice he was also…a very beautiful man.”
Yuna agreed.“He is handsome. That’s for sure. He told us he’d met you too.“
“What did he say? ”
“I think he said you were kind of a dick.“
Ilya smiled. “Am sure he was right. Reflex, you know. But I was not expecting him to be all… that. ” his eyes widened on the last word.
“You know David said something the other day, about you two, that made a lot of sense.”
“What?”
“No matter who Shane ended up with, it had to be someone willing to do the work. And clearly that was you.”
Ilya gave a quiet laugh, and the corners of his mouth turned up. “He was work, but so was I. He is perfect.”
“And as strange as it seemed when we he told us, you two seem perfect for each other. “