Part 5

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2020.9.15

It's been a month since Daniel left for his studies. Meanwhile, I made friends as well in the Philippines, as the mode of education there is still online.

He didn't break his promise. Christopher and I are still in touch with him. He always find a way to talk to us, even though we're busy in his studies.

As always, we did our best in our studies.

Christopher told me some good news.

"Hyung, guess what?"

"What is it?"

"I've become a part of the badminton team."

"Congratulations! Good for you. Anyways, how's being the team?"

"I remember Kuya Steven talks a lot about you. Visit the school and try to mentor us when you're free."

"Since the classes are online, why not after my classes? I am planning to visit there, since I miss my badminton team."

Christopher and I went to the school to see the team.

I saw our coach and told me, "Good thing that you visited us, captain."

"It's my free time, coach. It's fine to me. I want to meet the team once again and play badminton with them."

"Well, train them for the meantime. I will be busy in my teaching stuffs."

"Thanks for the trust, coach!"

I met the team. Steven still did our high-fives.

Steven told me, "Kuya, how are you? How's college?"

"Good so far. It's fun studying! It's my free time today. Anyways, how's the team? I heard that Christopher replaced me as the new member of the team."

"Well, incredibly, Christopher is great at offense. He reminded me of you, kuya."

"Ani. I am good in both offense and defense."

"Yes! You're not bragging, are you? That's our ace and captain! The only thing Christopher needs to work is his defense. But he can do it by training hard."

"I think so. But how did Christopher decided to try out for the team?"

"I don't know. He's just focus on arts. He's great in drawing and painting."

"Don't you remember, hyung? After that incident, I started to play badminton recreationally. I didn't try when the seniors left, because I have high chances that I will not be picked. Though there is one spot to fill in, I tried it just for fun. And the team picked me. I'm still grateful of Steven hyung."

I just realized something. "Wait a minute. You're now the captain, bunso?"

Steven said to me, "Yes, kuya. But why are you calling me bunso?"

"Of course, in my eyes, you're still our baby. The youngest among the original Lucky 5."

I asked him, "Well, how was it being part of the school team, Christopher?"

"It's an honor being a part of the team. I'm sure I will be doing well in this team."

"I'm sure you will. You have 4 other players whom you will be training every day. Starting from the time the seniors graduated, being part in the badminton team is very intense. Many people want to try out for the team, but we kept only 5 to be in the team. That's per my order to have only 5 in my team."

"It seems that with the 5 members, the team won a lot of competitions."

"Of course. Lucky 5. Anyways, shall we have a match?"

"Sure!"

They all matched against me.

Me against Larry - 21-16
Me against Jim - 21-18
Me against Patrick - 24-22
Me against Christopher - 21-19
Me against Steven - 29-30

They are good; however, only Steven won against me. 30-29. He's really good (that's why we're often paired in doubles). But to reach the match point? We took this far.

I still trained with them until 7:30 pm. I then told them some motivational thoughts, even though I'm not their captain anymore.

We took our groupie before the training ends. I just saved it on my phone and cherished it.

*1 year later*

During the year, I became the top 1 of the class for two semesters. For the first time in 18 years, Daniel and I celebrated our birthdays separately.

END OF PART 5

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