Say You'll Remember Me

            She wasn't sure what, exactly, had been her boyfriend's feelings about his personal experience in the world of professional e-sports as of late, but Tong Yao was having a rough time. Logically, she knew that playing for a famous team like CK, even as a substitute, would take up a lot of his time. It was also obvious to her that being a substitute would never satisfy her boyfriend's ambition to be revered amongst the greats of his profession. He'd stated, on that summer day he told her that he would be leaving for Shanghai in literally a day, that he wanted to be able to look Lu Sicheng– the Chessman who had recently come back from Korea's overpowered team, TAT, to start his own overpowered Chinese team, ZGDX– in the eye as an equal one day. He would shake Chessman's hand as he won the Season Finals for team CK as their starting jungler.

            Thus, she was totally unsurprised when, only a few short months later, before the Spring Season began, he'd excitedly texted her in the middle of the night that he would be replacing the team's current starting jungler, whose repetitive strain injury (RSI) had gotten to the point that he was risking mobility loss if he continued playing at the rate he was without physical therapy. Of course, it may or may not be a temporary decision, but he was finally in the starting lineup, this was his chance to prove himself.

            At first, the promotion was a good thing, for more than just the increase in salary and reputation. He had a tiny bit of extra time to talk to her as there was a few weeks break between seasons. If they weren't sleeping, training (because Tong Yao had picked up LoL for her crush; after all, she was a teenage girl), or showering, they would be in constant contact, either texting or calling for hours at a time. She even put off a bit of her schoolwork to have more time to talk to him, something she had never even once considered doing for anything before he became a professional player. But now, now she knew that she needed to cherish whatever time she got with him before he was too busy for her once more.

            Alas, e-sports was a full-time occupation after all, and Jian Yang became busier than he'd ever been before once the new season started. Now that he was stepping up to the plate as CK's starting jungler, his expected work hours were increased as he needed to meet a stream quota, maintain a CK-associated main account rank "at least matching with the average professional jungler in competing LPL teams", and participate in ever-increasing promotional activities to boost the popularity (and, thus, merchandising ability) of the team. This would all have been true even if CK's popularity hadn't taken a sizable dip because of their previous jungler's announcement that he would be officially retiring from e-sports as his RSI was not improving, and the emergence of team ZGDX.

            Of course, with the dip in popularity, CK seemed to be working in overdrive to recoup their projected losses in revenue. They were plastered everywhere in their hometown of Shenzhen. Everywhere she looked, the faces of team CK were looming on some billboard for a sports-optimized energy drink, a commercial for a specific brand of ice cream (which she would admit to having bought for herself on one of those days she wanted to just wallow in the fact that her love life seemed to be going absolutely nowhere), advertisement for the team's official merchandise, on television for a variety show, on and on and on. Within almost that entire season, she'd rarely seen either hide or hair of her boyfriend. Not CK_Sunflower, but Jian Yang: the boy next door.

            There was a part of her that understood that he was simply too busy now. She had even acknowledged to herself on a few occasions when seeing just how many promotional events they were doing outside of training and competing that she hoped he was getting enough sleep and sustenance (was it just her imagination or did her boyfriend look thinner in the latest commercial than he was during the first one?). Still, she vowed to make it work somehow, a fairytale love story unfolding in the depths of her mind, waxing poetic about how since their romance started before he became a professional player (albeit only by a month or two) and they had been neighbors for years so they had history, it was only right that she and their relationship be waiting for him on the other side. She would make it work, she'd invested too much of her time, energy, and emotions into this relationship so far for any other result to be acceptable to her.