From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

39. Dinner with teammates

"P' Prem." Pat hung on Prem's left hand smiling cutely at the elder.

"It's 'coach' for you." Prem flicked Pat's forehead with a finger.

"Au? Aren't we past the training hours? Do we still need to call you coach?" Pat pouted rubbing his forehead.

"Drama queen." Prem chuckled.

"P' Prem, we were planning on going out for dinner today as it is the weekend (The training camp is strict and doesn't allow the players to go out often or have outside food.). Why don't you join us? It's P' Jet's treat."

"That's right Prem. Even though you are in the coach position now, we can't deny that you are one among us. You should come with us." Jet said hooking his hands on Prem's right hand.

"Sure. If you insist." Prem agreed.

Putting the files away, Prem changed out of the training clothes to a casual ones.

Prem had been keeping himself busy with work all this while. He wanted to take this opportunity to loosen up a bit. He couldn't let a single person take away all the joy he had in his life.

The group arrived at a local eatery that was not far from their training camp. They could crawl back to their dorms even if they get drunk.

The eatery was nothing grand but had amazing food enough to fill the huge bellies of the athletes. It was one of their favourite hangouts which provided a good atmosphere, affordable and tasty food along with good location.

Prem sat down with the rest of the team members, chatting and laughing with them as they waited for the food to arrive.

It didn't take long until the table got filled with various kinds of food. The athletes hungrily dug in.

Prem felt a little nostalgic eating the food. It reminded him of the carefree days before his life had turned into a mess. He sighed and continued devouring the food.

Soon alcohol was served brightening up the mood around the table.

Prem's doctor had given him the green light after his body had shown significant recovery to consume alcohol. He hadn't touched it for a long time now and had been craving it for a while now. He poured himself a glass of alcohol.

The clinking sound of the glass caught the attention of the group. Jet who was sitting at the head of the table was calling for everyone's attention.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Jet started speaking. "Today, I decided to treat you all because I want to announce something."

"Phi, are you getting married?"

"Did you win a lottery, Phi?"

Several questions were raised when Jet paused for a second.

"None of your guesses are correct. I want to announce that... I will be officially retiring as a tennis player after the upcoming tournament." Jet bit his lips looking at his teammates. "I don't know if I would be able to get qualified to participate in it, but I have already decided to turn in my resignation letter to the coach."

The cheerful table suddenly became silent.

The younger ones in the team started sobbing. Everyone was as emotional as the day they found out that Prem was leaving.

Prem hugged Jet slowly patting his back trying to give the elder some strength. He knew well enough what Jet was going through now.

Jet was advancing in age and had several injuries on his record. It wouldn't be easy for him to continue in the National Team. He will be kicked out sooner or later. Leaving by himself was a lot lesser humiliating than being kicked out.