From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

41. That person

“Hey.” Prem sat down on the stairway next to Chris and handed him a sandwich.

“Hey.” Chris greeted weakly accepting the sandwich.

“Upset that you weren’t selected for the Asian Games?” Prem implored.

Chris sighed and nodded.

“You do know that it is not your fault, right?” Prem asked. “It was the council’s decision. They want new players to take part in it and want you guys to focus on the next intercontinental tournament.”
“I Know, Prem. But…”

“Is it about P’ Jet?”

Chris nodded.

“I did try talking to the coach to make an exception. But his performance had dropped a lot. He really doesn’t qualify to be selected.” Prem explained.

“It’s his last chance.”

“I understand. But he has already given up.”

“What do you mean he gave up?”
Prem took out a white envelope and handed it to Chris. Chris opened the envelope. The content of the letter made his eyes go wide.

“P’ Jet turned in the resignation letter.”
Prem hummed in agreement.

“Prem, don’t turn it in yet. Let me talk to him.” Chris stood up in haste.

Prem held his hand and stopped him. “You better not.”

“But why, Prem? I think he should rethink the whole thing.” Chris was bewildered by Prem’s attitude.

“There is no use, Chris. His contract with the team is expiring soon. He will have to leave either way.”

“But, if we manage to convince the coach then he might want to renew his contract. And you are here to train him too. It would only be a matter of time before he gets back on track.” Chris retorted.

“He had hardly won any medals for the past two years, Chris. The council thinks that giving him a chance is a waste of resources. Even though he had improved a lot compared to before, it is still not enough to meet their eyes. Given the initial performance he showed when he first joined the team, the council is really disappointed in him. There is nothing much we can do as his friends.”

Chris slumped down on the stairs and clenched his hair.

“I know what you are going through. But Chris you have to understand that you are now the Captain of the National Team of our nation. And the position requires you to think rationally not emotionally.” Prem advised.

“I am a failure as a Captain, Prem.” Chris leaned against the handrail. “Neither our teammates nor our coach thinks that I am up to the position. Even I don’t think that I am doing a good job.”

“But I think otherwise. You are way better than me when I first began as the leader. At least you know what you are doing. I was clueless in the beginning.”
“You don’t have to console me, Prem. I know where I stand.”

“Dude, seriously. I am not consoling you. I am telling the truth. If I could find a defect in your leadership, it is the way you speak. Those jokes you make time and again don’t sound funny to everyone. That’s why everyone keeps a distance from you.”

“Thank ‘you’ for the ‘brand new information’,” Chris commented sarcastically.

“As long as you work on it, you will be fine.”

“Do you think I don’t? But I just can’t dude. It is like it’s been inscribed in my DNA.”

Prem exhaled deeply.

“Let me tell you one thing, Chris. I used to be way more annoying and reckless than you. And look at me now. If I could change you could do too.”

“What made you change?”

“Circumstances.”

“Circumstances?”

“Yeah, circumstances. When I was young, I had a friend. He is my best friend in fact. He was closer to me than Sammy. As long as I had him by my side, I had nothing to worry about because I knew that he would save my ass no matter what. I don’t even know how he does it. But every single time he will make sure that nothing affects me.”

“Wow. Sounds like a guardian or something.”

“You can say that. Practically, he was. He was like a mentor to me. There were times when I got into huge fights with people to the extent that I might get expelled from the school, he solved the whole thing himself. He said he don’t want to see a black mark in my code of conduct.” Prem chuckled.

“Then what happened?”

“Nothing much. When we were in high school, he went abroad. That was when I realised how much he had protected me over the years. When it suddenly disappeared with him, I was kind of lost. I had to force myself to grow up, to mature.”

“Was he a tennis player too?”

“No. He wasn’t. He used to play as a substitute time and again. But professionally, no.”

“Then how did he become your mentor.” Chris was interested in Prem’s story.

“Hmm…I think we were six or seven back then when his parents bought a pair of tennis rackets for him. He used to drag me to play along. Then I was more interested in basketball than tennis and my Phor wanted me to take up weightlifting like him. I already knew that I was going to take sports as a career and wanted to choose between my interest and Phor’s dream. That was when he discovered that I am talented in playing tennis. He convinced me and my Phor-Mae to send me to the tennis coaching centre to train officially.” Prem sighed.

“I was actually reluctant to train as it was an individual sport. At that time, I liked to be in team sports. Then he joined the coaching centre just to keep me company. I trained and he trained harder. It is all thanks to him that I fell in love with tennis.” Prem smiled ear to ear.

“I am kind of jealous of you. It is not easy to find such friends nowadays.”
“I know.” Prem chuckled.

“Maybe he was into you.”

“There were a few girls in the school who used to ship us together.”

“Then, did he ever make a move?”

“No. He would flirt with me every now and then jokingly.”

“Jokingly. What if he was serious?” Chris’s gossipy mind picked up.

“I don’t think so. He flirts with almost everyone. And most of them fall for him too. He was kind of popular in school.”

“Then what about you. From the way you are talking about him, he seems to be quite special to you.”

“I won’t deny that. He is kind of special to me. If there is a next life, I would really want to be born as his family.”

“That’s deep man! I would really like to meet this friend of yours.” Chris slapped Prem’s shoulder blades.

“I myself hadn’t met him in years.” Prem looked at his wristwatch. “It’s already so late let’s head back to the dorm.” He stood up.

Chris followed him.