In Between the Lines | Completed

Chapter Twenty-Five | Jonesin' for Miss Jones

Ryan Jae

"I heard that you reserved one of the family and friends' boxes for today's game."

Coach Gal Jii sidles up to me as I warm up my arm. He chews on his gum, looking strikingly similar to livestock chewing on their cud. He watches me closely and cocks an eyebrow at me, trying to prompt me to elaborate, but I focus on throwing the baseball in my hand to my partner.

"It seems she might have a new reason to stay in Korea," he adds on. I sigh, continuing to stay quiet. "If she does decide to stick around, I don't think anyone would be mad at the thought of Sj switching to the training academy during the next orientation period."

"Except Kang Il," I mutter, thinking about my teammate who seemed to have a vendetta against the Jones boy.

"True. But Kang Il doesn't really have a say in the matter."

"Hey Coach, the bat boy is here," someone calls.

I stop warming up and see Vivian and Sj walking out of the dugout and onto the field. Her assistant stands at the entrance to the dugout, slowly looking over the field, his eyes sharp and wary as he looks for something I'm not seeing. I look back at Vivian and smile as they continue to walk onto the field, her white sneakers a stark contrast to the brown dirt and green grass. Sj's smile is apparent from a mile away as he chatters to his mom who is smiling down at him like he's her whole world.

He probably is too.

I take my glove off and jog over to them, "Sj, Vivian! Hey, thanks for coming out!"

"Thanks for inviting us," Vivian smiles at me and my heart stops as her blindingly white teeth flash themselves at me.

Vivian looks beautiful as always as she stands next to her son. I take in her appearance. She's wearing white pants, a baseball jersey from back home, and has her hair tied up in a bun, a bandana keeping her curls from her face.

"Thankfully I had a jersey packed away so I could look the part of a baseball super fan today," she smiles softly.

"Ryan!" I bump fists with Sj and he bounces on his feet.

"Hey Sj, Coach Gal Jii is over there and has your first assignment for you. But before you head over, I have something for you and your mom."

I put my fingers in my mouth and let out a whistle. One of the assistants runs over and hands me a bag and I bow my head in thanks. I quickly hand off the white paper bags and they look inside.

"Cool!" Sj pulls out his jersey with our team's name on the front and shows it to his mom.

"Oh wow!" Vivian says in surprise, pulling out her own jersey.

She examines it and looks up at me, a soft look in her eye.

"Figured you guys should really represent being the first members of my fan club." I joke.

She scrunches her eyebrows together, "Your name isn't on the back though. As the potential president of your fan club, am I not supposed to represent your interests well?"

I nod, "That's a fair point. But I also don't want to force you into anything you don't actually want responsibility for. You've got a lot on your plate, don't want to add anything else that will be a burden."

"Eomeoni, I'm gonna go talk to Coach. I'll see you after the game," Sj chirps.

She kneels down and grabs his hands, "Don't forget that you are to stay in the locker room until Mr. Du or I grab you. Or Ryan can escort you to me. You are not to go out on your own. There will be major consequences if you disobey me on this."