Game, Set, Love: A Yu Qing Romance

Chapter 5

The next day arrived in a flash.

Qi Lin was the only one left in her classroom she stared longingly out the window when a cough caught her attention.

"Siyang! How'd you know I was here? I'm sorry for making you wait," she expressed. Packing up her bag as quickly as possible, when Siyang replies with a stoic face, "There's no rush. I just went here since Zhou Zhi said I could find you here."

"Okay, but I'm done packing already. Let's go to the office," she says, stopping in front of him as she gives him a warm smile. Siyang just stared at her dazed with his still poker face as he processed what she just said.

As they were walking towards the office, they passed by some students, who started gossiping at the sight of the two of them. Qi Lin starts to unconsciously hug herself. Siyang took notice and moved closer to her as his way of comforting her, but that only raised more looks from the students. Luckily for Qi Lin, they're at the front of the office already.

Siyang, being the gentleman that he is, opens the door for her. Qi Lin, on the other hand, can only bow at him for the gesture and hurries inside. Once she made it inside, she was finally able to breathe in deeply and try to compose herself. "Are you okay?" Siyang asks worried that maybe he was also a factor as to why she was agitated.

"Just fine," she muttered. Siyang nods and starts walking towards the stairs, while Qi Lin remains in her position, staring at her feet. "Aren't you coming?" He invites her. This broke her out of her train of thought and replied, "Coming!" and followed him up the stairs.

They settled themselves at the center of the room.

"Sooo. What are we gonna talk about again?" she starts.

"I just want to ask if you're interested in becoming our manager, since you're already helping out Coach Qi, why not make it official?" he said,

"I don't know about that." She instinctively answers as she stares at the ceiling.

"You don't have to decide right away, I just want to ask you and maybe take some tasks off Ah-Yan's plate."

She ponders some more then looks at him in the eye asking, "What tasks will I need to do if ever I agree to this?"

Siyang thinks of the tasks that he, Yan Zhiming, and Dayong have been doing before answering, "It would mostly be arranging some practice matches within the club, and some training regimens for the regulars and other team members. Collecting data about the other teams."

Qi Lin thinks and looks down at the table.

The advantage would be I could spend more time with Mom and spend my time on more useful things. The disadvantage would be hmmm... None? maybe less time to myself, which I just use to sleep so-

She then meets the Captain's eye, "Sure, I'll try my best."

Coach Qi then enters the room, "I see you're getting acquainted with the Captain well."

"Yeah, Captain Siyang was just asking me if I'd like to be their manager and I agreed."

"That's wonderful," her mom replied to her and turned to Siyang saying, "Please always look out for her Siyang. She's my precious baby-"

"Mom! I'm not a baby anymore!" Qi Lin interrupts her mother.

"Sure, but you're always my only daughter," her mom counters as she envelops her daughter in a hug.

Siyang just stared at the two when his eyes were drawn to the clock. He slightly coughs to get their attention. "Sorry to interrupt your mother-daughter time Coach but it's almost practice hours. We should get going and introduce you guys to the team."

"Of course, my bad Siyang. Let's go now." She said as she led the way to the outdoor courts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were on the courts when the three spotted Huang Jing ordering around Xiuwen to get the ball from the speakers.

"Mom, that kid really spells trouble. Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Let's just see what I can do, later." She responded and called out, "Siyang, can I borrow your racket?"

Siyang unzips his racket bag and hands one to the coach.

"Qi Lin, would you like to do the honors?" she asks her daughter.

"I'll pass, Mom. Besides, I'm already pretty rusty not being able to use my dominant hand."

"Suit yourself," Coach Qi said then picked up a tennis ball that was just lying around and aimed it at the ball at the top of the speaker.

Coach Qi swung the racket, sending the ball toward the speaker. The ball struck the other ball, dislodging it.

Huang Jing flinched at this and looked back only for him to see the 'middle-aged woman' holding a racket.

Coach Qi smirked triumphantly as she returned Siyang's racket.

"Wow. you still got it, Mom." Qi Lin said proudly.

With a satisfied nod, she turned her attention back to the regulars practicing their swings.

"Everyone! Gather around." Siyang announces.

Jiale was the first one to notice the three and said, "Huh? Coach you're back!"

"Hey Qi Lin! You're here too," he adds.

Qi Lin just waves at him as the team gathers around them.

Siyang starts, "Let me introduce you to our Coach, Coach Qi. And her daughter, Qi Lin, who is going to be our manager. To prepare for the National Junior Tennis Selection Coach Qi has returned this semester to coach us, while Qi Lin will be helping out on the practice matches and data gathering within the team."

Coach Qi adds, "After being away for a year, I'm happy to see so many familiar faces in our club and we also have newcomers. Anyway, our goal never changes. We aim to win the national championship. For you, studying comes first. Only hardworking students can enter the qualifying matches. You have to be good at schoolwork and school tennis competitions. Then you may have the chance to compete for honors for our school."

She ends with her monologue asking the players, "Do you have the confidence to do just that?"

Everyone answers 'Yes' loudly.

Siyang then adds, "The qualifying match grouping details will be posted later. You can have a look then be prepared and keep practicing. Don't let your guard down!"

Everyone went back to practice, but Coach Qi specifically called out one person. "Huang Jing, come here."

Qi Lin smirked at this as she and Siyang went back to the office to fetch the groupings for the qualifying matches.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the two were at the office, Qi Lin went to her mom's desk to grab the papers while Siyang tried to find some tape.

Qi Lin took a look at the papers when she saw on the fourth page that Lu Xia was on it. Mom said before that the qualifying matches are only for grades 11 and 12. How come they considered Lu Xia?

"Found it already?" the voice from behind her made her slightly squeak and jump. Turning around she notices that Siyang already has the tape at hand and some scissors.

"Yeah. I did. I also noticed that Lu Xia is already part of the qualifying list. I thought that the qualifying matches were just for the seniors and juniors?" Qi Lin asked.

Siyang gestures for the papers before answering, "Well, typically freshmen aren't allowed in the qualifying matches since their skills have not been assessed yet."

Qi Lin hands him the papers as he continues, "However, Lu Xia has played a private match. Even if it was against the club's rules, I still had the time to assess his skill set."

This leaves Qi Lin to ponder how the captain knew about the match.

"Let's go"

She snaps out of her trance and follows the Captain out.

----- To be continued -----