Equation of Love

Chapter XIX - Jealousy and investigations

Just realized that I have already written 20 chapters. Originally I thought about 10 maybe 12 chapters at all. Thanks to your support and encouragement the story went on and on and on ;)

Happy reading <3

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Forth's POV

"Okay, guys, warm up, and then we'll start with the right training." Max gives the starting signal with his whistle.

Ming, Lam, Park and I start jogging around the basketball court to warm us up. As we do our laps, I watch Beam stand next to Max and discuss today's training with him. Every now and then he bites his lower lip, a sign that he is thinking about something before giving Max an answer.

"Dude, you look like a lovesick moron." Park whispers to me who has noticed my looks.
I grunt, turn my gaze away and gain speed. I don't feel like talking to Park about my relationship with Beam right now. But Park can be extremely persistent once he's focused on something. "Spit it out. We know Ming has something going on with the little cutie with the dimples, but what's going on between you and our child prodigy?"

Before I can answer Park, Max's whistle interrupts us. "Sprint training, now!"

With a little grumbling, we start skipping and then switch to knee-high running. Afterward, we move around the place in the ski jumping run and switching ski jumping run. After we have finished these exercises, we train our endurance and speed with a few ascending runs.

Sweaty and already breathing a bit more heavily, we then gather around Max again, who explains the further training to us. Beam hands me a water bottle but then ignores me to help Max with his explanations. "After we have practiced the standing throw the last times from the near distance and all of you have sunk at least 5 of 10 balls, we will practice the jump shot from the stand today. We'll start from a standing position and then also practice the jump shot in motion at a distance of three meters from the basket up to seven meters."

We all nod and get into position. Max is looking after Park and Lam, Ming and I have Beam as our coach. Before we start, he explains the basic technique and what we have to pay special attention to. "When jumping you have to make sure that you don't take the momentum from your thighs, but from your ankle joints. Otherwise, the effort will be too much for you and you will lose both speed and agility. It is also important that both feet, as well as the index and middle fingers, point back to the basket after landing and that the throwing arm is completely stretched. The aim is to create a continuous, fluid movement from bottom to top."

I feel a bit like my first basketball training when the coach explained exactly the same thing to us. And again this time I feel like I'm learning something completely new, even though I've probably done this exercise 1000 times before.
Ming and I both start with the exercise. Alternately we aim at the basket and try to follow Beam's orders, which he gives us every now and then. But Beam is extremely critical, not to say perfectionist, and when Ming pulls out of his momentum from his thighs again, Beam intervenes.
He stands behind Ming and his hands lie on Ming's thighs and squeeze them. Ming nods with an understanding nod and Beam squats to hold his ankle joints with his hands. I don't hear what he says to Ming, can only stare at the pale hands on Ming's skin. I have to control myself not to rush towards them and separate them. I breathe deeply and try to ignore the feeling of jealousy that is spreading inside me. Where is Kit when you need him?

When Beam has finished his explanations and Ming has executed the exercise to his satisfaction, he lets him go and turns to me. "What's the matter, Forth? Why don't you keep practicing?"

I clench my jaw, look at him grimly and then throw the next ball. Beam's eyebrows knot irritatedly as I continue ignoring him. But it's better if I don't say anything to him now.