The Prince(ss) Of Tennis

Old Flame I

The Yu Qing tennis team made their way through the sea of spectators, waiting to see a match between Xing Yao and Yu Feng, looking for seats enough to accommodate them all. They found two rows of empty bleachers, and occupied them in clumps of two. Aifang nudged Zhuo Zhi away when he was about to sit beside Siyang, she jabbed her thumb pointing to the vacant seat behind her, communicating with her wiggled eyebrows that he should sit there instead. She gave a nonchalant half-shrug to the scowl that painted his face - "deal with it"
She breathed in the familiar citrus scent of Siyang's cologne. Their proximity, and his sweet cologne scent, had a dizzying effect on her. Despite the chilliness of the weather that morning, her nervousness caused a wave of warmth to wash over her.
She shifted in her seat to unzip her jacket, bumping her shoulder with Siyang's - "sorry" she muttered, tittering nervously.
- "why is he unzipping his jacket in this harsh cold? He's so strange sometimes" Siyang thought.
- "are you feeling under the weather?" Aifang looked at him bug-eyed, the realized the reason behind this question. She shook her head - "don't worry, I'm a 100% fine"
- "if only you knew the effect you have on me" were the thoughts she never dared to speak out loud.
Zhiming leaned forward, so that his head was visible from where he sat, three seats away from her, and said - "sorry Aifang, since we all know Xing Yao team very well, and you're the only newbie here, I completely forgot to brief you about them" he adjusted his glasses.
- "no biggie, you can brief me about them later"
Aifang shifted her attention to the matches and Xing Yao. The cheerleaders of Xing Yao, began chanting their name in an organized manner like a choir, holding up blue and white long balloons as they did so.
- "why are they stealing our colors? Copycats" Aifang childishly stuck her tongue out at the roaring cheerleaders.
The more Aifang heard the name "Xing Yao" the more it nagged her mind, the more she was coming closer to unearthing long forgotten memories.
She willed herself to remember, as her curiosity grew like an inflated balloon. Until the balloon burst with her new discovery.
She saw someone by Xing Yao's bleachers, conversing with an older man seemingly their coach. The boy looked all too eerily familiar. His name was just at the tip of her tongue, it seeped out of her mouth with a whisper - "Ji—Ji Jingwu??"

< FLASHBACK >
Four years ago, in a prestigious middle school exclusively for the children of the wealthy, and the elite members of society. Thirteen year old Aifang ran across the grass covered field, chasing the ball away from the coming group of boys, who'd otherwise snatch it away, and score a goal for their team. She deftly leaped over the boy sacrificing his body to tackle her, all the while securing the ball with her. She single-handedly eliminated all the competition herself, without the help of her teammates. With the coast being clear of any further threat, she sped up, her only focus being the net and the goalie. One swift kick of her feet, she shot the ball, it flew straight into the net. The goalkeeper reached frantically for the ball, but was unable to catch it in time, which scored her team another goal.
- "YAYYY" she beamed, her crystal white teeth gleamed in the afternoon sun.
Wanting to share her victory with her teammates, she bounced over to them, expecting a shower of praises. The boys from the opposing team cornered her however, appearing as a pack of savage dogs cornering a small kitten. Much to her shock, her teammates joined them, instead of standing up for her.
- "but why??" A hint of hurt was evident in her shaky voice.
- "because you always steal our limelight" one of the boys pointed a blaming finger at her with this cryptic comment.
- "I thought we agreed that I'm the forward, since I'm faster than you guys"
- "that's not all" he continued - "you don't know how to play a team game, you never pass the ball to us. We only let you play with us because we thought you were cute. But since you're so full of yourself, why don't you play on your own?" He tossed her the ball.
- "you know what? Create your own imaginary team, so you can win over them all you want" this remark drew a din of laughter from the other boys.
- "don't play with us again" he gave her one last contemptuous look, and turned to leave with her now former teammates.
She only played with the boys for fun, she didn't imagine they harbored this much hatred for her, just because she was a better player than they were.
Hot tears pricked her eyes, she stared at the dirt coated ball in her hand, totally ignoring the boys from the opposite team. They stood still, not moving from their spots, still bitter over their defeat.
- "hey crybaby, don't put on an act, you can't fool us" the opposite team's goalie snorted, he moved closer, hostility clouded his eyes.
Aifang dapped at her blurry eyes with her knuckles, with a visible tremor in her voice, she snapped - "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
- "this" he forcefully plucked the ball from her hands - "you don't deserve to be on the field, you should go play with your Barbie dolls instead" he made a hair combing movement with his hands mockingly.
Aifang replied with a decisive - "NO"
His sneer faded - "what did you say?"
She strained to compose herself, her fists balled, digging her nails in her palm - "I SAID NO"
The goalie passed the ball to one of his teammates, and proceeded to prod Aifang's forehead with his index finger over and over - "shut you trap, little girl"
Aifang fumed - "I've had enough!!!" Without warning, she twisted his finger - "DON'T TOUCH ME"
He yelped, grimacing, looking at his red swollen finger - "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
- "YES I AM, I ALSO BITE, SO BACK OFF"
All of a sudden, the small cluster of boys parted, separating in two rows, allowing a tall boy in a white adidas tracksuit to pass through them.
- "UH-OH, is he their leader?" Aifang was glued to her spot, this boy's aura rendered her scared stiff, she swallowed hard, trying not to let it show
He turned his back to her, addressing the boys - "I take it that you boys never read any anti-bullying slogans, so you must not know that a sign of weakness is being mean"
One of the boys was clearly triggered by "weakness" he shouted
- "WHO ARE YOU CALLING WEAK?"
The mysterious boy retorted - "I wouldn't provoke me if I were you"
The goalie jabbed him in the ribs, shushing him - "zip it, do you know who he is?"
Aifang thought - "I can't be sure if he's trying to help, or if has a ulterior motive"
After the earlier interruption, he continued - "you shouldn't be preying on the feeble—" his eyes moved to Aifang, who still occasionally sent glares to the goalie.
- "my bad, I take it back miss, you can clearly fend for yourself" he shot her a playful wink.
Aifang felt light-headed, she couldn't take her eyes off this mysterious boy with the irresistible charm - "who is he?~" her question hung in the air, and remained unanswered.
- "this playing field belongs to all students, you don't own it. Anyone can play here, including this young lady"
Aifang couldn't suppress the wide gloating grin, from spreading on her face.
Lastly he said - "if you bully someone else, you have to answer to me, got it?" His eyes flitted from one boy to another, taking in their mortified reaction.
- "off you go" with a flick of his finger, the boys were gone in a beat.
The goalie scurried behind, the boy pulled him by the back of his collar - "not so fast"
He picked some lint off the goalie's jersey - "we're not done yet"
He got into a huddle with the goalie, to communicate something in a hushed tone. Aifang couldn't hear him threatening - "do you want the principle to find out about your small cigarette business?"
The goalie blanched, swallowing hard - "please no, I'm so sorry"
- "I don't need your apology" he scoffed - "apologize to the person you wronged" he tilted his head towards Aifang.
The goalie gave a half-hearted apology, and ran off. Aifang was apathetic towards the apology, it served as a background noise to her. how could she care? When this enigmatic boy had occupied all her interest!!
< END OF FLASHBACK >

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For anyone who's confused "the boy" in the flashback scene is ( Ji Jingwu ) 😁😁