Picture Us | Zhuo Zhi

forty-one

t e n n i s  d a t e

"Why are we going to a park?" Zhi asks.

"For a change of scenery," Nam simply replies. "Also, I think I said before that... we'd play tennis together one day."

"I remember that," he says, smiling.

"Don't expect too much from me," Nam says, suddenly nervous to play, a lump formed in her throat at the thought of embarrassing herself.

Zhi grabs her hand. "Don't worry, this'll be fun."

They find an open court, and Nam looks at Zhi sheepishly.

"I'm hoping you have an extra racket in your bag," she says, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Here," he says, handing her one. "I figured you would need a spare."

The two casually play a rally, just hitting the ball back and forth, allowing both of them to relax.

Nam can feel herself grin, and has the sudden urge to just surprise him. She suddenly smashes the ball to the very corner of the court, catching Zhi off-guard and ending their rally.

"It's going to be like that?" Zhi says, raising an eyebrow. Nam just innocently waves at him, doing her best to hold in her laugh.

After that, their rallies increase in intensity, and even though she is losing by a wide margin, Nam can tell that Zhi is still going easy on her. He hasn't used any of his special skills yet, and it seems like he's barely moved. At least one of us isn't completely exhausted, she thinks.

By the time they go back to the bench for a water break, Nam feels like her muscles can't move another inch, and she lets herself lean on Zhi.

The sun beats down on them, the coolness of the rain from earlier in the week forgotten.

"Tired?" Zhi asks with a chuckle, and Nam lets out a small whine in response.

"I think you should-" Zhi stops as soon as he starts, and Nam can feel him tense from under her.

"Guan Yue," she can hear him angrily mutter the Nam from under his breath.

She sits up and sees the mentioned boy approach him. Why does he have to be here, of all places? Nam shouts in her head.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Prodigy," Guan Yue says, "and Lu Nam."

Nam wonders why he even knows who she is, considering she's not a tennis player, but lets that thought slide.

"What do you want?" Zhi practically spits out, and Nam can feel his anger seething when his question is ignored. The tension makes her wish she could run away.

"There's not much about you from my research," Guan Yue says, directly facing Nam. "Care to come with me instead, so I can learn more?"

Nam steps back in shock, not sure what to make of this, and Zhi is practically growling at him. "She's with me," he says, pulling her close to himself, and Nam is grateful for the safety.

Guan Yue scoffs at them, and Nam notices that he's just using different tactics to rile up Zhi. "Even if they call you a prodigy, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a title," Guan Yue tells Zhi. "Based on my predictions, I could play you right now and win everything."

His eyes are cold and calculating, and Nam surprises herself by stepping in before Zhi has the chance.

"It's a title he earned. We'll see who wins on the court tomorrow," she says, before dragging Zhi away by tugging his arm. And he lets her do so, feeling lighter by his girlfriend's response.

The whole time they're walking, Nam clings to Zhi's arm, too nervous from that confrontation to let go since she first grabbed it.

"Why'd you do that?" Zhi asks while he's walking Nam home.

"Hm?"

"I just never imagined you would confront someone like that. You're always so cute and tiny," Zhi teases, draping his free arm over a blushing Nam.

"Hey! I can handle myself if I need to," she indignantly says, unlatching herself in an attempt to save some dignity.

"I believe that," Zhi says, fully sincere. "I just want to do more to protect you."

A soft smile rests on Nam's face. "I... I want to be able to do the same for you. That's why I did... that earlier. You would've gotten in trouble if you challenged him, and... I didn't want you getting more upset. I'll always be here for you," she admits. "But let's never do that again."

"Agreed," Zhi chuckles. "And thank you. Tomorrow, during the match, no matter what happens, please trust me."

Nam looks confused, but nods anyways. "Of course," she replies, before bounding up the steps to go home.

Zhi is left there with a small smile on his lips, and a plan formulating in his head. Tomorrow, Guan Yue is going down.

A/N- sorry for the late update :( it's definitely a lot later than what i had hoped for, but thank you for waiting. i hope you enjoyed this chapter!

also, i'm not the best with all this romance gunk, so that short interaction was me attempting jealousy, except i really didn't want to make zhi jealous, so i didn't write it like that :/ it's more like he just gets pissed off in front of nam instead of someone making him jealous? either way- i tried.