The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

74: Golden Partners... Let's Work Harder?

I scrunched my eyebrows up at the sheet of notes Yan Zhi Ming had passed to me earlier at the start of afternoon training. Confused, I held the lines of written Chinese characters up to my eyes, making sure I hadn't read it wrongly. "It says, training with the rope."

Jia Le scoffed, folding his arms over his chest, his racket clutched in one hand. "Easy-peasy. Da Chi and I have done that since we were in Year One."

"Uh..." I sucked the air through my teeth, my eyes never leaving the paper. "But, you two are playing against the ball machine. With eyes closed."

"Eyes closed?" Da Chi repeated, sounding a little in disbelief. Jia Le's face was a mask of bewilderment.

I swallowed my saliva. "Senior Ah Yan says that it's special training to see how strong the taciturnity is between you two," I flipped the sheet of paper to read out the notes on the other side of it. "Not only should you be able to understand the other's movements and way of thinking without signals or any form of communication, but you should also exercise the sense of hearing and predict the ball's path for the event of when sight is unreliable."

"When sight is unreliable..." Jia Le echoed, his gaze drifting away from me as if he was recalling a memory.

Probably something unfortunate happened to him to make him seem so distracted.

I pushed the stray strands of hair away from my face. "Seniors, there's no need to be too worried over it. Senior Ah Yan also said that it is not expected for single players to be this professional either." The only person whom I've heard can do so is Lu Xia's father, Lu Xiang Qian.

The Partners remained silent for a second, rethinking over the programme Ah Yan had designed for them. Then a smile emerged on Da Chi's face, and he lightly punched Jia Le's arm. "This sounds even more interesting. Guess our training for the last day will be exciting after all."

Jia Le's face brightened at his words, nodding firmly. "Mm!" He held a hand out eagerly in Da Chi's direction, which Da Chi put his palm to in a hi-five motion. Jia Le grinned, "Golden Partners...?"

Da Chi shook his head and smiled, filling the end of his sentence. "We are the best."

A ball from Yu Feng's court flew from behind the Partners and was charging towards them. Before I could yell out at them to dodge, both Jia Le and Da Chi's eyebrows furrowed and their ears perked up, swiftly bringing their rackets up in unison. Da Chi moved his racket behind his back while Jia Le spun around to cover his racket over Da Chi. The ball was blocked by both their rackets and Da Chi's shoulder was unharmed.

"Impressive coordination, Seniors," I mused, awed by their simultaneity.

Jia Le snickered, miming an action similar to one blowing through a cigarette. "What did Ah Yan say again? How strong our taciturnity is between us? Hah!" Jia Le bumped Da Chi's side lightly with the rim of his racket. "You know, Da Chi, I've been thinking of making an English catchphrase for the Golden Partners."

"Golden Partners..." Da Chi trailed off, speaking in English now. "What rhymes with 'Partners'?"

"Hm," Jia Le pouted, deep in thought. "Gardener, farmer, marker..." he pondered, then switched back to Mandarin. "Yue En, you're the one good at English. Suggest something!"

"Let's see," I pressed my lips together, considering. "Golden Partners... let's work harder?" I scowled at my made-up catchphrase. "Yeah, that's stupid."

Da Chi sighed. "We really should start working on our training programme now, or else Coach Qi is gonna smell out that we aren't."

I jogged over to the sheltered benches and found a long rope that Ah Yan had indicated on his notes. Tossing it over to my seniors for them to tie around their waists, I dragged the ball machine over to the other end of the court and adjusted the dials according to Yan Zhi Ming's plan. "Ready, Seniors?" I shouted, slipping the handheld remote out of the machine's compartment.