𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi

27: Captain's Words

"...And then transpose the values to simplify it."

The teacher's voice was being overthrown by Jia Li's thoughts. Her mind was running on a treadmill, playing the events last night on repeat. She inhaled deeply, diverting her attention to focus back on class but her mind kept on betraying her. Her cheeks flushed upon recalling how Zhuo Zhi had comforted her, wrapping her in a warm embrace and didn't let go until she pulled away from him. She felt embarrassed from dampening his shirt with her tears despite how he kept reassuring her that it was alright. Zhuo Zhi didn't pry nor forced her to share with him whatever was bothering her. He respected that but reminded her that he'd be checking up on Jia Li every now and then if she didn't mind.

"Tang Jia Li."

After he had let her vent out her pent-up feelings, he decided to take her home as it was getting too late and her family might be worried. The entire walk to her place was awkward for Jia Li. She had kept her distance as Zhuo Zhi walked ahead of her, hands tucked inside his pockets. Jia Li let out a gasp once Zhuo Zhi turned to her with his eyes displaying amusement. She avoided his gaze, gulping in nervousness. Her heart was beating erratically, and she didn't know why. He stretched out an arm and latched a hand around her wrist, pulling her beside him as they resumed walking. Jia Li's eyes showed confusion at what he was doing but he simply held her wrist and gave her a smile.

"I might lose sight of you if you keep walking far behind me and I don't want that to happen."

"Tang Jia Li."

To say Jia Li was embarrassed was an understatement. Red tainted her cheeks the entire way, thankful that somehow the darkness served as her shade. When they reached her front gate's doorstep, she and Zhuo Zhi had a silent debate whether who was going to head away first. But he chuckled afterwards and stated that he wouldn't go away unless she's safely inside. With that, Jia Li quickly dashed inside after shyly waving him a goodbye to avoid letting him see her blush further.

"Tang Jia Li!" She yelped as her teacher slammed a book on her desk. Horrified, Jia Li nervously glanced upwards at her teacher, who was scrutinizing her carefully, "Are you sick? Why is your face red?"

Jia Li immediately slapped her hands on her warm cheeks, feeling it deepening further from being caught not paying attention in class. The teacher ushered her to solve the problem written on the board. Thankfully, she had managed to advance her Math subject, resulting to her getting away from her teacher's wrath. Jia Li sighed as she returned to her seat, groaning, and slumped her head on her desk.

Senior Zhuo Zhi, what are you doing to me?

She sighed and propped her head sidewards, facing the window. It was useless listening to the teacher blabbering about mathematical problems when her mind kept on drifting back to a certain Year Three student. She'd probably just study it on her own later at home.

As she stared outside through the window, Jia Li raised her head, squinting her eyes as she crossed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering at the sight of the Yu Feng Tennis Team entering Yu Qing's premises. Are they going to have a private match today? Uneasiness then took over as she shuffled on her seat, impatiently glancing at her watch to know how many more hours were left for her afternoon classes to end.

After three agonizing hours of lectures, Jia Li immediately stood up once the teacher dismissed them, slinging her backpack on one shoulder and clutched her books tightly at her chest, not bothering to pack it and dashed towards the direction of the tennis court. But to her disappointment, the matches had already ended. All what's left on the court was the team standing in one line wearing plain white shirts and joggers with Si Yang in front of them, lecturing about how they lost to Yu Feng. Because of that, their punishment was to hand over their tennis uniforms to the Yu Feng team.

That must've been a huge blow on them, considering how they lost to a team they defeated before. Yu Feng must have gotten stronger this time.

Jia Li stood by the entrance, a bit hidden by a pillar as she listened to Si Yang, who had already come back from his temporarily leave.

"...It is my dream to lead us to the National League, but I can't do that on my own and I don't want to force anyone either." Si Yang stated, his gaze settling hard on each of the players. "You are free to make your own choices but when you make a choice, I hope you can be responsible for it."

Senior Si Yang must have already known about the current condition of the team.

"The future matches will be even fiercer. You all should know that you will lose for sure if this condition continues." The players were all looking down on the floor as Si Yang reprimanded them, guilt flashing across their faces. "If you don't understand what I'm saying, then you better give up now."

A small smile stretched on Jia Li's lips as she continued to listen to what Si Yang was saying. No wonder he was chosen as their captain. He definitely possessed leadership qualities and had a way with words. But what amazed Jia Li was how Si Yang always put the team first before him. He was supposed to be on temporarily leave and yet, he still thought of the team and arranged a private match with Yu Feng to strengthen them. Such a good Captain he was.

"I will give you a chance to choose," the captain said. "Those who want to continue playing can meet me at the station the day after tomorrow. The coach has arranged a training with Yu Feng outside the school. But for those who don't want to continue anymore, you may give up now. That's all, you can now go."

Based on the team's expressions, no one seemed interested to attend the training except for Huang Jing, of course. Jia Li bit her bottom lip, worried that the entire team might give up. She hoped that Si Yang's words somehow knocked into their heads, waking them up from the nightmares they were stuck in.

As the team gradually dispersed, Qiao Chen raised his head with a frown, resulting to his gaze settling on Jia Li's figure. He yelled her name and waved giddily, which caught the team's attention. When they turned to her, Jia Li grinned and mouthed a good luck, clutching her books tighter.

Deep inside, she knew that despite the problems the team were facing, Jia Li was sure that they would never give up playing tennis. They wouldn't want to disappoint the school and their families that had been supporting them until now.

Most especially, she knew they wouldn't want to disappoint their captain, who had complete faith in his team that they were going to win the Nationals.

Yu Qing Tennis Team, go win the championship.