Avoiding people had always been Jia Li's talent, considering how she had been walking under the shadows majority of her life. It was easier to look down and let everyone around her pretend that she didn't exist. Well in fact, she clearly didn't exist in other people's lives.
Not until she transferred to Yu Qing.
Her life flipped and she was gradually pulled into the light, letting those people in Yu Qing knew about her existence. She never planned that. All she had planned out was graduating without exposing herself. But Yu Qing turned her plans upside down, dragging her to join the Photography Club through a fake friend and pushing her to get attached with the people targeted for her project. She had grown accustomed to their presence everyday and now, avoiding people became a difficult thing for her to do.
She quickly rushed to Coach Qi Na's office right after her last class dismissed the following day, avoiding to let any of the team see her puffy eyes and bloated cheeks from crying last night. When she handed the permission slip to Coach Qi Na, the coach gave her a long, pointed stare, completely disagreeing how she and Jia Le decided to keep it from the team. In the end, Coach Qi Na decided to just allow her on temporarily leave instead of permitting her to quit her photography project with the promise that she wouldn't tell any of it to the team.
Of course, the team became suspicious at her disappearance and Jia Le's sudden change of personality. When Si Yang and Zhi Ming came to see her during break, she had hidden herself inside the washroom. She had also managed to avoid Qiao Chen and Bai Yang, who were now always in the library. Only Da Yong knew what was going on since Jia Le had always been open to him. The group chat was buzzing with endless notifications of the team mentioning her name but Jia Le would simply tell them that she was too busy — too busy dedicating all of her free time to spend it with their father.
Jia Le still kept giving her updates regarding the team. He'd be sharing stories whenever he came home to take care of their father with her. Jia Li had learned that Si Yang would be in temporarily leave for days, leaving Da Yong and Zhi Ming in charge of the team's trainings until the captain came back. It was alright at first, considering how they were divided into pairs to strengthen the qualities they lacked. However, as the days progressed, she found out that the team was losing their focus. Only a few had been coming to their trainings ever since Si Yang left. Xing Long had been frequently missing out his trainings and Jia Le and Da Yong weren't in speaking terms.
She tried asking her brother what their problem was, but he only shrugged it off, muttering that it was nothing.
But it wasn't just nothing.
Jia Le had arrived home one time, eyes flaring in anger and sweat coating him. He angrily shoved the door open and slammed his bedroom door shut, not even bothering to greet her and their parents like before. Jia Li attempted to pry out whatever problem he had that night when she found him sitting by their doorstep. He simply stared hard at the grass until he broke into tears, saying that he and Da Yong lost in a private match against Xing Yao. And it wasn't just because they lost, but he and Da Yong seemed to have already lost their partnership as their misunderstandings grew worse.
What was happening? They just qualified and they're now like this? Was everything taking too much toll on her brother?
Jia Li didn't know what to do as this was the first ever major disagreement the Golden Partners had. They would eventually make up in a day or so, but it had already been days and she feared that this would somehow affect their performance in the upcoming tournaments.
One night, their mother became worried as Jia Le didn't inform her that he would be out at night. Jia Li had just ushered their father to sit down when their mother requested that she find out her brother's whereabouts.
Worried about him, Jia Li went out and began dialing his number. But she couldn't reach him as his phone was switched off. Realizing she had no idea where her brother might be, her fingers hesitantly pressed one of the names in their group chat. She nervously swallowed before typing a message.
'Senior Zhuo Zhi?' - jia li
She wasn't expecting a reply honestly. But she had no other means on how to look for her brother, so messaging one of the team members was her last resort. If it weren't for the Golden Partners' problems these days, Jia Li would have contacted Da Yong in a heartbeat as they were inseparable. But that wasn't an option anymore.
The vibration of her phone caught her attention, surprising her with a message from Zhuo Zhi.
'Jia Li! I never expect you'd text me. How have you been?' - zhuo zhi
'I'm fine, Senior. I actually texted you to ask if Jia Le's with you? He's not answering my calls and Mom's getting worried about him.' - jia li
'Oh. The team's actually here in Xing Long's restaurant.' - zhuo zhi
'Thanks, Senior. I'm on my way there.' - jia li
Jia Li locked her phone and started walking to the direction of Xing Long's restaurant. But before she could go further, her phone vibrated again, stopping her to take a look at the notification.
'Be safe, Jia Li. I'm glad you're alright.' - zhuo zhi
A small smile slowly inched their way on her lips, disappearing all too soon when she remembered Jia Le.
-☆-
"...We'll all quit playing tennis."
That was the first thing that greeted Jia Li when she entered the restaurant. Her breath hitched, hearing the words from her brother. She glanced around the team with her lips parted, appalled at how no one seemed to disagree with the suggestion.
Zhuo Zhi was the first to notice her presence upon turning his head to the left. He straightened up, mumbling her name, which caught the others' attention, "Jia Li."
"Y-You're all quitting tennis?" She questioned softly.
Da Yong sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm not qualified to be a player. I can't even be a deputy leader."
"Why do you say that?" Jia Le asked harshly, forgetting his sister as he glared at Da Yong.
"The leader and the coach entrusted me with the team. I think the deputy leader should be someone more capable." Da Yong responded, eyes gazing down.
Jia Le scoffed, "Why are you always like this? Isn't it better if we solve our problems together? I've always been opened to you, sharing my problems and worries and you'd help me. But why can't you do the same? Keeping your problems to yourself instead of letting me help you? Why are you the only one who's deciding what's right and wrong?"
Is this why they've been fighting lately?
"Senior Jia Le..." Qiao Chen stood up to stop her brother but he shoved off his hands and stormed past his sister, not bothering to look back.
Why does it feel like everything's falling apart?
YOU ARE READING
𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi
FanfictionIn every tennis game Jia Li had witnessed, she believed that whenever a ball comes bouncing to your court, all you had to do was return it. But after transferring to Yu Qing for her last two years of High School, Jia Li realized there's more to it i...
