"If that young lad can call you good at tennis, it's probably something worth believing."
Even the Coach believes in Lu Xia's talent with so much confidence. It isn't a bad thing, because it is true that Lu Xia is a literal tennis genius. But, how can everyone believe him that easily when he says I'm good at tennis? I only have the above-average tennis skills, why is everyone taking Lu Xia so seriously?
"Of course!" Peng Xiang agreed with Coach Qi. "We have to watch Yue En play one day, just to make sure Lu Xia isn't lying to our faces,"
"That's kind of pressuring, honestly," I admitted, "Having people watch me play. I'm probably not going to live up to your expectations, just so you know."
"Yue En, have a bit more faith in yourself!" Ai Qi encouraged. "No one is going to laugh at you, even if you do badly, which I doubt so,"
She's got a point.
"Alright, Qi Ying, Peng Xiang, Ai Qi, Yue En," Coach Qi addressed to all of us. "I need to have a meeting with the two captains, who are waiting outside right now, so I'd appreciate--"
"Okay, Auntie, we will leave now," Qi Ying chuckled, and she ushered us out of the lounge. As we got outside, I spotted Si Yang at the corner of my eye entering the building.
I check the time on my phone. 5.17 pm. "Hey, it's late and I'll be leaving now," I told the girls. "Thanks for all your help today. Qi Ying, Peng Xiang, if you guys ever need help with any cheerleading stuff, you can always find me and Ai Qi,"
"Yes!" Ai Qi agreed along with me.
"I will," Peng Xiang said. "Come on, Qi Ying, we still have our bags in the classroom. Bye, Senior Ai Qi and Yue En!"
We waved to the juniors as we separated our ways. Ai Qi and I were headed towards the entrance of Yu Qing, towards the bus stop.
"Thanks so much for everything today, Ai Qi," I said gratefully to her beside me. Truly, today would not have been as disastrous as I had expected it to be if she hadn't come up to me this afternoon.
We both sat on the bench, waiting for the bus to arrive. The sky was forming a beautiful light orange hue as the time passed. The light breeze tousled my hair playfully as we talked.
"As I said, I expect all of my kindness to be repaid sooner or later," Ai Qi joked. "Ugh, but I've never been this satisfied as today in weeks."
"Satisfied?"
"Mhm," Ai Qi said. "I made a new friend, I took her around the school for a tour, I got you a spot in the cheerleading team, and most importantly," Ai Qi wiggled her eyebrows. "We got to see Si Yang twice today,"
I laughed as she did too. "Seriously, you have to stop obsessing over him though," I told her, while the bus pulled up before our stop. We stood up and boarded it, taking our seats at the back.
"It's not an obsession," she scoffed. "I see him every day in the corridors, either way. Also, did you see him play tennis earlier?"
"Yeah," I said. "Although he would have done so much more impressively if he had used his left hand,"
"You're an avid reader of 'Tennis Monthly', aren't you?" Ai Qi asked.
"Somewhat," I answered. "Well, I did have to do some research on the school before I came here, right?"
Can she see through my lie if I make eye contact with her? I averted my gaze towards the window.
"On the tennis team?" Ai Qi pressed on.
"Hey, I like tennis too, it doesn't hurt to know who I might be better than in Yu Qing," I smirked.
Ai Qi sighed, "Yue En, can you teach me tennis one day?"
"What for? Don't tell me it's for Si Yang,"
"It's not him, I'm being honest," Ai Qi said. I turned my head to look at her, and she had a wistful look on her face like she was genuinely deep in thought. I could tell she was sincere because she didn't look lovesick or anything. "I'm just thinking, I should have another hobby other than studying, perhaps,"
"You study as your hobby?" I recoiled in shock.
"I have strict parents," Ai Qi revealed. "I've only learnt the violin when I was younger, and I quit at Grade 9, and I went for art classes and they never lasted long either. I never really found my interest in the arts, I guess."
"Ah," I said, "Sure, I'll practise my tennis while I'm giving you lessons on it too,"
"Thanks, Yue En," Ai Qi smiled. "My stop is just here, see you tomorrow?"
"See you!" I waved as she alighted the bus, and I was left to my own thoughts.
Hobbies... what Ai Qi had mentioned got me wondering. I've always thought of my hobby as both tennis and dancing, more so the latter than the former. I could say that they may have been my talents, but I wasn't as fortunate as Ai Qi to go for classes of such since my childhood. I've been learning things on my own, researching for my own materials, learning how to copy from others without their clear instructions.
I was never sent for sports classes of any sort, I had learnt tennis from watching online matches and Si Yang. Si Yang was self-taught too, only managing to get the minimal coaching from his instructors since elementary school, and he would transfer their tips and tricks back to me to try out.
My real interest didn't lie in tennis, however. It was dancing that I loved so much.
The shadows of the lampposts grew longer, and the world dimmed a little more. People of all groups were walking about on the sidewalks, students, the elderly, young couples, families of three or four. The trees were still now, like scenes captured in a photograph, like unmoving paintings caught in a frame. I wondered when would Si Yang come home. I should help to cook for his dinner before he returns.
My stop had rolled up, and I alighted, remembering the landmarks that I had passed by this morning when Si Yang and I had walked to school together. I quickened my pace, aiming to reach my front door before the sun would set. There were fewer people outside in this part of the street. The park just opposite Si Yang's apartment had a few people out for an evening jog perhaps, or they were walking their dogs out late. I arrived at the entrance of our house, climbed up the front steps and inserted the key into the lock.
I switched on the lights in the apartment and kicked my shoes off at the entrance. Despite Si Yang having both his studies and tennis to focus on, he still kept his apartment surprisingly clean and well-maintained. I dropped my bag on the floor beside the sofa and decided that I should start cooking dinner already. Who knew how long that meeting with Coach Qi would take.
I washed my hands and opened the fridge to see what Si Yang had catalogued inside. A few vegetables, fruits, chicken, and a couple of sauces on the counter. Okay, I could make do with this, I thought as I pulled my ingredients out of the fridge and began to wash the rice.
Back then, I had taken over the role of being the one to complete the household chores after school, to cook meals for the family, while Pa worked from the early mornings to late nights to earn the money, both for us to survive and to pay for Ma's treatment. I had gotten accustomed to being treated like the 'housewife' then. Si Yang must have been incredibly lonely here for his three years of living in China. I pondered on whether Si Yang had been taking care of himself well, having to take on the burden of so many things at school, and also carrying the burden of trying to support his own family. He has his friends and teammates, so he isn't completely lonely, I guessed. I could remember how carefree he had sounded over the phone as he had described to me his team, with pride in his tone. He had occasionally spoken about his best friend, Zhuo Zhi, and when he did, it was obvious how much he had treasured him as his best friend.
Oh gosh, now isn't the time to be thinking of this morning's incident, Yue En! I frustratedly stirred the vegetables in the pan a little more furiously. Every time Zhuo Zhi's name came up, my stupid brain just had to replay that moment when I had crashed into him, like an embarrassing video clip playing on repeat. Stupid, stupid! Why can't I stop thinking about Zhuo Zhi?
I heard the front door open as I was adding a sprinkle of seasoning on the dishes. "Yue En? Are you here?"
"I'm cooking for dinner!" I yelled across the living room. "Si Yang, can you help me with the dishes for a moment...?"
"In a second!" Si Yang called back. I mixed the vegetables and the chicken for a few more seconds, then grabbed a large plate and tipped the food onto it. I checked on the progress of the food in the other saucepan, then poured whatever was in that saucepan into a separate bowl. Si Yang entered the kitchen, still in his tennis uniform.
"Help me take out the rice in the cooker," I instructed him. "And ugh, you smell sweaty,"
"I just came back from practice, did you expect me to smell like flowers and perfume?" Si Yang shot back, taking out bowls and the rice scoop from the cupboard.
"It's just a comment! I'm just hoping that you'll go take a shower right after dinner," I said. I grabbed a tray and began loading the dishes onto it.
"Gosh, how I'm going to miss my old life when I did stuff on my own," Si Yang grumbled. "It's like living with a parasite now,"
"Excuse you! I cooked you dinner, you ungrateful--"
"Thanks, you pest," Si Yang half-smiled mischievously, taking out the chopsticks. "Okay, I'm only teasing,"
"Damn right you should be," I muttered under my breath and set the dishes out on the table.
Si Yang laid out the rice and utensils. "So, how was your first day at school?"
"Decent enough," I answered. "I'm sitting in between Bai Yang and Qiao Chen, though. How lucky of me,"
Si Yang laughed softly. "I can only say that you're going to have an interesting term ahead, then. By the way, who was that girl you were with at the tennis court?"
"The tennis court?" I asked. "I was with my classmate. Did you see me during practice?"
"Yeah, I saw," Si Yang said. "I just heard a commotion over at the walkway and I saw you with someone else,"
Jeez, Ai Qi! Why were you so loud when you could have kept your mouth shut?
Wait, if Si Yang had seen me, did Senior Zhuo Zhi notice me as well? Did I disturb him during his practice?
Darn it, Yue En! Stop making the topics revolve around him!
"Who was she?" Si Yang asked again, as we sat down to eat our dinner. "Wow, Yue En, your dishes look nearly as good as Xing Long's,"
Xing Long was one of the strength-based players on the main team, I recalled. And he was also the student who opened a roasted geese restaurant with his father, although he had decided to follow his passion for tennis after much consideration between his love for cooking and tennis.
"She's my friend, Wei Ai Qi," I answered, taking some of the food with my chopsticks and transferring it to my rice. "She helped me sign up for the cheerleading team, so now I can watch your matches and support you!"
"Is she nice?" Si Yang queried. "I'm just checking on if my sister is being treated kindly,"
"She's very sweet and relatively social," I described, leaving out the part that she has a crush on Si Yang. "And I already told you, Si Yang, I'm not a child, I can look out for myself,"
"Just checking in!" Si Yang huffed. "Glad to know that you're making friends already,"
I nodded as we both continued our dinner, updating each other on our situations and talking about our day. It had been years since I had a proper conversation with my brother like this, and it felt heartwarming to know that we were still this close.
Later that night as I crawled into my bed, just about to drift off into sleep, I remembered that I hadn't mentioned a single word to Si Yang about my incident with Zhuo Zhi this morning.
☆ ☆ ☆
This chapter was especially long since I had added the siblings' scene of Si Yang and Yue En, and I felt that it wouldn't hit as different if I had written it in a separate chapter. I also tried to edit my style of writing by also describing stuff around the characters instead of just them having conversations, keyword: 'tried'. I hope y'all have enjoyed this long chapter though!
And this is pretty late after its release but I'm addicted to What You Waiting For by Somi, THE SONG FREAKING SLAPS. go listen to it if you haven't or you're missing out.
Help me out by voting for this chapter if you liked it?
~ Snowy ♡