Volume 2 - CH 42

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 2: You’re Beautiful

Chapter 42

It was early in the morning when they arrived at the airport.

Ai Qing, wearing earphones, was on an international long distance call with people from her club, explaining their short encounter with the Korean team TUMA.  Inin was running around in front of her pushing a shopping cart.  He was shopping for gifts for everyone, for both members of A team and B team. Any SP personnel he could think of or remember their name, they were all on Inin’s shopping list.

Ai Qing looked at the over filled shopping cart and sighed, “I beg you to stop shopping.  We only have four hands, we can’t possibly carry all of these.”

“No. There’s Dt.”  Inin’s eyes brightened and he gave a brilliant smile,  “He’ll definitely help us carry it.”

……

Their conversation was heard through the phone in the office in China across the Pacific ocean.

“Ah, Solo, can we take a nap.”  Baona said wearily, “Do you not know what it feels like to be sleepy?  You’ve been working me to death.  Can I go to sleep for a while?”  Solo’s voice was still like the clear water.  It was very calm without any emotional ups and downs.  “No problem.  Anyway our workloads are equal. Nobody can help you with yours.”

Baona continued to whine.

Solo cut him off, “It’s about boarding time for them. The conference with America can end now.”

Baona yawned, “I’m hanging up, Ai Qing. I need to go to sleep. Damn the phone conference.  Let me get my soul back by sleeping first.”

Amid a noisy background, the phone disconnected.

Ai Qing still wore the earphones. She saw Inin was counting the US dollars he carried. Because he decided to buy so much, it seemed that he didn’t have enough money. She pulled out her purse, but someone else already stepped up and paid the rest for Inin.

As expected, it happened exactly as Inin had said. That man not only paid the bill, but also carried away most of the shopping bags. He merely passed more than half of the bags to Grunt who was empty handed. Grunt, dumbfounded, cursed and picked them up.

They carried all the bags onto the airplane.

Inin kept a big bag of snacks with him to eat during the flight. The other passengers in first class, a few middle aged men, watched Gun leading several young people------eating snacks.

Ai Qing put the back of her seat down, half lying while eating the cheese crackers in her hand, lost in thought.

Many more snacks were stacked on her lap.

She finished a bag, then continued onto the next one.

Through her earphones, she listened to <The Ordinary Road>[1].  The voice was chanting,  “moving forward, just like this……”

Dt sat next to her. They had followed the same seating arrangement as when they flew here. Dt would accompany her for the long flight.

“The first time I flew on an airplane was with your cousin.”  She spoke unexpectedly and lightly,  “I had a big fight with my parents before that tournament. They didn’t want me to continue competing…...so, I didn’t make it in time to fly with all the others. Solo needed to be with the team to register. He left your cousin behind to accompany me.”

Dt didn’t expect her to speak without prompting about her past.

“It was silly.  I need others to accompany me onto an airplane.”  She still felt very silly about it all. “But that was the first time I boarded an airplane.  Han Shangyan took me to check in my luggage, help me select a seat, and led me through the security check. You know how nasty he could be. He scolded me all the way from the entrance till we were boarding the plane.  He even lectured me about fastening the seat belt……”

All these things, of course, Gun would never have told Dt.

So he didn’t want to miss any of her words.  He listened attentively.  He tried his best to construct a picture of her past all the while.  How she confusedly followed the nasty tempered Gun in her youth, being reprimanded.  But she still laughed and stuck out her tongue without being bothered by it…...Didn’t she just have a fight with her family?  Then she must have been laughing with red, swollen eyes.

Her smile always appeared on the tournament floor.

Whether it was ten years ago when she was a team player, or now, as the manager.  She was equally beautiful in both times.

He turned off the overhead reading light to prevent the light from shining into her eyes.

She noticed and stopped.

“Why did you stop?”  He asked.

She glanced at him silently.

[1]: 平凡之路, “ping fan zhi lu”, a real song that’s translated to “The Ordinary Road,” you can find it on youtube if you’re curious.