Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 3: Glory on the Other Side

Chapter 8

“It’s alright.” Ai Qing laughed, “Let me take care of it.”

Their conversation ended.

She left his office to wait for Slide downstairs.  She couldn’t quite figure out why Solo had asked her to make the trip back to headquarters?  Actually they hadn’t talked any serious business.  She took out chewing gum from her pocket but a hand gabbed it away before she could unwrap it.  The boss of the Chinese and American regions, Baona, tore it open and cheekily threw into his mouth.  “I knew that you would come over today.”

“I was going to enjoy a big dinner, but you guys asked me to come over.  Actually there wasn’t much business to talk about, how dare you say that……”

“Business?”  Baona burst out laughing,  “The business is that Solo wanted to look at you.”

…..

Since she knew Baona from 2010, whenever he saw her, he had to joke about Solo and her regardless of how many times he had already gone through it.  Frankly speaking, she was already numb hearing this, but……, “Don’t make fun of me about this from now on.”

“Ah?  About what?”

“......Solo.”

“Is this a joke?”  Baona was stunned.  He was truly stunned.  “Damn.  My world is going upside down.  Everyone in the whole esports circle knows about it and it’s the only fun I have.”

The man in front of her kept chewing the gum in disbelief as if to say that this wasn’t the first day since he’d known the two.

Ai Qing kept quiet, not wanting to continue with the topic.

Her cellphone rang.

She thought it was Slide, but after she looked at it…...she gestured to Baona quickly to indicate that it was a private call.  Baona waved his hand, tidied up his suit and immediately returned to being the big regional boss and walked into the elevator.

After she picked up the call, there was nothing but background noise.  Was he still at outside?

Ai Qing felt a little bit strange and asked lightly, “Wu Bai?”

“Nothing really.”  He seemed to realize that his unexpected phone call was a little bit…...out of place.  “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

She walked out slowly.  “Haven’t you arrived home yet?”

“Not yet.  I’m at the gas station.”

She didn’t know what to say next.

Someone was trying to back the car into the parking space without any success after several tries.  The security guard finally couldn’t stand it anymore and ran over to park the car himself.  It reminded her of the embarrassing incident at her community this afternoon.  She didn’t know anything about Wu Bai in real life at all.  Everything she knew was only the Dt in the competition arena, with many championships, and many fans……

“Ai Qing.”  He called her.

“Uhm.”

“This is the first time I have a girlfriend.  I don’t…...have much experience.”  He said, “If I don’t do good enough, please tell me.”

……

Girlfriend.  Boyfriend.

She bit her lip lightly, it hurt more than she expected, it seemed that she was biting her lip quite a lot today.

But she just couldn’t stop herself, it helped her keep a clear head.

After so many years, he was the least familiar one among all her friends.  Even his good friend Grunt-- --because of her sister, she was quite familiar with Grunt’s past, lifestyle, and temperament.

Only Dt……

Originally she planned to start as friends and then develop their relationship gradually.

After they got to know each other better, then it wouldn’t be too awkward and it would only be a matter of course.  Or maybe they would find some aspect of each other they couldn’t tolerate, then they could both step back without affecting their friendship and keep everything peaceful.

But he suddenly confessed, so she could only give him a clear answer:  Yes or No.

And she wasn’t the kind of person who liked to dangle people around…...The end result was that their relationship started rapidly without a complete mutual understanding, just each other’s age, name, and profession.

“You don’t…...don’t be too nervous.”  She walked down the stairs slowly,  “Take it slow.  Maybe you will find that I’m the one who’s not good enough after you get to know me more.”

“You are always very good.”

……

A moment of silence.

“I’ll be flying to Guangzhou tomorrow night.”  She decided to pick up an easy subject, but in actuality she’d just returned to esports competitions again,  “We’re staying in the same hotel.  I’ll let you know after I arrive.”