Volume 3 - CH 16

Book 3: Glory on the Other Side

Chapter 16

“I wanted to look at you while we were in the arena.”  He said,  “I saw you in the beginning, but then you disappeared.”

……

She continued to drink the soup.  Finally, after a long while, she spilled out a few words, “I left early.”

At the table next to them, there was a couple who were apparently passionately in love. They tasted each other’s food from time to time, whispered and broke into laughter. Ai Qing, while overhearing the couple’s voices, drank her soup. She felt hot enough to sweat, but the weather itself was quite comfortable……

They stayed in the same hotel, designated by the organizer.

After finishing their soups, they walked along the road towards the hotel.  She didn’t really know which direction to go, but thought it would be fine following him. After walking for some time without seeing the hotel, she finally had to ask,  “How long will it take to get there?”

“To where?”  He asked, confused.

“The hotel.”

“Do you want to go back?”

…...It…...it was almost 2:30 in the morning.

He was quiet for a moment,  “We’ll be there after two more intersections.”

The night breeze was blowing onto her face, messing up her short hair.

She reached up to smooth out her hair and felt something cold touch her forehead, it was his hand.  Dt’s movement was somewhat…...unnatural.  He gave a light cough when he put down his hand.  “Do you want to go back?”

Ai Qing pursed her lips and looked sideways, “Let’s keep walking for a bit longer.”

He didn’t have to compete tomorrow and she had nothing to do either.

An air of ambiguity hung about them…...This was the very beginning of their relationship before they had any physical contact…...She didn’t want to act rashly.  Neither did he it seemed.

They kept walking and walking until it was four in the morning.

When they finally reached the front of the hotel, he was the one who took the initiative to stop and let her go in first.

Only his eyes closely followed her.

He understood it very well that it was quite difficult for them to be together at this point.  It was even more difficult given their profession.  Even if she didn’t ask to keep a low profile, he would keep it a secret.  He didn’t want anything unexpected.  He didn’t want to be influenced by anybody.

He wanted to protect it well.

Four o’clock in the morning?  They shouldn’t be seen by anybody?  She thought to herself.

Ai Qing apparently didn’t quite understand K&K’s daily routine.  As she walked into one of the elevators, there were several K&K boys walking out of the other elevator and yawned.  “So hungry.”  “Yeah.  Boss is still in high spirits.  Doesn’t he need sleep?”  “Only the captain has freedom.  We haven’t seen him the whole night.”  “Captain was the only one who performed excellent in the competition yesterday.  What are you worrying about?”

As the elevator was closing its door behind them, the talk turned into “Captain.”  “Captain, you going out?”  “Is the captain hungry too?”......

Dt didn’t say anything, just nodded as his response.

Thus at four o’clock in the morning, Dt was greeted by a small group of K&K players.  With his hands inside his pockets, he pretended to act as if he had just gotten out of his room and was also looking for something to eat.  He walked across the hotel lobby once again and walked out with the others……

……

Ai Qing went in her room, turned on the TV to create some background noise in the room.

The moment she turned on the TV, her phone began ringing.

So late?  She answered the phone.  The first thing she heard was Dt’s words, “Just wanted to make sure that you are back in your room.”

“Uhm.”  She held the phone and turned around to get on bed.

She didn’t know which TV channel it was.  It was playing an English song which happened to be a song she had heard it before, <A Place Nearby>.  At a time like this with a song like that…...she rolled around to lie on her stomach.  “Do you like this song?”

He asked back.  “Do you like it?”

“Yes.”  She closed her eyes and began to chat.  “I like many English songs, but my English isn’t that great.  So it sounds strange when I sing them.”  He pondered for a short while.  “It’s alright.  I can sing it.”

“......I know your English is good.”  She chuckled.

“Not just English.”  He corrected her.  “I also sing it very well.”

“Really?  Who did you sing to?”  Family?  Classmates?  Or…...she couldn’t imagine it at all.

“Myself.”

…...As expected, she laughed.

They chatted for about twenty minutes.  She was too sleepy to keep her eyes open.  Originally she planned to take a shower, but now she had no energy to do it.  She just wanted to hang up the phone and pull the blanket over her to sleep.  He seemed to realize that she was out of energy and bade her good night in a low voice.  She answered and then put the phone down with her eyes closed.  She pulled the blanket over and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

He hung up the phone in his room.

He had just walked into the room and, without bothering to take off his jacket, hurriedly turned on his computer to download the song <A Place Nearby>.

He quickly opened the download folder and navigated to her folder.  He opened it.  The folder held information about all of the competitions she had ever played and many web pictures. Among all the game commentators, she was the one who posted the least amount of pictures.  So all the pictures he had collected didn’t really have any cute ones.

So he looked back at the videos of her interviews.

He opened it.

She was only a teenager.  She laughed straightforwardly.  She spoke straightforwardly.  Everything was straightforward.

Back then, she……

In the video she lively explained what esports was.

He put the computer on his lap and sat at the bed.  By just watching these videos, he could remember all his own teenager years.  He collected any information he could find about her.  He watched her competition videos.  He practiced those video games in his room over and over. Any game she ever played, he also played it.  In the beginning, he was mocked online for having such poor skill.  He got better gradually.  He even played some games she didn’t play, such as Warcraft.

There are geniuses in the world, but there absolutely no one was successful without putting in the effort.

It was an accident that he fought against Solo online that year.

He still remembered the mental impact when he saw Solo’s name. Other than Gun, that was the first time he and her world touched.  Though she didn’t know who he was at the time.

Solo’s team was her past.

But she was also part of his youth which had long gone by and was impossible to repeat again