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During the past five years, on the regional volleyball competitions, Four Seasons had become the undefeated winner. No doubt the players had been exceptional from day one, but ever since the team's former owner's nephew joined, the ball had always been in their court. At first, people had been outraged and claimed nepotism, but the moment the seventeen-year-old showed off his skills, the complaints were exchanged for cheers.
The former owner of the club was Qin Huaizang, and his nephew was Zhou Zishu, who had moved from the other side of the country after tragedy befell his family. He was talented, obstinate and did not allow anyone to take a wrong step. In a matter of months, he became the star player and the talk of the town; because they now had a player that would secure the local team victories.
That year, multiple teams from different cities arrived in Yueyang to play the regional competition, so in preparation, Zhou Zishu -unwillingly- and his friends decided to hit the club.
It was Friday, and the competition was set to start on Monday. In his opinion, they should have been training or resting, but Jing Beiyuan –his best friend- told him he needed to let loose and stop being such a bore, to which he answered with a middle finger and a door slammed to his face. He still ended up stuck in the middle of sweaty, intoxicated people.
His friend Jing Beiyuan stayed with him for all of ten minutes, until a pretty guy with a tan and thick accent arrived, and soon enough, both disappeared from his sight.
Zhou Zishu was sat by himself, watching the rest of his friends make fools of themselves on the dance floor -as much as he could see, though, since it was dark, with only the flashing lights illuminating their figures from time to time- while nursing his fifth drink of the night. He unlocked his phone to check the time, and decided that after midnight, he would leave.
It was fifteen past eleven, so he sighed and drank the remaining of his wine; then ordered a new glass. To his annoyance, his phone died because he had forgotten to charge it, and he had not brought any cash, so now he had to wait until one of his friends appeared for them to pay his tab.
As revenge, he ordered an expensive drink next.
Not more than ten minutes later, a man sat down on the stool by side, and in the darkness, he could still feel him openly staring at him. The flashing lights momentarily illuminating his face let him see a smirk that made him want to punch him. The man had a kind of audacity he had not seen in a while. He looked away, stirring his drink with a straw.
"I'm not from around here, so being shown around by a beauty like you would undoubtedly be very pleasant."
Zhou Zishu could gag at the ridiculousness and cheesiness of the stranger.
“I have more important matters to attend to than being a tourist guide, sorry."
That would not discourage the stranger, because he leaned even closer, and chuckled. Zhou Zishu looked everywhere; it seemed his friends had left, probably with some flings they had found.
"May I know this beauty's name?"
Turning towards the man, he said. "Buy me a drink, and I will tell you."
Up close, a whiff of the stranger's smell reached him; though he thought it was familiar, but he quickly blamed it on the alcohol in his system.
Beaming, the cheesy stranger ordered two more cups of wine; then turned to him expectantly.
"My name's Zhou Xu."
The guy pushed his stool even closer to him, so close he could smell a hint of wine in his breath.
"Ah!" He exclaimed. "A beautiful name, very fitting. Do you mind if I call you A-Xu?"
Zhou Zishu shook his head, finding this stranger absolutely ridiculous.
To his shame, he wounded up making out with him later.
-
The competition began with high spirits. Qin Huaizang was incredibly dedicated to it; therefore, he decided to rent a small apartment complex for all the players to settle in so they did not have to pay for accommodations during their stay. Zhou Zishu did not understand why he, himself, had to stay there, as he had his own place. But his uncle was so earnest since it was the first time they were hosting the competition, he had no choice but to concede. It was only for two weeks, he told himself, and packed his belongings begrudgingly.
He walked to his room with his bag slung over his shoulder and his earphones plugged in; fully ignoring the ruckus going on around him as young men from six different places settled in. He thought this would only lead to chaos; his uncle thought it would promote fraternity.
When he opened the door, he found that there are two bunk beds and the only decor there was a vase with a synthetic flower placed over some drawers. He wondered if his uncle thought it was a summer camp instead of a competition. But he sighed and claimed a top bunk only for the reason that he did not want to be bothered by anyone, lay there, and decided to sleep until dinnertime. He woke up to someone shaking him, so he grunted and turned away.
"Wake up and look at this, Zishu." It was Jing Beiyuan waking him up, with his eyes glued to his phone. In his half asleep state he could not see much of his friend's face, but he noticed a hint of mischievousness in it. That never meant anything good, so he glared at him.
"It seems you've got some competition, my dear." The smirk on his face was... something. He scowled. "I've been checking some locals' Weibo accounts and everyone's talking about player number one from the Ghost Valley. Some say he can give you a run for your money."
Rolling his eyes, Zhou Zishu scoffed. He could not remember much of his beginnings in the sport, but he had never been beaten since he joined Four Seasons.
"And he's cute. Do you want to see his photo?"
Jing Beiyuan was about to show him a picture of the aforementioned emerging player, but he slapped his hand away, pulled his blanket over his head, and continued sleeping.
Throughout the day, others of his teammates would make comments about the guy, but he did not pay much attention to it.
"So you're not even one bit nervous about this guy beating your not-so-small ass, Zishu?"
"Why would I be?" He snapped at Jing Beiyuan around a mouthful of sandwich, already fed up with the topic. "No one's ever beaten me in years, some newbie won't change that."
The other shrugged his shoulders, and continued scrolling through his social media. Zhou Zishu barely used social media himself, though, so he forgot about the guy fast enough.
What he did not forget, though, was the guy he met at the club two nights ago; but he kept that a secret.
-
The following Monday, Zhou Zishu arrived at the gym to exercise. It was not very equipped, but it was okay. He dropped his bag on a bench, and began warming up.
He was stretching his legs on a mat when a tall man, long hair in a ponytail, sat by his side -way too close for his liking- despite the ample space in the gym. The man began to stretch too, and Zhou Zishu glared at him, as if that would make him up and leave. When that did not work, he stood up, grabbed his mat, and walked away until he was at a safe distance from the guy.
There was not much he could see about the guy, but his bag had the logo of the Ghost Valley team, so to avoid any unnecessary feuds, he did not make any sarcastic comment, no matter how much he wanted to when the guy started to chuckle.
From afar, he stole glances at the man, and wondered if he could be the so-called star player from the Ghost Valley.
Later on, his friends arrived, and after a moment's distraction as he greeted them, the man disappeared.
He would swear he continued seeing the man in different places at different times; but he never managed to see his face, so he did not really have any evidence to confront him for potentially stalking him. He saw a tall man with a Ghost Valley keychain hanging from his bag at the cafeteria, and then a tall man with the Ghost Valley uniform shorts at the bus stop in front of the apartment complex. It exasperated him, and he wondered whether he was exaggerating; after all, the six teams that would compete starting Monday were all staying in the same vicinity, it was normal for him to bump into other players, was it not?
So now there were two things messing with his head when he should have been focusing on the competition ahead.
-
Things came to a halt when Zhou Zishu and his team were practicing in the court as per scheduled, and five guys clad in red uniform with small black details appeared. With confidence, they walked towards them.
One of the players, whose shirt read Xie Wang, addressed Zhou Zishu with a smirk; the latter felt like the scene had been taken from a movie.
"You want a match?"
He looked him up and down, trying to figure out if it was the same man he had been encountering everywhere, but he was not; that one was too short.
"Sure." He shrugged, unbothered. "If you wish to embarrass yourself so early in the competition."
"You were going to start the fun without me?"
Everyone in the court turned toward the entrance where a guy, considerably taller than most of them, stood. As if he had been taken off some sort of sports anime, he was wearing a hoodie that covered most of his face. Zhou Zishu rolled his eyes at the man's dramatics. Then the newcomer dropped his bag on a bench, and Zhou Zishu saw the keychain hanging from it; one with the red and black logo of the other team, identical to the one he had seen on the stalker slash mystery man he kept encountering at different places. Oddly enough, his voice had some familiarity to it that Zhou Zishu could not quite pinpoint yet, but had him curiously squinting his eyes trying to get a glimpse of his face.
"Is this the Wen Kexing people have been making a fuss over online?" Jing Beiyuan chimed in.
"Oh, I’m honored to know such a talented player knows my name, Jing Beiyuan." His tone of voice was so cocky; and in a way you could feel the smirk in it.
When he took the hood off his head, and looked straight at Zhou Zishu as if he had not just been talking to Jing Beiyuan, Zhou Zishu stumbled back imperceptibly. He could not be too sure, but he had seen that face somewhere.
There was no time to ponder because the other team, as well as his own team mates, got into position. He was a little distracted, but he assumed his own position too. His moment of mild distraction came to an end, and he became fully focused on the impromptu game that had just started.
At first, he had been sure the game would not last, but he was surprised to realize this man was not all talk. It lasted for an hour or more, and in the end, Four Seasons lost. It pissed him off immediately that when he demanded a rematch, the man smirked again.
Inexplicably, he wanted to punch the smirk off his face.
He approached the net, across from where this Wen Kexing guy stood, glaring. "I said, I want a rematch."
A tilt of the head made said man look even more arrogant. "Save it for the finals."
The other team left and he continued glaring at him until he disappeared through the gate.
"So, he was not bluffing, ugh?" Jing Beiyuan's close friend, Wu Xi -who was not part of the team, by the way- pointed out.
Zhou Zishu scoffed, and ordered every team member to train for an extra two hours. They groaned, as they had been there for several hours already and the Sun was nearly setting.
"Do you want the Ghost Valley, of all teams, to beat us in our own turd? C'mon!"
-
By the time he arrived to his room, it was nearly nine in the evening. He plopped down face first on his mattress, and ignored Jing Beiyuan telling him to go shower because he was going to make the room stink. His mind was now split between too many strange events occurring to him in the expanse of several days, and he wondered if they had any correlation or if he was losing his mind.
In one hand, he kept remembering the man from the club. With a smell that was so, so enchanting it had taken root in his brain; but he was unable to point out from where he had known it. It sort of made him feel nostalgic in a way, but he could not grasp why.
And in the other hand, there was the strange man he had seen everywhere who also happened to be the player everyone had been comparing him to, and who had now defeated him in a match. It was irritating, he should have been focused on the competition, but those irrational thoughts would not leave his brain.
But at the same time, and at the risk of sounding like a character from the young-adult section of the bookstore, it was intriguing.
He had been used to winning, to the point that it had become somewhat boring; having a little competition could be fun.
He groaned loudly. Jing Beiyuan then came, uninvited, and pushed him on the bed to make space for himself. Then when Zhou Zishu finally moved, he sat down on the bed with his back against the wall. He had his laptop turned on with some drama playing.
-
The next time he encountered stalker slash Ghost Valley's top player slash Zhou Zishu's newest headache-inducer was the following morning. The unfathomable thing was, the man approached him and acted as if the events of the previous day had not transpired.
He was at the arena where the opening game was to be played, sat down with another of his teammates and friends, Han Ying, and waiting for the rest to show up, when Wen Kexing strolled into the place. The arena was fairly crowded given its size, but as soon as the man in casual attire with the red Ghost Valley jacket around his shoulders came in, Zhou Zishu's eyes fell on him immediately.
As if having sensed it, Wen Kexing also looked at him right away, and smiled from the distance. To Zhou Zishu's bewilderment, the next thing he knew was that the tall man sat next to him.
Acting as if they were childhood friends, he greeted him and Han Ying. Zhou Zishu scowled at him, but his younger friend was too polite -and frankly, still too impressionable for his age- so he happily greeted back, even offering Wen Kexing some of his snack. However, because Zhou Zishu was nothing but petty, he was quick to take the XL bag of chips from Han Ying before the other could even reach for it.
Wen Kexing's hand was left outstretched for half a second, but he quickly recovered. He lowered his arm and sat straighter; at this small display of embarrassment, Zhou Zishu grinned.
A big mistake, because the man noticed, and visibly perked up. "Zhou Zishu is smiling at me? What an honor!"
For a moment he thought the man was mocking him; however, he realized it was genuine the moment he looked at him, and the man's expression had softened. He swallowed, and focused on the game currently taking place.
The rest of his friends arrived twenty minutes into the game. They were not shy to frown at Zhou Zishu's companion before they found seats, but Jing Beiyuan stood there, stared, and winked at his best friend before sitting down.
"Do you think you can win against me during the finals?"
"How are you so sure you will make it to the finals?"
"I beat you, the star player, didn't I?"
Zhou Zishu scoffed. "That was luck."
His attempts to get a raise out of the Ghost Valley player were futile, as the other only seemed to be encouraged every time Zhou Zishu made a snarky comment back. The man's grin never disappeared as Zhou Zishu continued making sarcastic remarks throughout the evening; actually, it seemed to fuel him. It exasperated him, but strangely, he did not want to stop.
Once the game was finished, they stood up, and Zhou Zishu was about to say goodbye to him, but his traitor of a best friend chimed in.
"We're going for drinks now, why don't you join us?" Zhou Zishu's eyes widened.
Nervously, he refuted the offer. "I'm sure he's too busy to come along."
"You're too considerate, Zishu. I'm in! Where are we going?" They ended up going to a bar nearby. He was not too excited about Wen Kexing joining them, but he trailed behind nonetheless.
They danced and sang the songs played by the DJ, very off-tune, if Zhou Zishu said so himself. He stayed by the bar, drinking a beer, observing the rest of his group have fun.
Wen Kexing approached him, grinning widely, strands of his long hair sticking to his sweaty skin.
"Why don't you join us?"
"And embarrass myself? No, thanks."
The other guy stared at him, then took a seat by his side. Zhou Zishu felt a sense of déjà vu, but shrugged it off before he could think more of it.
"I will keep you company then."
"No worries, I don't mind being by myself. Go make a fool of yourself with the rest."
The boy, whose face had turned red due to the heat and the drinks, smiled. "Nah, the reason I came here is you, so."
The bartender brought them two more cups, and Zhou Zishu took a sip before responding to Wen Kexing's claim. "As if I would believe you."
"Why not? I've been your fan for a while."
At that strange comment, Zhou Zishu squinted his eyes, finding it hard to believe. He decided to drop it, though, and to initiate another conversation.
Although he kept his distance, he found himself enjoying talking to him as the night wore on.
-
After the night out, Zhou Zishu did not see Wen Kexing in two days.
It was Friday and he had just finished exercising at the gym when he received a text from his uncle, inviting him to stop by for dinner. It had been a while since they had last shared a meal, so he replied right away saying he would be there in an hour. After stopping by his flat for a shower and grabbing a pack of beer to share with his uncle, he walked there.
He was welcomed by his uncle with a hug, and Zhou Zishu smiled brightly.
"Come in! Dinner's almost ready."
"Do you need a hand with it?" He asked, only out of courtesy, because both of them were aware that cooking was not exactly his forte, but his offer was quickly dismissed by a wave of his uncle's hand.
"I've got help!" The older man said, a big grin almost splitting his face. "Actually, it's one of your friends."
That made him stop on his tracks as he was in the middle of hanging his jacket. A friend of his? None of them had told him they were even there, and their groupchat had been active continuously as the day passed. He hurried to the kitchen, curious to see who was there.
He should probably not have been surprised that the person he encountered was none other than Wen Kexing. Standing by the door with his mouth hanging in mild shock, a million questions passed through his brain. Perhaps he felt someone had been watching him, because Wen Kexing turned around in that moment, an apron covering his elegant clothes. The grin that broke on his face made a revolting feeling grow at the bottom of Zhou Zishu's stomach.
"Zhou Zishu!" He exclaimed, obvious joy written all over his face, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary to find him there, in his uncle's kitchen.
"What are you doing here?"
"Zishu! Is that how you greet our guest?" His uncle scolded him. "I met him at this morning's game." The explanation did nothing to disperse his confusion.
"I told him how much I've admired him for a long time. And by chance, your name was brought up! What a coincidence, don't you think?"
Something told him it was most likely not a coincidence. After that, he was forced to stop questioning Wen Kexing and to sit while the food was ready.
His head was spinning; he was unable to figure out what that man's intentions were. Was it a plan to distract him from the competition and sabotage their victory? It seemed like an idea taken from an over-dramatic TV show. And the worst part was, as he sat there waiting for the other two to be finished, he realized that Wen Kexing's company was not too unwelcome. Hastily, he pulled out his phone, opened his WeChat and went to his conversation with Jing Beiyuan.
Without greetings or any explanation, he texted him; Beiyuan, Wen Kexing is in my uncle's house.
The reply came almost instantaneously, a short sentence accompanied by a grinning emoticon, it’s obvious he’s crushing on you.
That effectively made him choke on the beer he had just taken a sip from. What.
Another instant reply, he looks at you like the sun comes out of your ass. It only took me two minutes to figure it out. What did you think?
With shaky fingers, he typed, nothing, and pressed send.
He was almost able to see Beiyuan shaking his head. Did you think he was trying to sabotage us because he is from a rival team?
...
He read his last reply and hurriedly locked his phone as he heard steps and the voices of the other men coming. You need to realize there are other important matters besides volleyball. Like getting laid. Good luck.
After Jing Beiyuan's unwanted input, Zhou Zishu's nerves were considerably heightened, but dinner was not too bad. He became hyperaware of every movement Wen Kexing made as he talked to his uncle; the two made enthusiastic conversation about volleyball, and while Wen Kexing explained that he had started to play fairly late, he put pieces of food into Zhou Zishu's plate. It made him blush stupidly.
"Zishu, if only your friend was part of our team! He's so talented!" His uncle exclaimed as he watched a video of the Ghost Valley team on Wen Kexing's phone.
"It used to be a dream of mine."
The rest of the evening was filled with laughter as Qin Huaizang and Wen Kexing became immediately close. For his part, Zhou Zishu downed two more beers until his nervousness had mostly gone away. At about ten in the evening, after they had moved to the living room to continue sharing commentary about the sport, his uncle announced he was going to bed, but told them to stay as long as they wanted.
Zhou Zishu excused himself, saying he would be getting beers for them. As if he was a teen boy back in high school and not a man in his twenties, he hid there for a moment, willing himself to stay composed.
His best friend saying Wen Kexing had a crush on him did not mean it was actually true, God knew how many times his assessment had been wrong when he had said the same thing before, and even so, that did not mean he had to reciprocate his hypothetical attraction, did it?
But... taking a breath, in his relatively dipsy state, he admitted to himself that he would not mind reciprocating it. He had seen the guy only a handful of times, but he was talented in the court, was good-looking and his exasperating personality made him even charming.
"It makes me charming? I’m flattered."
Zhou Zishu almost dropped the beer he had just opened when Wen Kexing's voice startled him, and he turned around in a frantic manner to find the man leaning by the doorway, a stupid smirk on his stupid face.
Did he really say all that aloud?
"I wasn't talking about you."
"You said, and I quote, even if Wen Kexing was actually crushing on me..."
"Did not."
Zhou Zishu's face was burning with embarrassment, so he fixated his eyes on a stain on the tilled floor. To his further bafflement, a pair of boots came into his vision; when he looked up again, he was face to face with Wen Kexing, who had come extremely close to him now.
"But you know what, your friend is right." His chest began to rapidly come up and down as his breathing quickened with Wen Kexing in such proximity and at his confirmation. The man continued walking further into his personal space, so he took a step back, until the counter behind him stopped him; that did not discourage Wen Kexing, though, because he came even closer, until he could actually feel the other's chest coming up and down against his own. In his hazy state of mind, he was delighted to notice the other was at least a few inches taller than him.
He should have probably pushed Wen Kexing away, but he was unable to, and although a part of his brain screamed at him that it was not a good idea to indulge the man in whatever he was doing, the other part of him wanted to see where he was going.
For a moment all that could be heard in the kitchen was the gentle buzz of the electronic appliances. Wen Kexing smirked, and set his hands on the counter behind Zhou Zishu; effectively caging him in place.
Later, he would definitely blame it on the booze, but he grabbed Wen Kexing, and pulled him in for a slightly heated kiss. After more than a minute had passed, he broke apart, and breathlessly looked at the other's eyes.
"What exactly do you want?" Zhou Zishu whispered, eyes falling to the man's lips again.
Wen Kexing's breathing clashed against his cheek as he leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Do you really not remember me?"
Taken aback by such question, Zhou Zishu looked up immediately, eyes wide. He stared at Wen Kexing's face, who was looking at him with a gentleness that contradicted his previous, almost depredatory demeanor.
What did he even mean?
Something very similar to disappointment appeared on Wen Kexing's face, then he pulled away, and Zhou Zishu immediately missed the warmth of his body so close to his own.
He smiled, nevertheless, and kissed his cheek gently before pulling away completely. "It was a nice evening, see you later, A-Xu."
Mind going into overdrive, he watched as Wen Kexing grabbed his cellphone, waved him goodbye, and left. For a moment he debated on whether to follow him and demand explanations, but he was left frozen in his spot.
He walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, his head spinning for reasons different than the beer he had ingested all night. Had he actually met Wen Kexing somewhere else? Then the initial familiarity he had felt was not a product of his imagination. He lay on the couch, and wracked his brain trying to figure out where he had seen him.
It was not until he jerked up awake the following morning, still on his uncle's couch, that it finally dawned on him.
A-Xu. That was been how the stranger from the club had called him when he told him a fake name. How was he so stupid to let it slip his mind?
He jolted when his phone rang with an obnoxious notification. He realized it was ten in the morning, and he had to play his second game of the competition at four in the afternoon.
"Zishu, aren't you going to the gym before your game today?" His uncle appeared through the doorway of the kitchen, holding what seemed to be a packed lunch. He handed the package to him, so he thanked him, and left.
On his way to the gym he looked around, consciously searching the crowds of people, wondering if he would spot Wen Kexing somewhere close. He never saw him, though, and disappointment made itself known as he frowned. He felt so silly, developing a crush on someone he had known for a week.
He had the weird sensation that Wen Kexing had known him for longer.
When he arrived at the gym, Jing Beiyuan approached him, a questioning eyebrow raised.
He smirked. “So... Wen Kexing, eh?"
"Shut up."
-
After the first week had passed, there were four teams left, which meant that only the best ones remained, Zhou Zishu reminded himself as he came out into the court. Once out, his mind was set on the game, and he forgot about Wen Kexing for the time being. It went fast, and even though the other team was talented, Four Seasons won easily enough. It further made him want to play against the Ghost Valley, just to have someone who would be a real rival for him.
The moment he was walking towards the dressing rooms to change, someone held him by the forearm and pulled him back. Surprised, he turned around to find Wen Kexing smiling at him in a way that could only be described as mischievous.
"Congratulations, Zhou Zishu!"
"Did you come here to see how I will beat you? If you manage to pass to the finals, that is."
"No, I came here to ask you out on a date."
Zhou Zishu could not believe his ears –which had now turned pink at the tips. "Sorry, I'm going to celebrate with my friends-"
Jing Beiyuan had been standing there and watching the exchange like a nosy hawk, so he took the chance to make Zhou Zishu’s life hell.
"Actually, we're all too tired. All of us are heading to our rooms."
"See, your friend has given me his blessing."
"If you make this guy have some fun, I will even give you a kiss."
"Won't the cute boy always with you kill me?"
"Probably."
By the time stopped deciding what he would do with his own afternoon, he had already left them. Upon noticing, Wen Kexing followed him, even coming inside the restroom with him.
"What are you doing here? I wanna shower."
"Be my guest, I'll be pleased to watch."
A scandalized expression set upon Zhou Zishu's face, who blushed profusely -which made him want to smack himself, how many times had he showered in front of his teammates? This should not have been different.
"Fuck off."
"If you accept going out with me tonight."
"Why would I?"
"Because you like me."
"Do you think I have such bad taste to like someone from the Ghost Valley? As if!"
Wen Kexing would not back down. "Want me to repeat what you said last night when you thought no one was listening?"
Their back-and-forth continued until Zhou Zishu could not take his smirk and flirtiness anymore, and said okay as long as he let him take his shower in peace.
Wen Kexing took him to an outdoor place where they ordered hotpot. It was not a fancy date by far, and Zhou Zishu would not have accepted it anyway, but he was still not sure what it was that he wanted. Once their food had been ordered, they sat down on a table to wait for it to be ready.
"Why did you move here?" Wen Kexing inquired, seemingly out of nowhere as he fumbled with a pair of chopsticks.
He shifted in his seat. "After my mother died, my uncle was the only family I had left."
Wen Kexing looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Zhou Zishu shrugged, he did not remember much of it anymore, so it was not hard for him to talk about it.
They talked about random topics; about volleyball and their respective teams, until at some point, Zhou Zishu could not take it any longer, and brought up the topic that had been bothering him.
"How long were you going to play with me exactly? Appearing everywhere I went, and you were the one at the club that night."
Wen Kexing frowned. "I'm not trying to play with you. I just like you since I first saw you."
"When you saw me, it was dark." He put emphasis on the word ‘saw’.
Wen Kexing leaned forward on the table, elbows on the surface of it. "Who told you that was the first time I saw you?"
Zhou Zishu looked up, eyes wide, his mouth half-open with his food still not fully chewed. "What do you mean?"
For a long moment, Wen Kexing stared at him, as if searching for something on his face; when he seemed to not have found it, he shook his head. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."
At that answer, Zhou Zishu was about to protest, but then a street performer started singing a folk song, and the other man's attention was caught. He stood up to watch the singer closer, and pulled Zhou Zishu with him. They threw coins in the hat the singer had set on the ground, and Wen Kexing asked if he could request a song. Zhou Zishu did not recognize the song, as it seemed to be a modern pop one and he was as outdated as an eighty-year-old man (okay, so maybe Jing Beiyuan's claims that he needed to have more fun had some credit to them, just maybe). There was a line that said, I ran to see you, and in that moment, Wen Kexing decided to hold and squeeze his hand.
He was so confused and taken aback, and he wondered if Wen Kexing had tried to tell him something by it. As they made their way to the rented apartments on foot, Wen Kexing had not let go of his hand yet.
They stopped in front Zhou Zishu's room, and he finally broke free from the other's grasp. He unlocked the door, and before coming in, turned around to face Wen Kexing again. "It was nice... tonight, I mean."
He was almost blinded by the smile he got in return.
Once inside his room, he expected Jing Beiyuan to jump on him for details about his night out, but to his surprise, the lights were off. Trying not to make any sound, he headed to the bathroom.
Pulling out his cellphone while sat on the lid of the toilet, he searched his gallery, and scrolled all the way down, then stopped on a picture of a face he barely remembered; then on the screenshot of a news site reporting a fire that had devoured a house and ended the life of a woman.
It bothered him that he was unable to pinpoint where he had met Wen Kexing before, if that was actually true. Growing up, after the fire that had killed his mother when he was nearing thirteen years old, he had started to forget chunks of events that happened in his life prior to the incident; a therapist that his uncle forced him to see at fifteen said it was a coping mechanism, a way for his brain to protect itself, but he was never sure.
For long periods of time he had tried with all his might to force himself to remember, to remember birthday parties with his friends in his hometown or watching movies with his mother; but most of the times he would draw a blank, until he eventually gave up.
So now, Wen Kexing's appearance was messing with his brain, and he found himself thinking and pondering, in an attempt to figure out if he had known him from before his life took a massive turn, or if the man was just toying with him in some twisted way.
He went through pictures he had taken of a handful of photographs that miraculously had been salvaged for the most part, and inspected every face, but no one stood out. He stayed in the bathroom until a headache started to set in, then decided to go to bed.
-
The following days passed, and Wen Kexing would still not tell him where they had known each other from. He stopped asking when his pride won over his curiosity, but inside his head he still tried to make the connection.
They hung out almost every day and at different times of the day as well. Other teams' members considered it strange that the two players they had pinned against each other now seemed to have become friends. They considered it especially weird that during the second to last game of the competition, where Ghost Valley would play against the Mirror Lakes to classify for the finals, Zhou Zishu was there, and had even arrived alongside Wen Kexing.
Sat among a few dozen fanatics dressed in black and red, Zhou Zishu convinced himself that he was there to study his opponent, since Four Seasons had already classified for the finals, and not to watch Wen Kexing. However, that was soon proven to be a lie when someone from Mirror Lakes consciously made a foul dig, and caused Wen Kexing to miss the ball. He yelled from the stands, outraged at the other player's dirty tricks.
"Sit down, Zishu. You're embarrassing us all."
Hearing that, he glared at his best friend, but sat down nevertheless. In the end, the Ghost Valley won, and Zhou Zishu once again embarrassed his best friend by jumping up from his seat and cheering loudly. From across the court, among his team's celebrations, Wen Kexing caught his eye and smiled at him. The soft expression on his face and the familiarity of it tugged at Zhou Zishu's heartstrings.
It felt like being home away from home.
He approached Wen Kexing. Upon seeing him crossing the sea of volleyball players, family members and fanatics, to get to him, his smile grew even bigger; he stopped paying attention to the crowd around him and walked to meet Zhou Zishu midway.
"Guess we're indeed competing next, ugh?" Wen Kexing grinned, beads of sweat making his skin glisten in a beautiful way.
"Don't be so full of yourself, it was still luck." There was no bite to Zhou Zishu's remark, so it only made the Ghost Valley player grin wider. Then he took Zhou Zishu's hand in his, and pulled him away from the mass of people until they were outside the arena.
"Aren't you going to take a shower? You stink." Staring at their intertwined hands, Zhou Zishu spluttered the first thing that came to his mind in a sorry attempt to dissipate the butterflies wreaking havoc in his stomach. But Wen Kexing just kept walking, pulling him along. He should have probably stopped him, whom did he think he was to drag him where he wanted as if he was a rag doll?
But he did not want him to stop.
"Aren't you going to celebrate with your friends?"
"Nah."
Confused, Zhou Zishu tilted his head.
"I just want to spend more time with you."
"You're so cheesy."
"Besides, I'll celebrate when I win the final."
Feigning outrage, Zhou Zishu slapped his hand away, and in his most award-worthy acting performance, he walked ahead in fast strides, pretending to be mad. Wen Kexing did not let him go too far, though, and caught up with him quickly enough, grabbing his hand again.
"C'mon, soon I'll have to go back to Qinya; I just want to spend some time with you before leaving."
Zhou Zishu's good mood suddenly dropped. Right, Wen Kexing was in Yueyang City only temporarily. After that, he stayed quiet most of the way to the apartment; but the other did not seem to mind. The apartment was now a lot quieter than before as most of the players had already left. Wen Kexing took him to his own room, where they could be alone.
When they sat down on one of the beds, Wen Kexing did not waste time to scoop close to him, until their thighs touched.
"You still don't remember me, do you?"
Zhou Zishu looked apologetic at the wounded expression on Wen Kexing's face. He slowly shook his head, and focused his eyes on his clasped hands resting on top of his thighs.
"It's nothing personal. There's a lot from my past that I don't remember."
Wen Kexing nodded silently. "I'll show you."
The man took out his phone from his pocket, fumbled with it for a couple minutes, then looked up at Zhou Zishu again. "Just so you know, we used to be inseparable."
Then he showed the phone screen to him. On it, a picture of two kids, about eleven years old, were standing together; he could recognize himself because he had seen his own pictures before. They had two toothy grins on their faces, and the other kid, whom he assumed to be Wen Kexing, was missing his front tooth.
Upon further inspection, he realized it was taken in a volleyball court, and they wore the same uniform. It was neither blue nor red like their current ones, but a light yellow.
"You were my best friend, and I was yours. But since I was young, I knew I had far deeper feelings for you than just friendship." Wen Kexing changed the picture, and another image of the two appeared. They were playing on the sand in a beautiful beach; there was a little sandcastle between them. Wen Kexing smiled at it.
Nothing came to Zhou Zishu's mind. He tried to remember, but all he had was glimpses of faces and places, and yet he was not sure if it was all because of the influence of what Wen Kexing was telling him.
The man selected another picture, and handed the phone to Zhou Zishu so he could look closely. Zooming in, he noticed they had been wearing two bracelets. They were made of plastic beads, and he assumed they were friendship trinkets.
"We promised to be together forever." His voice became watery as his recollections progressed. Zhou Zishu only listened silently. "But one day I came to school and you weren't there, I immediately ran to your house worried that you were sick. But I saw it had been destroyed, and you were nowhere to be seen."
Without realizing, tears slid down from Zhou Zishu's cheeks. He handed the phone back, and Wen Kexing turned it off. His heart contracted painfully, but he could not tell why.
"I panicked, I cried, I looked for you everywhere, but I was told child protections had taken you."
Zhou Zishu rested his head on Wen Kexing's shoulder, unable to stop crying. It was as though his mind could not recall what he was hearing, but his heart knew the story from start to end. A hiccup escaped, and Wen Kexing noticed, because he then placed a kiss on his forehead in an attempt to comfort him.
"At least you were alive, I told myself. And as long as you were, I would find you no matter what."
Another hiccup, but this time it came from Wen Kexing. They let out a mirthless giggle at that.
"I continued training because I knew volleyball was the one thing that would keep us tied to each other; and it eventually led me to you."
"I can't remember any of it." Zhou Zishu confessed, and for the first time, he was the one who sought the other's hand.
"Don't beat yourself up about it." Wen Kexing said in a reassuring voice, and pulled him to himself with an arm around his shoulders. Then he shook his head, a small smile on his face. "I can't believe I found you."
Zhou Zishu stared at his face, wide-eyed, and did not find any trace of insincerity. In contrast, Wen Kexing's eyes shimmered as he held his gaze without wavering. Maybe it was the heat and the emotion of the moment; but he could not help it, and kissed him.
It must have taken Wen Kexing by surprise; because he gasped audibly, and crashed against the wall behind him, but soon he got on with the program, and kissed him back. They kissed for a while, salty tears sometimes mixing up with the kiss, until both slowly fell onto the bed, and lay there in silence.
In a manner that felt natural and wholly familiar, Wen Kexing pulled Zhou Zishu to his chest.
"I might need a shower soon." He said, though he did not make any real effort to move. The other just cuddled up closer to him, making a sound of protest at the back of his throat. "Hey! Weren't you the one who said I smelled?"
"Shut up."
Come morning, Zhou Zishu woke up alone in bed. Hearing the shower, he sat up, and lazily stretched his arms behind his neck. It was then that an item placed on top of a drawer caught his attention.
He stood up and walked the short distance to it, he grabbed it in his hands, and stared at it. It was the bead bracelet from the picture. With the pad of his fingertips he caressed the colorful beads; and inspected the words written on the tiny pieces; my soulmate, it said.
What a strong statement for two children to say. He was going to laugh it off, but suddenly a long-lost recollection came to him. It was him who had given it to Wen Kexing; his mother had even helped him make it.
For some reason, he thought about what Wen Kexing had told him, about the kiss he had initiated, and all the memories he did not know if he was ready to face, and panicked. The moment he heard the water stop running in the bathroom, he decided to flee; he grabbed his jacket and put on his shoes. But when he had a foot out the door, the man he wanted to avoid called out for him.
"Hey, where are you going? I was hoping we could have breakfast before training."
Zhou Zishu breathed in, wanting to disappear from there as soon as possible. He just wanted some space to think.
"I saw this coffee shop across from the gym and I want to try it before I leave."
The more Wen Kexing talked, the more agitated he became. He tightened his hold on the doorknob, and cut him off before he continued. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."
Wen Kexing's ramblings came to an abrupt stop. "What?"
He tried to bite his tongue, keep himself from saying something hurtful, but the earnestness on Wen Kexing's expression and the genuine confusion in his furrowed eyebrows tipped him over the edge.
"You sure told a nice story, but I'm not sure if I believe you."
The softness on the other's face disappeared, and what was left was hurt. "How could you say that?"
An image of a small Wen Kexing smiling up at him came to his mind. He shut his eyes, and breathed in; then spoke calmly. "Why would I believe you? I don't know you."
"I know you better than anyone else."
"That's what you claim, but I'm not too sure you're not a liar." He knew he was stepping over the line, but he also needed to leave, and Wen Kexing was too persistent to let him go any other way.
It pained him to see all the different emotions passing through Wen Kexing's eyes; astonishment, hurt, outrage. "Why would I lie to you about this?"
He shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant. "Maybe you want me to get distracted, just so you could win tomorrow."
Had their current situation been different, he knew Wen Kexing would have laughed at his lame excuse. Instead, his mouth hung open, baffled.
In a small voice, he spoke after a few seconds. "There are things far more important than volleyball, Zhou Zishu."
"Sure." He said.
Taking advantage of Wen Kexing's stupor, he turned around and walked away. He had made it halfway through the hallway when Wen Kexing yelled at him.
"You know I am not lying, Zhou Zishu!"
He ignored it, and quickened his pace until he finally reached his room, and without taking his clothes off, jumped on the bed. Not his bed, though; that morning he felt rather vulnerable, so he had walked to Jing Beiyuan's, and forced him to make space for him.
"What's up with you now?"
Jing Beiyuan sleepily said, probably weirded out by the new presence invading his bed, but then he looked at Zhou Zishu's still unlocked phone, and seemed to understand. On it, there was a picture Zhou Zishu had sent to himself from Wen Kexing’s own device when the latter was not looking. It was not hard for Jing Beiyuan to put two and two together.
"Does this have anything to do with Wen Kexing?"
He felt beyond silly, so he did not answer his best friend, just shook his head and closed his eyes to try to force himself to sleep. He was breathing erratically, unable to process the load of information Wen Kexing had dropped on him.
"Zishu, when I tell you to have fun, or to live, I am not trying to be mean. Qin Huaizang has told me what happened to you." He spoke calmly, Zhou Zishu focused on the gentleness of his voice to calm his breathing pattern. "He says you don't remember much of your childhood or teenage years, and because of it, you've been stuck."
He remembered having left for school that morning, and his mother had kissed him goodbye. He had been excited because that day, he and Wen Kexing would go for ice cream after school. When he came back nearing seven in the evening, his house was burning and his mother was nowhere to be seen. In his mind, she could only be inside, so he took off running towards the door.
A firefighter stopped him, and though he trashed as he tried to break free, the man was bigger and stronger; it was to no avail. His house burned in front of his eyes, and so did his mother.
Jing Beiyuan's voice brought him back from his memories. "You think you're okay because you don't remember, but you're not happy. Give yourself a chance to be."
As if he was a child again, he put the blanket above his head, then spoke. His voice came out muffled, but he hoped Jing Beiyuan had heard. "I'm just not ready to deal with all the memories he will bring."
A pause. "And when will you be?"
That afternoon he did not go training. He slept through all the morning and until three, so when he finally woke up, his phone had about fifty new messages from his teammates. He yawned; surprised that Jing Beiyuan had not woken him up.
He did not feel like training that day, though. So he sat up, and looked at the picture on his phone again. A flash of Wen Kexing's wide eyes as he was given the bracelet, and then the warmth of a hug shared by the two, ran through his mind like the scenes of a film.
He pulled out the bracelet from his pocket; he had shamelessly stolen it from the other, and stared at it. It was in a fairly good condition despite all the years that had passed and the material being cheap. Suddenly, he got an idea, and quickly stood up from the bed, brushed his teeth, and left.
-
The final game between Four Seasons and the Ghost Valley was about to start and the team was gathered in a circle to discuss the best strategy. The cheering was louder than any other night, and the stands had been split in two; one side was red, while the other was blue. They shared encouragements among one another, until the whistle signaling the beginning of the game rang through the arena and they came out to the court.
It was by far the most ruthless game of the season; and the tension could be cut by a pair of scissors if someone tried. Through all of it, though, Wen Kexing never looked at Zhou Zishu.
He was giving him the cold shoulder, and Zhou Zishu wondered if he had caused their friendship damage beyond repair. It was messing him up, and even caused him to miss the ball. Jing Beiyuan told him to pull himself together during the last set, so he pushed the issue to the back of his mind, and put his head on the head again.
Four Seasons ended up winning, and the arena erupted in cheers. His teammates hugged him, and between Han Ying and another one, carried him with the trophy in his hands. In spite of the happiness of having winning, Zhou Zishu's eyes followed Wen Kexing until he disappeared among the crowd.
He asked to be put down but a couple minutes passed before they actually heard him and did as he told. He pushed past people, but was stopped by some who wanted to congratulate him, even a journalist from a regional newspaper that wanted to interview him. By the time he reached the dressing rooms, he could not find Wen Kexing.
"Where's Wen Kexing?" He asked the Ghost Valley players who remained there, without bothering to greet any of them.
"He went to get his stuff, he's leaving tonight." Xie Wang said, amusement on his face. "He's got his heart broken by the person he had wanted to see the most."
"What?"
The boy looked at him like he was dumb. "He never cared about this or any competition at all. All he wanted was to see you."
To be fair, he might have actually been the dumbest man on earth. Without further ado, he took off running.
He was tired because of the game but he ran and ran without stopping, until he arrived at Wen Kexing's room. The door was still open, and he was still inside; breathlessly, he watched as he rummaged through the drawers in a frantic manner, trying to find the words to say after he had been so cruel.
"Are you such a sore loser that you will not stay for the closing ceremony?"
Wen Kexing, who had yet to notice his presence, dropped a box with random items inside as he was startled by Zhou Zishu's voice. He looked at him for only a second, then continued his quest, ignoring him completely.
Okay, he deserved that.
"Look, can we talk?"
Wen Kexing looked pissed off as he turned back to him.
"What for? Now that you have your precious trophy you don't think I'm setting a trap on you?"
Zhou Zishu winced. "I am sorry, I never actually believed that."
The other man scoffed. "I know you never did. What I don't know is why you would say it."
Ashamed, Zhou Zishu looked down. "Because this," he took out the bracelet from his pocket; Wen Kexing widened his eyes and grabbed it right away, "brought back memories I was not ready to face."
The other man put the bracelet safely in his pocket. He looked unconvinced, but did not interrupt Zhou Zishu.
"Everything from that time.. I blocked it all from my mind. Touching that, hearing you tell me stories from our childhood... it made me remember. Not everything, not much; but more than I have ever been ready for."
Wen Kexing completely deflated, sat down, and invited him to sit by his side.
"You're the only person actually from then that I have had contact with since... everything. My uncle visited from time to time, but he is not someone I relate to that place, so... I know it's not an excuse for what I said, but I hope you know I am sorry."
He did not know what to expect, but definitely not what happened next; Wen Kexing pulled him into a hug. Then he spoke against Zhou Zishu's temple. "I never wanted to bring back bad memories, I only wanted to get my best friend, my soulmate back."
At that, Zhou Zishu pulled away and looked at him. Both had tears in their eyes.
"Hey, you found me."
Wen Kexing let out a wet laugh. "I did."
-
They spent an hour cuddled up on Wen Kexing's bed -he had even texted his teammates telling them to stay away from the room. Curiously, Zhou Zishu watched a video posted online by Han Ying where he, Jing Beiyuan, and the rest of the team appeared celebrating in a night club, dancing and singing with a beer in their hands.
"We should celebrate too." Wen Kexing, who had caught a glimpse of the video, said.
"What are you going to celebrate? You lost." Zhou Zishu scoffed, and continued scrolling through his feeds.
"What do you mean?" The other put his fingers under his chin and tipped his head up so their eyes could meet. Then he kissed him, and said against his lips, "I won the whole world."
The words made him blush, but he enthusiastically responded to the kiss. Until he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh! I almost forgot." Then he took yet another bracelet from his back pocket; Wen Kexing's eyes widened in shock. "It's not the same I had, mine must have been burned in the fire, but I went to a lot of stores to find similar beads."
They both teared up, and tied each other's bracelets, as a promise that now their forever would not be interrupted.
And Zhou Zishu recognized that he had many issues to work on and that there would probably be a lot of bumps on the road as he tried to overcome them all; but as he looked at their intertwined hands now adorned by their bracelet’s, he was determined to face them all with a head held high.