Falling Into Your Smile

TAT vs. ZGDX

Cheng was.. laughing. Yeah, the reaction was pretty unexpected for a person like him. He got up, dusted himself, still laughing his ass off. "That's all you got? No wonder you're so weak, Chen."

I was enraged, and pretty furious too. My stream was extremely curious, and messages were flooding it. Half defending, and the other half accusing me, from different fan-bases, but it all stopped with Cheng's reaction. Thankfully, Rui interrupted, bringing his phone to us. "Your ex-team, TAT, sent an invite for a practice match. You're the captain, so.."

"Not now." He said, and shrugged it off. Any normal captain, would've trembled just looking at it. Lu Si Cheng, not so much. I scoffed at his reaction, and he stared at me like I grew three heads. I turned off my stream, with a quick 'good-bye, see you later'. I gave the excuse that I had some work to revise for an upcoming practice match, which they just heard about, between us and TAT.

"You refused, Cheng? You can't just refuse. That brings us bad publicity. This is non-negotiable," Ming said. It was exactly what was going to happen, again, but as always, Cheng never does pay attention to that, ever since we were kids.

"I can do this, I've been learning more in last week than the last two years." Smiling butted in. K and Chubby had also come down, and it was now becoming a scene. I just slumped into my chair, ignoring the conversation.

"I think Tong Yao is ready. She's-" But Rui was cut off by a disapproving Cheng. "It's not Tong Yao I'm worried about. TAT is after Lee Chen. They know that I've been.. practicing, but she's a wild card." He said, and got up. He brought out a joker, depicting his statement. How- oh yeah, the club sends him the notification first. Cheater. He must've been practicing this more than Onmyoji.

"They want to secure their victory, and eliminate her as an opponent. They will analyze her completely, as they know she's our.. She is an old friend." He continued, cryptically. The others were confused, though I understood. This is not a topic I wanted to discuss. Not even close. But even I, Lu Si Cheng, know how to deflect things like that.

"What are you talking about?" Chubby asked. I wanted to make them leave, and K just looked at me like he understood. So he left, right then and there. Smart choice, honestly.

+---×---+

The tension was there for the last ten minutes, as I checked my watch. Seriously, what's the hold up? Then I noticed Cheng clutching onto something.. suspiciously like a lollipop.

Cheng had a bad habit of munching on sugar, any time he got. Candy, chocolates, fruits, crystallized sugar, literally anything. His mother often scolded him for eating candy as a child. And me, being his friend, never told his mother a thing, unless he angered me to the point of boiling sugar. Get it? Sorry, sorry. 

"Hey, Rui, what's Cheng holding?" I said, and slyly grinned. Cheng's eyes widened, and he gave me a look.

"Cheng-ah, your subtle change in topic wasn't that helpful either. Mrs. Lu has specially reminded me. Hand it over." Rui said. Cheng reluctantly gave up his lollipop. "Who's the child now, Cheng?" I smirked. I led Rui to the desk, and emptied the cylinder with a 'GOOD MORNING' thought printed on it. Way to start a good morning, eating candy. Cheng just stormed off into his room, as I exposed all his candy stashes hidden everywhere around the base. Take that, Si Cheng.

+---×---+

I watched the live interviews, and the one which pricked me the most.. Ah Tai's. That conniving brat, he knows what's going on. This is just an invitation to a competition. He knows I'm watching.

"Congratulations, Ah Tai! Can you tell us your future plan?" The reporter asked, enthusiastically. Ah Tai shot his signature grin. "Well, of course it has to be the world match this year." He said, a matter-of-fact tone playing out.