Ｈｅｒ Ｒｅｔｕｒｎ

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ １３】

 "Xingzi? Why- What?" Ziping was stunned. Why on earth would his teammate go after his sister and ditch practices? He never did it before, so why now? Then his attention turned towards Y/N. How would she react? He wasn't even sure they were acquainted. He sighed exasperatedly before dismissing the team. 

He walked over to Y/N, his eyes not holding much hope for her. She looked up from her notebook, and noticing the captain's mood, closed it. "I'm guessing he hasn't been at practice or studying?" 

She sighed as he shook his head, "No. He's been off hanging out with my sister. Why he hid it from everyone is a mystery in itself." 

"Your sister? Are you like adamantly against her being around the team?" Y/N tried to reason. Ziping shook his head in denial. 

"If anything, I encourage her to hang around the team. Let's me be at ease knowing she's safe."  

Y/N just hung her head in her hands. Why would her childhood friend hide hanging out with another girl? She was upset because he lied, he didn't trust her, and he was hanging out with some girl that she wasn't even introduced to. 

Speaking of which, Xingzi happened to walk onto the courts with Weiming, heading in the direction of the captain and childhood friend. Hearing his familiar voice laughing with a new person made Y/N even more upset. It was probably Ziping's sister anyways. Their laughter cut short though as Weiming had caught sight of Y/N. 

"O-Oh... hey Y/N! What are you doing here?" He nervously chuckled. Y/N looked up at him with a burning anger. 

"What am I doing here? Weiming, I've been worried sick about you. You never hang out with me, and every time I ask about it, you say you have something to do or you have practice. Yet, when I come to ask Ziping if you've been here I find out you've been skipping practice and lying to your captain. I'm disappointed in you and I'm sick of the lies." 

He was shocked, but also felt a pain in his heart seeing Y/N upset at him. She always had a smile when he was talking with her. She turned her head slightly to glance at who she guessed was Ziping's sister and noticed that it was the same girl that had helped her at the beginning of the school year. She couldn't be angry nor blame the poor girl. 

She couldn't, not when she didn't know if she was the reason Weiming had lied or if it was of his own accord. Weiming, desperate to clear himself of what he thought was a misunderstanding, reached his hand out to Y/N, but she stood up and walked off. 

Before leaving the courts she stopped, turned her head and whispered, "It hurts knowing you'd leave me for someone else and that you felt you had to lie about it. Maybe you aren't the Wei I knew as a kid..." 

Weiming cringed in guilt, but turned to face his captain. Ziping was just as frustrated. This is supposed to be one of his teammates and he goes behind his back to hang out with his own younger sister. 

"You won't be allowed to not attend practices unless a medical emergency for the next 3 months. Any exceptions must be cleared by me and me alone. You will apologize to Y/N and I forbid you from hanging out with Xingzi until you get your priorities in check," He sighed exasperatedly.

"I am disappointed in you, but you hurt Y/N more than you have hurt me. You lost more than one person's trust today, I hope you learn from it." Ziping said before leaving for the front gate, telling his sister that he'll wait for her. 

Weiming sullenly nodded before turning to his companion for the day... Xingzi... 

Xingzi, while Y/N had expressed her frustrations with Weiming, had been filled in on what was happening while she was hanging out with the said boy. She was upset. Not only had he seemed to have lied to both her brother and a friend of his, but he had lied to her as well. When they met up after school, he always said he was given permission to hang out with her or that he wasn't busy. She wasn't even upset with her brother's decision because it made sense to her as well. 

Noticing Weiming's gaze on her, she sighed and faced him, "Why'd you lie?" Silence was all he gave as an answer. 

She felt dejected and shook her head, "You're an amazing friend Weiming, but you need to figure out what is truly important to you. For me, it's being there for my brother and Qiao Chen. You're like a brother to me, but if you're going to be lying to people in your life to hang out with me, then maybe..." She paused, "maybe we shouldn't be hanging out alone anymore."