Tennis no Ojou-sama: A Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction

CHAPTER 125: Heaven Help Jessica

By the corner of an outdoor cafe in the middle of town, four teenagers sat around a table, two blondes on one side and two more black-haired heads on the opposite side. A waitress came to deliver their food. "Thank you for waiting," she said with a smile. "Here's your order; chocolate mousse cake, strawberry chiffon, blueberry cheesecake, a slice of lemon pie and four mocha lattes. Is there anything missing?" she added as she set down each of the plates and mugs from her silver platter onto the table.

"No, we have everything, thank you," Ryouko said politely. The waitress excused herself and each of the four took the plate with their chosen sweets.

The girl with the straight blonde hair glinting in the autumn sunlight poked at the strawberries on top of her cake. "Aww, I really like strawberry chiffon but I don't like the strawberry fruit by itself," she said in English and turned to the bronze-eyed dark-haired boy sitting across from her. "Can you eat the strawberries for me, Ryoma?"

There came a loud thunk as Ryouko split her blueberry cheesecake in two with a vicious slice with the fork. "I don't like strawberries," Ryoma answered.

"Really?" the blonde girl said, blinking with sparkles in her blue eyes. "Wow, we have something similar! What are the odds?"

There came another loud thunk as Ryouko split the half of the cheesecake into a quarter. Meanwhile, the golden-haired boy sitting across from her turned to his cousin and said, "Jessica, stop bothering Ryoma. I'll eat the strawberries if you don't want them..."

The four teenagers have gotten acquainted with one another about an hour ago after coincidentally bumping on Ryoma and Ryouko's rendezvous by the tennis courts that morning.

Kevin Smith, an American boy the same age as Ryoma who played against him in the Goodwill Games a few months before his entrance in the US Open, have come to Japan to accompany his cousin Jessica Boulton on a vacation. On their way to the cafe, Ryouko have learned about the history between the two boys, about how their fathers have crossed against each other in ill fate and carried the grudge until the next generation. Although they were hostile to each other at first (Kevin distinctively emphasized that it was him who started it first), the two boys became good friends, bonded by a rekindled comradeship as fellow tennis players. Kevin took the effort of supporting Ryoma in the US Open and kept him company during his stay in New York.

On the other hand, Jessica Boulton, Kevin's cousin from the maternal side of the family, had also been acquainted to Ryoma and it had nothing to do with tennis. They were old classmates during grade school, specifically in the fifth grade after Jessica transferred to Ryoma's school. Kevin was shocked that Ryoma and his cousin actually knew each other. Moreover, it doesn't seem like a normal acquaintanceship.

He had heard from his Aunt before that Jessica wouldn't shut up about her crush on a good-looking Japanese boy who shared the same class as her for the last two years of grade school. She had even tried convincing her parents to let her study in Japan in pursuit of the boy who seemed to have moved back to his country to continue his education. Of course, her parents flatly refused.

Jessica's mother is a graphic artist and her father the owner of a large vineyard and winery he inherited from his father. Their family is extremely well-off and Jessica being the only daughter had grown up quite like a princess.

On contrary to Jessica's happy-go-lucky upbringing, Kevin Smith had an unfortunate childhood stemming from the obsession of his father at defeating a tennis player who was said to have humiliated him in his own turf. As he was unable to avenge himself, he started taking out his frustration on his young son. Kevin's mother had been weak after childbirth and had died when he was only two years old. With only his father for support, he sought a parent's love from him, however George Smith was too blinded with his years-old grudge, made worse by his wife's sudden death, and began to raise his son as an excellent tennis player. If he cannot avenge himself, his son would do it for him and step into the courts of Wimbledon in his stead.