“Where are you heading to, President Reed?” the driver asked once Sonia got into the car. She placed her walking stick aside as she replied to him. “Bring me to City Stadium, please.”
“Okay.” The driver started the car. The trip from Paradigm Co. to City Stadium was a 1-hour long car drive. The stadium was known for being one of the most congested areas in Seafield as it was close to the city’s airport, so Sonia found herself caught in a jam. Time continued to tick, and the clock struck 4.00 p.m. while they were still on the road.
Meanwhile, Tyler was dressed in a black jersey with the number ‘8’ printed on it. He was warming up on the court while glancing at the audience seats. A disappointed look formed on his rather pale face when he saw that the two spaces that he had pre-booked were empty. What’s up with them? Why did neither of them come?!
“Hey, Fuller, what’s up?” One of Tyler’s team members came over and tapped him on the shoulder. Tyler shook his head. “Nothing,” he muttered in a rather dispirited tone.
“Well, you should rush over if nothing’s up. The coach is asking us to gather.” The teammate pulled his hand back and strode toward the rest area that was prepared for the players. After taking a final glance at the audience seats, Tyler turned and went after his teammate.
Beep! The players officially got into their rows after the whistle blew, and the match began after each party shook their opponents’ hands. Tyler was the small forward and also the star player of the team. Once the person in the center passed the ball to Tyler, Tyler would begin to travel with the ball. His actions were swift, and it only took him a single dodge to avoid the opponents’ attacks. Without much effort, he brought the ball past the free-throw line and tossed it into the ring. He scored! The audience cheered for them, and Tyler gave his teammates celebratory high-fives. “You’re amazing, Fuller. It’s only the start of the game, and you’ve already shown them who’s king,” one of the teammates said.
“That’s right. If we go on like this, we’re definitely going to win,” someone added.
“Let’s go, Fuller!” His teammates cheered him on and tapped him on the shoulder. Tyler nodded while throwing a glance at the same spots in the audience seats. The two spots he had saved were still empty. At that moment, he could feel tears forming in his eyes as he felt sorry for himself. He put in so much effort to get two tickets for the best spots in the stadium, in hopes that they would come and watch him during the competition. Yet, neither one of them showed up to support him! He had been looking forward to seeing them!
Tyler raised his arm to rub his eyes before returning to his spot with his head hung low. He was waiting to get the ball. Soon enough, his members sent the ball into his hands, and he dribbled it while preparing to score. The other team already knew that he was a formidable opponent, so three players stepped forward to play defense while he attacked; they wanted to stop him from scoring. Tyler’s heart sank when he realized that three players were surrounding him, for he had understood that he was their main target. The game was going to be a hard one for him!
Sonia finally arrived at the stadium at 4.30 p.m. “I’ll wait for you in the car, President Reed,” the driver said after he helped Sonia out of the car.
“Okay.” Sonia nodded before she hobbled toward the entrance of the stadium with her walking stick as support. She heard a series of sighs coming from the crowd the moment she walked into the stadium. When she looked over at the audience’s faces and saw the looks of disappointment on them, she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened during the match. She soon found her answer when she shifted her gaze to the scoreboard—the scores were at 20-40, with Team Kosovo leading by 20 points ahead of their national basketball team. I can’t believe our team is a full 20 points behind the opponents! We’re playing from our home court, and most of the audience are people from our country, so they must feel disappointed to see their national team losing to Team Kosovo by so many points.
“Excuse me. Excuse me!” Sonia got the crowd to give her space so that she could make her way to her seat. By the time she finally arrived at her spot, she caught sight of someone walking toward her. She froze when she exchanged glances with the other person—it was Toby!
Toby was just as shocked to see Sonia in the stadium. He gave her a slight nod before he glanced at the ticket she held in her hand. “Did Tyler give you this?” When Tyler handed him the ticket the morning before, he noticed that Tyler had another ticket in his hand. The seating number was the one next to the seating number on Toby’s ticket. Before this, Toby assumed that Tyler would give the ticket to his friend, but Toby was surprised that Tyler had given it to Sonia.
Sonia mumbled a response as she sat down in her seat. “Yeah, he gave it to me.” If she knew that Tyler had given another ticket to Toby, she would’ve never agreed to come. However, she had no choice but to stay since she had already arrived.
Seeing that Sonia had already settled down in her seat, Toby did the same, for he didn’t want to block the audience at the back. “Are you interested in basketball?” Toby asked, with his gaze still fixed on the court.
“Are you talking to me?” Sonia frowned.
“Who else would I be talking to?” Toby’s handsome face darkened as he spoke. We are the only two people we know in the crowd. Who else does she think I’m talking to? Could I be talking to myself?
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect you to start a conversation with me.” Sonia’s gaze fell upon the court as she spoke. “I’m not interested in basketball. I’m only here to watch the competition because I didn’t want the ticket to go to waste.”
“I see.” Toby’s lips twitched a little before he muttered a short reply and went silent. Sonia wasn’t in the mood to care about him, so she watched the tournament in silence as well. After a while, Toby carefully turned his head a little to peek at Sonia’s sharp and well-defined side profile. He gazed at her thoughtfully.
Right then, the crowd around them began to voice their complaints. “Sh*t. What sort of nonsense is this? Our opening was so good, and I thought our national team would definitely win this round. I can’t believe Team Kosovo is getting the upper hand.”
“Exactly! We’re only in the second period, and we’re already losing by so much. Team Kosovo is probably going to beat us by triple the number of points by the end of the game, huh?” someone added.
“Forget it! The more I watch this match, the more furious I get. I thought I’d get my money’s worth when I saw the opening of the match, but I can’t believe this is what I’m watching right now.” The audience was losing their passion and hope for the national team, and many of them began to throw their cheering sticks away before getting up and leaving the stadium.
Sonia glanced at the departing crowds before turning toward Tyler, who had his hands pressed against his knees for support while he panted on the court. “It looks like they’re really losing,” she uttered. Toby narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t reply to her words.
Beep! The whistle indicated the end of the second quarter, and both teams returned to their own resting areas to get some rest. The coach began to shout at Tyler the moment he got hold of Tyler. “What’s up with you? You were doing so well at the start. What happened toward the middle of the game? Do you really think you’re playing up to your own standards?”
Tyler lowered his head without saying anything. The rest of the teammates dropped their towels and voiced out when they saw this happening. “Forget it, coach. The other team was attacking Fuller. Three or four of their players would block Fuller, and he couldn’t manage—”
“What do you mean he couldn’t manage?! Didn’t all of you block him during our training? Didn’t he always manage to find a way to slip past you guys? Why can’t he do that now? It just looks like he’s not putting in his full effort!” The coach’s chest was heaving with anger.
Even the teammates who had spoken up for Tyler were afraid to say anything else at that point. The coach wasn’t wrong, after all. “I need to use the bathroom.” Tyler lowered the towel that had been hanging by his neck before he strode toward the bathrooms. Toby pressed his lips together and got to his feet when he saw his brother walking off.
“Are you going to look for him?” Sonia curled her lips upward.
Toby gave her a faint nod. “Tyler doesn’t seem to be in good condition today, and I want to take a look because I’m worried about him. Do you want to come along?” Toby didn’t understand why he felt the need to ask her that question.
Sonia pointed at her own leg. “Do you think I can stroll around easily? On top of that, I don’t want to see him because this will be my last time doing anything related to the Fuller Family. Once this competition is over, whatever the Fuller Family does will no longer have anything to do with me.” With that, she picked up a water bottle and twisted it open to have a drink.
Toby fixed his gaze on her for a while before he turned to leave the crowd.
