"Su Fei, have you finished your homework from the summer holidays?" Zhang Jun knocked on Su Fei's door with his homework.
Su Fei handed over two of her books to Zhang Jun.
"Seriously! What is Liang Ke doing? There's only two weeks left until school reopens yet he still requests for the soccer team to train in advance!" Zhang Jun ranted as he quickly copied down his homework.
"Your coach just wants the soccer team to have better results this year."
"Hmph! Then why didn't he start like half a month earlier? The recruitment for new members hasn't even begun!"
"Idiot! You really need to be disciplined! The school doesn't open until another a week! Where would we be training then?" Su Fei knocked Zhang Jun's head with a pencil.
"Oh, I forgot. Okay, you're really a genius. You managed to solve this difficult question!" It was a must for Zhang Jun to give Su Fei some praises after he copied her homework.
"Hmph!" It seemed to help.
...
Kaka was not seen throughout the summer holidays and he had became darker upon his return.
An Ke admired him and asked, "Is the sunshine in Rio de Janeiro great?"
"No it isn't, but the sun in Luoyang is really deadly!" Kaka laughed.
"Oh?"
"I was working in Luoyang during the summer holidays, delivering water to people. The sun was scorching hot!" Kaka held on to a pergola as he looked up at the sun.
"Today's highest temperature is 39 ᴼC." Ren Yu De approached them from the side, dressed as if he had just returned from Hawaii. He wore a floral shirt and matching pants as well as a pair of sunglasses. "There's air conditioning at home, yet you came here to suffer."
"Thirty-nine? No wonder it feels like we're inside an oven," Yang Pan replied with his headphones on.
"But in Brazil, children are always barefooted when they play soccer," Kaka said.
"They're already used to it!" Yang Pan waved disapprovingly.
"I'm talking about how high Brazil's soccer level is. This is how they trained!" An Ke rubbed his chin as he was deep in thought. Suddenly, a ball flew in his direction and he caught it instinctively. While An Ke was still on the ground, he heard a sweet voice. "Brilliant!"
"Su Fei?"
Su Fei clapped her hands and smiled. "Although you're only a goalkeeper, your reaction sure is fast!"
An Ke had a feeling that he was being played, but the one who played him was a beauty. He inadvertently vented, but all he could do was pat the dust off his body. "Please take pity on me, Ah Di―"
Ren Yu De pouted. "Spread the goods, a piece only cost 35 $. Are they from Guanlin Wholesale?"
"What? You―"
"Alright, everyone please change your clothes quickly!" Liang Ke's loud voice immediately crushed An Ke's surging impulse.
...
Zhang Jun looked at the lockers that were located in the lounge area. On his left stood the locker that originally belonged to his captain, Su Li. But now, the locker still remained the same even though the owner had left. It had been a long time since the captain was last seen. He only came to school occasionally in the last semester. Rumor has it that he was tutoring at home. It had been more than a month since the college entrance examination ended and there was no certainty on what the seniors were doing at that point.
He gave the locker a few pats. Back then, if they took too long to change their clothes, they would definitely hear their captain shouting at the door. "What are you doing? Hurry up first-years! Don't let us wait too long!"
Zhang Jun turned his head, but Su Li was nowhere to be seen. The afternoon sunlight seeped through the door and he felt his captain's presence even though his face was not visibly there. That laid-back smile of his, his loud shouting, his face that would light up just for a warm-up match and how he collapsed and cried in Wang Bo's embrace during the final battle; these memories seemed like they just happened yesterday, but it had already been a year. The afternoon sun was still quietly seeping in from the outside, yet that certain, well-built figure was not there anymore…
...
Liang Ke faced his team and said, "As everyone knows, since Su Li left the soccer team, we've never had a permanent captain. So today, I suggest that we decide on a permanent captain." Liang Ke took the armband that Su Li left behind and raised it up.
"Yang Pan!" he called.
"Huh?" Yang Pan was shocked but he did not respond.
"Get over here!" Liang Ke hurried Yang Pan.
As Yang Pan walked towards the front, Liang Ke placed the blue captain's armband on his arm. "From now on and until graduation, you shall be the captain of the Shu Guang soccer team."
"This…"
Yang Pan was still stunned, yet the sound of clapping could already be heard; it was from Zhang Jun. Followed by An Ke, Ren Yu De, Xie Yu, Kaka, after which the entire team joined in to commemorate their new captain.
"Zhang Jun will be the second captain and the third will be Xie Yu. Are there any objections?"
"No!"
...
When Zhang Jun knocked Yang Pan's door open, he found Yang Pan staring at the captain's godly armband.
"What are you up to? Is it gonna be edible after you look at it?" Zhang Jun teased the new captain.
"I was thinking... This thing looks like it shouldn't be on my arm…"
"What did you say?"
"I didn't even do anything during that match…"
"Crap! I'm the one who didn't do anything! You were running desperately for 80 minutes on the field!"
"We still lost even though I ran for 80 minutes…"
"You're still thinking about that match?"
"Are you satisfied? We lost just like that... Are you satisfied?" Yang Pan lifted his head to look at Zhang Jun.
Looking back at Yang Pan, Zhang Jun became speechless too.
...
In that noisy stadium, he sat on the bench, watching his teammates as they desperately struggled to win. However, they still lost in the end.
He held on to his head and gritted his teeth.
"I'm not satisfied!"
How long had it been? It had already been a year. At first, he thought he could forget about it. He never expected it to be buried deep in his heart.
When the captain patted him on the shoulder, he said, "It's not your fault that we lost." He trusted his captain's words and believed in his captain's assuring words. After that, he continued to be happy and forget that incident. Why would he believe in his captain's words? Also, why would he desperately want to forget that match? Since he was young, he was never someone who would have the courage to take on any responsibility. He did not play soccer to be a star; he just liked playing soccer and playing with friends where they could all sweat together. His reason for liking football was simple. It was not until he met Su Fei that it evolved into hanging out with her at the teahouse. It was like being part of a great big family. He then found his real reason to play soccer and that was to see Su Fei's smile.
But deep down inside, Zhang Jun was still a weak person. That was why he listened to his captain's encouraging words when he felt guilty about losing the game. It was like a drowning person desperately grabbing onto a tree branch. And so, he believed these words, "It's not your fault that we lost" to desperately forget that heartbreaking afternoon and pretend as if it never happened.
But were things supposed to be that way? Was it okay to pretend that it did not happen before?
When Yang Pang kicked a soccer ball with an unusually heavy foot from the sand to a wall in the distance, would the ball really hit that wall? Was the loud noise it produced only an echo?
After the match had ended, Wang Bo collapsed into his captain embrace and cried bitterly. A man with tears would usually not cry like a total mess, but truthfully speaking, would that man be satisfied in his heart after that? Would he ever wish for such an aftermath in the final battle?
Why did Su Fei always look back at him when the match ended? Did Zhang Jun not understand why?
Turns out that he was a downright idiot…
Yang Pan did not wait for Zhang Jun's reply but he saw tears rolling down Zhang Jun's cheeks. "Hey! What's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
Zhang Jun wiped his tears away and said, "Nothing, I'm fine."
He still thought he was being a strong person despite the fact that he just cried. Even if he felt a little better after crying, those tears were one year too late…