Olivier watched as the elder player exited the washroom. He was almost certain that they had come to a verbal understanding over the previous match.
Mixed emotions were brewing inside Olivier right now but he did know he was satisfied.
He quickly finished his business before going out of the bathroom. But as soon as he opened the stall gate, a tall and bulky man blocked his way.
The man did not look familiar, but something about his looks did not sit right with Olivier. His instincts told him that he should not interact with this man.
"Hey kid, are you Olivier? The one who defeated that official trainee, Jack? Man, you do look young."
The huge and bulky man exclaimed. This was the right time for Olivier to make a run for it and he tried to get past the elder.
"Y-You have the wrong person. Now if you would excuse me, I need to go."
Olivier tried to walk past the huge man but the other did not like it. Instead of giving Olivier way, he blocked Olivier's route and positioned his body in front of the opening.
"Hey, where are you going in such a hurry now? I just want to have a talk with you about something. You see, I do not want to lose the next match. So, I want you to ensure that I don't lose."
Olivier had seen such tactics before. The young players who had trained had often run into this problem. And Olivier had always told them to remain calm.
But now that he was in a similar situation, he could see how difficult it was to calm his racing heart down. There was no need for him to panic.
This was an official match venue and no one was foolish enough to cause trouble here. The penalty for doing so would be too big.
"I am not sure what you are asking me to do. And I also refuse to help you to set up a fake victory. Now, I would like to head out and-"
"You punk. You think you are some big shots just because you defeated a trainee. I will show you-"
The elder did not hold back when he took hold of Olivier's arm. In his haste to get what he wanted, the older player misjudged his strength and Olivier cried out as he felt his arm throb.
His cry was loud as well, attracting everyone's attention. The bigger man froze as soon as he realized that the officials would be coming.
"Hey kid, nothing happened here. Do you understand me?"
The elder player stressed his words as he threw Olivier away from his body. Once again, he did not realize how much stronger he was than a 14 years old skinny child.
And Olivier was thrown back against the washbasin counter.
His head made a relatively loud noise as it collided with the ceramic of the washbasin and he was lucky that there was no bleeding.
The elder took in a deep breath, nor suddenly glad that Olivier had not gotten hurt too much. Maybe he would not get into trouble?
But of course, this was just a wish on his part. The bathroom was forced open by the on-lookers and they noticed what had happened.
They looked from the bigger bully to the small child who was swaying on his feet and they put two-on-two together.
Of course, these on-lookers also contained authority.
"Hey, what is going on here? You kid, are you alright?"
One of the on-site organizing committee members kneeled in front of Olivier and tried to force his face up.
That face zoned in and out of focus for Olivier but he tried not to let it bother him much. He still had a match to play and he needed to get up now.
"Hey kid, don't move. You have a concussion and you need to rest. No, don't close your eyes, and don't think. You need to rest."
The worker helped Olivier up but his words worried Olivier. He could not afford to miss the next match since it was a top 8 match. He needed to pick himself up and start getting ready for the match-
"Kid, open your phone lock. I will call someone to come and pick you up. And no, don't try to be stubborn. It will not work against me and I will not allow you to participate in this tournament any longer."
Olivier wanted to cry out about the unfairness of it all. But his brain was hurting his ability to think currently.
All Olivier could do in such a situation was follow orders and hope he would get well soon.
"Olivier, are you alright? What happened?"
Terry was the first person to turn the corner and look at Olivier. Olivier did not look alright and a worker quickly filled Terry in on what happened.
Terry was angry and so was the rest of the team. But there was not much they could do in this situation.
"I am sorry, but you will need to take this child to the hospital to get him checked out. We will send one of our staff with your team. But you will have to drop out now."
Terry opened his mouth to argue that they had a substitute and that this was not fair. But one look at Olivier made him reconsider this option.
Natasha had opted not to come today and they could not leave Olivier alone in the hospital.
In the end, they all had to forfeit their match and go with Olivier to the hospital.
...…..
"Lucas, did you have to act that coldly to our partners? You terrified the staff and those photographers when you were on the set."
Lucas's manager reminded him and scolded him at the same time.
His manager did get the reason why Lucas wanted to head back early. But he was also annoyed because the task of reconciling with the opposite team would fall on his shoulders.
"Don't act like you were not expecting me to hurry back. I never wanted to take this urgent offer in the first place."
Lucas reminded his manager and the man sighed. He hated his stubborn player but the man also made him a lot of money.
The driver finally pulled into the venue where the match was taking place and they coincidently made it before the final round was over.
As expected, the finals did not have the kid they had been keeping an eye on. But what both sides did have were people under training. One of them was even a kid the manager had scouted himself.
"Well, looks like the kid was not as good as we hoped him to be. We can cross him out and…I will go and ask the committee about that child's information."
The manager wanted to stop his player's obsession with that kid. But how could he do that when the mere mention of that child's name caused Lucas to become like this?
The manager decided to get this interrogation over with. He quickly walked over to the panel and they bowed toward him.
'Nice. So, these people do recognize me.'
The managed nodded back to the staff.
"Hey, I was looking at the players in the morning and I had a few questions about some of them. Do you think you can help me look some of these people up?"
The staff nodded at his request. They did not think much of it since the manager was a higher staff member.
The manager quickly looked through the record, only to notice an oddity.
The kid and his team had fortified once they reached the top 8. And not only them, but their opponent had also fortified as well. But there was a warning issued to the opponent.
Looking at this record, the manager suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Hey, what happened to this match-up? Why did both teams decide to forfeit?"
The manager asked and the staff looked a little awkward and tense. They did not answer the manager's question outright but and that irked the manager.
Finally, these people noticed that the manager was not happy with them and they decided to open their mouths.
"Ah, you see. What happened was…"
The manager listened to the story and felt his heart skip a few beats. He had a feeling that Lucas would do something drastic as soon as he heard those words.
And by drastic, the manager meant like - visiting the kid out of the blue in that hospital room of his.
If the media got wind of this, then it would be a disaster. So, the manager decided to keep quiet about what happened.
Of course, he forgot to account for other people and their big mouths. By the time he made it back, Lucas had heard what happened already. And there was a familiar and stubborn glint in Lucas's eyes.
"Whatever you are thinking Lucas, do not follow through with it. We cannot afford any more publicity without telling the PR team."
But of course, Lucas would not be Lucas if he began to listen to him.