Chapter 9 (2/2)

Right then, a woman's loud-pitch scream cut through the air and reached Su Tian's eardrum, ”Basketball! Basketball! All you ever wanted to do is play basketball! You only ranked #2 during the last examination! A #2 in a small town like this, have you no shame?”

The woman got progressively more angry as she shouted, with the last word also came a loud ”SMACK”.

Everybody else around them gasped audibly, except the one actually on the receiving end of the slap.

The woman got even angrier, ”Give me the basketball! Give it to me! Play! That's all you ever do!”

Within the ruckus, a basketball flew out from the crowd and, low and behold, flew straight at Su Tian.

With cat-like reflexes, Su Tian reached out and caught the basketball. There were three characters scribbled stylishly on the ball: Liu Kaiyan. There was a  figure of a boy drew next to it in a cutesy art style. The artwork was quite good and the figure quite lifelike.

Looking up, the crowd was divided by the basket and Su Tian could now see the center of attention. A well-dressed woman, and in front of her stood a young man around 17 or 18 years old.

The young man was tall and lanky. He stood there quietly among the crowd and the red hand print contrasting drastically on his otherwise pale face.

Su Tian could tell immediately that the young man was the same person as the figure drew on the basketball.

She lifted the ball up and asked, ”Is this your basketball?”

Hearing her words, the young man looked up at Su Tian before looking away indifferently.

Many years from then, Su Tian could still remember that look of his - it was cold, void of any emotions, and at the same time so fragile that one would think he could be crushed with just one finger.

She swallowed the words that she was about to say and said instead, ”…. If you don't want it back, I am going to take it with me!”

The well-dressed woman frowned a bit. Switching to a tone that suggested superiority, she said, ”We don't want it anymore. It's yours if you want it.” She was about to toss it into a trash bin anyway.

With the sweetest smile, Su Tian thanked her and went inside the school carrying the basketball with her.

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