Smile for Me

The isolation room door was shoved open with force.

The Beta who stepped out first kept his head lowered as he walked ahead.

He looked down at his hands.

Even though he knew the only scent on them was the harsh smell of hand sanitizer, he still shook them repeatedly in both disgust and emotional collapse.

Behind him, the Alpha, completely bare like some primitive human, wore the satisfied expression of someone who had finally found release.

His wet bare feet left clear footprints across the floor.

His long legs easily caught up with the person ahead of him.

He even had enough leisure to tilt his head and admire the expression on the face in front of him.

“Your face is really red.”

“In a situation like this, any normal human being would have some reaction.”

Quickly making his way to the players’ lockers, the black-haired Beta yanked open the locker marked “Zhao Shu” with enough force to practically break it.

He dragged out a sports bag from inside.

“Maybe now it’s your turn to adjust your emotions.”

“If you say one more word, I’ll rip your tongue out.”

“I’m serious. Go look in a mirror. With the way you look right now, the fact that I exposed Pei Qingyu and Duan Bairui and forced them to officially announce their relationship would’ve been completely unnecessary. Anyone with functioning eyes would have a hard time believing nothing happened between us.”

“Ahhhhh! Stop talking—”

“I’ve already been very restrained. But your face is practically screaming exactly what we did. Not even the gods can save you.”

Zhao Shu was telling the truth.

He really had been restrained.

This time, he had shown remarkable self-control.

He hadn’t taken advantage of the chaos to bite all over Teacher Wu.

Nor had he entertained any improper thoughts about the back of his neck.

There wasn’t even the faintest trace of tequila pheromones left on Wu Qie’s body.

The only thing visible was Wu Qie’s own guilty conscience.

His skin was red from his collarbones all the way to the tips of his ears, like a boiled shrimp.

At that moment, he pressed his lips tightly together and shot Zhao Shu a fierce glare.

The latter stood beside him, looking down at him with a smile hanging from his lips.

Those deep brown eyes overlapped with a certain moment from earlier.

For some reason, looking at the lazy grin on the young man’s face now, Wu Qie suddenly remembered the kiss that had landed on his eyelashes earlier.

Light as a feather.

Yet carrying an unmistakable sense of cherishing something precious.

“…”

It felt as though a drought-stricken highway inside his mind had first been battered by a violent storm, then struck by heavenly lightning, and finally trampled by ten thousand elephants.

Wu Qie moved his lips.

Unfortunately, like a squeaky toy chicken being strangled, his throat seemed gripped by the merciless hand of fate.

Not a sound came out.

His fingers silently tightened around the sports bag strap with enough force to nearly tear it off.

The speechless expression on his face was fully captured by the young Alpha.

The locker room fell terrifyingly silent.

The only sound was the thunderous beating of the black-haired young man’s heart.

The smile on Zhao Shu’s lips widened.

“So?”

Wu Qie said, “…What?”

Zhao Shu asked:

“Was it thick?”¹

Wu Qie: “…………………………..”

Expressionless, he hurled the sports bag straight into the young Alpha’s infuriatingly smug face.

Then he kicked him sharply in the shin.

…

By the time the whistle for pre-game preparation sounded, Wu Qie had already dragged an emotionally stable starting power forward from Hongtie High School back into the basketball arena.

The Alpha’s hair was still wet.

He had obviously used the shower inside the isolation room.

His expression remained completely calm.

Aside from Head Coach Sun Mi, who looked like a survivor emerging from a catastrophe and was clearly the person most desperate to win, everyone else’s gaze immediately shifted toward Teacher Wu with varying degrees of suspicion and ambiguity.

Wu Qie released Zhao Shu’s collar.

The latter straightened his previously bent posture and asked expressionlessly:

“So, what was the strategy for the second half again?”

“Student Pei, your wristbands are soaked. The spare pair you asked me to bring yesterday is still in my bag. Should I go get them for you…?”

Duan Bairui hadn’t even noticed the commotion around him.

His entire attention was focused on the boyfriend in front of him.

When the two of them were together, most conversations consisted of Duan Bairui performing a one-man comedy routine.

Pei Qingyu rarely responded.

That wasn’t to say he ignored him.

Whenever Duan Bairui asked a question, Pei Qingyu would usually provide a precise answer, proving that he had indeed been listening.

But this time was different.

After Duan Bairui spoke, no response came for a long while.

“Student Pei?”

Curiously, he looked up.

Only then did he notice that Pei Qingyu had already opened his eyes.

The warm towel draped over his head had slipped down onto his shoulders.

The Alpha teenager had turned his head and was staring expressionlessly into the distance.

“?”

Following his gaze, Duan Bairui saw Teacher Wu and Young Master Zhao.

The former was flipping through his notebook while rapidly explaining something.

A referee nearby was urging them to hurry.

The speaker paused briefly before speeding up.

As Zhao Shu listened, he casually swung the black notebook in his hand.

Before his fingers could touch it, the black-haired Beta frowned impatiently and smacked the back of Zhao Shu’s hand with the notebook.

The hit clearly hurt.

The Alpha immediately raised an eyebrow, seemingly about to lose his temper on reflex.

Yet the moment he saw Wu Qie’s face, his annoyance instantly transformed into a grin.

He withdrew his hand and said something quietly.

Wu Qie’s expression remained indifferent.

Even somewhat cold.

He didn’t look like someone who intended to respond.

Yet after Zhao Shu finished speaking, those dark eyes rolled slightly in their sockets.

His long lashes fluttered.

In the end, the black-haired young man still gave him a glance that clearly conveyed:

‘I heard you.’

The two of them weren’t doing anything.

Yet the atmosphere between them felt oddly harmonious.

“Student Zhao Shu acts differently around Teacher Wu than he normally does.”

Duan Bairui said.

“Unlike you. You seem like you kind of dislike Teacher Wu.”

The words slipped out unconsciously.

“…”

Pei Qingyu’s gaze swept over Teacher Wu’s pale lips in the distance.

Then over his fair, slender neck.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of intimacy left behind.

“No.”

The Alpha sitting courtside spoke in his cool voice.

Duan Bairui watched as Pei Qingyu slowly turned his head back.

He removed the half-dried towel from his shoulders and tossed it aside.

For once, the Alpha looked directly at him while speaking.

“I don’t dislike him.”

Pei Qingyu answered calmly.

…

When the final whistle sounded, Zhao Shu completed the final showy move of the game.

Over the head of the opposing center, famous for his extraordinary jumping ability, he executed a spectacular double-clutch layup.

Swish.

The basketball slipped through the hoop.

The sound wasn’t loud.

Yet in the deathly silent gymnasium, it sounded deafening.

Three seconds of absolute silence followed.

Then came the sharp beep of the scoreboard.

The final score froze at:

73 : 77.

Yicheng Affiliated High had won.

But after several seconds of stunned silence, the cheers erupting from Hongtie High School’s side nearly blew the roof off the gym.

On the bench, Sun Mi threw down a towel and cursed excitedly as he charged toward the players.

Soon enough, coach and players alike were embracing one another.

In competitive sports, the joy of being the challenger climbing upward was displayed in its purest form.

The summit was right there.

Waiting to be conquered.

Wu Qie sat frozen in his seat.

Only when someone suddenly grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet did he snap out of it.

Teenage boys poured in from all directions and surrounded him.

It seemed nobody remembered he was supposed to be a teacher.

Hands reached toward him from every side.

They ruffled his hair.

Patted his shoulders.

Slapped his back.

The Alpha boys’ excessive energy made them chatter nonstop.

Each one seemed capable of saying only:

“AHHHHHHH!”

and

“Teacher Wu!”

like a collection of broken recorders.

Trapped in the middle, Wu Qie desperately tried to convince them that this was merely a practice match.

There was absolutely no need to do something as embarrassing as throwing him into the air.

After finally escaping from the mob of excited teenagers, he quickly retreated into a corner.

His ears were still ringing from the noise.

Standing there, he looked a little dazed.

Someone reached over and pinched his sweaty cheek.

He turned his head.

It was Zhao Shu, holding a water bottle.

Their eyes met.

Wu Qie assumed Zhao Shu was fishing for praise again.

He was already preparing some perfunctory response when Zhao Shu unexpectedly asked:

“What are you thinking about?”

Everyone around them was enthusiastically discussing their performance.

Even someone as quiet as Pei Qingyu was surrounded by logistics staff led by Duan Bairui.

The area around him was packed.

Slightly surprised, Wu Qie looked up.

Zhao Shu was gazing at him seriously.

The Alpha who had controlled the pace of the entire game and delivered the final highlight play had come over just to ask a question completely unrelated to basketball.

Wu Qie looked toward the scoreboard.

Then looked back.

Suddenly, he no longer felt like brushing it off with empty platitudes.

“That final double-clutch layup of yours reminded me of myself.”

Zhao Shu tilted his head.

“Hm.”

His tone sounded casual.

“I learned it from you in the first place.”

“That was the last game I ever played in the high school professional league.”

Wu Qie said.

“We were playing against the Los Angeles San Antonia Buffaloes.”

“In the final three seconds, I made the same double-clutch layup over Anthony, their center who was two meters thirteen tall.”

“We went ahead by one point.”

“We won.”

“And secured the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.”

At the time, Wu Qie was eighteen years old.

He had been a Beta for less than three months.

When the final buzzer sounded, he knew his professional career was over.

The intensity of the playoffs was too high.

A Beta’s physical qualifications simply weren’t enough to survive an entire postseason.

But when he landed…

The arena lights were so bright.

Looking up at the final score frozen on the screen…

Being surrounded by teammates…

Thrown into the air…

Lifted toward the sky…

What he felt most wasn’t happiness.

It was unwillingness.

He had won.

At a height of one meter seventy-nine.

He had out-jumped a first-tier center standing two meters thirteen.

As a Beta.

He had lasted until the final second.

He had won the game.

Yet none of it mattered.

Even now, he still hadn’t found an answer.

He still couldn’t think of what would have mattered.

After the black-haired Beta finished speaking, Zhao Shu behaved unlike himself.

Normally, he would’ve immediately asked:

“So what happened after that?”

Instead, he fell silent.

An unusual silence settled between them.

Completely different from the jubilant atmosphere surrounding them.

Everyone else was celebrating and eagerly anticipating the upcoming national autumn league.

Yet neither of them rushed to break the quiet.

After nearly half a minute, Zhao Shu finally relaxed.

He raised a hand and stuffed his sports drink into Wu Qie’s hands.

“Basketball is a team sport.”

As the Beta reflexively caught the bottle, Zhao Shu spoke.

“The only people participating in the game aren’t the ones sweating under the basket.”

Wu Qie tightened his grip around the plastic bottle.

It emitted a strained crackling sound.

“That double-clutch layup.”

“Gao Fan’s absurd long-range three-pointers.”

“Pei Qingyu’s repeated drives to the basket.”

“Wang Jiajia’s relentless running and passing.”

Zhao Shu pointed behind him toward the basketball court.

Everyone’s sweat was still fresh.

The game had only just ended.

“If you look at this properly…”

“You’ll realize every single person on that court can be you.”

The crumpled bottle was pulled from his hands.

The half-finished drink was casually stuffed into a sports bag.

The Alpha’s sweat-covered wrist moved closer.

Eventually, his hand landed atop the black-haired Beta’s head.

Like a casual brush.

“Just now, you also fought a beautiful battle where the weak challenged the strong.”

“If I were you, I’d cheer up because of that pretty decent result.”

His hand slid down from the top of Wu Qie’s head.

Warm, rough fingertips brushed past his nose.

Then the boy separated his index and middle fingers.

He pressed against the corners of Wu Qie’s tightly pursed lips.

Forcing them upward into a smile.

“Smile for me.”

After finishing all those childish antics, Zhao Shu slung the sports bag over his shoulder and turned away.

He returned to the lively group of teammates already discussing where they should go drink and celebrate that night.

Wu Qie remained standing there for a while.

Then he slipped a hand into the pocket of his hoodie.

His fingers brushed against a sharp edge.

He jumped slightly.

Only then did he remember.

It was one of the business cards from the professional teams that had approached him earlier.

He had originally planned to find a deserted corner after the game and throw them all into the trash.

His thumb unconsciously rubbed the edge of one card.

A moment later, Wu Qie withdrew his hand from his pocket.

“Teacher Wu!”

Wang Jiajia’s excited voice rang out.

“Want to come have a drink with us tonight?!”

“Oh.”

Wu Qie stepped away from the corner.

Toward the noisy crowd that never seemed to settle down.

“Sure.”