Chapter 5 Matt Remembers

Matt reached the stadium early. He had tea with his regular group of people discussing about the game play and strategies. Sara was busy is collecting the fees for the games session as she must pay the owner of the stadium for using the facilities. She handles the accounts for her player group and this management style is of the rude kind. She hates people delaying their payments and Matt is always in the radar because he would always pay late.

Leila entered the stadium while they were still talking. She waved at everyone and directly entered the washroom to change. She was jolly and there were some regular players who were talking about her.

"She is a professional player. She plays in the singles category, but she wanted to explore our doubles group." Sara spoke.

Leila noticed Matt but ignored immediately to make it look less obvious.

The players began to warm up as Leila entered. They already started their first match while Leila warmed-up and waited for her turn to enter one of the courts.

Matt walked up to her and said, "You seem familiar. Have we met before? I forgot to ask you yesterday."

Leila giggled and said, "You certainly forgot me. I am Leila, from Cleveward family."

"What are you being serious? I cannot believe I met you. I would have never thought that I would meet you ever again. Look at the destiny." Matt was surprised and excited at the same time.

"Not a problem. The world is a small village. Nice to see you." She said.

"How have you been?" He asked.

She was not trying to be friendly but his presence did not affect her much and she tried to be a new person to him.

"All good here. How are you? What do you do now?"

"Well, I am a professional photographer. I work as a freelancer in one of the US companies but it is a remote job. You know how freelancers job work right." Matt explained.

"Freelancing is something I did as a writer, and I still do as a writer. It helped me pay my college fees." She said and looked sad at the same time. It was not easy for her to work night shift for five long years while all the college students of her age partied. She could not make friends as the vibes did not match for her.

The college students were being funded by their parents unlike hers. She had to work to manage her expenses and, she was not interested to spend her salary in having fun like other college students did. The students tagged her as a geek who would always be inside her house and study but she knew that she had to attend college in the morning while work at night.

She was also undergoing her post rehabilitation program for her athletics injury which was expensive too. Basically, Leila was grown and matured much before her age. She had a lot of things to do on her side already. She did not want to burden her father at any cost like her other two sisters and his siblings as well.

"Hey, what are you thinking? You seemed to be zoned out. Is there something bothering you?" Matt suddenly clapped his hands in front of her. He already felt connected to her and was comfortable teasing her like the old times.

"Nothing at all. Sara is calling me. I will join her. See you around." She ran to the third court to join Sara for her match.

Matt just stood there and watched her play. He giggled every time she screamed over a point. She would jump when she made an error and ended up giving a point to her opponent. She would pretend to dive and fake a shot which Matt and all other players found very funny.

She is the queen of fake shots. Matt thought in his mind and laughed.

Matt joined her for the second match. It was a total disaster. She faked almost every shot and Matt could not understand the game pattern she was playing.

As she is a singles player, she almost ended up hitting Matt as he stood on the same court as her. She almost hit him with the racket and said, "Oops, sorry. I only play singles. I forgot you are on my court too."

"Your court? Excuse me! I am the one regular and how did this court become your court? To top it all, you are trying to hit me or injure me. Are you trying to take a revenge on me from the past?" Matt looked annoyed at her and continued to smile.

'I can't even get angry at her.' He thought to himself.

They were not fighting. As she was not being careful on the court and over excitingly running all over the court, she was a total ball of energy.

"This is not a singles game. This is doubles. Give me a chance to hit the shuttle too. Will you?" Matt protested.

Leila laughed and apologized.

Matt, out of frustration, just stood in one of the corners of the court while Leila ran around the court to hit the shuttle. She was angry at him and shouted, "Why are you not playing? It's a doubles game. Stop standing in one corner. I am getting tired with all the running. The opponents are making me run so much. It seems like you are on their side."

He was shocked. It was her who was not letting him play but yes, it is always the man who is blamed even when a female is at fault. He understood and he accepted it.

He rolled his eyes and spoke, "You are not giving me a chance to hit. Just stand in the front and take the shuttles that come near the front court. I will take whatever comes behind you for the back court. Is that understood? Do not run back and I will also not run forward. Deal?"

She stopped the game, "Fine for today. I will be standing in the front and hitting. You can hit whatever comes behind me on the back court. It is a deal."

She realized that he cannot run so much with those six feet height and overweight body. He tried to be a man on the court and she was sure to bring him down. She faked the shots that came to her on the front court. She was being targeted as she was the female player in the team of two.

Matt was already tired running from one corner of the back court to the other. Suddenly, as Leila waited for the shuttle to be returned by Matt and she was planning her next shot already in her mind, the opponent sent the shuttle backwards.

She still focused on the front court and stood there until she heard a thud behind her. Matt fell on the ground, and he did not look so good at that moment. He sat on the ground holding his ankle with his left hand while he held the racket on his right hand.

"This girl will kill me. If she did not fake that shot, I would not have this sudden reaction coming my way." Matt complained and Leila heard.

"Oh....you fell because of me. I am so sorry. I thought you will be alert. Are you hurt?" Leila inquired out of concern. It was equally funny for her as she saw him on the ground after the loud thud sound behind her.

'How does such a big man fall on the ground?' She thought.

"How did you fall like that?" Leila asked. Sara could only laugh seeing the drama in front of them and she felt a connection between Matt and Leila already. They talked as if they knew each other from a very long time and this is something that everyone in the group noticed.

The men helped Matt get up from the floor. It was so funny that people were teasing him.

"You fell on the court and does that also mean you fell for her?" Sara's girlfriend asked.

He laughed as she teased. Leila stood in the corner near the court where she was playing wondering what she would do now. She was worried that Sara would kick her out of the group not that Matt, her so called friend fell because of her.

He was already complaining to her that I am going to get him injured and I ended up doing the same. It is so funny in her part that even the security guard who was watching their arguments laughed. It became a popular story to tell whoever witnessed what happened on the court.

As she felt awkward standing all alone while everyone supported Matt and inquired about his pain score, she walked up to him. She sat next to him and asked, "Are you alright? I am so sorry for what happened. Nothing was intentional. I am just new to playing doubles. I will improve."

Sara spoke, "Don't worry. He fell for a good reason today. He will never regret."

Leila looked at her in a confused state. She did not understand the hidden meaning behind it but felt it was something related to her for sure. She did not want to ask but still attempted to.

Matt changed the topic and told Leila, "Could you please pass one of the pairs of my shoe?"

Sara and Leila were shocked. Did he just ask Leila to fetch his shoes that he opened at a distance? She wondered why he would do that. Sara just looked at him with surprise. Leila stood up immediately and got them.

Matt told her to sit next to her and showed her the shoes, "You see this part of the shoes? It was wet because of which I slipped. It was not your fault. I was wiping the sweat on the court with the rubber part of the shoes. The sweat just got this part of the shoes wet. I sweat like a pig and that is something you will get used to." He explained his reason for the fall indirectly telling her not to feel bad for him.

Sara could only watch the bond that was so evident in front of her eyes. She walked away silently to join a match and signaled her girlfriend to leave them alone too. Meanwhile, Leila sat next to Matt to watch the games with him as the other players played.