Falling Into Your Smile

Chapter 3

Tong Yao was hanging around waiting to board the flight to Shanghai the weekend after all of her contracts were signed. Before she boarded the plane she pulled her phone from her pocket opening her WeChat app searching for her bestie Jinyang. She brought her contact up and started to type out the message that she was going to Shanghai and was going to play professionally. Tong Yao was determined to be the Mulan of E Sports. While she had her phone in her hand she reminded herself to update her Weibo to tell her fans that she was on her way to watch this year’s spring tournament finals. She made it abundantly clear who she was rooting for.

GO TEAM ZGDX!!!

She put her phone back in her pocket when it vibrated again. She pulled it out and noticed that the official Weibo for the ZGDX team reposted it. There was also a comment underneath.

“Thanks for the well wishes, Smiling. Looking forward to seeing you.” After the comment from the team other comments from Team ZGDX supports were flooding in.

“My goodness, when did you get hooked up with the team of the competition sponsor. AAAAHHHHH”

“You’re really going to watch the game! I am going too! I want to go and guess who you are!”

“So happy Smiling likes the same team as I do! Promise me to get an autograph from Cheng Ge! Alright?”

“Is the competition sponsor buying you a ticket? Make sure you to ask for business class they have the money. Ah........”

Whenever she had free time from school or was on vacation, Tong Yao would live stream, either playing the game or simply chatting to her fans to earn spending money. Unlike other stream hosts, she had never turned on her camera. Yet. She was a girl at the ‘challenger’ tier on both the Korean and Chinese servers. She had managed to build quite a following. She had anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand followers. She was shocked and excited. When she posted on Weibo normally she would get thirty or forty replies at most. Her current post had received more than three hundred posts in less than ten minutes. This was probably because ZGDX had shared it. She was scrolling when a post caught her attention.

“Posting on Weibo about going to a game! You have no life! Why don’t you go compete yourself if you’re so amazing? You don’t even turn on the camera when you’re streaming. What? Are you afraid of exposing yourself?”

“.......” Because she never turned on her camera there was always the rumour that circled around saying that it wasn’t her playing. It was someone else playing for her. This only got worse when the scandal of another ‘challenger’ tier female streaming host had someone carry her through ranked matches. That was the reason why female players got so many malicious comments. It seemed like the guy was having a lot of fun making her feel insecure. Her lip twitched and she couldn’t help but stare at the comment for a while. She suddenly thought of the best response and started to jab at her phone responding, the look on her face went from slightly hurt to a satisfied smile.“That’s right! Don’t you know women like to post on Weibo for the smallest of reasons? That’s what makes us so cute.” She calmly signed out of Weibo when her phone started to vibrate in her hand. The smile on her face was suddenly wiped when she saw the caller ID. It was Jinyang. Tong Yao could guess what her friend was going to say so she pretended that she was too busy boarding the plane to notice the call. The phone rang twice before it suddenly stopped vibrating in her pocket. Tong Yao breathed a sigh of relief, until her phone vibrated again in her pocket. This time it was a text message.

“Don’t pretend you’re not there! I saw your Weibo! You were talking smack with someone thirty-five seconds ago!”

“.......” Tong Yao was afraid of losing her friend, so she delayed getting on the plane and listened patiently to her friends angry ranting.

“TO HELL WITH THE MULAN OF E-SPORTS” Jinyang screamed down the phone. “DAMMMIT! My boyfriend plays E-Sports and now my best friend is going as well. When other people ask me what I am watching and I reply that I am watching my best friend and my boyfriend they are going to think I am insane!” Tong Yao couldn’t help but patiently listen to her friends rambling. “Where are you? Are you really on the plane already! GET OFF! I am going to h****k it.”

Tong Yao spent a long time trying to calm her friend down, especially since she was sensitive to the words ‘E-Sports player’. They talked until the flight attended politely reminded her that the plane was about to take off. Just as Tong Yao was getting ready to hang up the phone her agitated friend fell silent. Tong Yao took a deep breath as she knew what was coming and as expected within seconds she heard her best friend questionher. “You aren’t playing professionally because of Jian Yang?”

“.....” Tong Yao paused the words felt like a slap in the face. “NO I am playing for the 800,000RMB yearly salary.”

“TONG YAO!”

“I really am not!” She said frustrated. “I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.......” She paused second guessing the next information and if she should tell her. “Besides people on his Baidu fan page say that he has a new girlfriend. A very pretty streaming host.”

“What?” Jinyang asked in shock. “Aren’t you a streaming host?”

“A pretty, streaming host.” Tong Yao clarified.

“Don’t be like that” Jinyang knew exactly what her friend was doing. “Though I despise Jian Yang, that jerk. I haven’t heard anything about a new girlfriend of Ai Jia. The said CK wouldn’t allow love affairs........”

“Anyway I am not going to look for him.” Tong Yao tried to reassure her friend.

“Then, that’s okay.” Jinyang wanted to make sure. She didn’t want her friend to be hurt again. “A good horse will never turn around to graze on an old pasture. I remember what you said just a couple of days ago that if you had a chance to do it again that you would never date a professional player ever.”

“I know, I know” Tong Yao replied with resignation in her voice.

“If you have to date one, then I will go to your wedding only if it’s Cheng Ge.” Jinyang laughed down the phone.

“................... then you don’t have to come to my wedding.” The face of Cheng flashed into Tong Yao’s head and replied. “Cheng Ge has a face that doesn’t like any human beings.” Jinyang burst into a laugh that came from her stomach at the end of the phone. The polite flight attendant came over for a second time to remind Tong Yao that she had to turn off her cell phone as she had been on it all the way into the aircraft. Tong Yao hastily said goodbye to her friend and put her phone away. She looked out of the window as the plane gained speed and lifted into the air. She watched as the silly face in front of her was yearning for the LoL League to stare back at her through the blue and clouds. “Be modest and cool.” She murmured while patting her face.

The flight to Shanghai took about two and half hours and as she made her way into the arrivals section of the airport there was a lady sent by ZGDX to meet her. The lady took her directly to the hotel where all the players would be staying for the finals that were due to take place the day after tomorrow. She sat in the back of the car with her heart racing and stomach doing summersaults. Tong Yao thought the woman was going to take her directly to meet her new teammates. The relief soared through her when she found out that wasn’t going to happen. The manager of the team wanted to ensure that Tong Yao was treated properly as she was a young woman travelling on her own, so they booked the same hotel for her, to ensure she was protected.

As for the meeting with her teammates, it would have to wait until after the announcement was made about the retirement of their current mid player, Ming God. “That’s good. That’s good.” Tong Yao kept nodding. “I also feel it’d be a bit too rushed to meet them.” The woman who was help Tong Yao laughed at her reaction.

“I thought you couldn’t wait to meet Cheng Ge and the others.” The lady told Tong Yao. “The other trainees who came to our base before are always like that.”

“I do want to meet them.” Tong Yao spoke matter of factly. “But I haven’t washed my hair today.”

“........” The woman looked at Tong Yao puzzled.

“Not even yesterday.”

“...........” The woman stood perplexed as Tong Yao laughed with embarrassment. They were close to the hotel at the time and could see many reporters holding long focus cameras and they were swarming outside of the hotel. All around the hotel had lots of people bustling about as if a superstar was going to show up any minute. Tong Yao watched as the lady shook her head. “Who knows where the media people learned about Ming God’s retirement? They all want some scoop.....”

“Oh” Tong Yao didn’t know how else to respond. The lady glanced through the rear-view mirror directly at Tong Yao who didn’t seem to react.

“Those stupid people don’t know that the biggest news is sitting in the back seat of my car.” She raised her eyebrows at Tong Yao and spoke proudly.

“Don’t, Don’t, Don’t” Tong Yao giggled shyly as she waved her hands in front of her face. “The big news hasn’t washed her hair.”

As they both chatted happily in the back of the car a Benz van emblazoned with the China Telecom logo sped by and parked in front of the hotel ahead of them. When they parked the car, the doors of the van were open and several members of staff wearing the team’s uniform walked out first. They cleared a path through the media for the young men who followed. They all looked very young and the oldest one was no older than 25 years old. The first one to get off of the bus was a chubby guy, wearing the black and red short sleeved uniform with a ZGDX logo and loose black sweat pants. He gave a good natured smile and waved to the media. Several people came out after him but when the last guy got out of the van; Tong Yao noticed every camera turned to face that one man.

If the first few people that walked in front of the group could be referred to as teenagers then the last one had to be referred to as a young man. He was a head taller than his other teammates, even though he wore the same black and red uniform; he covered it with a black jacket. He put his hand into his pockets and had earphones in his ears. He had a high nose, single eyelids, and thin lips and looked somewhat harsh when his face was resting.

But he was handsome.

When a teammate turned around to talk to him, he took one earphone off and listened attentively.... His lips slightly curved from what he heard. It was an expression that could not be classed as a smile. He definitely had an expressionless face. Tong Yao was stunned into silence.

She had seen his pictures on Weibo when someone shared his public team photo. She heard all of the people around her cooing over him. “He’s good looking enough to be a star, why does he play E-sports?” Now that Tong Yao had seen the real person, the real person was the spitting image of his pictures. Had he gotten cosmetic surgery while he was training in Korea? She asked herself. How could he topple the stereotypical image of an internet addicted teenage boy like this? Tong Yao knew that it was more fitting for an internet addicted girl not to wash her hair....

“WOW, take a look at that forced smile on Cheng Ge’s face. I figure we lost the skirmish to the Korean team again today.” Tong Yao’s train of thought was interrupted by the girls gossiping again. The lady who had just parked the car came and sighed loudly behind Tong Yao. There was no response from her though as her eyes were fixated on the back of the man who was walking away slowly after his teammates with a slight hunched back.

This man was the ADC player, “Chessman” of Tong Yao’s new team and the same person whom her best friend idolised with fervour. He was ‘Cheng Ge’. The real name of “Chessman” was Lu SiCheng. “Chessman” in Chinese meant the chess piece. Yet, his importance to the team was hardly as minor as his ID suggested. Ever since he started playing professionally at least half of the top ten most memorable game highlights of each season were of him. Numerous times, he’d turn the tides of a game and led his teammates to victory.

He had represented China for two consecutive years as the ADC player at the All-Star Competitions. He had tens of thousands of fans, and it was said that his annual salary had at least one more zero than Tong Yao’s 800,000. He was tall, handsome, quiet, stable and had superior decision making and leadership skills. His existence in the team was a reassuring force to his teammates.

While other player would be trolled from time to time on their Baidu fan pages, only Chessman, after playing professionally for many years was like a clean sheet. Everyone loved him; there was no one who didn’t like him. Though it was said he had a bad temper. A handsome man with a bad temper usually would be referred to as having character. Lu SiCheng could be said to be the heart and soul of ZGDX. Yet, to be more exact it would still make sense if the ZGDX was replace by the E-sports Community of China.

Before Tong Yao came she had imagined thousands of time what it would be like when she met such a influential man for the first time. By now she could only say that she wishes she will perform well in her future professional career so as not to make that handsome face frown. She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of mean words would come out of that usually harsh face. “Is it me or does Cheng Ge look kind of mean?” She asked.

“.........Correction” She paused. “He doesn’t just look kind of mean. “

“.............” Now she was very scared. While Tong Yao was lost in her own thoughts, her future team mates had already entered the hotel.

“Shall we head in too?” The lady sympathetically patted Tong Yao’s shoulder and led her into the hotel. She got the room key from the front desk and put her luggage in her room. She went to report to the manager and then she was free to do whatever she wanted. Tong Yao checked the room and found there wasn’t enough drinking water in her room. She went down carrying her purse; she noticed a small supermarket that was close when they were driving into the hotel. She found the supermarket without any difficulty and luckily there was one large bottle of water left. Tong Yao picked up the bottle and found it quite heavy. There weren’t any carts nearby......

She also wanted to buy some ice-cream and fruit.

Since she was earning 800,000 a year she decided to treat herself by getting some other stuff first and then coming back for the water, but there was a lot of shoppers around. To avoid the chance that some other shopper would take the bottle away before she came back, she thought of a creative solution.

She tiptoed and hid the bottle sideways on the back of the topshelf.

No one should see it.

She clapped her hands with satisfaction and checked again that the bottle was well hidden before walking away. What she didn’t expect was.........

Soon after she left, a tall man came out from behind the shelf. He had one hand in his pocket and underneath his unzipped jacket there was a red logo that read. “ZGDX”. He stopped in front of the shelf where the bottle was and used his other hand to take down the supposedly hidden bottle with little effort. He turned around, paid and walked away.

When Lu SiCheng opened the door with his room card, a guy with red hair, who was playing a mobile game, raised his head abruptly and cheered when he saw the bottle of water in Lu’s hand. “Next time, go yourself.” Lu SiCheng put the water down.

“I will, I will.” The guy twisted open the cap and began gulping down the water. “Long live the honourable captain.” He felt there was someone quietly watching him. He gobbled down another mouthful of water and turned to look at the fierce looking man doubtfully. “What?”

“That was the last bottle in the supermarket.”

“Okay?”

“I saw a Shorty tiptoe to hide it on the top shelf, a place where all the shorties in the world would think as a good place to hide anything when I can see it with just my chin.”

“.......” The man paused and replied quietly. “Even I am embarrassed for her stupidity.