Captain's Secret

Chapter 2: Mistaken Feelings

I had just finished taking a shower, but the cold water couldn’t wash away the heavy feeling inside me. Losing the captain title still burned in my chest like fire. I was angry, frustrated, and confused .

I had given everything I had, but in the end, Kairos had beaten me. It felt unfair, like I had let myself down and let the team down too.

I walked toward my locker, my bare feet slapping softly against the tiled floor. I was still fuming, my hands clenched into tight fists at my sides. I just wanted to get dressed and get out of there, but as I passed by the row of lockers, I stopped suddenly.

Right next to mine was Kairos’ locker.

That was it. All my anger and disappointment burst out at once. I couldn’t take it anymore. I raised my fist and slammed it as hard as I could against the metal door.

BANG!

The loud sound echoed through the empty locker room. I hit it again and again, my frustration pouring out in every strike. I didn’t care how loud it was or who might hear. I just wanted to let out everything I was feeling.

But then, something fell from the top of his locker and landed right at my feet.

It was an envelope. A plain, white envelope with my last name written clearly on the front.

Thorne.

My heart skipped a beat. I stopped hitting the locker immediately and bent down to pick it up. My hands were shaking a little as I held it. Why does this have my last name? I wondered. And why is it in Kairos’ locker?

I didn’t stop to think twice. I tore open the seal and pulled out the paper inside. As I read the words written there, my blood boiled even hotter.

“Hi… I know this sounds crazy. I'm writing you a letter.

Ever since we met, you’ve been the only one on my mind. Your smile, your hard work with so much passion… everything about you makes me admire you. I look at you every day and I can’t help but feel this feeling that I want to be close to you. I hope one day you’ll see that I’m here, and watching you for real.”

I read it over and over again, and every word made me angrier and angrier.

He wrote this. It’s for someone. And it has my last name… but wait.

A terrible thought hit me like a wave. Elara, My sister. We are the only ones with the last name Thorne that he knows. There is no one else. So this letter… this is for her.

All the confusion I felt earlier suddenly made sense. That was why he was always trying to be nice to her. That was why he looked at her like she was special. That was why he won the captain title. He wanted to impress her, to make himself look good in her eyes.

I crumpled the letter in my hand, my chest rising and falling fast. How could he do this? We were rivals, we competed against each other every single day, and yet he was out here chasing my sister? It made me feel like everything we had ever done meant nothing. It made me feel like he had been pretending this whole time.

How dare he? I thought, my eyes burning with anger. He beat me for a title he didn’t even deserve, and now he’s interested in my sister?

“Hey what are you doing?”

I jumped at the sound of his voice. I looked up quickly and saw Kairos standing in the doorway of the shower area, still holding his towel. He had just finished bathing too, and he had come out to get his things.

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I opened the door to the shower area, still holding the towel. I had just finished showering, so I went out to get my things.

And there I saw him.

Standing, with a towel wrapped around his waist. I could see the water dripping from his hair down his shoulders to his slender arms as well as his body. I couldn't help but be shocked and stare at him for a long time especially when he turned to face me and looked with his emerald green eyes as if he were absorbing me.

I snapped back to my senses when I noticed he was holding a piece of paper, a letter.

Wait, that is my...

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When he saw me standing there, holding his crumpled letter and looking at him with fire in my eyes, his expression changed immediately. He went from surprised to serious in a second.

“Give that back,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Back?” I laughed sharply, standing up straight and holding the letter tighter. “You mean this? You’re asking for this back?” I waved it in the air. “I can’t believe you. All this time you were acting like we were rivals, like you wanted to beat me… but you were just trying to get close to my sister? Is that it? You won the title just to impress her? How low can you get?”

Kairos’ face went dark. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. That letter isn’t for her. Give it to me, Elian.”

“Oh, spare me!” I shouted, taking a step toward him. “It has my last name on it! Who else would it be for? You’ve been nice to her, you’ve helped her, you’ve looked at her like she’s the only person in the world and now you write her a love letter? I thought we were enemies, but I guess I was wrong. You’re just a player who wants to date my sister!”

“That’s not true!” His voice got louder too. “I never wrote anything for your sister! You have no idea what you’re reading!”

“Stop lying!” I yelled. I was so angry I didn’t think about what I was doing. I lunged forward, shoving him hard in the chest. “You think you can trick everyone? You think you can win and then take my family too? Not on my watch!”

He caught my arms to stop me, but I struggled and pushed him again. We started pushing and shoving each other, just like we always did, but this time it was mixed with even more anger and confusion. He tried to grab the letter from me, but I held it behind my back and tried to hit him back.

"Now, tell me! Maybe they're right about you being a great deceiver, you love to manipulate feelings especially with women, but don't involve my sister because you'll have to face me first. You're a big scumbag!" and I suddenly punched him in the face causing him to back away.

I can see blood dripping on his nose. But I still didn't stop and I kicked him causing him to fall but he managed to hold on to the towel hanging from my waist. So we both fell to the floor and I just felt my lips touch his. We were both so shocked that I quickly punched him again.

"Pervert!" I exclaimed and quickly pulled away from him

We were so busy fighting and shouting at each other that we didn’t hear the footsteps coming down the hallway. We didn’t notice the person standing in the doorway watching us.

“ENOUGH!”

The loud, booming voice cut through all the noise and chaos. We both stopped immediately and turned around quickly.

There stood Coach Hale, his face serious and strict, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked from me to Kairos, and then his eyes fell on the crumpled letter I was still holding in my hand.

“What is going on here?” he asked, his voice sharp. “You two are supposed to be leaders of this team, and this is how you act? Fighting like children in the locker room? Clean up this mess then both of you follow me to my office, explain yourselves.” Coach said before he stormed out of the locker room.

I stood there, my chest still heaving from anger and movement, and looked at Kairos. He was standing opposite me, his expression hard, but I could see that he was just as upset as I was. I still thought he was lying about the letter, and he thought I was being unfair and misunderstanding everything.

But right then, neither of us knew that the biggest misunderstanding of all was sitting right there in my hand and that everything we thought we knew was completely wrong.