I'M SERIOUS WITH YOU

It had been a week since Lin Zhu returned to China from Korea. Ever since he was back in China once again, he resumed his training activity and worked hard to reach his top performance again.

Even though there were still spots for him to improve, he believed that he would be able to do it if he was willing to try harder.

He was training with Ye Quan too, but nothing changed between them. Even though the older man had 'proposed' to him to start a real friendship between them, Lin Zhu ignored the unexpected proposal.

Ye Quan fell asleep after he finished voicing his proposal when they were still on the plane, and Lin Zhu didn't bother to respond to the ugly toad's proposal.

For Lin Zhu, the proposal was no more than Ye Quan's other way to ridicule him. To be friends for real, he said? They were eternal enemies, and real friendship between them was like a dream that would never come true.

Lin Zhu also felt that Ye Quan wasn't serious when he voiced the proposal. It was proven by the way Ye Quan looked careless and didn't have any intentions to repeat the proposal despite not getting any answer from Lin Zhu.

Lin Zhu was sure that the older athlete was just teasing him as usual.

Today, he was invited by the team management for an evaluation regarding the last tournament in Korea last week. The team management had always held an evaluation like this after the tournaments ended, so Lin Zhu wasn't surprised by the invitation through email this morning.

He simply got up from his bed and took a quick shower before heading to the team management office.

It was also normal that the team management wanted to hold the evaluation in the morning. That way, the athletes could still have time to train in the sports hall later.

The country's team management was always so strict with the athletes. The athletes had to train 7 days a week, from morning until night. Basically, there were no days off for the athletes.

Even though the rules were tight and quite pressuring, China successfully became one of the best countries in the badminton sector. If not one of the best, then the country could be said as the best in the field.

Lin Zhu was quite proud of his country, and he was happy to be a part of the country's badminton team.

The brunette athlete had been training badminton since he was 7 under the strict training system in his country, and his effort paid off when he finally could enter the national team.

That was not merely because of his luck, but it was because of his hard work for so many years. He was proud of it, but he knew that he wasn't the only one who had been working hard to enter the national team. His teammates had been working hard since they were young as well, so he didn't feel special for what he had done.

His old car finally reached the team management office, and he stopped the car in the parking lot. After turning off the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt, he immediately got out of the car.

The team management building was like his own playground, so he didn't need to make a report or something when he was about to enter the building.

The guards easily let him in because they had recognized Lin Zhu as one of the athletes on the national team.

When he reached the lobby of the building, his eyes were welcomed by a familiar sight.

'Of course, I will meet him too today.'

Lin Zhu was not the only athlete on the men's doubles team, and of course, Ye Quan was there as well. Lin Zhu shouldn't have felt surprised, but he still felt uncomfortable with their sudden meeting.

"Oh! You finally arrived!"

Lin Zhu frowned in confusion upon hearing Ye Quan exclaim. "What do you mean?" He asked the taller man.

"I've been waiting for you for ten minutes."

His frown got deeper after hearing the man's answer, and Lin Zhu tilted his head in confusion. "Why are you waiting for me? You should've gone to the meeting room without me."

Lin Zhu couldn't understand Ye Quan at all. Every word and behavior of the older man often surprised him.

"We are in one team, so we're supposed to attend the meeting together, right?"

Even his reasoning was unexpected and also nonsense at the same time.

"There's no rule about that," Lin Zhu lazily replied. "You just want to pretend that we're in a good relationship in front of the team management, right?"

Lin Zhu voiced his suspicion without hesitation, and Ye Quan scowled upon hearing the accusation.

"Am I that low in your eyes?" Ye Quan asked him back a little darkly, and Lin Zhu winced a bit. "Don't you remember when I said that I wanted to be friends with you?"

Lin Zhu blinked his pair of hazel eyes upon hearing Ye Quan's questions. He wasn't old enough to forget that kind of event, and he also didn't have any issues with dementia or something.

Of course, he still remembered the moment when Ye Quan said he wanted to be friends with him. He even had difficulty when was about to sleep at night after hearing that kind of request. Regardless, Ye Quan didn't mention it again, so he decided to forget about that matter.

"You weren't serious back then, right?" The shorter man finally asked.

Ye Quan looked dissatisfied when he heard Lin Zhu ask him back instead of answering. "I'm always serious with my words, and I'm always serious with you too."

Lin Zhu's body froze when he heard the reply. Why the hell did the ugly toad suddenly become so serious?