Fans(3)

Dan looks at Leo and stays quiet, "I know you just went through a tough time, but trust me, as long as you keep pitching, there will be more failures and obstacles waiting to tear you down, so live with it. But for the fans out there," he takes a breath, "it might be their first time for a baseball game or the last time, and you might just have destroyed someone's baseball dream with your terrible attitude. Do you realize that?" Leo continues to speak. He's mad, his voice gets higher and louder.

Seeing Leo being so angry, Dan doesn't know what to respond. He's a bit scared. Both of them glare at each other standing for seconds. Dan then opens his mouth and speaks with a very low voice. "So…what do you want me to do?"

"You go out there, put on your smile no matter how angry or sad you are, because they don't need to know that shit, and you apologize." Leo signs.

"Fine…" Dan listens to Leo and walks out of the locker room; he's scared of Leo.

As Dan leaves for the fans, Leo starts to recall something from the past. "That was so wrong, boy." Leo says.

A couple minutes later, he comes back. "Okay…I apologized to them, and I signed their caps and shirts as many as I could to make it up for them. Was that enough?" Dan asks.

"Yeah, I think that's enough." Leo smiled and pats Dan on his head. He walks to his locker.

"Gosh. What was that? He scared the hell out of me." Dan whispers.

"What did you say?" Leo turns to Dan and asks. Dan shakes his head.

Both of them are in the locker room, Dan goes to his locker to grab his stuff, "Hey, Leo…Can I ask you something?" he turns around.

"Sure, what is it?" Leo replies.

Dan wants to say something, but then he changes his mind. "Nothing. Never mind."

Leo senses that Dan may have something he wants to talk about, but he doesn't ask the boy to tell him right away, instead, he tells him to go to his car after his shower, he will give him a ride to the dorm, and if Dan wants to talk, he will be there to listen. Dan nods and heads to the shower room.

Thirty minutes later, when they both leave the ballpark, Leo and Dan sit in Leo's car. "Okay, what was it, Dan? The thing you wanted to say in the locker room." Leo asks. Dan keeps silent and doesn't know if he wants to talk about it. "It's ok, just tell me." Leo's being patient with him and wanting to help the boy.

Dan sighs and turns to Leo. "I mean…Maybe I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that, but Leo…"

"What?" Leo says.

"Why do you care about fans that much? I mean, they're important, but what made you so mad?" Dan asks.

Without expecting Dan's question, Leo looks away and thinks about what to respond. He starts his car and starts to drive, thinking about how to explain. "Well…Why wouldn't you care about fans? They are the reason why you are here, aren't they? Leo says. Dan stays quiet and looks ahead. "Let me tell you a story. Do you wanna listen to a story?"

"Yeah. Sure." Dan nods.

Leo starts to speak, "I joined the franchise ten years ago, I thought I would be in the lineup of the Fighters soon, but in the past ten years, I was lost. I spent most of my career in Victoria, in the TBL. I thought I was a loser. You know? I even thought about retirement." Leo continues to speak, then he pauses for seconds, Dan turns to him. "A few years ago, I met a boy. I ran into him on the street. He was with his mother, then he saw me and ran to me. He told me I was his favorite player, and he wanted to be a pro baseball player like me. I was his idol. He liked me because I never give up, but the fun fact was that…I was giving up." Leo says.

Leo pauses again, and both of them remain silent. "Is he the reason you're still trying here? Because you want to do it for him?" Dan asks.