Evened Out

Sharapova turned around and saw Zhang Guan. At the same time, Zhang Guan also saw Sharapova.

"It's him!"

"It's the surprise from the Dubai prince!"

Both could see the shocked expression in each other's eyes.

Sharapova never expected that the new guest Kalerin mentioned would be Zhang Guan. She had imagined countless ways to face him when they met again, but she never thought the moment of their meeting would come so suddenly! For a moment, all the various responses she had simulated in her mind vanished.

She appeared somewhat at a loss.

Zhang Guan, on the other hand, was in a panic! Seeing that familiar face, his first reaction was why would the 'surprise' from the Dubai prince be here? He never imagined he would meet her here. But then he recalled Kalerin's designation of the 'surprise'.

"Maria Sharapova! Could there be another Maria Sharapova in this world? She is actually Maria Sharapova!" Zhang Guan's mind went blank. He finally understood why that night, the blonde girl beside his pillow seemed somewhat familiar—it was the young Sharapova!

The seventeen-year-old Sharapova still had some baby fat, her face was a bit rounder than later, and the young girl didn't know how to apply makeup like she would later, appearing very innocent. In Zhang Guan's memory, Sharapova should have had a mature and sexy appearance. So that night, he didn't recognize her as Sharapova.

Later on, Zhang Guan always thought she was the surprise from the Dubai prince, and believed he would never see her again. So when the moment of their meeting arrived, sudden or not, Zhang Guan was completely unprepared. Especially now that Zhang Guan knew she was actually Sharapova!

"Why is she Sharapova? How could Sharapova become a 'surprise'? This is completely impossible. What's going on?" Zhang Guan couldn't understand. What exactly happened that night?

She knew he was Zhang Guan, but he didn't know she was Maria Sharapova. This was quite amusing!

Neither of them spoke, just looked at each other, or rather, both didn't know what to say. The atmosphere was very strange.

Kalerin looked at the two. According to the usual procedure, by this time they should have approached each other, greeted under his introduction, shook hands, or had a polite Western-style hug, or at the very least nodded. Why did both wear such surprised expressions? Although both were celebrities, shouldn't their first meeting have been less surprising? Should he continue introducing them? This sudden atmosphere was truly unbearable!

"Could these two be love at first sight?" Kalerin thought to himself. Then he cleared his throat, making an effort to break the awkwardness, and said, "This is Zhang Guan, the world's fastest man! And this is Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon Grand Slam champion! I'm sure you both know each other."

Kalerin's words indeed alleviated the tension a lot. Sharapova reacted first and said, "Hello."

"Hello," Zhang Guan immediately responded.

Then, neither of them spoke again, only silence, followed by even more awkwardness.

"What's wrong with these two? Why aren't they saying anything? What's this? Just 'hello' and that's it? Isn't this awkward staring at each other? You're both big stars, how come you can't even speak?" Kalerin even broke out in a slight sweat on his bald head. He had lived for half a century, seen many outstanding athletes, but had never encountered such a situation.

Zhang Guan and Sharapova remained silent, not saying a word. Perhaps both wanted to say something, like discussing that night's events, but with Kalerin being such a big third wheel, neither could open their mouths.

Kalerin had no idea what was going on, but he was the host here and had to speak up. So he said, "Miss Sharapova, we won't disturb you anymore. I'll take Mr. Zhang to walk ahead."

.....

Next, Zhang Guan had completely lost interest in continuing to tour the rehabilitation center. His mind was full of Maria Sharapova, so even though Kalerin passionately introduced various things, Zhang Guan only responded politely.

Kalerin noticed that Zhang Guan had become distracted, especially after seeing Maria Sharapova. He felt that there might be something between Zhang Guan and Maria Sharapova, but they seemed to be meeting for the first time.

The time that followed was agonizing for Zhang Guan. He really wanted to find Maria Sharapova, but didn't know if it was appropriate. Zhang Guan endured this agony, supporting himself until the visit to Kalerin's sports rehabilitation center concluded, and Kalerin personally escorted Zhang Guan to the door.

"Thank you very much for visiting my sports rehabilitation center." Kalerin handed Zhang Guan a business card and continued, "If you ever need anything, my center is happy to serve you."

"Thank you, I will contact you if necessary. And thank you for your hospitality." Zhang Guan took the card, but glanced inside discreetly. He was still hesitant whether to go in and find Maria Sharapova, whether to talk to her. If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know when they would meet again.

The business car Zhang Guan was in slowly approached from a distance, and Zhang Guan finally made up his mind.

"I can't just leave like this, I have to go see her!" Zhang Guan was about to speak, but then he noticed a sports car speeding up behind the business car.

The sports car stopped nearby, the window rolled down, and Zhang Guan saw Maria Sharapova sitting in the driver's seat.

The car didn't move, and Maria Sharapova still didn't say anything, just looked at Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan understood Maria Sharapova's intentions somewhat. He said to the accompanying personnel who came with him, "You can go back first, I might have something to do."

"Wait, you can't go alone..." the accompanying personnel from the center started to say, but before he finished, he saw Zhang Guan sprinting towards Maria Sharapova's car, and then the sports car accelerated and quickly drove out of the gate.

"Um, what's going on?" Whether it was the center's escort or the tour guide, they were all stunned on the spot.

Kalerin showed a thoughtful smile on his face. "Indeed, those two have some issues!"

The sky gradually darkened, and the golden street lamps had already been turned on.

Moscow's latitude is high, so in winter, it gets dark relatively early. Although the time was still quite early, dusk was approaching.

The sky remained overcast, but the road was not dark because it was covered with white snow. Reflected by the street lamps, the surroundings were as bright as daylight.

Zhang Guan sat in the car, not knowing where Maria Sharapova was taking him, and didn't dare to ask.

Maria Sharapova, in fact, was driving aimlessly. She felt that they should talk, but after Zhang Guan got into the car, she didn't know how to start.

Outside the car was cold, but inside was an even more terrifying silence.

"I'm sorry!" Zhang Guan suddenly spoke up, breaking the dreadful silence.

"That night, I drank something I shouldn't have, lost control, I'm sorry." Zhang Guan said, but didn't have the courage to look at Maria Sharapova's expression. He turned his head to the other side, looking out the window.

Tiny snowflakes began to fall, although not heavy, they were very clear. Hexagonal snowflakes fell on the car window and quickly melted into water droplets of a special shape due to the temperature, but Zhang Guan felt that this water droplet was like a smiling face, as if mocking him now!

In fact, it's quite normal for Moscow to snow at this time of year.

"That night, I also got drunk." Maria Sharapova finally spoke, "You don't need to apologize to me, you didn't do anything wrong. I think any man would do the same. It's not because of you, but because I went into the wrong room myself."

After a moment's thought, Zhang Guan immediately understood what happened that night. Both of them were drunk, and then Maria Sharapova went into the wrong room and lay on her own bed, but he mistook her for the "surprise" from the Dubai prince, and then things happened afterwards.

But then Zhang Guan thought again, objectively speaking, even without the so-called "surprise," it's impossible for a young blonde to lie in his arms and he couldn't hold back. Zhang Guan understood himself very well. He wasn't a celibate gentleman or a monk. He was a very normal man, so it was hard to avoid acting like an animal, but doing nothing was indeed worse than being an animal.

Zhang Guan continued to explain, "That night I didn't know it was you, I wouldn't have gone to find you afterwards. If I recognized you, I would definitely have come to find you and then apologize to you. I only found out today that you are you."

Although this sentence was a bit awkward, Maria Sharapova could understand it. How could a young blonde inexplicably appear in bed? Who would think it was Maria Sharapova, who had won the Wimbledon Grand Slam!

"That night, Phelps told me that the Dubai prince was going to give me a surprise, so I mistook you for the surprise... oh!" Zhang Guan grabbed the handrail on the car door because Maria Sharapova made an emergency stop.

Zhang Guan immediately realized that he had just misspoken. He shouldn't have mentioned the surprise.

"A surprise?" Maria Sharapova indeed showed a hint of anger, feeling insulted.

"I didn't mean that. I meant to say I didn't recognize you, so I didn't go find you later. If I had recognized you, I would have come to find you and then apologize to you. I just found out today that you are you." Zhang Guan suddenly felt a little flustered, plus his English proficiency was not that ideal, so he was somewhat incoherent.

Maria Sharapova suddenly smiled because she suddenly felt that the Chinese man in front of her was really cute in some ways, or rather innocent.

"Okay, I understand, you don't need to explain anymore, it's just a misunderstanding. Since it's a misunderstanding, let's not worry about it. Let's forget about this misunderstanding together, okay?" Maria Sharapova spoke.

"But it was your first time. I should take responsibility." Zhang Guan said this sentence, and suddenly felt a bit silly. Westerners probably wouldn't care too much about these things, even Easterners, many people wouldn't care.

Maria Sharapova smiled again and asked, "Then what about you?"

"Um, it's also my first time..." Zhang Guan's voice was somewhat quiet.

"In that case, we're even!" Maria Sharapova let out a long sigh, as if letting go of everything.

Zhang Guan glanced at Maria Sharapova secretly, his intuition telling him that things weren't as simple as Maria Sharapova made them sound.