CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ryan came smiling and introduced himself,

"Hello gorgeous ladies! I'm Ryan Davis by the way. Christian asked me to take utmost care of you guys. Hope we'll get along." He said with a genuine smile as Hannah and Scarlett introduced themselves.

"Aren't you playing?" Hannah asked while munching the snack.

"Well, I was injured last match and my calf muscles were torn up a little. I was asked not to play for a while." Ryan said with a disappointment tone and Hannah felt immediate guilt for asking such a question.

The match was yet to begin in a few minutes, the audience went silent when the lights went off. The spotlight was turned on the Captains as they enter with pride, fans went straight to scream gaining attention from everyone who are still away from the stadium.

As the players entered the court, Christian turned to look at Hannah's side smiling at her, she returned the same while showing thumbs up and reassuring him that everything's fine and he's got to prove his worth to everyone present there.

Finally, the await is over and the match began. Hannah looked at him with endearment as he played with passion. Basketball was everything to him, it was his heart beat. He feels the more of himself while playing and Hannah was fascinated looking at his Greek god figure topped with perfect reflexes that complimented his features more.

As the seconds passed, Hannah felt nervous when the Bradford knights struggled to compete with those Rivertown Spartans while all they tried was just to cheat. In the short span of time, Spartans' guy received a yellow card. No wonder why they were all out of motivation, yet Christian managed to dodge their attack. It wasn't too long, Ryle from the Spartans kicked Christian from the side making him hit the floor real hard and entire Bradford audience went silent for a while hoping he would be fine. Hannah got up with tensed up face, stood near the glass wall that was separating the court.

Christian stood up with blood dripping on his right brow, the entire Bradford team went screaming for the foul. Before it could turn into a clash, the first 20 minutes play was over thankfully and it was 1 for 0. Christian was taken to the med to get treated. Hannah plead Ryan to take her to where he was taken.

"Hannah, you don't have to worry. He had seen the worse, this petty thing is not gonna do anything to him. But you know, he had changed. The last time, he broke one of Spartans' jaw for cussing our team. I just hoped they wouldn't trigger his anger this time, else he'd be terminated from the team." Ryan said making Hannah nervous.

Once they're at the entrance, guards wouldn't let her in, though Ryan said she was with him they still hesitated. Christian demanded to let her in and the next moment she was in front of him. Hannah took the cotton nearby and started wiping the blood stains on his face slowly. The medics tried stopping her but Christian denied them to utter a word and they all went silent immediately. The authority she held on him like nobody else ever had.

"You did great! No matter what people talk or believe, I have faith in you. The victory is yours." Hannah assured him while plastering his wound.

With that Christian left for team discussion before the second half begins.

"No matter what, the victory must be ours. The first score of theirs doesn't matter as long as we score the game point. Let our actions speak louder than our words of anger. We can do this." Christian cheered everyone with a source of energy.

The second half begins with a roar of screams from the Bradford knights. The first ten minutes were pathetic for the Knights as the Spartans took vengeance seriously and tried hitting them whenever they had to. The score was 1 all, as Christian dodged the ball perfectly into the basket coordinating with their strategy. Now, either one of them must score to attain the victory, the time is ticking, the last 3 minutes. Lucas trying his best for a perfect goal, Tyler pushed him off to the side and took his chance to perfect it inside their basket. Rivertown Spartans scored 2 while Bradford Knights were 1. Christian lost his cool and sped up his pace grabbing the ball from the Spartans, dribbling across the court reaching the basket only to get dodged by them. The last one minute strikes, Christian needs to come up with a new strategy as they dodged his attack every single time. He's running out of time and had no other option, either he had to tie the match or score double their points. Christian being himself, chose to attack. He called Lucas and asked him to take his stand near the basket only to distract them. Christian scored a perfect goal and still left with twenty more seconds to score another. Spartans aren't going to fall for his trick again this time. They were all focused on Christian to not let him score. Every single person thought he's not gonna make it bit nobody thought he's gonna let Lucas score the final game point and it worked perfectly as he was already in his stand. Christian put his entire faith on Lucas to lead the victory. Nobody expected Lucas would be the one to score as everybody were busy focusing Christian.

Bradford won this time with double the pride.