Trajectory 2: entangled curves

If Han Xin's kindergarten teacher hadn't let him down, Zhuge Qinuo would never have appeared on the court of the kindergarten dads basketball team again.

After all, it was just a spontaneous organization of the Parents' Committee. Now that the children have graduated, they have someone to take over. There is no need for them to participate. It was just because she was friends with the head teacher, and today's event happened to be the head teacher's turn to be present. She just didn't have time. When she called, Zhuge Qinuo wanted to refuse in order to avoid something. But when it comes to the service matters of the basketball team, she is indeed more familiar with it. After thinking about it, people who want to hide may not necessarily come, so she finally agreed. Today's appearance is all to help a friend.

Zhuge Qinuo arrived at the stadium early. There, the class teacher had already bought water with the unified funds and put it there.

"I've even bought the water, what else can I do?" Zhuge Qinuo sat by the water, touching his phone boredly.

There are still five minutes left until the agreed time...

"Did you go to the basketball court today?" Han Moli sent a WeChat message.

"How do you know?" Zhuge Qinuo asked, and knew the answer before the other party answered. This basketball team has a group, but she is not in it. The class teacher must have posted the news of the logistics substitution in the group notification.

"Yes, it was a temporary decision. I rushed here after finishing my work and I haven't told you yet." Zhuge Qinuo explained everything in detail. In her understanding, she was only an accessory to this activity, so her explanation was almost a conditioned reflex.

Han Moli didn't say anything in response.

Zhuge Qinuo had long been accustomed to this mode of communication. Their conversations had long ago become more of a mutual explanation. In the past, she had no other feeling except loneliness. Now, even this feeling of loneliness is gone.

So, Han Moli would not come, but what about the other one? She didn't know.

But at this moment, she actually felt a conflict in her heart. She wanted to see Shen Chengkun, but she was also afraid of seeing him.

She didn't want to see him because of any unreasonable desire, but she felt that he was here, so she could feel her presence. That kind of nervousness, that kind of throbbing that wanted to see but didn't dare to, gave her a fresh feeling.

She was afraid because she felt that he was a little different in the last few meetings. This difference was like a sudden closeness after being strangers for several years. Too sudden, too close.

The parents in the basketball group arrived at the court before 7 o'clock as agreed. Just like before, they simply greeted each other and started warming up.

When she saw the time on her phone jump to 7 o'clock, Zhuge Qinuo breathed a sigh of relief: "It's OK if no one comes!" She was happy and at ease.

Another five minutes later, Shen Chengkun came, walking in calmly. When they passed by her, they smiled and nodded at each other, which was normal. Then he put down the bag and did warm-up exercises on the same side as Zhuge Qinuo, 5 or 7 meters away.

The game started soon, and there were crowds of onlookers. Not a lot, but enough to make Zhuge Qinuo ignored. She quietly walked to the side and bought two bottles of sports drinks. She could have not bought them, but she had promised Shen Chengkun before, to repay him for "saving her life" last time.

Whenever there is a pause or break, she will do a good job of serving and actively pass water to the fathers.

After the two games, during the halftime break, some dads were practicing shooting, some were sitting aside to rest, and Shen Chengkun was sitting 3 or 4 meters away from her. Zhuge Qinuo was very nervous, she didn't know whether she should or how to give the drink away.

She sat there, looking down at her phone.

"Is there any more water?" Shen Chengkun's voice.

Zhu Genuo's heart tightened, and she felt guilty as if she had been caught. She stood up and handed him a sports drink.

"Thank you! That's thoughtful." Shen Chengkun naturally noticed the difference in her attitude towards him. After saying that, he sat down one meter away from her, drank a drink, watched the action on the court, but would also glance at her from time to time.

But no matter where his eyes were, she always just kept her head down and played with her phone.

The distance was too close and she was a little uncomfortable.

"Wow, Mr. Shen, there's a special meal." Another father suddenly said.

"Ah?" Zhuge Qinuo had no idea who the visitor was talking to. He just lied because he felt guilty. "Dad Shen asked me to buy it. I'm just running errands. Do you want it?"

"Okay! Thank you, Madam Boss!"

A few other fathers sat next to Shen Chengkun, drinking water and chatting.

Shen Chengkun watched her put the blame on himself, just smiled, and started to tease other fathers: "These are not included in the funding. You let people work hard, and do you also want them to spend money?"

"It's okay, it's okay. It's a rare opportunity for me to help out. I'll treat everyone to a drink." Zhuge Qinuo now longs for such an opportunity to escape from this situation.

Shen Chengkun found her so cute as he watched her running away in panic.

As the game progressed, most of the dads were exhausted. The pace slowed down a bit, and every time they took a break, Shen Chengkun would run to the place one meter away from Qinuo to drink water.

Every time he approached, it was like increasing the atmospheric pressure, giving her a sense of oppression.

This frequent approach and maintaining distance is like a pull.

When the game was almost over, Zhuge Qinuo started to sort out his things, picking up some empty bottles that the fathers had left around the perimeter of the court.

"Be careful."

"Be careful."

Several interlaced sounds.

Zhuge Qinuo felt a chill down her spine, and she immediately realized what was going to happen—the ball was coming again.

But her body didn't have time to react. Not only did it not have time to react, it seemed to become even more disobedient than usual. It felt like the whole world had slowed down, including herself. Even though she knew the ball was coming, her body actually stiffened.

Suddenly, she felt a familiar scent of perfume mixed with sweat and then she felt a collision from behind. The difference was that this time she was hugged tightly.

"Hmm" she groaned and sweat dripped onto her body.

She turned her head and looked at the person hugging her from behind. It was none other than Shen Chengkun.

She didn't know why it was such a coincidence. This kind of protection was always related to him.

Their eyes met, she said "thank you" and then left his arms.

"I'm sorry, my sweat wet your clothes." Shen Chengkun said.

Without waiting for Zhuge Qinuo to reply, he said, "The game is over, wait for me." Then he turned around and went back to the court.

Wait for him? Why? Wait? Leave or stay? This made Zhuge Qinuo very difficult to decide. If he left, would he feel sorry for the person who "sacrificed himself to save him" so many times? If he stayed, would something unforeseen happen and cause irreversible consequences?