Mineral water by the court
The afternoon sun scorched the plastic court, and the school basketball league was in full swing. Lin Weixi stood on the outskirts of the crowd, tightly clutching a bottle of mineral water, the bottle already slightly damp from the sweat of her palms.
"Wei Xi! Over here!" Chen Siyu waved at her from the front row of the crowd. "Come here quickly! This angle gives you the clearest view!"
Lin Weixi hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and chose to stand a little further away from the crowd. From this angle, she could clearly see Chen Wang running on the court. He was wearing a red number 7 jersey with a sweatband tied around his forehead. Every time he jumped up to shoot, the girls on the sidelines screamed.
The whistle sounded at the end of the third quarter, and players from both teams walked towards the sidelines, sweating profusely. Lin Weixi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She tightly grasped the bottle of water, took a deep breath, and prepared to take this opportunity to complete her long-planned plan.
However, the moment she took a step forward, a group of lower grade girls rushed to the sidelines like a tide, instantly surrounding the players. Lin Weixi staggered and almost dropped the mineral water in her hand.
"Senior Chen Wang, drink some water!"
"Senior, look this way!"
Amidst the endless shouts, Lin Weixi saw a girl with a high ponytail nimbly walk through the crowd and put a bottle of energy drink into Chen Wang's hand. He took the drink, smiled at the girl, tilted his head back and took a big sip. Drops of water slid down his jawline, sparkling in the sunlight.
Lin Weixi took a step back silently and hid the mineral water in her hand behind her. The coolness of the bottle passed through her palm, but she felt empty in her heart.
"Why are you still here?" Shen Siyu came to her side without her noticing. "I just saw Chen Wang looking over here. Aren't you going to bring him some water?"
"Someone has already delivered it." Lin Weixi said softly, her eyes still fixed on the girl who returned empty-handed. It turned out that there were more than one person like her who wanted to deliver water but failed.
Shen Siyu followed her gaze and nodded in understanding: "She's the captain of the cheerleading team. Everyone in the school knows that she likes Chen Wang. But Chen Wang doesn't seem to have that kind of interest in her."
The last quarter began, and Chen Wang returned to the court. He performed even better, hitting several consecutive three-pointers to widen the gap. Amidst the cheers of the entire audience, Lin Weixi quietly withdrew from the crowd and gently placed the bottle of mineral water that had not been delivered on the bench at the side of the court.
The whistle blew at the end of the game, and the Red Team won. The players were surrounded by the excited crowd, and Chen Wang was thrown into the air by his teammates. Lin Weixi stood in the distance, watching this lively scene, and suddenly felt that there was an invisible distance between herself and the cheering stadium.
"Wei Xi!" Chen Wang's voice suddenly came from behind her. She turned around in surprise and saw him pushing through the crowd towards her, his face still flushed from exercise.
"I saw you were about to bring me some water just now?" He pointed to the bottle of water on the bench. "Is that for me?"
Lin Weixi's face suddenly turned red: "Yes...but..."
"I'm just dying of thirst." Chen Wang naturally picked up the water bottle, unscrewed it and took a big sip. "Thank you, those drinks were too sweet just now. Mineral water is still the best way to quench my thirst."
He smiled at her, turned around and ran back to the celebrating crowd. Lin Weixi stood there in a daze, the coolness of the mineral water bottle still lingering in her palm.
"Sure, Weixi!" Chen Siyu appeared out of nowhere and bumped into her shoulder. "It seems he finally noticed you."
On the way home, Lin Weixi repeatedly recalled the scene just now. So, he actually saw her? Surrounded by so many people, did he still notice her standing on the periphery?
This realization made her heart beat faster again. Despite the twists and turns, the bottle of water finally made it to his hands. And he said... he preferred the mineral water she'd given him.
That night, she drew a basketball and a bottle of mineral water in her diary and wrote next to it:
"So he saw me. Amidst the cheers of so many people, he still saw me. Although I couldn't give him the water as I had imagined, he still drank it in the end. He said mineral water was more thirst-quenching. Does this mean that I am different from those glamorous people around him after all?"
She paused at this point, remembering the way Chen Wang drank water: his Adam's apple rolling, sweat trickling down his neck, and that simple "thank you."
Perhaps this is what secret love is like, it doesn't need too many fancy plots. A glance, a simple word, is enough for her to savor it over and over again, and to get through countless ordinary days.
The moonlight outside the window was just right. Lin Weixi gently closed the diary and felt that this autumn did not seem so cold.
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