Secret Room Book 4 - Chapter 6

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 4: The Return of the King

Chapter 6

The original plan was for Dt to leave around 9 o’clock. But when Ai Qing
got up from the couch to get some water after talking and watching some
DVDs, she realized that it was already eleven o’clock at night.  She handed
him his sports jacket because they still needed to go to the competition arena
the next day. “Go back quickly. It’s not safe to drive back so late.” Dt picked
up his jacket and stood up. Baona happened to call Ai Qing at this time.

“Hush, don’t talk.  My boss.”

She picked up the key from the table and pushed Dt towards the door.

Baona spoke a few words, then switched the topic.  “Ai Qing, are you falling
in love with Dt?”

Ai Qing’s heart skipped a bit.

She kept quiet and leaned against the shoe cabinet, looking at Dt who had just
opened the door, unaware of the phone conversation yet.  “Uhm…...yes. But
we don’t want to go public yet. We don’t want to cause trouble for the clubs and
other team members.” Dt turned around immediately and shut the door again.

Baona told her briefly that tonight Bug and All were overwhelmed by this issue
during the live stream.  All even had a shouting match with the online viewers,
having a negative impact on the whole team. Baona had already given All a
warning that he was banned from going online before the end of the national
competitions.  No one on the team was allowed to accept any interview about
the issue. This was SP’s response to the haters.

Dt stared at her.  Ai Qing shook her head and temporarily avoided his gaze by
turning to face the wall to keep talking with Baona.

She was becoming emotional, her head went blank, and she felt her heart tighten.

She felt a lump in her throat, a very uncomfortable one.

The phone call lasted for 3 minutes and 36 seconds, but it felt like it had lasted
for a century.

She ended the call.

She put her cell phone on the shoe cabinet.  Her voice was very light.

“Someone broke the news online that we’re together.  Your fans are agitated.
People from SP were being interrogated online during their stream.  SP has
instructed everyone to remain quiet about it. Nobody is allowed to respond.”

This was just what Baona had told her just now.

Dt was the most popular player and had the largest fan count.  To make matters
worse, K&K and SP both had rules disallowing romantic relationships for their
members, they didn’t approve of their current members falling in love.  Since the
news broke out suddenly, diehard fans had a hard time accepting this fact. The
fact that she was a manager at SP and had been with Solo before further aggravated
the situation.

“Ai Qing,”  Dt called her.  Before he finished what he intended to say, Ai Qing clung
to his waist.

She buried her face in his chest, on purposely avoiding his gaze.  “I’m not going to
watch the competition tomorrow. I’m afraid that the commentators will bring it up.  
You absolutely can’t answer any questions. Don’t let anyone catch anything that they
could use against you…...Xiao Bai, you absolutely can’t be affected by this.”

This was a cruel world, just one careless moment could make the opportunity vanish
forever.

And my teammates------

She inhaled deeply.

It’s all right.  It’s all right. Ai Qing.  It’s all right. Don’t worry.

How could she not worry?  How could they not be affected.

Solo and all the bosses had entrusted the team to her.  They trusted her so much,
but she had caused such trouble at such a critical time.  She couldn’t imagine what
it looked like when All, during the stream, yelled and screamed at hundreds of thousands
of fans.  She also couldn’t imagine Bug, that timid and serious man, being humiliated by
fans of Dt and K&K while he was seriously streaming a live game.

All of this happened because of her.

Next week was the national finals in Beijing.  To Slide and All, perhaps this was their
last opportunity to reach for the world championship.  Nobody knew who among the
five players of the A team might be forced to retire because their ability was degrading.

After all, this wasn’t like an exam where there’s always a next one if you failed this one.

Just like Xiaomi…...even though SP had provided such a good opportunity for him, he
didn’t have the capability to pursue the championship any more.  Wasn’t he an outstanding
player? He absolutely was. Before he joined A team, Xiaomi was ranked in the top ten of
several different games on Battle.net, even up until last year.

But his rank took a nosedive this year.

And he was only 25 years old.

It was such a good event, filled with strong teams, but there was only one team that could
win the championship.

If you missed the opportunity, then it would probably never come again in this lifetime……

Dt’s hand moved around her shoulder.  He wanted to touch her face to see if she was crying.

Ai Qing turned her head away.  She bit her own hand to forcefully hold back the tears.  
She didn’t want to cry out.

She absolutely refused to cry out……

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.