Still wondering about the commotion from yesterday, Winston decided to ask Annalise, who was working at the receptionist desk on the main floor. Upon entering the ground floor of the hotel, he was taken aback by how impeccably clean and aesthetically pleasing the space was, mirroring his initial impression from his first visit.
It's as if no event transpired, despite Annalise's complete silence on the matter. Apparently, it was tucked under the rug, and staff were told not to utter a word about this. Curiously, he looked around and wondered if Oswin knew about yesterday's commotion. "So, how was training? My father came home exhausted yesterday." Annalise said, typing on the hotel computer.
Turning back at her, the beauty of Annalise caught Winston by surprise, he cleared his throat and said, "It was intense, I didn't know your father was in the military, how did he juggle both football and military?"
Annalise shifted her gaze up at Winston and said, "Oh, he took you to one of his friends. Who lives on the outskirts, he was not in the military. As far as I know, he only signed up for intense training. And football was his first and only love, and the military stuff was him challenging himself, that what Dad has been telling me. What? did he say something else"
Leaning on the receptionist's desk, Winston said, "No, I was just wondering. I noticed him and Boris seem to have a history. They were talking like they were military buddies,"
"You know he never talks about his military or other stuff, and I only met Boris when I was young…."
A customer interrupted Annalise mid-sentence, seeing how busy she was—Winston looked around the ground floor. He waved goodbye to the busy Annalise and set off to find Oswin. Winston strolled onto the hotel's expansive grounds, a hopeful glint in his eye as he scanned the open spaces for Oswin, perhaps chatting up some ladies. He walked around, wishing he had asked about Oswin's location from Annalise, before ultimately heading to his room. Until he heard someone screaming profanity out loud, when he scan below the grounds. It was his first time seeing Oswin in a frustrated mood, contemplating on whether to leave him alone or go down there. As he was about to move Oswin called out at him, "oh ayo Wis, you back,"
Winston then faced Oswin, his expression alight with a smile, and said, "Yeah, last night."
The frustrated expression on Oswin's face piqued his curiosity, prompting him to descend the adjacent steps.
"This is my first time seeing you in practice mode,"
With a depressed look, Oswin looked at the ball, in a depressed tone, he said, "yeah you know, I am just polishing some techniques."
He quickly changed his expression, now, in a curious tone, he asked, "How about you? Man, how was training with Dumi Crowe, the legendary striker, no doubt it was good,"
Rubbing the back of his head, he thought about the intense, brutal training he had endured over the last three days, "You know, training's tiring, brutal,"
As Oswin was about to respond, two youths were loudly talking while looking at them, one of them said, "I thought he was gifted, but ahem, what a shame."
The other added, "I even thought he was cool and talented, but yesterday's performance it was like I was watching an amateur,"
"At least he showed some skills that took his opponent by surprise, I mean, his footwork was just crazy,"
"Yeah, but the other kid was just too good an opponent, he…."
When they glance over, they notice a malicious stare from both Oswin and Winston. They took their things and went to the opposite side of the changing building. When Winston glanced back at Oswin, Oswin shook his head and grabbed his water bottle and sat on the concrete steps that were treated like a bench. Oswin looked over the field, Winston wondered what really happened yesterday. He sat down next to Oswin and after a while he asked, "What happened yesterday, bro?, what are those guys even talking about,"
After a while, Oswin let out a heavy sigh, and drank water from his bottle and he said, "After you were gone, about two days ago some women approached me. While I was going for my morning run, she introduced herself as Diana. And she gave me an envelope with this weird crest on it, and she said it will open my dream of helping my family and it will get me closer to my dream of playing for the senior team,"
He continued, "I was freaked out, she said everything will be in the envelope. Before I could ask more questions, she sped off in her black SUV. Yesterday when I woke up, the envelope fell on my jacket I wore when I was running. Curious, I opened it, some message popped up talking about I was selected to play a trial play. And it said, I got ten minutes to get to the ground floor, my challenger is waiting,"
Winston pondered as Oswin took another sip, his hunch was right about Diana, she was a scout. But what surprised Winston was her tactic of recruiting. It seemed like an unethical approach. After Oswin was done taking a big gulp of the water, he waited for Oswin to continue. "When I got to the ground floor, you wouldn't believe it, the area was so small. I think the size was about twenty-five meters by fifty-five meters."
the size had been intentionally created for one-on-one, Winston thought in his heart.
"I don't know how people knew about this challenge. The area was packed with people, they crowded the small size field on the ground floor. And there was this kid he looked the same age as us, I never seem him before he stood on the other side of the ground floor, small goal post on each sides,"
Taking another gulp, he let out another sigh, and he continued, "when the alarm rang out of nowhere, that kid just started dribbling the ball played on the center, he was so fast it was like I was playing with super human. His playing style was out of this world, bro it took me a minute to really pull myself. When he scored the first goal and it was my turn to start the match, it was like he was reading my moves. After dedicating some time to playing, I found myself only succeeding in scoring a single goal from a total of five attempts. Once the session concluded, a woman named Diana approached me and informed me that my skills required further development, and she would arrange for another trial to take place at a later date. I don't know when,"
clenching his fist in front of his chest, Winston understood how he was feeling. Having your ego being crushed in front of people, and the hard work you think you are putting only for someone to thrash it. He was glad he didn't open the envelope because of the humiliation he would have felt would also affect the upcoming match that was happening a week from now.
"Wis."
"Do you think, if I ask Dumi Crowe to give me one-on-one training. He would agree,"
Winston thought for a while, Dumi was an excellent trainer, but based on his style of training, Winston didn't think it would suit Oswin, he replied, "I will ask him for you. And don't worry about that one-on-one match, on the next trail you will definitely beat that kid,"
With a grin on his face, he looked at Winston with hopeful, "thanks bro for looking out for a brother, I will never forget this,"