My Dreamy Old Husband novel Chapter 194

The family of three began their dinner. As they ate, Michael couldn’t resist asking her about the match earlier. “You liked basketball in high school?”

Sophia scratched her head sheepishly. “I was point guard on the girls’ basketball team then.”

The girls’ basketball team at Riverdale High School had never been strong during her time there. They would always get trounced in inter-school competitions. It wasn’t until Sophia joined the team that they began to seem less pathetic. At the very least, they weren’t the bottom of the barrel anymore.

Michael didn’t ask her who she played with back then. Who hadn’t accidentally fed a delusional person in their youth? Who could guarantee that they hadn’t fallen for a jerk or two when they were younger?

Two days later, the basketball match between the School of Computer Science and the School of Financial Management was officially held. Compared to the women’s basketball match that no one cared about, the audience numbers here were clearly greater. Although the match would start at three in the afternoon, the audience had filled all the seats by two. To top it off, it was the final round of the men’s basketball tournament in the winter sports festival on this day. The teams that would be stepping to the court later were the strongest out of over ten elimination matches. These were the strongest teams other than the School of Athletics anyway.

Other than students from both schools, scores of fangirls filled the stands.

The School of Financial Management’s team had Richard Harper. With his status as a top student and the scion of the Harper Family, he was truly a man out of fantasy. Despite being engaged, that didn’t dampen his fangirls’ passionate support toward him. His fans were a wall that took up around a quarter of the stands. The School of Financial Management was filled with lots of good-looking and rich guys, so they had especially many female fans.

At any rate, the School of Computer Science had a paltry number of fans; true indeed, the rich would go for luxury while the losers would go for computers. The School of Financial Management had scores of hot guys, while the School of Computer Science was filled with gamer geeks and losers. The number of girls in their school wasn’t enough to even form a bare-bones cheerleading team.

Fortunately for them, they had Stanley Fletcher in their ranks and was able to draw some fangirls over. They modified the light-up board that they had used for Sophia a few days ago by swapping the name out, and it was now a board for Stanley.

The competitors did their warm-ups on the court prior to the start of the match. These attractive basketball players shuttled back and forth across the court, their youthfulness shining through the spray of their sweat. Just these warm-up exercises alone was enough to make one’s blood heat up, especially when Richard Harper on the School of Financial Management’s main basketball team. He was immediately showered with enthusiastic cheers from the fangirls.

Richard found Xyla in the stands with a casual scan of the crowd. Xyla wasn’t screaming madly or cheering like the rest of the fangirls. She simply sat there sweetly, but she was even prettier than anyone else.

Richard sent a flying kiss to Xyla and she shyly accepted it. The crowd of girls were jealous and mutinous, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Richard’s gaze continued to rove over the crowd. However, he couldn’t find Sophia. Had she been delayed by something?

Meanwhile, Sophia had been about to take Nathan home to sit by the heater and eat ice cream when Stanley stopped them by the classroom door.

“Sophia, didn’t you say that you’re going to watch my match today? How could you go back on your word?”

Sophia took Nathan’s hand and side-stepped Stanley in his athletic wear. “I’m not going to watch you duke it out with a piece of crap.”

Anger surged up in Stanley, and he grabbed Nathan before making a break for it with the boy in his arms. “I’ll make you come to the match!”

Sophia was forced to chase after him in fury. Stanley only returned Nathan once she had entered the basketball stadium. “You’re not allowed to leave. If you do, I’ll get my uncle to fire you!” he threatened.

Sophia looked for seats while she carried Nathan, but the stands were filled, and she had no idea where all these people came from.

“Sophia, here! Over here!”

The members of the e-sports club waved at Sophia. As Stanley’s loyal fans, they had come way earlier to the stands to snag the best seats.

Sophia took Nathan’s hand in hers and sat down. These were indeed the best seats.

Richard spotted Sophia in an instant. Knowing that she had come to cheer for him, he smiled at her knowingly.

Sophia had only casually looked at the court when she caught sight of Richard making eyes at her. She was so disgusted that she wanted to leave, but Nathan seemed to be very interested in this; he was watching seriously while draped over the bars by the front of their seats.

The match was about to start. The two teams were about to face each other. Both Stanley and Richard stood across each other as players on the main teams, with the mid-court line separating them. Stanley spun the ball in his hand as he eyed Richard across him.

This guy reeked through his wealth. Stanley truly had no idea how Sophia fell for him back then.

Richard also absolutely couldn’t stand the sight of Stanley. He sized the other man up with a condescending gaze. Noting the sportswear and shoes that were from some third-rate manufacturer that he wore and the air that a fat nerd would have oozing from him, Richard wondered how did such a loser have the courage to cling to Sophia?

Richard finally declared, “If I win today, you will leave her.” He said that with absolute seriousness as he looked at Stanley.

Stanley acted as though he had heard the joke of the century. “Fine, but if I win, you will not show yourself in front of her again.”

The verbal duel between Sophia’s ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend was clearly drawing attention.

They locked eyes the moment they finished their speeches. With their showdown done, they looked at Sophia in the stands at the same time for some reason.

Sophia met their gazes as well as the surrounding audience’s gazes. For a moment, she was uncomfortable. No words came to her, and the atmosphere was a little tense.

Sophia was suddenly worried for Stanley. She wasn’t sure whether this gamer nerd knew his way around a basketball, but she knew about Richard’s basketball skills. After all, they had played together for two years starting from her first year in high school.

The match began at last. With a blow of his whistle, the referee tossed the ball.

The School of Financial Management immediately gained control of the ball the moment the ball left the referee’s hands. A few long passes later, the ball was in Richard’s hands. He did a three-step, his strong and tall figure charging up to the basket and shooting the ball with a clean shot. The whistle blew again, signalling that the School of Financial Management had gained two points.

Applause resounded throughout the stadium. Richard high-fived his teammates in delight and raised an eyebrow at Stanley on purpose. He was extremely pleased.

The match continued. Stanley immediately snatched the ball after the ball was tossed a second time. A few long passes later, he did a beautiful clean shot that scored three points. The School of Computer Science now had three points to their name.

Stanley gave Richard the finger.

The audience cheered. Nathan also blew on his whistle with all that he could give.

Sophia wasn’t worked up at all, for she didn’t know that she was the main object of these two men’s spat. She had no idea where her ‘current’ boyfriend’s immense hatred for her ex came from. Did he hold a huge grudge because the Harpers had thrown money at magazines on purpose and had him portrayed as a loser whose only skill was playing video games?

She had to admit that the match was absolutely a treat to watch. Never mind those two players who were currently duking it out like their life was depending on it; the two basketball teams represented the cream of the crop of Bayside University’s non-career sports teams. Their members had been carefully selected. The match was intense, with the lead in points flip-flopping; neither team would give up.

The entire stadium was filled to the brim. The stands were filled, and even the seats at the back as well as the corridors were filled with people. They had all come to witness the duel between Bayside University’s top two basketball teams.

Sophia’s heart kept racing. She just had the feeling that something big was about to happen. The last time her heart had pounded like this was when Michael descended and caught that groper at the cinema.