"Woah!"

At the sound of a sudden shriek; both Xian and Jun turned in unison to see a young girl skating towards them.

"Coach Jun! That was awesome!" Her face that had an awed smiled turned pale at the sight of Xian. "No way! No way! No way!" She kept repeating and finally came to a stop; close to where Xian was standing.

"You're..." Glancing at Jun, the young girl pointed towards Xian's face, "Coach Jun! Is this..." Turning back to the man in question, the young girl finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Are you really Grandmaster Wei?"

Grinning at the adorable seven year old kid, Xian nodded enthusiastically and as expected, she gave out a high pitched squeal and skated even more closer to him.

"I can't believe you're Grandmaster Wei! I have seen all your live games! I am such a huge fan of yours. Not only I; but every single one of us are your fans!"

Eyeing Jun, the young girl grinned, "Never would have guessed that coach knew you. You! The Grandmaster Wei!"

What was apparently few minutes later, Jun shook his head and made necessary introductions. "Xian, this is Song Ara. She's one of my many students."

Looking around the arena to find it empty, Jun frowned and enquired, "What are you doing here all alone?"

"Coach Jun, mom is inside cleaning all the equipments. I came here to see what was happening when I heard voices. That's when I saw you playing. Grandmaster Wei's face was covered, thus could not recognise him."

She turned those big puppy eyes back on Xian and giggled, "I have two huge posters of yours in my room. You're even more prettier than your photos."

Crouching down to Ara's level, Xian gave his best camera angle smile.

"Thank you sweetheart, but I am not as pretty as you princess. You have the most beautiful smile on this earth."

Blushing on cue, the young kid became extremely shy and all Jun could do was watch their interaction in silence. He realised with him, these kids were always verbose and boisterous. But with Xian, such a complete opposite.

"Grandmaster Wei."

"Yes sweetie?"

"Would you mind if my mother clicked a picture our ours? I would love to post in on Weibo."

Jun did not miss a second of hesitation on Xian's part.

"Sweetie, how about for now you keep it a secret that you met me, and later in season when I am back on the national field, I shall personally send you tickets to see me play? Then, you can have innumerable autographs, pictures and what not!"

Jun was perplexed hearing Xian's answer. 'Why do you wish to keep this a secret?'

The kid was ecstatic!

"You promise?"

"Of course. If your mom is busy, you can always ask Coach Jun to bring you to see me play."

Xian glanced up at Jun and winked, while the latter just rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"Okay! Grandmaster Wei?"

"Yes?"

"Can you once show me the move you did in your last game? The one where you slid across your belly to protect the puck from scoring, and then with your paddle, you flipped the puck all the way to opponents territory!"

This time Xian looked embarrassed and Jun had to hide his smile. 'So he has humility in him?'

"Kid... that was-"

"Ara, here take the puck and try to score. I am sure your Grandmaster Wei will oblige your request."

The kid did not wait for any further invitation and was all set ready to make the goal.

"What are you doing?" Xian was shocked at Jun's command.

"What? Well a young kid has made a sweet request Grandmaster Wei. Are you going to deny her?"

"Brat!" Was all Xian could murmur. "Wait till we get back!"

"Oh! What are you planning on doing?" Azure pouted and all Xian could do was look at his puckered lips. Fuck!

'So many things.' Xian thought but could not word them out.

"Why spoil the surprise." With a gentle nudge against Azure's shoulder, Xian skated to his goalpost and signaled Ara so shoot.

Xian did not even know if this move could be staged. The move that he had performed during their game was out of sheer muscle movement. He simply had to save the goal. They weren't intentional; but it had garnered so much attention; the videos were available all over the internet for people to see and Xian was praised for it.

This time he was lucky.

When Ara made the shot, Xian jumped, slid on his tummy and with his paddle hit the puck all the way towards his opponents territory.

She cheered and when he took a peak at Azure; Xian was pleasantly happy to know that the other man had his eyes only on him.

It made him feel special!

"Alright. Remember your promise. No one knows I am here and next game of mine, you're invited."

"Sure!"

Xian raised his little finger and smiled at little Ara, "Pinky promise?"

Her eyes crinkled with laughter. "Pinky promise."

Jun thought to himself, 'How juvenile!'; yet the smile in his place was never displaced.

With one last wave of hand Ara was out of their sight and it was then decided between the two that it was time to pack up before crowd for the day arrived.

Xian eyed the bear in front of him. Though his heart did not sprint as much as it first did at the sight of Sahara; he still wasn't at ease.

He was amazed at the amount of slobbery kisses the dog gave her master. And more so, Jun seemed to be cherishing them.

Just before he was about to leave, Jun's words halted his steps.

"Xian!"

"Yeah?" Hiking the bags over his shoulders Xian looked over.

"Before. Why did you not want Ara to tell everyone you were here? I assumed everyone knew you're here."

"Oh! That wasn't for me. It was more for your benefit."

Jun was astonished to hear this. "What?"

"Yeah!" Xian's answered nonchalantly. "You are living a life of solitude. No one; and I mean no one knows you're here. Trust me when I say media would have a field trip if they knew where you were residing. If the word got out where I am staying, media will hound me.

"Now, I am alright with that, but it makes me uncomfortable to think that your peace would get disturbed.

"I didn't want anyone disturbing you. That was the only reason I asked her to keep it a secret."

Jun was stupified. He wasn't sure how to respond. No one had ever been this thoughtful.

"No one knows where you are?" Jun asked to reconfirm what; he didn't know; but nevertheless he simply asked to fill the gap.

"Except your cousin, uncle and of course JC; no one knows where I am." Scratching his chin Xian continued, "Talking about JC, heads up, he might drop in here anytime to check-up on you."

Forming few syllables Jun enquired, "Why? Is he worried you won't be well taken care?"

"Na, it's other way round. He'll be wanting to check up if you're alright with me around."

At that Jun laughed out loudly and Xian's heart fluttered like the petals of Cherry Blossom flowers.

"He is most welcome here."

With a nod Xian left Azure and Sahara behind. Patting his chest, Xian took few deep breaths. 'All is well.'

After shower Jun always felt at ease. Today's session had been rough on his legs. The knots were forming and mentally he made a note to call his physiotherapist Dr. Blue 

With the towel still around his neck, Jun was about to walk into the kitchen when his steps faltered hearing the conversation between Ms. Lee and Xian. It was bittersweet.

"Thank you for chopping these vegetables Mr. Wei."

"Please call me Xian. And why are you thanking me? This is the least I could do for you and Jun."

"We don't have much guests here; except for Elder Lan and Chen. It's good to have someone else around too. You have such good manners. Mr. Lan informed us that you're a national player just like he was. Your parents must be proud of you."

Something in Xian's eyes made Jun want to hold and comfort him. With bated breath he waited patiently for Xian to share.

"I am not sure. I didn't know them."

Ms. Lee gasped and instantly clutched her neck and apologised.

"Please don't apologise. Father Jin; caretaker of our church and orphanage found me inside a box on the steps of the church one night. Father Jin informed me that it was a spring season. Whoever left me there made sure I was warm and comfortable. They did leave a note which had my name written. Wei Wuxian.

"I was probably few months old. Kids in our orphanage usually don't know the date they were born, so we celebrate our birthdays the day we are found by Father Jin. This way everyone gets to have their special day."

Xian glanced up at Ms. Lee's glistening eyes.

"Contrary to the popular belief, I had a good childhood. Father Jin has always been so good to all of us. If it were not for him, I wouldn't have become an athlete. He saw my potential and encouraged me to take up sports.

"He has been a father to us all. I am glad for his work, because if not for him, I wouldn't have found JC." Xian looked up sheepishly and corrected himself, "Jiang Cheng."

Smiling at the distant memory Xian continued, "JC was about a year old when he was found outside the gate of our church. He was crying. He frightened everyone. That evening when I came back to see a crying child, I walked up to him, irritated with his non-stop wail, I shoved a lolipop into his mouth and he instantly stopped crying.

"JC is six months younger to me. Like fate formed bond, he stuck to me like a glue and never left my side. He followed me to every single place I went. It was because I joined Ice Hockey, he joined the sport too. I still am unaware if he truly loves this sport or is it because I am there, he's there too.

"Don't take me the wrong way, JC is one of the best players out there, but I am unsure if that's where is passion lies."

The silence between them was filled by a low whistle of boiling water in the kettle.

"Xian."

"Yes?"

"Were you ever adopted?"

Xian was quiet and Jun wanted to be there next to him.

"Yes. Twice."

Xian's answer surprised both Ms. Lee and Jun.

"Both times I came back because they would not want to adopt JC and I couldn't leave him behind. He's my brother by fate. First time, I threw lots of tantrums. Second time, I ran away.

"From then on if anyone wanted to adopt me, the orphanage would let people know we are a package deal. People were a bit apprehensive and thus from then on, we always lived together."

"Oh dear!" Ms. Lee could not believe her ears. Such a selfless kid.

"Are people aware of your story?"

Scratching his chin Xian nodded, "Oh yes! Once the PR of our team got to know about our story, they made it their point to post it everywhere. They were of the opinion that people loved sad stories."

"Oh Xian! This is too much."

Seeing Ms. Lee cry, Xian got up to get some tissues for her, when he caught the sight of Jun standing and listening to them talk.

Without another word he got a box for Ms. Lee and with a small bow left the room to give her some privacy.

Jun could not move from his spot. Xian's story shook his core. How could a man who has been through so much manage to smile?

Eventually Jun found Xian on the porch lounge chair and like last night placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Guess you heard everything?"

"Yeah."

"Won't you ask me any questions?"

"There isn't anything to ask."

Xian was surprised by Azure's comment.

"You have nothing to ask me? Usually people ask me so many questions."

Glancing at Xian; Jun had just one question to ask. "Do you give them an honest reply?"

Xian sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "No, but if you ask, I will answer. Truthfully."

They caught eachothers eyes and something passed between them. A feeling of solidarity.

A feeling of mutual trust; and Jun knew if he asked, Xian would answer. But the right question is; was Jun even ready to ask them?

Paddle:
The wide portion above the blade of a goalie's stick.