Chapter 26: Ayesha
Guys there is already content on patreon, if anyone wants to become a chunin or jonnin.
patreon.com/Chuga320
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Liam Gonzales coughed lightly and slowly sat up straight, but the smugness on his face became even greater.
"Not bad, making it to the front page of USA Today, the team led by the youngest head coach is undefeated... Liam, you're becoming famous," Stevens said with a smile after taking a closer look at the newspaper.
"It's all thanks to everyone. I just made some tactical adjustments; I didn't do much. It's just a bit of unwarranted fame, nothing worth mentioning," Liam tried to sound serious, but a smile crept onto his face.
"...Could you be any more obvious?" Stevens was momentarily speechless at Liam's attempt at humility. Changing the subject, he said:
"We're playing Purdue University tomorrow. It's going to be a tough game, so don't get too complacent."
"They lost to Indiana University, and Stephen is in great form right now, so there's nothing to worry about," Liam replied nonchalantly.
"It's good that you're prepared. Let's go. Practice starts soon." With that, Stevens left Liam's office. Liam tidied up a bit and then walked to the gym with him.
With the team on a winning streak, the atmosphere during training was harmonious, and the coaching staff did not assign overly intense drills. The morning passed quickly, and after the last usual session—a scrimmage—the players began to leave Hinkle Fieldhouse one by one.
After saying goodbye to Liam, Stephen Curry headed to a nearby restaurant for dinner with his teammate Julian Beko.
Butler University has just over 4,000 students, so the restaurant was small but had a charming interior. Curry and Julian Beko, both players on the school team—especially Curry, who had become a campus celebrity after his stellar performance over the last five games—drew attention wherever they went. After buying their meals, the two chose a corner table partially concealed by greenery.
They had just started eating when Julian suddenly looked toward the distance and whispered to Curry, sitting across from him, "Stephen, look!"
"Huh?" Curry looked up, confused.
"Hi, Stephen, can I sit here?" a pleasant voice said near Curry's ear.
He put down his knife and fork, turned around, and saw a girl with flowing blonde hair and an attractive face. Despite wearing a simple sweater and jeans, her figure was hard to miss. She approached their table with a tray and looked directly at him.
Curry, caught off guard, stammered for a moment before saying, "Sure."
The blonde girl smiled softly, sat down beside Curry, and leaned in close, seemingly unintentionally.
"My name is Rowling, and I'm a big fan of yours," the blonde girl said, smiling as she extended her hand to Curry.
Curry hesitated but shook her hand briefly before pulling away.
"I watch all your games. Your shooting is incredibly accurate!" Rowling exclaimed.
"Thank you." Curry smiled, clearly pleased with the compliment.
"Is training tiring?" Rowling asked.
"It's okay; the coach is quite strict..." Curry responded.
The three of them continued chatting while eating.
After a while, Rowling suddenly licked her lips and whispered in Curry's ear, "Stephen, how about we go for a walk tonight? I'm a good dancer and can do any challenging moves…"
Her voice was soft, and she blew gently into Curry's ear as she spoke. A strand of her golden hair brushed against Curry's nose, carrying a faint scent.
Curry instinctively moved away and smiled politely, "Sorry, I have homework tonight and don't have time."
"What about the weekend? I can invite some friends over~" Rowling suggested in a soft, tempting voice.
"I have to train this weekend. Sorry, I'm full. Could you please move aside?" Curry said firmly.
"Stephen…" Rowling started to speak again, but seeing Curry about to stand up, she reluctantly moved aside.
"Hey, Stephen, you're done already?" Julian looked at Curry's retreating back, confused. He had barely eaten anything.
But he soon shifted his attention back to Rowling, asking eagerly, "Rowling, are you free tonight? I know a great bar."
"Sorry, I have other plans," Rowling replied coldly, eyeing Julian's freckled face with disdain. She stood up and left with her half-eaten plate.
Julian scratched his head, puzzled. He had been so hopeful a moment ago; how did things change so quickly?
While Julian was left questioning his life choices, Curry placed his plate in the recycling area, bought a few hot dogs, and ate them as he walked back to his dormitory.
He tossed his backpack onto the bed, sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and logged into Facebook.
This social networking site had gained popularity across the United States in the past two years, with its user base now exceeding 9.5 million, mostly college students.
Curry opened a friend's page with anticipation and was surprised to find that she had updated her status:
"Another day as an extra. So tired. It's the 276th day of wanting to be a big star."
The post was accompanied by a selfie of a mixed-race girl. She had a sweet face, delicate features, and skin of a healthy wheat color. She was smiling broadly, but there was a hint of fatigue, and sweat glistened on her forehead.
Curry looked at her picture with concern and typed on the keyboard:
"Did you not sleep well last night?"
But his finger hovered over the enter key, hesitant to press it.
Curry's expression shifted back and forth as if he were in the midst of an internal debate. Eventually, he moved his finger away, deleted the comment, and just stared at the girl's photo.
After a few minutes, the door opened with a click. Curry quickly exited the girl's page, sat up straight, clicked on a few other friends' pages, and pretended to browse.
His roommate Louis entered. He chatted with Curry briefly before turning on his computer and diving into a game of Warcraft.
Curry glanced at Louis, ensuring he was engrossed in his game. Then he returned to the girl's page and began scrolling through her older photos. Although he had seen these images countless times before, he was still captivated by them.
Finally, he finished looking at all the girl's photos and reluctantly left her page. He took one last look at her profile picture, which was another selfie.
The name below the profile picture read: Ayesha Alexander.
"I will find you when I win a championship…" Curry whispered to himself. He then turned off the computer, picked up his social ethics textbook, and began to study.
His training schedule was demanding, so he made use of any available time to study. Even though professors didn't have the strictest requirements for basketball players, they still expected a reasonable effort. If he wanted to pass his exams, he needed to understand the basics.
End of this chapter
Note: This novel as you see I changed the name and nationality, as such is more complicated translate it I hope you support.
Note: Hi if you really like NBA novels, you can support me either in this pg with stones, reviews etc, or in patreon since the niche of sports and specially NBA is very small is Webnovel since people prefer to read Naruto, Pokemon, comics etc.