The two joggers followed the path coming back to the hotel. Mint ducked a bit, even though she was sure that they wouldn’t see her when they came close to the building again, as the view was obstructed by the bamboo leaves.
“I don’t understand why you hang out with her,” Mint could hear Bernadette’s voice through the forest.
“We get along really well,” Polly answered.
Mint held her breath. They were talking about her.
“Is it the money?” Bernadette panted.
“Bernadette!” Polly puffed out. She slowed down and looked the older player over. “What are you talking about?”
“Money can make a person very attractive.” Bernadette had stopped as well. “I don’t want you to make the wrong decision, choose the wrong friends.”
Polly was silent for a moment. “I don’t care about Mint’s money. I’m making enough money myself now. I’m in a good position.”
“Well, don’t forget who got you there,” Bernadette said coldly.
“I won’t,” Polly replied.
The two players were standing directly under Mint’s window and Polly’s short, disheveled hair and the tiny drops of sweat that gathered on her neck seemed only an arm’s length away. Mint swallowed hard. Her face had grown hot as soon as she had understood that they were talking about her, but hearing Bernadette’s words she had clenched her fists.
“I’m very grateful for what you have done for me, Bernadette,” Polly continued. “And I promised to get us to the Year End Championships and do everything to win it with you.”
Bernadette snorted. “How courteous of you, Polly. You make it sound like you are doing me a favor, whereas it is in fact the other way around. Without me you wouldn’t be anywhere near the Year End Championships.”
Polly nodded, taking the wind out of Bernadette’s sails. “You are right. I owe you big time when it comes to the tennis. But I don’t owe you any explanation as to how I choose my friends. Just accept that I like Mint or keep quiet about it.”
Polly started jogging again, not waiting for Bernadette to reply.
From her window Mint could see the older Canadian squint her eyes. The hatred in the dark eyes startled her. What a horrible person she was, Mint thought. And what a wonderful person Polly was. Mint sure had had prettier girlfriends in the past. Pretty and popular. But at the moment she couldn’t think of anyone she wanted to be with but Polly. No one else would have taken her side as confidently and proudly as the young Canadian. This girl had diamonds on the inside. If only Mint could make Polly be interested in her, too.
But first of all, she had to get Polly away from Bernadette. As soon as the season was over Mint planned to ask the Canadian to play doubles with her. Even though she couldn’t see them winning anything. There was something about this girl that turned Mint’s knees into rubber. It would be impossible to hit balls next to her.
***
“Girls,” Paola announced, addressing Elise, Gabriella, Chili and Polly. “This is the last episode of our Supersport Show. Too bad that Lulu and our British delegation can’t be with us today, but I hope we can make it count anyway.”
Lulu had cancelled the shoot as she would have to play her first round match later that day, and Gemma and Robyn had lost in the qualifying of the China Open tournament and had left Beijing already.
“Today’s task is a crash course in Mandarin,” Paola chuckled. They had gathered in the yard of a Beijing language school and were sitting under a red wood canopy. The teacher had arrived already and Lars got the camera in position.
“Wǒ shì Jiābùlǐ āi lā,” Gabriella slowly managed to say after twenty minutes. Elise and Chili cracked up. The Galloway had just introduced herself and it sounded not at all Chinese. But the young teacher was impressed.
“Let me teach you something else,” he said excitedly.
“Nǐ shì Āi lì sī,” he said, pointing to Elise. “This means ‘You are Elise’.” He said it again so Gabriella could memorize the words. She repeated them correctly.
“Excellent,” the young Chinese guy exclaimed, then turned to the others. “Now you!”
After they all managed to introduce themselves and say their names, they learned the second most important words after introducing themselves – how to order Peking duck at a restaurant.
Neither girl had any idea of how the sentences were constructed. Helplessly, they repeated what the teachers told them while Lars and Paola had to keep themselves from falling off their chairs.
“Běijīng kǎoyā shì fēicháng féi de,” Chili repeated out loud. Was she saying something remotely correct? The teachers nodded excitedly.
“Now you!” he pointed to a startled Elise. “Order a Peking duck!”
“Wǒ shì yī ge běijīng kǎoyā?” Elise stuttered with a bewildered look.
The teacher giggled and nodded with a friendly smile.
“Now you,” he said, turning to Polly. “Order a Peking duck for Elise.”
Polly opened her mouth and shook her head. “Běijīng kǎoyā for Āi lì sī?”
Gabriella raised her hand to step in.
“Āi lì sī yī ge féi de běijīng kǎoyā,” she said confidently.
The teachers laughed happily, and Gabriella silently congratulated herself. She had fared best at learning Chinese quickly. Tonight she could order Peking duck for all. The thought of the dinner she had planned, however, didn’t relax her. She gulped and concentrated on the lesson again.
***
“Bernadette!”
Morgana ran across the court to the other side and waved through the fence. “Wait for me. I’m coming over,” she shouted to the Canadian player and rushed back to grab her racquet bag.
When she had left the practice court Bernadette was waiting outside, seemingly annoyed by the disturbance.
“What is it?” she asked impatiently.
“Well, actually there’s something serious about which I need to talk with you,” Morgana whispered. “Larissa contacted me.”
“Did she?” Bernadette said almost uninterestedly.
“I mean she called me,” Morgana added, while they were walking towards the tournament building. For a short moment Bernadette stopped in her tracks and turned her head.
“On the phone?”
Morgana nodded. “Yes, she denied giving me all the information about the Secret 8. The weird thing is that two days ago she sent me an e-mail with new information as if nothing had happened.”
Bernadette frowned but kept on walking again.
“I believe someone threatened her into calling me,” Morgana pondered. “Which means they somehow found out that she was my source. I’m still surprised that she e-mailed me again.”
“Did you talk about me?” Bernadette asked.
“Oh, no. I didn’t give your name,” Morgana emphasized. “She asked though.”
They stepped up the stairs of the tournament building but didn’t enter. Too many people were inside and this was a matter to be discussed privately.
“Are you sure it was really Larissa Perkins who called you?” Bernadette asked.
“Well, to be honest I don’t know. I just assumed it was her, of course. Who else would have called me?”
Bernadette raised her eyebrows mockingly. “You’re really asking that after everything you’ve found out? Did you note the telephone number of the caller?”
Morgana clenched her teeth. “No, I forgot. I had a dinner appointment and had to leave the hotel room.”
Bernadette looked into the smokey-grey Beijing sky. “I think you understand what this means. The person who called you is not the same person who sends you the information.”
Morgana nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. That’s why Larissa keeps on sending me the information. She doesn’t know that someone contacted me.”
From the corner of her eye Morgana could see Bernadette smile a bit, but the Canadian didn’t say anything. She was probably thinking about the mysterious caller, too. Morg
ana didn’t recognize the voice but it had to have been someone from the Secret 8 posing as Larissa Perkins. There seemed to be no other possible explanation.
***
Through the broad glass door of Mrs. Li’s Dumpling Palace Amanda could see Monica, Agnes and Candice enter the restaurant. They looked out for her and the Australian raised her arm to get the group’s attention. While they squeezed through the packed Dim Sum diner, Amanda’s phone rang. She checked the number and exhaled. This was the call she had been waiting for all day.
“Yes,” she answered the phone, then listened.
The three women had approached the table and sat down. When they saw that Amanda was in the middle of a phone call they stopped talking, even though that didn’t change much as the eatery was crowded and loud.
“Great,” Amanda finally said. “Thank you.”
She hung up and greeted her friends.
“Important call, sorry,” she said apologetically.
Monica chuckled. “My phone doesn’t even work here in China.”
“I bought a card,” Amanda explained.
The smell of the Chinese dumplings made her dizzy. Or perhaps it was the news she had just received. She wished Elise was here so she could share it with her.
Instead of ordering from a menu, the customers picked bamboo steamers from carts which several waitresses skillfully maneuvered through the tables. After five minutes their round table was filled with baskets of steaming shrimp dumplings, Char Siu Bao and steamed meatballs. One of the deft waitresses had put a kettle of Yum Cha on the table and they all poured themselves tea.
“Where is Elise?” Candice asked, picking up a shrimp dumpling with her chopsticks.
“Learning Chinese,” Amanda chuckled with her mouth full. She was eating a meatball. “She will be here soon.”
Twenty minutes and five empty baskets later Elise arrived to join the stuffed group.
“You don’t look well,” she teased Amanda, patting the Australian’s belly.
Amanda moaned quietly. “It tasted so good.”
Elise grabbed a remaining Char Siu Bao and took a bite.
“Did you get the phone call?”
Amanda nodded. “Yes, sold.”
“Do you have a new side job as a stock broker?” Monica wondered.
Amanda bit her lip. But it was too late. Now Agnes and Candice also gave her questioning looks what the phone call was about.
“I sold my apartment in Florida,” Amanda replied.
“Really?” Monica sat up as straight as possible with her full stomach. “I didn’t know you planned to move. It was such a nice apartment.”
Amanda grabbed her tea and started sipping it nervously. She couldn’t let Monica or the others in on the trouble with Natsumi’s mysterious million-dollar mara.
“I actually think about moving in with Elise,” she stammered. “Right, darling?”
Elise turned to Amanda. She was still living with her parents and it would have been more logical to actually keep the apartment, so Elise could move in with Amanda.
“Right?” she said again, and Elise nodded.
“Congratulations,” Agnes beamed. “That’s a very important step in a relationship. Just remember to give each other enough space.”
Elise and Amanda smiled awkwardly. There was hardly enough space in Elise’s room for the two of them. Also, they still had to tell her parents about the new situation.
***
“Lovely work, Tom.”
Candice watched the ending of the video Tom had produced with a couple of players who had stood out over the last couple of months and whom the WTA wanted to promote on their website.
Tom thanked her but couldn’t help wondering if Candice really meant it. She hadn’t smiled once during the presentation of the film.
“Is everything alright?” he asked.
“Yes, yes,” Candice replied and smiled quickly. So, nothing was alright, Tom thought. He had witnessed a similar behavior in Candice when Sasha had gone missing. In that week she had been grateful that Tom and Alice had taken over the daily chores while Candice took on the task of saving Sasha’s reputation.
Perhaps it was a good time to ask Candice for a favor – however, he would make it look like he was in fact doing her a favor.
“With the Year End Championships coming up I know you probably want to have a feature of the singles players competing, don’t you?” he asked innocently.
Candice nodded. “Yes, do you want to start producing it now?”
“Yes, the sooner the better,” Tom stated. “I would also like to include the doubles teams this time. There are some interesting stories in there.”
“Who do you have in mind?” Candice said.
“Oh, for example Antonia Sapore and Martina Rodriguez,” he explained. “Antonia rose up the rankings, but never stopped playing doubles. She is one of the few Top 10 players who is also highly ranked in doubles. That’s a pretty good achievement.”
“True,” Candice admitted. She had begun to warm up to the idea. “Polly’s story is even better, regarding the drama with her mother. I would concentrate on her.”
Tom smiled. This was what he had hoped for. An exclusive assignment with Polly – and Bernadette. The older Canadian player was actually the one he wanted to get a grip on. Shooting a video about the doubles team meant he could follow them around quite easily without arousing suspicion.
“Bernadette probably has interesting stories in store, too,” he pondered aloud. “She has been on the tour so long, you probably know her quite well, don’t you?”
Candice squinted her eyes. “No. Not really.”
She got up and Tom watched her walk over to the coffee machine.
“Too bad. I always like to have some background information before talking to a player,” Tom said innocently. “Who could I ask about her?”
He heard Candice sigh. “I have no idea, Tom. Bernadette keeps to herself mostly. I recommend concentrating on Polly for the video. We want to promote the younger players, you see. Polly has made ground in singles, too. She is the story.” Tom understood that this was an order.
“Coffee?” Candice turned around and Tom nodded, giving her a broad smile.
He would produce a wonderful video with Antonia, Martina and Polly, while Bernadette would pass through the frame a couple of times. He would also keep an eye on the veteran player from Canada. She was the only person on the list of suspects Ted and Tom hadn’t dismissed, and Candice’s strange reaction and her obvious attempt to keep Tom from interviewing Bernadette made him even more suspicious.
***
Hidden in a courtyard maze of a restored factory, the restaurant Gabriella was looking for was in the heart of a nightlife district not too far from Beijing’s gigantic Workers’ Stadium.
“This is it,” she said to her companions and opened the door to enter.
After her Chinese lesson, Gabriella had waited for Luella to finish her match. Then she had picked up her sister and Sasha so they could spend the whole afternoon together exploring downtown Beijing.
“Please, behave,” she had begged Lulu before knocking on Sasha’s hotel room door. Inside, she had whispered the same into Sasha’s ear.
Even though Gabriella was happily reunited with her lover as well as with Lulu she had dreaded the first encounter between her sister and Sasha. Beijing was the first tournament they would all play together since Gabriella and Sasha had made up at the U.S. Open. The lovers had skipped Tokyo – or rather, as the tournament press release announced, had come down with a mysterious and sudden flu – and had thrown in a clandestine vacation on Bora Bora to make up for the missed months since Wimbledon. They had arrived fresh and happy in the Chinese capital but the horrible incident in Istanbul a year ago, when Lulu had knocked out Sasha and broken her nose, was looming over them and so far they all had avoided addressing it.
Before they fell asleep the night before Gabriella had asked Sasha to come out to dinner with her and
Lulu. The Czech had hesitated but then had agreed.
Admittedly, the handshake in the hotel corridor had been a bit awkward and in the beginning Sasha and Lulu had tried to get around having a conversation with each other. But when the group had stepped out of the cab in front of the Workers’ Stadium, Sasha had begun to tell the twins about the Olympic competition in 2008 and the football matches she had seen in the second largest stadium of the city.
“You injured your shoulder at the games,” Lulu remarked.
“That’s true.” Sasha was surprised that the twin knew about that fact. She had lost in the second round of the 2008 Olympic Games and had to have surgery a couple of weeks later.
From then on they had chatted about the various injuries they had had to endure in their careers – an issue most players could tell endless stories about – and had made their way through the Sanlitun district to the restaurant.
Inside the crowded diner Gabriella managed to have Lulu and Sasha seated next to each other. They didn’t protest and Gabriella relaxed. She studied the menu but then made an announcement.
“You choose your drinks, but I will order the food.”
Lulu and Sasha looked at each other and shrugged.
When the waitress arrived Gabriella braced herself. She pointed a finger at herself and slowly spoke the words she had been memorizing since this morning.
“Wǒ shì yī ge běijīng kǎoyā.”
The waitress nodded slowly.
Gabriella pointed her finger at Lulu. “Nǐ shì yī ge féi de běijīng kǎoyā.”
Then she said the same, pointing at Sasha.
Again the waitress nodded slowly. “Three Peking ducks?”
Gabriella smiled and confirmed it.
The waitress gave her a wry look but finally vanished into the kitchen. Still proud of her linguistic proficiency, Gabriella flinched when Sasha cracked up laughing. A couple of Chinese guests turned their heads at the Czech player, so loud was she.
“What’s the matter?” Gabriella asked.
Love Game - Season 2012 Page 34