Falling Dreams, Rising Hopes: Saving Mr. Boyfriend

"Both of you guys, ready?" Su Lang brought the two of them on the mat. Mei Qingyang's nerves were all frazzled but vice-captain Xuan looked pretty relaxed. It was almost as if he was sure of his victory.

And this confidence was what was not sitting right with Mei Qingyang. Her match earlier made two vice-captains quit their match even before they started. According to her data, she already had her toughest match. Then why could she not relax at all. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

She could not let her opponent know that she was nervous. It might cost her the match. They both bowed to each other. On Su Lang's instruction, they started.

The guy did not waste any time at all and started with determining the right distance between the two. Mei Qingyang had to go defensive since the beginning. And then it happened, the thing that Yu Tian, Su Lang and she herself were afraid of. Vice-captain Xuan hit her right near her collarbone where there was a big injury already present from the whip.

Well, she had bared her body in front of everyone and there were pictures also circulating, which were later taken down, but who knew if privately stored pictures were deleted or not. Although, she was taken away to Yu Tian's suite and right now she was wearing a suit that was covering her till her neck, there was no knowing if this guy bought the information from somewhere about her injuries.

The pain seared through her whole body. Collarbone was already a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e part, then his hit and on the top of that, her previous injury, it made her fall onto the mat and curl into herself. Not only that, now she knew this guy was going to take advantage of her previous injuries, her confidence reduced.

Everyone who had seen her that day and was present to watch the match, gasped in horror. How painful it must be.

Mei Qingyang's tears inadvertently came out of her eyes. Since she was already covered with sweat, no one noticed, except the two captains. Both of them stood up and called out fault in rage.

"But captain Yu, there was no rule against hitting anywhere, was there?" Vice-captain Xuan was justifying his move, and rightly so. If they were going to say anything about it, they should not have kept the matches to begin with. Yu Tian wanted to beat up this vice-captain so bad.

Out of all the four, this guy was the most mysterious. Xu Yang was a straightforward personality, and other two were timid but still worked hard. They had trained with the three captains personally, so they were still able to put up a fight against other national players.

But this guy had always been pretty strategic. He knew how to take advantage of all the loopholes in the rules and weaknesses of his opponents. He spent half his time studying others rather than practicing or improving his skills. His ability was an entity of envy for many. He had also exploited quite a few rules like this to his advantage.

And once such instance was today. The two captains could not even go to help out the girl writhing in pain on the floor.

"Won't you call out my first hit, captains?" There was a very minacious expression on his face. He had got his first hit in first thirty seconds. Mei Qingyang would die this way if she were to take two more hits.

Yu Tian gave him a murderous glance while vice-captain Xuan shrugged his shoulders.

"We shall give you first hit but no targeting injured areas from hereon", Yu Tian sternly warned him.

"You cannot change rules in the middle of the match captain Yu. Moreover, although Xu Yang avoided her injured areas, this rule was not used during his match. Don't you think it's unfair to me?"

"You…"

"It's okay senior Yu", Mei Qingyang got up from the mat somehow. She finally knew that this guy was going to do it again. He would just find another excuse to hit any of her injured parts. That meant she needed to take a lead first and let the match finish in five minutes by just stalling time.

With this strategy, she found some strength in her and stood up while still clutching her collarbone. No one could rescue her now. She had to give it her all. If she was able to take the lead, that would be the best. It was not ideal to drag the match into sixth minute.

"I agree with him. Please do not give that many handicaps to him, even if I win the match, there won't be any meaning to it", she spoke with a resolve in her eyes.

Yu Tian and Su Lang got convinced by her determination once again. Yeah, she had defeated Xu Yang, so this guy could be defeated too.

"Great work Ms. Mei. But please do not expect me to go easy on you." The guy had a smug on his face.

"I would not want that either", Mei Qingyang replied with a fire burning in her eyes now. This guy was getting on her nerves now. She could not not defeat him now.

The next round started and the guy did not take a hit on her. This time, he locked her in a deadlock and pressed on her arm where she had an injury. He was not gaining anything by this but it was not listed in previous rules either.

Both captains clenched their fists. Mei Qingyang screamed with pain. He was not scoring a point but just torturing her. Panting heavily, she wished she could do something. But since the guy had the lead already, he was stalling for time too.

The pain now went to her head and she was starting to lose consciousness. The wh.i.p.s themselves were not as painful that day as how this guy was twisting her arm and pressing the injured area. She wished someone would just separate her arm from her body. That would probably be less painful than what she was experiencing right now.

"Yo! Don't keep it against me okay? I am just working for my benefit like this", he whispered to the girl who was struggling to get out of his grip and flailing her legs very hard.

Ugh! If only she could move one of her arms.

The guy had pulled her in a lock in which he was kneeling down on his knees while locking both her arms and neck with his own and the girl's lower body was on the floor. Even if her lower body was free and she could do something with her legs, it could injure her neck. And she did not have enough strength to pull that stunt right now.

But given that it was her last chance, she gathered all the remaining energy and tried raising her lower body into the air. She tried once, only to fail. Vice-captain Xuan laughed out loudly. Such vain attempts.

She tried a second time again after a few seconds and finally succeeded to land her legs on his shoulders. With how strong the lock was, her spine was almost at the brink of breaking. But she somehow, managed to hold his neck between her legs. The more she tried to gain an advantage, the guy's hold was becoming stronger too.

But it wasn't as strong as Xu Yang. She knew this guy only knew how to exploit weaknesses but he himself wasn't that strong. With this realization, she put as much strength as she could to put pressure on his neck and he ultimately gave in. He removed his hold immediately and tried freeing his neck. With her whole body free, she hit his c.h.e.s.t hard with her elbows, dealing a final blow.

The guy lied down flat on the mat now, gasping for air. Time was ticking but Mei Qingyang had finally tied the score. In the whole struggle, three minutes had passed and now only one minute thirty seconds remained. The only thing to see now was who would take the winning point.