Page 24 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
Oh God. What happened?
Footage started rolling of Yao Kai powdering his hands and then hopping up onto the rings. He did a few moves before turning upside down and spreading his legs as far as possible. As he did, his pants tore clean in half.
Kristen and I started laughing hysterically. While I had frozen Yao Kai's underwear, Bryce must have cut a slit in his pants that would rip as soon as he did anything acrobatic. Turning upside down and doing the splits on the rings was more than sufficient to get his pants to rip, and due to the frozen underwear, Yao Kai had been going commando.
"After changing into a new pair of pants, Yao Kai performed well and led his team to a silver medal. When interviewed afterwards, he took a surprisingly lighthearted view of the incident."
The screen switched again to show Yao Kai talking to a reporter. They started talking in Chinese and then a voiceover cut in.
"Can you tell us what happened during the warm-up?" asked the reporter.
Yao Kai smiled. "I ripped my pants. It happens sometimes in gymnastics."
"Is there a reason why you weren't wearing any underwear? Do you usually perform like that?"
"I performed well today, so maybe this will be the start of a new tradition. But seriously, the real person you should beinterviewing is the person that snuck into my room and froze my underwear last night."
At least he took it well.
The broadcast switched back to Owen Harris at his desk. He looked extremely serious, but I could tell that laughter was bubbling just below the surface. How could it not be? "Yao Kai's claim that his underwear was frozen prompted an investigation by the ITA committee, which has revealed that his pants were likely tampered with before the incident. Security footage from his dorm didn't reveal any suspicious activity, but one maid reported seeing a mustachioed Canadian man near Yao Kai's room at around 9 p.m. last night. They've released the following sketch."
A picture popped up next to Owen that looked nothing like Bryce, besides for a Canadian track suit and his ridiculous fake handlebar mustache.
I should have been concerned that the ITA committee was looking into it, but the sketch was so far off that there was no way they would ever link it back to us. And anyway, last night had been the most fun I had since arriving here. Actually, it had been a long time since I had that much fun.
"We'll continue to monitor this story," said Owen Harris, "but as of now, we have no idea why a Canadian would want to sabotage the Chinese gymnastics team. The Canadians didn't even send a men's gymnastics team to these games, so it doesn't appear that the sabotage was intended to gain a competitive advantage. Moving on, let's take a look at how the US won two golds in wrestling..."
Yuck. Who wants to watch big sweaty dudes wearing onesies and molesting each other? Not me.
I closed out the broadcast and typed out a text to Bryce: "I wonder if they'll ever find the mustachioed Canadian responsible for that heinous crime."
My phone buzzed with a text a second later: "I don't know, but he sure seems like a real bad ass. Where do you want to go for dinner?"
Did he just ask me out?Or demand that we go out?I smiled to myself.
"What's he saying?" asked Kristen.
"I think he just asked me out on a date."
"Oh my God, really?"
"Yeah. But I don't think I should go. This week is supposed to be about volleyball, not boys. That's why I'm taking a break with Chris." Saying his name made me feel nauseous. I still hadn't told Kristen the whole story about my conversation with him. I kept saying taking a break, but that wasn't really what it was. I had told him we were done. And he hadn't contacted me since.
"No, it isn't. You're taking a break with Chris because he's an asshole and cheated on you. As much as I want us to win gold, I also don't want you to miss out on getting to know Bryce. Here, let me see what he said. He probably didn't even mean it as a date. It was probably just as friends."
I handed her my phone. She immediately started typing a response to him.
"Hey!" I yelled. I grabbed for my phone, but Kristen turned away from me so that I'd have to reach around her to get it. Her arms were so much longer than mine that I didn't stand a chance. I gave up and sat down to try to lull Kristen into a false sense of security before my next attempt to get my phone back, but it didn't work. Instead, it just gave her time to finish the message and hit send.
"What'd you say to him?" I asked.
"Told him he could choose the place and asked where we should meet him."
"We?"
"Yes, we. That way you can hang out with him without feeling like it's a date. No harm in that, right?"
"Are you sure you're not just hoping Ocelot will be there too?" I asked. I was totally on to her.
