The abdominal pain caused Winston to visit the bathroom with the expectation of diarrhea, yet no relief came. He resolved to push himself without alerting the club staff or head coach. Winston was acutely aware that notifying the head coach would derail his scheme and make his considerable efforts pointless. Coming out of the bathroom few club medical staff threw a glance at him, and Winston pretended he was peeing. He hurried straight to the exit where he met his teammates who were shoving each other towards the exit. After Winston painstakingly waited for the assistant coach to finish marking his register. Winston's abdomen felt like it was on fire, and he was sweating profusely. He hurried to the seat Oswin had reserved for him. "You are okay, bro, you look like you are about to come out of something"
Slamming his body on the bus seats, holding his abdomen, with a slight smile Winston said, "I don't know, I feel like I am being torn apart inside,"
Oswin took out a piece of gummy and gave it to Winston, after he examined the gummy sweet, he glanced at Oswin. "Hahaha, it is not an illegal drug, this is a sweet sport—I got it from the medical staff. I was found collapsed in the hallway by a medic after training with Atlas, and he gave me this. Try it, it works wonders."
Once Oswin was finished, Winston comfortably chewed gummy candy while slouched on the seat. He sat back, relaxed, one hand propping him up while the other rested against his head. Winston felt the discomfort in his abdomen start to fade. A cool breeze emanated from his body, carrying away the sweat from his abdominal pain. He glanced over at Oswin, who stared back at Winston with a grin, "I told you, man, these sweets do wonders. But be careful, I took about five sweets and I had a sugar rush for a week. I struggled to sleep after Atlas training,"
Winston burst out laughing, he knew Oswin was not the type to miss sleep. "How did you manage to come down from that sugar rush?"
"I had to call this one girl whom I met back home who is a talker, her yapping got me to fall asleep flat."
Winston's body started emitting these chilling waves from his abdomen straight to his upper and lower body. His stomach felt like it were swirling with a certain type of energy. Winston wished he would inform Dumi about this. Maybe he would ask Haruto for some help since he studies ancient medicine, and suddenly the pain stopped. Winston looked over at Oswin and happily said, "Damn, those sweets do wonders, now I am feeling fine."
"I told you, man. Wis wake me up when we arrive." Oswin said, slouching back on the bus seat.
As dusk approached, Winston noticed everyone on his team was now asleep. He took out his notebook to journal until one of the assistant coaches, who was checking on everyone, came across Winston and asked, "Can't sleep?"
"Oh, I can. I'm just writing down my progress from the past few weeks."
"That's good, but don't forget to get some rest. When we arrive at the next city, we won't have time to rest. Even though you'll be benched for the first half, the head coach is keeping an eye on your progress."
He gave the assistant coach a nod, then shut his journal and feigned sleep. Winston couldn't sleep, shifting restlessly through the night until dawn, when the club's bus rolled into the parking lot.
The team was woken by an assistant coach and waited by the bus. The head coach said, "Since we have arrived for our next match, prepare for warm-ups although the game will start around one o'clock. I need you guys to be top-notch," the head coach clapped his hands together, motivating the entire team, who were still sleepy. He continued, "C'mon boys, wake up, wake up, wake up,"
Still groggy from sleep, the entire Westminster team ambled towards the stadium upon reaching Hawkfield, the Giants Hawks U19 F.C.'s home ground.
Although the stadium was well-maintained, its location wasn't central to the city, unlike the senior team's. It wasn't a bad spot for the Giants Hawks under nineteen; it was conveniently located near the university and the city's renowned park. Winston quickly changed into his club training uniform with training bibs, and with determination he paced in the tunnel leading into the stadium. Without missing a beat, he performed the warm-up drills with precise determination, when his teammates saw how Winston was determined, they all started following in his footsteps.
After a couple of hours, Winston's teammates were so exhausted that some sat on the ground. Winston and Oswin, however, kept repeating the same warm-up drill, showing no fatigue. Well, for Winston, but not for Oswin, who collapsed on the floor, drenched in sweat. He raised his hand with a thumb up, heavy breathing. In honesty, when Winston and Oswin were training together back in Arlesey city, Oswin tried to keep up with Winston's pace of training, but he couldn't; he always collapsed when he thought he was about to catch up. He once asked Winston what he eats to have such energy, of course, Winston made stuff up, but one thing Oswin truly learned from Winston was you can never be good enough or skill enough.
With another hour passing, the group's attention had shifted from Winston to their own conversations. After he felt satisfied, Winston changed the drill into a passing drill. Winston and Oswin exchanged ball passes with each other for twenty minutes until they both made long passes. After around 10 or 11 am the assistant coach told the entire team to take a break. And rest until the game starts, they should remember not to go far. "Want to explore the city" Oswin asked, drenched in sweat, trying to catch his breath with his hands on his hips.
"No, I am thinking of catching a bit of sleep. Before the match starts."
"You know what, that's a good idea, I am exhausted too."
"By the way, I forgot to ask—is Atlas still training you?"
Oswin responded after taking a big gulp of water from his bottle. was
"After the day of the match, he said he was going back to Westminster City, apparently, he was receiving more one-on-one bookings. And we will continue with our training after the season concludes."
"What about you? What did Dumi Crowe say?"
Winston pondered for a while, the last time Winston saw Dumi was on their last training session. When he asked Annalise if she had seen her father, she mentioned that their communication had been solely by phone. While Winston was comatose in the hospital, Annalise paid him several visits. Naturally, Winston was disheartened; he desperately wanted another chance to see Annalise prior to his departure. And her university break was over, and she had to go back to school. "He didn't say the last time we talked was on the last day of our training,"
"For really, damn, I will ask Atlas, maybe he will talk to Dumi,"
After exchanging dap, they made their way to the tunnel.