Brenda got off her and walked away as the crowd cheered loudly.
Rose couldn’t believe it. She had lost.
Chapter 7
Taylor
Seeing Rose lose had been painful, but sadly, not unexpected. Everyone had expected Brenda to win. She was stronger and more experienced. Still, Taylor was impressed. She had held her own pretty good. He saw her get up and start to walk towards the exit. Taylor knew she was probably trying not to cry. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The idea of Rose crying really bothered him.
The matches for the day ended and everyone started to leave. The next set of matches would be held three days later. Taylor knew that Rose would be with the healers, getting bandaged up. Her wounds weren’t serious, but he was sure, her pride was very hurt.
He hung out with his friends for a while, who were celebrating their conquests. Nearly all of them had made it through and had a good chance of qualifying for the quarter finals. Even though his friends were being loud and noisy, drinking and smoking, Taylor couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept going back to Rose. He remembered seeing her dejected face as she walked away.
She had put on a brave face and acted like a gracious loser, shaking hands with Brenda, and even smiling and thanking her. Taylor took another sip of his Sayor, trying to push her face out of his head. He got up and excused himself, ignoring his friends’ protests.
He started to walk through the forest, hoping he would run into Rose. He checked the healer’s cabin, but she had left a long time ago. He thought about going to her cabin to check up on her, but he wasn’t sure if he should do that. She might think he had come to gloat.
Taylor didn’t know why this was bothering him so much. He just wanted to find Rose and somehow make her feel okay. He finally managed to locate one of her friends, called Anna.
“Hey!” he shouted, calling to her. “Anna? Right?”
Anna stopped and looked at him, surprised. “Yea?” she said.
“Have you seen Rose?” Taylor asked.
“She was a bit upset about the match. We tried to talk to her and make her feel better, but she told us to leave her alone for a while,” Anna said.
“Do you have any idea where she could have gone?” Taylor asked.
“Um… check near the river. She goes there when she is depressed,” Anna said.
“Thanks. Appreciate it,” Taylor said, giving her one of his charming smiles, and then he ran off.
He found her sitting near the river, throwing rocks into the river. He stood there, watching her for a while. The wind was blowing, and her scent wafted towards him. He didn’t know how to describe it, but it made his heartbeat accelerate.
“Rose?” he called out softly.
She turned around, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked beautiful despite the red and puffy eyes.
“What are you here for? To gloat? You were right. I am short and small and weak. I don’t stand a chance,” Rose said, glaring.
“I am here to tell you that you did good. Your opponent was experienced and strong. You held your own, and it was pretty impressive. Those evasion tactics were some of the best I have seen,” Taylor said.
He saw the angry expression on her face melt, and she said, “Oh. Thank you. I still lost though.”
“You lost because you don’t have any experience. Look Rose, you can train against a mountain, you can read book on strategies, you can lift weights, but nothing will ever train you like experience. In theory, it makes sense. But when you are there, facing your opponent, real life experience really helps. You can judge their movements, you learn to react in that confusion, in that moment. You learn to react when your opponent does something different, you learn to improvise,” Taylor said, sitting down next to her.
“Why are you being nice to me?” Rose asked, looking at him. Her hair was blowing with the wind, and Taylor once again marvelled at how beautiful she was.
“Relax. I don’t have some secret agenda. We are still not mates. You made that clear. But you have a dream and you are working very hard to achieve it. I can respect that,” Taylor said. “Also, I am very impressed by the way you punched Harry.”
Rose giggled. “That is one happy memory,” she said.
Taylor felt good, being the reason she was feeling better.
“Look. It was one match. Take it as a life lesson and move on. You have three days until the next match. You need to win the next two. You need to train harder. Moping around won’t help you,” Taylor said.
“Yea. I guess,” Rose said.
