At this, Rohan began to laugh. “We’re living our dream and playing baseball, Ken.” He said with a grin. “There are people out there who break their back and struggle every day just to put food on the table for their family. What right do I have to complain?”
Ken blinked a few times before his face turned solemn. He could tell that Rohan was not telling the complete story. There was no way that he would be content with staying in Double-A, this was not his dream.
Ken could see the pain hidden beneath his smile and it made him feel sick. This was the exact expression he wore in his previous life as he went to work every day, having given up on his dream.
His eyes lingered on the man for a while before turning back towards the road.
“Why were you so cold to me when I arrived?” Ken asked.
Rohan didn’t respond right away. The bar was on the right and he pulled into the car park before pulling the hand brake and turning the car off. He sat still with his hands on the wheel, as if deciding whether or not to answer.
“I was jealous.” He said simply, turning to Ken. “You reminded me of what I lost, what was taken from me.”
At such honesty, Ken didn’t know how to react. Before he could respond, Rohan continued, “It is a hard pill to swallow, but I can see how talented you are. If this was before the accident, I might have even taken you as my rival.” He smiled once more, this time it was self deprecating.
“I am sorry if I offended you, Ken. You don’t need to hear the bitter ramblings of a washed up pitcher. As long as you look after your body, it won’t be long before you’re called up to the big league.” He said, holding his gaze.
Ken wasn’t sure how to respond. Seeing a guy that was not much older than him refer to himself as a washed up pitcher did not sit right with him.
“We should go in, the guys are probably waiting already.” Rohan said, “Ah, you need to pull the handle hard otherwise the door won’t open.”
Ken nodded and indeed had to nearly use all of his strength to open the door. Thankfully he was able to exit the truck after some effort.
‘Maybe I’ll catch a cab home…’ He thought, remembering the sketchy drive.
However, Ken felt a little bad. He had found out a bit more about Rohan and while he reminded him of himself in his past life, there were obvious differences.
Not only had Rohan continued to play baseball, he did not use his injuries as an excuse. He seemed to care about his friends, and was only cold towards Ken initially because of his issues.
Other than yesterday, he had treated Ken with respect.
As they walked into the bar, most of the team had already gathered. Upon seeing Ken they cheered.
“Here comes our tab!”
“Hey, that’s rude.” Cain chastised, however he was wearing a grin.
Ken shook his head, but he was smiling. He hated spending money, but he was in a good mood after having a good debut, regardless of how the system had acted before.
He walked up to the bar and pulled out his wallet. “I’ll put $1000 down as a tab.”
The bartender frowned, “Not without an ID you won’t.”
So Ken produced his ID. It seemed that even with his height, Ken still looked underage.
“Oh! It’s Ken!”
He heard a shout from the other side of the bar causing him to shift his attention towards the sound. There were a few big guys that looked like they’d walked straight off the offensive line on the football team.
Only when they stood up did he see that they were wearing SeaWolves jersey’s. He let out a sigh of relief, realizing that they were probably fans.
He raised his hand and waved, sending them a smile.
“You famous or something?” The bartender asked, giving him a weird glance.
“Didn’t you hear Seb? He’s our new rookie, the switch pitcher.” Cain called from the table nearby. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire
“Ah right, the one that the Ligers drafted.” The bartender said, nodding his head. “Should you really be drinking?” He stated, giving Ken a disapproving look.
Ken felt a little exasperated, “I’ll be drinking juice. Orange, if you’ve got it.”
After hearing this, the bartender nodded in satisfaction.
By then, the people across the bar had already arrived and began talking to Ken, speaking about the game earlier. They asked for autographs on their jerseys.
When they turned around, Ken saw that they were all wearing Rohan’s number, causing him to pause. However, after seeing all the other signatures on the back, he felt a little better. It seemed that everyone here had signed the jerseys before.
“There you go.” Ken said, handing the guy his pen back.
“Thanks man, we can’t wait to see you pitch again. It was so cool!”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best to not disappoint you.” Ken said bowing slightly. He had not interacted with fans much and this was the first time since becoming a pro.
“Alright Andy, we’ve got some team bonding to do.” Cain said, shooing the guys away.
“Ah, sure thing Cain.”
The group respectfully returned to their table, leaving Ken be.
Ken found an empty chair and was soon delivered his orange juice and Rohan was given a soda water. Once everyone had their drinks at the ready, Rick stood up and addressed the team.
“I don’t often make speeches, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. First game back from the all-star break and we got a win, we also got ourselves a flash rookie from the draft. If that ain’t a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is.”
“To winning!” Rick hoisted his beer into the air.
“To free beer~” Cain added.
The rest of the team raised their glasses and drank deeply after.
