Hormones and Adrenaline

Madrid was so big, yet Madrid was also so small.

Your parents were my fans, and my lover was your fan. In a city with such a strong sports culture as Madrid, that was not too strange.

It was just that Sun Hao had only played three games for Real Madrid, yet Raul's parents had watched all three. That was true fate.

"Do you have a pen?"

Just as Sun Hao processed what was happening, Raul was already speaking as he began taking off his jersey.

Was he going to give him his jersey?

"Let me borrow it."

Sun Hao snatched a pen from a fan nearby, then shamelessly thanked him.

Being able to get Jocelyn one of Raul's signed jerseys was quite a nice thing.

Raul took off his jersey, but instead of taking the pen, he handed the jersey to Sun Hao and gestured for him to sign it.

Well, so this was for his parents!

The gesture was unexpected, yet it felt very genuine.

If a man did not look out for himself, heaven and earth would destroy him.

Sun Hao paused, then signed his name on the jersey and handed it back to Raul.

Just when he thought that was the end of it.

Raul draped the jersey over his shoulder and began taking off his shoes.

After borrowing the pen from Sun Hao, he quickly signed his name on them and handed them to Sun Hao with a smile.

"Thanks."

After saying thanks, Raul left with his teammates.

Sun Hao could not help laughing.

Raul was actually pretty interesting!

After receiving the shoes, they made their way out amid the envious looks of the fans and the murderous glare of the fan whose autograph pen had been taken.

The jersey had turned into shoes. This was a huge win.

By the time they left the arena, Jocelyn's mood had become wonderful, with none of the shadow from the bullring that afternoon remaining.

Her easygoing personality was quite nice.

The two took a taxi back to the hotel.

All along the way, Jocelyn kept talking about the game.

When they reached the hotel entrance, Sun Hao handed the shoes to Jocelyn.

"These are for you."

Whether it was the jersey or the shoes, he had gotten them for Jocelyn in the first place.

Jocelyn was very surprised.

"They're yours. They're too valuable."

Jocelyn did not take them.

Signed shoes from Real Madrid's star player were something many people might never get in their lives.

Even if she kept them and auctioned them off later, they would fetch an astronomical price.

"Didn't you see how familiar Raul and I are? These mean more to you. When you're traveling, souvenirs are the most important thing."

Sun Hao really had a way with words.

In his previous life, he had been an expert at sweet-talking those players.

Jocelyn finally accepted them.

Because she realized that what Sun Hao said made perfect sense.

"Sun, can I come watch your game tomorrow?"

After accepting the shoes, Jocelyn continued.

"Sure, no problem at all."

Sun Hao answered without hesitation.

Although he had not been with the team for long, as a member of the Real Madrid Youth Team, he would still be allotted some tickets.

He did not know many people in Madrid, so he usually had no use for those tickets.

"I'll bring you a ticket around four tomorrow afternoon, and I'll pick you up too."

Sun Hao added.

He was genuinely afraid that Jocelyn would get herself lost again on the way to buy a ticket.

Jocelyn nodded, then turned and entered the hotel.

When she reached the entrance, she turned back and smiled at Sun Hao.

Sun Hao smiled and waved back at her.

This was an unforgettable day for Jocelyn.

The same was true for Sun Hao.

That night, Sun Hao did not merely go to bed late—he could not sleep at all!

For the first time since arriving in Spain, he missed the team's morning practice because he had overslept.

Fortunately, Raul did not blame him. As the team's leader, he was still counting on Sun Hao to deliver that night.

At four in the afternoon, Sun Hao picked up Jocelyn from the hotel and took her to the arena, where they had a simple meal nearby.

After Jocelyn touched up her lipstick and headed to the stands, he hurried back to the locker room.

Although he had slept poorly the night before and was a little rushed from running back and forth, his emotions were more fired up than ever.

Seeing Sun Hao in that state, both his teammates and Raul, who arrived at the locker room later, vaguely sensed that something big was going to happen tonight.

An hour before the game began, the Real Madrid Youth Team entered the court to warm up.

The moment Sun Hao looked up, he found where Jocelyn was sitting.

Jocelyn smiled and waved at him, and he answered with a smile of his own.

During warm-ups, his three-pointer touch was scorching hot.

He could feel that he was in a state unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The human body had two very important chemical messengers. One was adrenaline, and the other was hormones.

When the body secreted hormones, it became excited.

Under those conditions, the body also began secreting adrenaline.

Adrenaline increased the force of the heart's contractions, dilated the blood vessels in the heart, liver, muscles, and bones while constricting those in the skin and mucous membranes. This accelerated breathing, heartbeat, and blood flow, enlarged the pupils, provided more energy for physical activity, and made reactions faster.

Sun Hao was in exactly that state right now.

If he had to compare it to something, it was like the Zone State in Kuroko's Basketball.

And the person responsible for all of it was Jocelyn in the stands.

Before yesterday, Sun Hao had thought Fernandez was just joking.

But after lying awake last night, he realized that he truly had feelings for Jocelyn.

In movies, the male and female leads always met and fell in love with earth-shaking intensity, sometimes even facing life-and-death separations.

But in reality, most people's love was plain and simple, depending on first impressions and fate.

Although Sun Hao and Jocelyn had only known each other for three days, they had both left very good impressions on one another.

Their professions were different, but they resonated with each other and shared common interests.

On top of that, they got along naturally and happily.

And Sun Hao had always been a Single Dog qaq.

So everything had come naturally.

Raul, the head coach on the sideline, also noticed Sun Hao's blazing form.

Real Madrid's opponent tonight, the Student Team, was a very special team.

Just as its name suggested, the Student Team was made up of students.

Spain's basketball system—or rather, that of most countries—was different from America's.

America had a mature system that went from elementary school to high school, then NCAA, and finally the NBA.

But that system was limited to America. Most countries relied on youth development and Youth Teams to cultivate basketball talent.

So their schools were also different from those in America.

Those gifted and promising players were all recruited by Youth Teams, leaving behind players with relatively ordinary talent.

Of course, that was not absolute. Schools could still produce late bloomers, but the chances were much lower.

The greatest difference between students and professional players was the systematic nature of their training, which left the students generally weaker in physical confrontation.

As a result, the Student Team had a very distinct style, one that could even be said to differ from most Youth Teams.

Because they lacked physicality, their defense was less confrontational, and the team placed more emphasis on offense.

That style of play made the other teams in the league very uncomfortable.

By trading offense for offense, they had achieved excellent results in the EBA League. They were currently third in the standings and were a formidable force.

The most effective way to face such an opponent was to overwhelm them offensively.

So after seeing Sun Hao's hot form, Raul had already made up his mind to give Sun Hao more shots and better ensure the offense's efficiency.

In fact, that was entirely the right call. Sun Hao had scored more in each of his past few games than in the one before, and he deserved more opportunities.

After warm-ups ended, fans gradually began filing into the arena.

The home attendance was very good tonight.

The fans knew that tonight's opponent was the Student Team. Having watched enough defensive battles, they naturally wanted to see something different.

At that moment, Jocelyn looked around and saw quite a few fans holding up KT boards featuring Sun Hao's oversized face.

She could not help feeling delighted. So Sun Hao was this well-known in Spain.

Then it did not seem so strange that Raul had asked Sun Hao for an autograph yesterday.

P.S. This Raul was not the Raul you knew. That Raul was not the Raul you thought this Raul was.

A big shot had started a new book. I took a look, and it felt like it could break ten thousand first-day subscriptions. Its title was My Cheat Ran Away.

Thanks to Ling Tian Feichen, Single Dog qaq, Momo Momo Touching You, Hypocritical RS, and I Have Three Thousand Beauties for the rewards. Thank you, big shots, for your support~ Muah~

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