Hormones and Adrenaline

Chapter 16: Hormones and Adrenaline

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

Your parents being my fans, and my lover being your fan—in a sports-obsessed city like Madrid, that wasn't too strange.

But Sun Hao had only played three games for Real Madrid, and Raul's parents had watched all three. That was real fate.

"Do you have a pen?"

Just as Sun Hao snapped back to reality, Raul was already talking while starting to pull off his jersey.

Was he going to give him a jersey?

"Borrowing this."

Sun Hao snatched a pen from a nearby fan, then shamelessly said thank you to him.

Getting a signed Raul jersey for Jocelyn would be a pretty great thing.

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

Oh, so this was for his parents!

The move was unexpected, but very real.

Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.

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

Just when he thought it was over.

Raul slung the jersey over his shoulder and started taking off his cleats.

After asking Sun Hao for the pen, he quickly signed his name on them, then smiled and handed them to Sun Hao.

"Thank you."

After saying thanks, Raul followed his teammates and left.

Sun Hao couldn't help but laugh.

Raul was really interesting!

After getting the cleats, they withdrew from the crowd under the envy of the fans and the murderous glare of the fan whose pen had been snatched.

The jersey had turned into cleats—this was a big win.

Coming out of the stadium, Jocelyn's mood had already turned beautiful, completely free of the shadow from the afternoon's bullring.

That easygoing personality was really nice.

The two took a taxi back to the hotel.

Along the way, Jocelyn kept talking about the match.

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

"For you."

Whether it was the jersey or the cleats, he'd gotten them for her anyway.

Jocelyn was surprised.

"That's yours. It's too valuable."

Jocelyn didn't take them.

The signed cleats of Real Madrid's star player—many people might never get a pair in their lifetime.

Even if she kept them to auction off later, they'd fetch a sky-high price.

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

Sun Hao had a smooth line for everything.

In his past life, he'd been a real pro at sweet-talking those players.

Jocelyn finally accepted them.

Because she found that what Sun Hao said made a lot of sense.

"Sun, I'll come watch your game tomorrow!"

After taking the cleats, Jocelyn added.

"Sure, no problem at all."

Sun Hao answered without hesitation.

Even though he hadn't been with the team long, as a member of the Real Madrid Youth Team, he'd get some tickets.

He didn't know many people in Madrid, so he never used those tickets anyway.

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

Sun Hao added.

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

Jocelyn nodded, then turned and went into the hotel.

At the hotel entrance, she turned back and smiled at Sun Hao.

Sun Hao smiled back and waved at her.

That day was unforgettable for Jocelyn.

For Sun Hao, too.

That night, Sun Hao didn't just sleep late—he was completely sleepless!

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

Fortunately, Raul didn't blame him. After all, he was the team's leader, and they were counting on him to deliver that night.

At four in the afternoon, Sun Hao went to the hotel to pick up Jocelyn and took her to the arena, where they grabbed a quick meal nearby.

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

Even though he hadn't slept well the night before and the back-and-forth had him rushing, his mood was more exhilarated than ever.

Seeing Sun Hao in this state, whether it was his teammates or Raul, who arrived at the locker room a bit later, they all had a vague premonition that something big was going to happen tonight.

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

Sun Hao looked up and immediately found where Jocelyn was sitting.

Jocelyn smiled and waved at him, and he responded with a smile.

During warm-ups, his three-point shooting was scorching hot.

He could feel himself in a state he had never experienced before.

The human body has two important chemical signaling substances: one is adrenaline, and the other is hormones.

When the body secretes hormones, it becomes excited.

Under this premise, the body also secretes adrenaline.

Adrenaline secretion increases the heart's contractile force, dilates blood vessels in the heart, liver, and muscles, and constricts blood vessels in the skin and mucous membranes. This leads to faster breathing, accelerated heartbeat and blood flow, dilated pupils, providing more energy for physical activity and making reactions quicker.

Sun Hao was in this state right now.

If he had to compare it, it was like the "zone state" from Kuroko's Basketball.

And the one who triggered all of this was Jocelyn in the stands.

Before yesterday, Sun Hao thought what Fernandez said was just a joke.

But after last night's sleeplessness, he realized he truly had feelings for Jocelyn.

In movies, the meeting and falling in love of the male and female leads are always dramatic, sometimes even life-and-death.

But in reality, most people's love is plain and simple, based on chemistry and fate.

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

Despite their different professions, they had common ground and shared hobbies.

Add to that the unspoken understanding and joy of being together.

And, Sun Hao had always been a single guy.

So everything came very naturally.

Sun Hao's red-hot state was also noticed by head coach Raul on the sidelines.

Tonight's opponent, the Student Team, was a very unique squad.

As their name suggested, the Student Team was, as the name implied, a team composed of students.

Spain, or most countries for that matter, has a basketball system different from the United States.

The U.S. has a mature system from elementary school to high school, then to the NCAA, and finally into the NBA.

But such a system is limited to the U.S.; most countries rely on youth training and youth teams to cultivate basketball talent.

So their campuses are also different from those in America.

Talented and promising players are scouted by youth teams, leaving behind those with relatively average talent.

Of course, this isn't absolute; campuses occasionally produce late-blooming players, but the probability is low.

The biggest difference between students and professional players is the systematic nature of training, which results in weaker overall physicality.

Therefore, the Student Team's style is distinct, even different from most youth teams.

Because of their lack of physicality, their defensive intensity is lower, and the team leans more toward offense.

This style of play made other league teams uncomfortable.

Relying on this offensive approach, they achieved very good results in the EBA League, currently ranking third—a formidable opponent.

To deal with such an opponent, the most effective way was to overpower them on offense.

So after seeing Sun Hao's hot streak, Raul made up his mind to increase Sun Hao's shot attempts to ensure a higher offensive success rate.

In fact, this was the completely right call. Sun Hao's scoring had increased game by game over the past few matches, and he deserved more opportunities.

After the warm-up ended, the fans in the stands began filing in one after another.

The attendance for tonight's home game was very good.

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

At this point, Jocelyn turned her head to look around and noticed many fans holding up large KT boards with Sun Hao's face on them.

A surge of joy rose in her heart—so Sun Hao was this popular in Spain.

Yesterday, Raul asking Sun Hao for an autograph didn't seem so strange anymore.

P.S. This Raul is not the Raul you know. That Raul is not the Raul you're thinking of now.

A certain big shot has started a new book. I took a look—feels like first-day subscriptions will break ten thousand. The title is My Cheat Ran Away.

Thanks to Ling Tian Feichen, Single Dog qaq, Momomo Touch You, Hypocritical RS, and I Am the Beauty of Three Thousand for the tips. Thank you for your support, big shots~ Muah~

Big shots, remember to throw in some recommendation votes~ And don't forget the chapter comments~ Love you all~