Two weeks before the next regional qualifier, Jenny’s life was a full-on loop: school, training, work, repeat. Her body ached from hours of standing, hours of aiming, hours of forcing herself to get stronger—mentally and physically.

  The gym had become her second home, and her coach had started to notice her form regaining its sharpness.

  “You’re almost there, Jenny,” Coach Lin said after one session. “But you need to clear your head. That hesitation in your wrist, I can feel it.”

  Jenny nodded. She knew what Coach meant. Her hand was steady, but her heart wasn’t. Not entirely.

  She bmed Melissa.

  That night, Jenny sat at her desk, books open but untouched. She stared at her notes, eyes unfocused.

  Her phone buzzed.

  Li Wei: You okay? Want a break?

  She smiled.

  Jenny: Maybe just five minutes.

  Five minutes turned into twenty. They ended up walking around the university track. Li Wei had just finished practice; his hair was still damp, and his jersey clung to him. Jenny wore a hoodie with the strings pulled tight.

  “You look like a shrimp,” he teased.

  “I feel like one,” she muttered.

  “Still thinking about Melissa?”

  She hesitated. “A bit. She just… gets in my head. It’s like her voice echoes when I try to focus.”

  Li Wei stopped walking. “Then let’s drown it out.”

  Jenny blinked. “How?”

  He pointed at the night sky. “Every time she says something in your head, repce it with something else. Something true. Like… how you pced second after coming back from an injury. Or how you beat your own shooting record st week.”

  Jenny looked up at him, her lips tugging into a smile.

  “You’re oddly good at this.”

  “I have a secret,” Li Wei said, smirking. “I like cheering for underdogs.”

  She elbowed him. “Hey.”

  “But not just any underdog,” he added. “Just you.”

  Jenny’s face warmed. She turned away, pretending to be distracted by the stars.

  Days passed. Jenny was slowly finding her rhythm again.

  But then… it happened.

  Posters for the upcoming qualifiers were pinned up around campus. Jenny’s name was listed on the roster—and so was Melissa’s.

  Melissa wasted no time.

  One afternoon, Jenny came back to her unit and found a note taped to her door.

  “Better polish your skills. Would be a shame to choke in front of him.” — M

  Jenny froze.

  The handwriting was familiar. Bold. Sharp-edged.

  She crumpled the paper but said nothing. She wasn’t going to give Melissa the satisfaction.

  Still… that night, her aim was shaky again.

  The next day, Li Wei noticed something was off.

  “You didn’t hit center even once today,” he said after they met at the gym café. He handed her an energy drink.

  Jenny sighed. “Melissa left a note.”

  Li Wei’s expression darkened.

  “I don’t care about her,” Jenny added quickly. “I just… wish she wasn’t everywhere.”

  “She won’t be,” he said. “Not after the qualifiers.”

  Jenny gave him a curious look.

  Li Wei leaned in slightly. “Because you’ll beat her. And I’ll be right there, cheering.”

  The day of the qualifier arrived.

  Jenny stood in front of her locker, dressed in her Team Taiwan jacket. Her pistol case was slung over one shoulder. Her hand hovered over her neckce—a tiny silver bullet charm her dad gave her before he passed.

  She whispered, “Watch me, Papa.”

  Victor caught up with her at the prep room. “Ready?”

  Jenny nodded.

  He grinned. “Let’s go take her down.”

  Up in the audience, Li Wei sat in the third row. Alone. He had skipped basketball practice to be here, ignoring a teammate’s teasing: “Since when do you watch shooting matches, Captain?”

  His eyes scanned the field, nding on Jenny’s calm figure.

  His heart tightened.

  “She’s got this,” he whispered to himself.