Lunch time

It was now lunchtime Alex, Rachel, and Oliver were eating lunch together. It was a weird combination, though the three of them were good-looking, had good grades, and had high athletic ability, it was a shame that Alex and Oliver had personality defects.

While the others could barely accept Alex eating lunch together with Rachel, the male students just couldn't accept Oliver eating with her.

They the male population of the class wanted to tear Oliver apart, but every time they thought of attacking they would remember Oliver's palace of muscle. So instead of them tearing Oliver apart, it might be them torn apart by Oliver.

"Do you have any plans with my comrade after school Rachel?" Oliver asked out of nowhere as the three were eating. Rachel knew of the eccentricity of the student called Oliver, so she knew he would ask something like this.

"No... Alex and I have no plans for later, don't we Alex?" Rachel looked at Alex with a smile that looked pretty, but in truth, it was a fake smile.

"Yes, we don't have any plans," Alex replied with that never-changing stoic expression.

"Is that so, hmm then are you two interested in joining me in my daily patrol?" Oliver asked after taking a bite of his bread. 

"Daily patrol, what's that?" Rachel did not want to join in the conversation as much as possible but she was truly curious about Oliver's so-called daily patrols. 

"I who have tread the dark path, wish to atone for those past mistakes of mine. Which is why I go out every day after school walk around the neighborhood and help random people I see who are in trouble."

When the two of them heard what Oliver said they had different reactions. Rachel was surprised by what Oliver said, if it were anyone else who said it she thought that maybe they were just spouting nonsense, and despite Oliver saying nonsense all the time this time she felt that he was serious. 

On the other hand, Alex found what Oliver was doing very interesting. There was not even a single thought that Oliver was lying. 

"I guess doing that daily patrol with you would be interesting." 

"That's great so how about you Rachel?" 

"... Sorry but I can't stay out late for now, maybe next time." 

"That's alright, next time then." 

While the three and the class were having different reactions to the situation, a boy burst into the room. The boy who banged the door open, was a good-looking boy with dyed blond hair, wearing blue contact lenses, and he was actually a bit taller than Alex.

The newcomer approached Alex's group, he looked at Oliver for awhile and scoffed at him. The boy then glared at Alex looking at him up and down. Finally, the boy looked at Rachel and smiled, showcasing his bright, shiny white teeth.

"Rachel I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet you yesterday since I had to go to another town for a competition. How unfortunate the moment I left you some flies came bothering you." The boy looked at Oliver and especially Alex with a glare.

"What are you saying, Aldrich? I don't see any flies except for you." Rachel answered the boy called Aldrich with an ice-cold tone. Alex noticing the weird atmosphere was now on guard.

"Now, now no need to be shy. Let's show these flies who you really like." Aldrich was about to reach for Rachel's hands but before he could do so, his face was already facing the ground. It happened so quickly that something was holding his right arm and restraining him.

"Alex what are you doing?!" Rachel said alarmed by Alex's sudden action of restraining Aldrich.

It took him a few seconds before Aldrich finally realized that he was being pinned down by Alex. Aldrich tried to resist and stand up but he couldn't, Alex's restraining technique made it seem like there was a one-ton boulder on top of Aldrich.

"What the hell are you doing you bastard?! Get off me!" Aldrich who couldn't escape started screaming.

Oliver who had watched the whole thing from start to finish was amazed. Alex's movements were flawless, there was no hesitation as he restrained Aldrich. He had watched many videos of police officers restraining criminals with a similar technique, but none of those could match the speed and precision of Alex's move.

"Rachel tell me, is this man a threat to you?" Alex didn't bother to listen to the screaming Aldrich and questioned Rachel.

"No he is not a threat, he's nothing to me." When Alex heard Rachel's answer he let go of Aldrich, but this time he stood in front of Aldrich and had Rachel at his back. This action of Alex triggered the whole class once more.

"WHOAH Alex that was awesome!"

"Kyaaa! He's like a knight in shining armor protecting the princess."

"Yeah, Alex show that arrogant prick who Rachel's man is!"

The students of the class were in full support of Alex. Even the boys who didn't like Alex sticking to their Goddess were siding with him this time. This is all because they always thought Aldrich was an as*hole. He was haughty and arrogant since he was the ace of the tennis team of the school which had won some national competitions, and he himself has won numerous medals in many amateur tournaments. He was even ranked as the fifth most popular guy in school.

Rachel who was facing Alex's back had her heart beating faster. This scene was like one of her dramas where the boy protects the girl he likes from a rival in love.

Aldrich seeing the situation was not in his favor started retreating, but before he left he looked back and challenged Alex.

"Alex I challenge you to a tennis match!"

...

It was after classes and a bunch of people were gathered around the school's tennis court. At one side stood the arrogant Aldrich wearing his white tennis uniform, on the other side was Alex still wearing his school uniform and black leather shoes.

Alex accepted the challenge without even thinking about it. His classmates who were there when he accepted the challenge were confused. It was obvious that Aldrich had the upper hand in this challenge being the school's tennis club's ace, but Alex still accepted it. Could it be that Alex was actually good at playing tennis?

The question of all the students was immediately answered when Alex asked Rachel "What is tennis?" The guy didn't even know what tennis was, so why did he accept the challenge so confidently?

Rachel explained the basic rules of tennis to Alex. She already knew based on logic that the more experienced Aldrich would be able to beat the inexperienced Alex hands down, but something was telling her she needed to believe in Alex.

"Alex you better not lose." Hearing Rachel sound like she was giving an order, Alex reflexively saluted.

"Roger that."

Alex with a racket at hand stood at the other side of the net. Aldrich on the other side of the net was smirking and at the same time irritated by how close Alex and Rachel were to each other.

One of the students became the unbiased umpire. "This game is an unofficial match, the first one to win seven sets is the final victor. Let the match begin."

It was Aldrich who had the first serve,

SWOOSH!

As expected of the ace of the tennis club the tennis ball was going 95 mph and once it hit the ground it twisted in a different direction and headed toward Alex's face. The tennis ball was heading towards Alex's face yet with one hand Alex caught the tennis ball.

"15 - love"

The crowd got excited both at Aldrich's twist serve and Alex's barehanded catch. Rachel, on the other hand, got angry and shouted at Aldrich.

"What are you doing?! Are you deliberately trying to hurt Alex?!" Rachel was angrier than she thought.

Aldrich was still a bit shocked by Alex's ball-catching when he heard Rachel's complaint. He looked at Rachel and shrugged.

"It was not my intention to hit his face, the ball just twists like that when I try that serve."

Aldrich went back into position without bothering Rachel anymore. This time his serve reached 105 mph, not yet accustomed to using the racket Alex reflexively hit the tennis ball with the hand that was closest to the tennis ball, which was his empty hand.

When Alex hit the tennis ball with his palms a loud smacking sound was heard. The tennis ball was returned, it was even faster than the serve of Aldrich.

"Out, 30-love" Yet even though it was amazing it was still out. Aldrich stood there dumbfounded by what had just happened. 'He hit the ball with his bare hands and it was even faster than my best serve!'

Everyone was super excited by what they just witnessed.

"What the hell was that?! He just smashed the ball with his palm!"

"Doesn't that hurt? Yet he looks like it did nothing to him!"

"If he can hit that strongly with his bare hands imagine what kind of shot he would make with the racket."

Even though Alex was losing, the surrounding students were already thinking that if Alex could get used to the racket then victory would be his without a doubt.

Oliver had his eyes wide open as he looked at Alex, he had seen that stance numerous times on MeTube. That was a Baguazhang stance the way Alex did the move was so natural. Was he a practitioner? Oliver got a bit confused, if Alex Baguazhang was at this level, then what was the grappling move he used? It was similar to an Aikido move...

'Well Alex did say his dad was a martial arts enthusiast, he might have learned it from him.' Even though there were many loopholes in this idea Oliver simply accepted it.

'I already knew he had abnormal fighting ability since I saw the way he restrained Aldrich... But is he some kind of martial arts master? Is this a plus or a negative? I'm going to put this as plus points for becoming my possible official boyfriend. The ability to protect one's girlfriend from external dangers is definitely a plus.' Rachel was grading Alex as he played.

The first set went to Aldrich easily, but this time it was Alex's service game. He was observing Aldrich's form and the way he served. Alex threw the tennis ball upwards, with the same form as Aldrich, Alex used a similar serve as Aldrich and smashed the tennis ball.

SWOOSH! BAM!

Aldrich couldn't react, everyone else including the umpire was shocked by that one serve of Alex, they couldn't see it at all. Aldrich wanted to know how fast that ball traveled, but they didn't prepare a speed gun for the match since he thought he was facing an amateur. Once they saw Alex's serve some of the tennis club members ran to fetch the speed gun.

The umpire finally regained his senses and announced, "15-love"

Alex got ready to do another serve, this time Aldrich was fully concentrated. The other tennis club members had the speed gun ready. Alex then smashed the tennis ball in the same form as before.

SWOOSH! you could practically hear the ball cutting through the air. "BAM!"

Once again Aldrich wasn't able to react at all. He looked at his fellow tennis club members and waited for them to tell him the speed of the serve. The surrounding students were curious as well. The tennis club members looked at the speed gun dumbfounded, they stared at the number displayed not believing what they saw.

Alex just stood there waiting for the umpire to tell the score so he could continue serving, but the umpire was also interested in how fast Alex's serve was, so he couldn't say the score yet.

"Hey tell us how fast his serve was already?!" One of the students couldn't wait anymore and shouted at the tennis club members. The tennis club members got their bearings back and answered.

"The serve was at 157 mph!" When everyone heard the number the group of students got excited.

"Shit isn't that like the super fast! Even at the pro level, only some people can serve as fast as that!"

"Wasn't Alexander an amateur?!"

"Damn, how good will his serve be if he practices? He might actually take the world with his serve!"

The group of students was excited as they felt that they were watching the birth of a legend. Aldrich, on the other hand, was burning red in embarrassment. He challenged Alex to a tennis match to show Rachel how much better he was. Yet not only was he losing in his own specialty, but he was also losing to Alex a complete amateur who just recently held a tennis racket for the first time.

The match after that couldn't even be called a match, when Aldrich's focus broke he couldn't even keep his service game. The match was won 1-6 Aldrich only won one set.