"Santiago... picked up by Maraguinot, to Morado," Anton Roxas said. "—and de Leon! BDL with the kill."
"That's one gutsy move from Bea de Leon," said Sir Eric Tipan.
"Gutsy indeed," Anton agreed. "Let's listen in to Coach Roger who calls a timeout with the Creamline Cool Smashers now overtaking the Bali Pure Water Defenders, 24-23."
The Creamline Cool Smashers are up two sets to one against the Bali Pure Water Defenders.
The veterans came and went. The great Alyssa Valdez had laid off from playing volleyball and now only resides at the sidelines where she sometimes cohosts a match.
Needless to say, the veterans of the pro leagues now come from Jia's batch in the UAAP. Bea's batch followed and as expected, she still has a huge fanbase to date. Gone were her days as the Baby Phenom from her UAAP Career, and here now is Bea de Leon, one the elite middle blockers of the league.
After sixty seconds of rest, Bea, along with the other players, went back to their positions as the match continued.
Jia called the play on her back. It's going to be my ball, Bea thought.
As their libero put up a good first ball, Jia didn't have a hard time setting the ball up for another kill by Bea.
However, as Bea landed, one leg fell a second short of the other. This resulted to one huge collapse on the Cool Smashers' side with a huge cry of pain coming from Bea herself.
"Shit Bea," Jia said, immediately rushing to her aid. "Are you okay?"
"No," she replied. Bea was trying so hard to get up but no matter how hard she tried, the pain on her body only kept spreading, hitting her hard. "Jia, help me."
"You're going to be okay," Jia said, trying to calm the anxious player around her as the medics came to assess her situation. "Breathe, Bei, breathe."
"No, I can't end up this way," Bea said as the thought of never getting to play again because of this injury hit her. "I can't, please. Help me."
No, I can't. This can't be it just yet. I still want to play. Please, not now, she thought.
•••
Bea was carried out of the arena by a stretcher and rushed to the nearest hospital.
The medics were fortunate enough to be able to calm her down from the panic and anxiety. They got her admitted where a doctor eventually checked up on her injury.
Outside the emergency room, Bea's dad waited as the doctors examined her.
"Family of Bea de Leon?" The doctor searched.
Elmer de Leon immediately stood up. "Right here, Doc."
"Good evening po, Mr. de Leon," the doctor greeted. "Well, good news is, your daughter's doing fine now,"
Elmer heaved a sigh at the news. "That's good to hear, Doc—"
"However, she will be needing to face surgery," the doctor cuts. " It's an ACL tear, and the surgery has to be done soon.
•••
Bea's dad slides open the curtains in her emergency room's cubicle.
"You probably heard the news," Elmer said.
Bea shifted her gaze. She now couldn't stand looking at her dad straight in the eye.
"You shouldn't have scheduled an operation for me," she replied.
