After some minutes of searching, Ken found Haili.

  He saw her from almost 25 meters apart, but couldn’t get near her, as there were a lot of people on the way.

  “Should I call her?” Ken thought.

  After a minute of thought, he called her.

  Even though he called her multiple times, she didn’t attend as the noise around there was extreme.

  Now comes the ultimate weapon for Ken.

  “Haili, turn back, I am Ken,” he shouted with all he could to make sure it reached her.

  “Oh, I might have shouted a little louder,” he thought after shouting.

  His sound is more than enough; in fact, it almost silenced the crowd as most of the people turned and looked back at him.

  Haili is no exception, as she felt weird hearing her name.

  She turned back and came towards Ken and scolded him.

  “Why did you shout like that? Can’t you just call me?” she asked.

  “Did I shout that loud?” he asked himself.

  “I am sorry, I called you multiple times, you didn’t pick up, so—” he explained.

  She checked her phone and realised it, “Whatever—” she told.

  Ken knew that the mistake is from him and apologized.

  Then after a few minutes, everything normalized.

  Meanwhile, Andrew is marching ahead at a pace.

  He is not a slow starter. He tries to always take a lead and manage to maintain or slow down somewhere in the middle, only to pick up again at the end.

  Right now, he is in the top 20, having completed 2 miles.

  “I am in good space today, I should just maintain it,” Andrew thought to himself.

  The top 3 so far are Jordan Cook, Darren Simmons, and Reus.

  “I have always hated running; my father wanted me to be an athlete,” Jordan Cook’s thoughts.

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  “He trains me, he always wanted me to be number 1, he won’t even speak to me for a couple of days even if I finished second,” his thoughts.

  “I win to make my father happy, winning isn’t joy, it is a must for me,” he was sprinting ever since the start.

  Many people get to see the marathon right in front of them as the athletes run across several streets.

  Lots of emotions go on, one gets inspired by them, one would feel happy due to them, some will see them as if they were wasting time.

  “People don’t know about our thoughts or emotions; they don’t know what we are going through,” Thoughts of Darren Simmons.

  “They make misconceptions of us, they won’t understand us, running is the only thing that sets me free from their thoughts.”

  “I just want to run, run, and run throughout my life; it is the only thing that I enjoy,” he was closing on Cook.

  On the other hand, Ken had a little talk with Haili at the start, then went on a walk around the venue.

  Haili was also kind of bored, so she accompanied him.

  “Why am I so worse at conversations?” he thought.

  He would try talking about something, then eventually run out of words. When she speaks, he speaks for a while, then goes into a thinking mode.

  “Should I speak? Maybe I am better at replying,” he was confused.

  “I didn’t think Ken would like this; he is silent and shyer than I thought,” she thought while walking.

  She imagined him to be more of a chaotic, goofy one, which he is sometimes, but he is a lot more composed than he was one month back.

  Almost 1hour and 30 minutes have passed, Ken and Haili started walking back to the venue.

  Ken asked about how she met Lucera. She began explaining, which goes on and on.

  Back to Andrew,

  The rankings shuffled a lot, as the top 3 remain the same, but the orders changed. Reus is topping the rank with Cook chasing him, and Simmons is just behind Cook.

  Andrew is in the top 10, even though he slowed down his pace during the middle phase, but a familiar-looking guy was in front of Andrew.

  “Wait, is he—” Andrew went forward to see who was leading him.

  “Evans! I didn’t expect you.” Both of them were shocked.

  “Same,” Evans responded.

  “Who is this guy? He looks so different from what he was at the start,” Andrew thought.

  Evans was significantly more focused and calmer than he was at the start.

  He used to run many marathons. he would always finish somewhere around 5th. He is a slow starter, but not this time.

  He ran fast for the first time at the start. He is more determined than ever as he hopes to finish in the top 3.

  15 minutes had passed.

  “They should be here soon,” Ken told Haili.

  “Is this your first time watching?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Why didn’t you run? Lucera told me about how fast you would run,” she asked.

  “Well, I haven’t practiced a lot, maybe I would run next time,” Ken answered.

  People’s voices started to erupt as they knew that someone was closer to the end line. It was almost the expected time when the top 5 to 10 would finish.

  “Ahh, my legs are hurting a lot,” Andrew muttered while running.

  “I can do this, I can do this,” he is closing in on the top 5.

  “I will win, I know I can,” he said, optimistic about his chances.

  “I always loved running, it taught me many things, I would always feel confident while I am running,” Andrew started running as a hobby at the age of 11.

  His brother was the one who sparked his interest.

  His brother would always run in the morning when Andrew was young. Andrew always wondered why his brother always ran in the morning.

  One day, Andrew was forced to run by his brother.

  Andrew felt happy as the wind breezed against him; he loved it. He couldn’t even run 200 meters when he started.

  He would always sprint as he thought it was the only way to run. He would run fast for about 150 meters and would quit upon falling, even though he enjoys it.

  Every time he falls and quits, his brother would praise his effort and motivate him. Slowly, his interest became a hobby, and he learned that sprinting is just a part of running.

  His brother went to Soltheris for his job when Andrew joined college. He still hasn’t met his brother ever since then.