With the press conference now over, it was time for Dave to start heading back to his house but at the moment, he was having a conversation with Norman as the both of them made their way to the exit.


    "Alright then, see you tomorrow," Norman said before turning and walking back inside.


    Dave opened the door and looked straight to his car to see that there was someone waiting for him there.


    Emma had her back against his car and turned his gaze toward the stadium entrance as soon as he stepped out of the building.


    "Hey," Dave said as soon as he got closer to her.


    "Hey." She said,


    "Do you want me to give you a ride?" He asked before reaching for the door but Emma quickly used her body to cover the door and stopped him from opening it. "What''s going on?"


    "I should be the one asking that question." She said, "Since today you''ve been acting differently."


    "Different in what sense?" Dave asked.


    "One moment you''re acting like you''re good again, the next moment you''re back to the Dave I know and then a few minutester you start giving me the idea that you''re mad at me for something again."


    "Shouldn''t you be heading back to work?"


    "Stop trying to change the topic, Dave." She said with an annoyed look on her face before letting out a deep sigh. "Why are you mad at me? I didn''t do anything wrong and if I did, why don''t you just tell me what it is."


    Dave stared at her for a while before slowly shifting her out of the way so that he could get his hand on his door handle.


    "You think if I were mad at you I would reply to your text that fast, answer your call that fast, or even be talking to you like this right now."


    "That''s what I''m saying, you''re constantly switching as if you''re trying to make up your mind on staying mad at me or not." She said,


    "I''m not mad at you." He said before opening the door. "People act differently toward other people for different reasons, it doesn''t necessarily mean that they are mad at the person."


    "Is it because of what happenedst night?" She asked but there was no response from him. "Hope you didn''t start a fight with him?"


    "I''m not that stupid." He said before entering the car.


    "But nothing happened, I told you to let it go." She said,


    "That''s the thing, what if something had happened?" Dave said. "I may not say anything about it but I''ll make it clear to him that we are no longer on good terms, I''m just worried about Mateo."


    "Why are you worried about Mateo?" She asked.


    "He sees him as his mentor and they are mostly together on and off the pitch." He said.


    "Oh." She said, staring at him.


    "Get in, I''ll drop you off at your workce."


    "Um…. don''t worry, I have to get something before heading back to work." She said,


    "Okay, I''ll see you at home then, bye." The goalkeeper said before closing the door and zooming off.


    She waited until his car was out of sight before she brought out her phone from her handbag.


    She dialed a number before cing the phone against her ear.


    "Hello, Mateo, where are you now?"


    _______ _______


    "It has just been confirmed that Mateo Smith won''t be ying that match after getting injured during the team''s training session today and with him out of the way, I think Lesica United can get an easy one."


    "We''ll see about that," Mateo muttered from where he was lying on his bed.


    He was watching a football show just like the Bilbeth Premier League Weekly but this one had three male pundits.


    His mother was about to enter his room with a bunch of stuff he asked for in a tray when she heard knocks on the door.


    She quickly turned around and dropped the tray on top of the table in front of the couch and made her way to the door.


    She opened the door to see her daughter standing there, Emma was quite surprised to see her there.


    "Mom?" She said with a surprised expression on her face.


    "Hello, dear," Martha said with a bright smile on her face before wrapping her arms around her in a warm hug.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "What are you doing here?" Emma asked after pulling out from the hug.


    "I heard Mateo was down with a muscle injury and I knew it was going to be hard for him to move around and get things so I quickly made my way here to help him out with things until he recovers." She exined.


    "Okay, what about dad?" Emma asked.


    "Your old man can handle himself," Martha said, walking to the tray she dropped on the table. "How are you doing? How''s everything going with Dave?" She asked before picking up the tray.


    "Everything''s fine." She replied with a nod.


    "Has he proposed?"


    "No, not yet," Emma said, shaking her head.


    "Okay, do you mind taking this to your brother, I need to go finish something in the kitchen?" Martha asked.


    "Sure," Emma said, taking the tray from her.


    "Thank you."


    The woman took two steps out of the area before quickly turning back.


    She picked up both of the game controllers on the couch and dropped them in the tray.


    "He asked me to bring those for him too." She said.


    "Okay," Emma said with an awkward expression on her face.


    She watched her mother until she was out of the area before she slowly made her way to the door to Mateo''s room.


    "Come in!"


    A single knock was all she needed for him to tell that from inside.


    She opened the door to find her brother lying on his bed enjoying his show.


    "Hey, sis." He said with a smile on his face as soon as he saw her.


    "Mom told me to bring this to you." She said before walking to the table beside his bed and dropping the tray on top of it.


    "Thanks."


    She stared at the television''s screen for a while before turning her gaze back to her brother.


    "May I sit?"


    "Sure," Mateo said before quickly sitting up on the bed to create space for her to sit beside him.


    The winger had his gaze on the television''s screen as he waited for her to sit down before turning his gaze to her.


    "It''s really nice to have you." He said. "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?"


    "Ferran." She muttered. She was a bit hesitant before saying that.


    "Ferran?" Mateo said with a confused expression on his face.


    "Yeah." She said with a nod.


    "Okay, what about Ferran?"


    She seemed reluctant to say what she wanted to say and that was when Mateo quickly put together what he thought this might be about in his mind.


    "What really happened between the both of youst night after you left to ease yourself with him?" He asked. "It took you guys almost thirty minutes to return and in training today Dave was acting like Ferran did something to him, don''t tell me you''re starting to…you know."


    "No, why would you ever think something like that?!" She quickly turned her gaze to him with a furious look on her face.


    ****


    Hope you enjoyed the chapter?


    If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I''ll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.