?


    Dave got up pretty early the next day and unlike yesterday, his wife was still asleep beside him on the bed.


    "I guess she doesn''t have the strength today." He muttered before slowly sitting up on the bed.


    His morning run was a short one and after that, he did a little bit of workout in his gym before he moved to thewn for some ball practice.


    He joggled the ball with both of his feet for a while before he kicked it up with his right foot and then sent it flying toward the goalpost with his left.


    The ball flew toward the top right-hand side and ended up hitting the crossbar before falling into the goalpost.


    <Your left foot works well for you>


    ''Of course, it will, I''ve been forcing myself to use it in certain conditions since I was just a child, I don''t want it to be useless to me in certain conditions where it can be useful.'' Dave replied subconsciously.


    <Yeah, I understand>


    Dave didn''t reply to her as he slowly began to make his way to the goalpost to pick the ball up.


    <You said you were going to pay your father a visit today, right?>


    ''Yeah, I did say that yesterday.'' He replied before picking up the ball.


    <When are you going then? I''m surprised you weren''t thinking about it until I brought it up just now>


    ''I wasn''t thinking about it because I''m no longer going.''


    <And why''s that?>


    ''I don''t think there''s any need for that since Mr. Lucas is going to report back to him anyway, and besides, I may end up stirring up trouble between the two of us again if I go, things just returned to normal between us.''


    <Okay, I think I get your point>


    ''Yeah, but if he  employs another method to do something like that again, then I''ll have to pay him a visit for sure.''


    After practicing on thewn for a while, he decided to make his way inside, and just as he entered the house, he caught sight of Emmaing down the stairs.


    "Hey, you''re back." She said with a bright expression on her face. "Good morning?" She added before taking a sip from her cup.


    It was a tea that did quite a good job of calming down the strange feelings she got every morning because of her pregnancy.


    "Good morning, how''re you doing?" Dave asked with a smile on her face.


    "I feel a little bit sour and nauseous but it''s nothing." She replied.


    "Okay." He said with an awkward expression on his face as that wasn''t exactly the answer he was expecting.


    "I''m going to head over to the kitchen now and make something for breakfast, you cane help if you want to." She said as she slowly made her way to the kitchen.


    "Okay."


    "What am I saying? You have toe help since you''re not going to be doing anything today." She quickly turned back to him to say.


    "I already said okay." The goalkeeper said before letting out a deep sigh.


    "Oh, you said okay?" She seemed surprised because she didn''t hear when he said okay. "Well, then stop dragging your feet."


    Dave didn''t reply and just let out a deep sigh before he made his way to the kitchen after her.


    As soon as he entered the kitchen, he received a notification from his phone.


    ''What''s that, Catherine?''


    <Just a bunch of stupid messages, and….>


    ''And what?''


    <An update on the group stage of the Europa Conference League>


    ''Are you serious?''


    <Why would I not be serious?>


    As soon as Catherine said that, he quickly brought out his phone from his pocket to see things for himself.


    <I don''t think you''re aware but the group stage was actually pickedst night>


    ''Wait, you even knew about it before now and you didn''t say anything?''


    <Well, you were already tired from the match against Ronino FC that night and this morning you just ran out for your morning workout so, I didn''t want to distract you>


    By the time she was done speaking, Dave had already stopped listening and was just going through the group stages looking for their group to see which teams they were going to be facing off against. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It didn''t take him long to find group F which was their group as Unique FC was the first team he saw in the group.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me."


    He was quite shocked by the rest of the team in the group that he didn''t know when he said.


    "Huh? What''s wrong?" Emma asked after quickly turning her gaze to him.


    "Did you know about the Conference League group stage picksing out?" He asked.


    "Oh, yeah, I saw thatst night and I was nning on telling you after we''re done making breakfast, but I guess it''s no surprise that you already found out." She expressed. "What''s with that look on your face?"


    "Why won''t I have this look on my face when we are clearly in a group of death?" Dave asked.


    "Group of death? Hmmm." Emma said before cing her hand on her chin. "Well, given their performance in thepetitionst season and their performance in their respective leagues this season, I guess you''re not really mistaken for calling it the group of death.


    "West Ham United made it to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by FC Basel, Virreal also made it to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by Frankfurt. Lazio on the other hand exited thepetition in the quarter finals but you can''t judge them by that as they are currently the league leaders in the Italian Serie A, leading from the front four points ahead of second-ced Juventus."


    "You''ve said it all, surviving this group is going to be hard, we''re the least favorites to make it out of this group and move to the next round of thepetition." The goalkeeper said.


    "You''re not wrong about that, but you have to remember that you guys beatst season''s runner-ups in the qualifiers to advance to the group stage that you''re in now," Emma said.


    "Yeah, we beat them, but we barely survived that second leg, I really want to stay positive but seeing West Ham United, Virreal, and Lazio together in our group is really making me nervous, I wonder what the others think of it."


    "Oh, dear," Emma said before cing her left hand on her forehead. "Do you really rate your team that low?"


    "Huh?"


    "If it wasst season, I wouldn''t say anything but you guys are on fire this season, made it through to the group stage of the Europa conference league and currently sitting in third ce in the league table five points clear of fourth-ced Lesica United.


    "Sometimes things don''t go your way in football, big teams even lose to small teams, I don''t think it makes sense to be nervous about a team just because of what they did in thepetition, you guys haven''t faced each other before, so who''s to say whether you''re strong enough to beat them or not?"


    "Yeah, you''re right, we are ying better this season and there''s no way to tell those things so, we''ll have to wait until we can face them, I am still a bit nervous but we''ll just have to wait." He expressed.


    "As long as it doesn''t affect your form in the match, it''s okay." She said. "Now, that''s enough of talking,e give me a hand over here."


    "Okay," Dave said before quickly walking closer to her.


    "That reminds me." She said before turning on the tap in the sink to wash her hand.


    "Huh?"


    "You didn''t tell me anything about your choicest night." She said.


    "You mean the thing I told you about changing positions?"


    "Yeah, what decision did you make or you still haven''t decided?" She asked.


    "Well, since I haven''t told you anything about it until now, I think you should know that nothing changed." He said.


    "Oh, so you decided to keep on chasing your dream." She said.


    "I was never going to stop chasing it, I just wanted to see your reaction, and I have to say it wasn''t exactly what I thought."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah."


    "It''s a shame."


    "Huh?"


    "It would have been nice to have more money and a husband with a better public image." She said.


    "Hey, don''t say that."


    "Ha, I was just kidding." She said with a little chuckle. "I love you just the way you are."


    "I love you too," Dave said with a bright smile on his face.


    ______ ______


    Unique FC''s next match was against Supreme United and that match was quite an important match for both teams.


    Supreme United had to win at all costs because losing meant that they would remain level on points with Dynamo FC who managed to grab three points after beating Rojo Sturm United on Friday.


    Unique FC on the other hand also had to win to make sure they stayed close enough in the title race.


    The match was set to kick off the next day, and because of that reason, Norman wanted to take his time to exin his tactics to the yers who were all in the locker room now.