If you like the story, please take a second to vote for it, it would mean a lot! Thank you xx

~

After the practice ended we started heading back when Scolari asked me and Neymar to wait. I started to freak out, thinking he knew but as it turned out he wanted to talk to us about the practice.

"Coach Coto and I decided to cancel your practice for today, to give you a chance to rest a little, before tomorrow."

We both nodded and started walking towards the compound.

"Well that clears our afternoon." Neymar said, locking his arms around my waist.

"Actually," I started, "Since we have no practice, there is something I have to do." I told him.

He stopped and turned around to look at me. "Why is that when you say stuff like that, I feel so... nervous?"

I chuckled. "It doesn't have anything to do with us. Or not directly at least."

"Tell me." He said.

"Let's go to my room." I told him. I knew he wasn't going to like what I had to say but there was no other way.

'Absolutely not!" He said after I told him. "No, no, no."

"Hear me out. We have to. You heard him too!"

"I'm coming with you."

"You know that would make matters worse." I said.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Well you aren't going alone."

"Thiago is coming with me." I said. I hadn't asked him yet but I hoped he would be okay with it.

Suddenly the door opened and we both jumped.

Marina froze when she saw us. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here Neymar."

"No, it's okay." Neymar said.

"We were just talking." I added.

"I just want to take my jacket." Marina said. She searched through her suitcase until she found a brown jacket. "See you later guys." She said, giving me a pointed look before she closed the door.

"Relax, it's just Marina." I told Neymar.

"Marina will tell Bernard and he'll tell someone else and before you know it everyone will know."

"She wouldn't tell." I told him. "Besides we really were just talking." I said.

He sighed. "When are you leaving?"

"After lunch. I want to be back as soon as possible."

"Alright." He said, taking my face in his hands and kissing me gently.

After taking a shower I searched for Thiago in the compound coming up empty. The last stop was his room. I hoped he wasn't sleeping.

"Hey Liv." He said, surprised to see me.

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Sure, what's going on?" He said, letting me in.

"I have a plan." I said as he closed the door behind him.

"I don't think I like the sound of that."

After lunch ended we took Thiago's car and started the now familiar drive to Rio.

"She agreed to meet with us?" Thiago asked me.

I nodded. "She won't be happy about the reason though."

"I know. But I don't see another way." Thiago said and I was glad in a way that he agreed with me, even if I was not happy with what we were about to do.

"Do you know where we are going?" I asked him, a little while later.

He nodded. "This is it." He told me, pointing at the brick wall and steel gate in front of us.

"It's a fortress." I commented.

"Well, it's the price you pay." Thiago said as we got out of his car. I wondered if it was worth it.

We knocked at the gate, said our names and they buzzed us in.

"Just don't let her get to you." Thiago whispered as the front door opened.

"I couldn't believe my ears when I heard your voice on the phone." Bruna said.

"Hello Bruna." I said, deciding to not comment on that. "Can we come in?"

"Depends on what you want." Bruna said.

"C'mon Bruna." Thiago spoke for the first time and when Bruna glanced at him her expression softened.

"I've always liked you Thiago." She said cryptically as she let us get inside.

We went in her living room and I was happy to see we were alone there. Her house was beautiful.

"Would you like something to drink?" She asked us. My mortal enemy was offering me a beverage. Okay, mortal enemy is an exaggeration but still. This was so civil. Too civil. We both shook our heads.

"Thank you for meeting with us." I told her as we sat down.

"My curiosity got the best of me, I admit." She said. "I wanted to know what you had to say to me about Neymar."

"I'm not—" I started saying.

"You are not here about Neymar. I realized."

"It's about David." I said. "And Sarah."

"Bruna, you got us in this mess. Now you have to help us get out of it." Thiago told her.

"This is Sarah's mess, Thiago." Bruna said. "You don't know the whole truth."

"She wouldn't say." I told her. "What could be so horrible?"

"You are asking this? You have done some awful things since you got here." Bruna told me. "But maybe I am stronger for it." She added, looking up, towards the ceiling at something only she could see.

I took a deep breath. I knew this was coming. "Thiago can you give us a moment?" I asked him. I had already decided it would be better to clear the air between the two of us, to let her vent and then focus on the real reason why we came here.

Thiago looked at the two of us uncertain. "Are you sure?" He asked me.

"Positive."

"Alright. I'll be in the kitchen. I know they way." He said as Bruna was about to say something.

"Why did you ask him to leave?" She asked me.

"I wanted the two of us to talk, no pressure."

"What is there to talk about? How you stole my boyfriend? And ridiculed me in front of all our friends?"

"I didn't do any of those things." I said calmly.

"You aren't together?" She asked me. I was expecting this question and I had already talked about it with Neymar. We decided to be honest. Better an uncomfortable truth that a lie you get caught telling.

"We are now. As of yesterday actually."

She scoffed.  "Of course you are."

"But back then, nothing had happened, I swear to you." I told her.

"So how do you explain the fact that he left me? Just like that? After all this time?"

"Bruna I am not the best person to talk to, about this. But..." I started saying.

"Say it." She challenged me. "Say what you are thinking."

"My understanding is that you broke up in February. And you tried to get back together two weeks ago when you saw him at that dinner but it didn't work."

"It wasn't that simple. And try a month ago. Before he even met you."

I froze for a second. "A month ago?"

"Yes. The moment he came back to Brazil. I bet he conveniently left that one out of his version of events. It doesn't feel good, does it? Being lied to by your boyfriend."

"He didn't lie..."

"Ask him." She challenged me again. "Ask him and you'll see." She stood up and walked towards the window. She looked outside thoughtfully. "I am over it. And him. I deserve better. Maybe so do you. I believe you, you know. That nothing happened between the two of you. But he didn't treat me well and deep down you know that too. You agree with me." She said finally looking at me.

"He didn't handle any of this well, I agree with you. But he never meant to hurt you."

"I might choose to believe that. One day. For what it's worth, I am sorry about that day at the restaurant. About what I said..."

"I know." I told her. This was as good as it would ever get between the two of us. I had no delusions about that. But it didn't matter anyway. "About David..." I started saying.

"David is my friend. He deserved to know." Bruna said. "I'm gonna ask Thiago to come back." She said, leaving the room. I walked to the window where she was standing moments ago and looked outside. There was green grass and flowers and beyond that, a brick wall extended as far as you could see on either side. It felt like a cage she had to live in. A voluntary prison.

When Bruna and Thiago came back they were carrying coffee mugs. "Thank you." I told Bruna, getting the mug she offered me.

"It's hot chocolate. I don't like coffee." She said. "So, as I was telling Olivia, I think David deserved to know. And maybe not the way he had to find out, but Sarah wasn't going to tell him any time soon."

"About Theo?"

"So he told you." Bruna said, sitting down.

"Not exactly." I said.

She sighed. "Theo is a friend of mine. He met Sarah a little while ago, when she and David first decided to take a break."

"And they got together." Thiago said.

Bruna nodded.

"But why was David calling you? He wanted to know about Theo?"

"At first. But David and I understand each other. We have been through the same thing." She said. I didn't bother telling her it wasn't exactly the same.

"And what did you tell him?" Thiago asked.

"Theo fell in love with Sarah. And it seemed like she was in love with him too. Until one day suddenly she left Sao Paulo and headed to Rio."

"The day of the scavenger hunt." I said.

Bruna curled her fingers into a fist until the knuckles turned white. "Yes." She finally said.

"So Sarah chose David?" Thiago asked.

"It seems that way..." Bruna said. "But when Sarah left Theo all of a sudden, things were great between them. And she suddenly stopped taking his calls."

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't know. David hasn't told me."

"David knows?" Thiago and I asked simultaneously.

Bruna nodded.

"When I met Sarah in Sao Paulo, she sounded desperate. She said that if you told David the truth, things would be bad."

"What could be so bad?" Thiago wondered.

"That she was in love with Theo?" Bruna asked. "Maybe she was afraid to tell David."

"It doesn't make sense. If she was in love with Theo, she'd break it off with David. Sarah wouldn't string him along." I said.

"I agree. It doesn't sound like Sarah." Thiago said. "What did your friend say? Theo."

"He doesn't answer my calls, right now." Bruna answered. "He is mad at me because I told David."

"Is he here? In Rio?"

"Sao Paulo." She said.

"With Sarah?" Thiago asked her.

"I wouldn't know."

"So we are right back to where we started." I said, letting out a deep breath.

"Except for the fact that David somehow knows the thing Sarah was too afraid to tell him." Bruna added.

"We should head back before it gets dark." I told Thiago. He nodded and stood up.

"If there is anything I can do to help..." Bruna said, standing up with us.

I nodded. "Thank you." I said and I meant it.

She opened the door for us and Thiago gave her a hug. "In another world we might be friends." She said to me.

"In another world, I'd like that." I said. She let out a sad smile before she closed the door.

"Look at you," Thiago said. "Being the better person. You made up."

"Well usually, if one decides to be the better person, the other follows too." I told him. "But Thiago, I didn't know you liked Bruna."

"She's not a bad girl. Maybe she and Neymar weren't meant to be. Maybe she needs someone with a more normal lifestyle."

"Whereas I can handle it?"

 "Time will tell Liv. I'm happy for you though. As strange as it seems, you and Neymar work."