Chapter 57

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I don't want Olivia to know I'm here.

I felt my heart sinking. David started saying something but then he thought better of it. Thank God. Now I didn't want Neymar to know I was there and I had overheard that. I heard the door close and I let my feet slide to the floor.

Of course this was too good to be true, I thought to myself. Of course. The first thought that came to my mind was Bruna.I imagined her saying: I told you so. But you deserve better than this. I took a deep breath trying to think straight. Should I knock on his door?

Why, why on earth would he say that? Why would he want to avoid me?

"Hey there you are!" Thiago said appearing from the corner of the corridor. "Why aren't you ready yet?"

I got up quickly. "Thiago look at me." I told him grabbing him by the arms. "I was never here."

"Liv wha—" he started saying but I had already disappeared.

My phone started ringing. "Fuck." It was Neymar. I let it ring, taking a deep breath. Once he gave up I texted Marina and shut off my phone completely.

Neymar's POV

"There better be a damn good reason for this." David said as he shut the door behind him.

"There is. I just— I don't want her to know."

"Know what exactly?" David asked as he sat on my bed.

"My father, he's on to us." I breathed. "We have to be extra careful."

"And shouldn't she know that?"

"I don't want her to feel bad about it."

"Why wouldn't he like her?" David wondered.

"It's not that he doesn't like her, I think he actually does. He doesn't like the fact that this is all happening during the World Cup."

"Yeah the timing is not ideal." David agreed.

"And it's not just that. He's threatening to tell Scolari." I said and saw David's eyes widen.

"They wouldn't do anything to you, they need you, but her..." David started.

"They could kick her out of here." I finished his sentence. "I know." I added, sitting on the bed next to him.

"And here I was coming to invite you to a night in Rio." He said sarcastically.

"I don't think that's wise. All of us together, we'd be spotted."

"You'd have to act like you aren't a couple."

"I can't do that. We pretended long enough, haven't we?"

"Maybe you could stay here and be careful. Not leave the room." David suggested.

I chuckled. "My father is staying 'till dinner. If he could he'd stay in the compound the whole time. Outside my door like Cerberus."

"Doesn't he understand that what he does is making things worse for you that Olivia ever could?"

"That's not completely true." I told David. "If she wants to, she can ruin me."

David looked at me quizzically for a moment before I saw the recognition in his eyes. "Yeah I get it. Some people have that kind of power over your life. Like Sarah has over mine."

"Look, Olivia told me about that." I started saying hesitantly, not wanting to overstep. But David was my friend, my brother. "She's made mistakes. But the truth is... you'd rather live with her than without her. Do yourself a favor and let her explain. And then you can move on, either way."

"She did. I called her this afternoon." David told me. "I didn't get a chance to tell you."

"And?"

"She's sorry and she was crying and I felt like the bad guy."

"You're not the bad guy." I stated.

"Yeah I know, but... She said yes to that guy! How can we move on from that?"

"I don't know." I said sincerely. He was right, saying yes to marrying someone was a big commitment. I'd never thought Sarah would say yes to anyone other than David.

"And Regina told her to stay away from me."

"Regina? Your mom Regina?"

"The very one. I feel like an ant stuck in a web of lies." He chuckled.

"You were always good with your metaphors." I commented. "Why are our parents meddling so much? We are professional footballers for Christ's sake!"

David laughed. "I'm gonna go get ready for Rio. You sure you aren't coming?"

I nodded. "I'm having dinner with my dad in half an hour."

"What do I tell your girlfriend?"

"Tell her to have fun. I called her... It's not ringing."

"It probably ran out of juice. We'll give you a call from mine when I see her, okay?"

I nodded. "Take care of her."

"I always do. Later amigo."

When David left I laid on the bed putting my headphones on. I still had a few minutes before I had to meet my father. I pulled out my phone and texted Olivia, telling her I couldn't go tonight because I had to have dinner with my father. I didn't mention the rest, I knew she'd feel bad if I did. And the truth was, I believed my father did like her. He recognized how much she had helped me with my game in all those practices. He even went as far as to say that she should be training professionally herself.

I always wondered why she didn't. When she came here she was so uneasy when it came to football. At first I thought it was because she was embarrassed and didn't believe in her abilities but it wasn't that. When she lost herself in the game she was confident, she forgot all her worries and it was magic to watch. But I always wondered what had made her give it up. I knew she felt like I did when she was playing, like the ball was an extension of her body, like she had to, had to play.

What would make someone who loved this game so much, give it up? And would she ever tell me?

I looked at my phone again but had no calls. David said he'd call me from his when he found her so I wasn't worried. She was probably getting ready. I was bummed that we had to lose valuable time we could spend together because of my father. We had less than a month to go before she had to leave but the prospect terrified me. So I had already started working out plans to extend that time. Of course I hadn't told Olivia anything about it, I would wait until I was sure.

I heard a knock on my door and put the phone down. I got up to answer the door. It was my father. We headed down to the restaurant as he talked about this afternoon's practice.

The restaurant was almost empty, only a few people had stayed behind. Even those who wouldn't go to Rio had gone to Teresópolis. Unsurprisingly my father set his tray down on Scolari's table. I thought about going to another table by myself but dealing with the repercussions of that was worse. I couldn't let anybody think or even worse say I didn't agree with my father's actions. We had to be, or at least appear to be united in everything.

The coaches and my father started talking about strategy once again and I tuned it all out. I hated all that technical staff. Olivia was good at it. I smiled to myself realizing I was thinking about her yet again. The fact that we were the same age but she almost had her degree in physics was beyond me. She had already accomplished so much.

I ate my food as slowly as I could, waiting for time to pass. I wondered when it could be deemed appropriate for me to leave. Finally when I couldn't take it much longer I got up. "Sorry everyone I'm going to bed." I told the coaches and my father. He looked at me proudly and everyone nodded. They all probably thought I was going to bed early so that I'd be rested for tomorrow's practice.

I went back to my room and when I laid down on my bed I realized how tired I actually was. The two practices had taken their toll on me. I realized that I was sitting on my phone which I had forgotten to take with me. Damn it, Olivia would have called!

Indeed I saw one missed call from David and called him back immediately. It was strange that I had only one missed call, I thought. Surely they knew I was with my father, they'd have called again.

"Yello!" I heard David yell. It was loud where he was and I could barely make out what he said, he seemed drunk.

"David it's Neymar. Can you give the phone to Olivia?"

"What?"

"Olivia! Give the phone to OLIVIA!"

"Olivia is not here!" I heard a beeping sound and the line was dead.

What the hell? I wondered and called back right away.

"Don't call here again!" I heard David say.

"David it's me, Neymar!"

"No it's Sarah!" He said. "Don't ever call me again!"

"David pass the phone to Olivia!"

"Olivia is not here!"

"Pass the phone to someone else!" I yelled. For a minute there was only the sound of the music coming from the other end. I waited patiently.

"Hello, who is this?" I heard a woman's voice.

"It's Neymar, who are you?"

"Neymar, it's Marina."

"Marina sorry, I can't hear you well. Is Olivia there?"

"Olivia? She didn't come with us. I thought she stayed with you!"

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