'You feel better?' Luca asked, plunging next to me on the couch in our office.

Without saying any words, I hugged him tightly, surprising him.

'You're a genius!' I said chuckling, not letting go.

'I told you. Nothing to worry about.' he said with a smile growing on his face.

The door swung open and Julia appeared in the doorway. I slowly moved away from Luca and looked at her.

'Anything I can help you with?' I asked.

'No, no. Sorry for interrupting.' she said with a mischievous smile, taking a step back and closing the door.

'What the hell was that all about?' Luca asked laughing.

'I don't even know.' I responded shaking my head.

After going through some ideas for some content and putting everything into place, me and Luca decided to go join the team on the pitch.

Down the hallway, Julia was explaining something to Kylian quietly, looking left and right making sure no one's seeing them. Her eyes fell on me and Luca, while my eyes fell on the golden boy. He looked at me with a blank expression, then at Luca, and without saying anything, he turned his head back to Julia.

'What's up with him?' Luca asked me quietly.

'I don't know.' I said truthful. 'I don't think I've done anything to him. I mean, he's the one that showed me around on the first day.'

'And how was he?'

'He was completely fine.'

'Weird.' Luca said shrugging his shoulders.

Reaching the pitch, Mr. Galtier was talking to some of the players, while others were training.

'Bonjour.' I said approaching them.

'Ah, Irina. And Luca! I see you've made your decision.' he said smiling.

'Yes.' I said proudly.

'Well done.' the coach said, grabbing Luca's shoulder.

'If it's okay, we're going to film some content for the social media pages.' I said taking out my phone work.

'You guys go do your job.' Mr. Galtier said.

Approaching the players, we decided to take some videos while they were running around and passing the ball to each other. We also shot some pictures.

After a while, Neymar approached me and Luca.

'Looks like you didn't get fired.' he said laughing.

'Yeah, well Luca's been a lifesaver.'

'I told you. Great pick.' he said smiling at me and then Luca.

'How did you even manage to get caught by the paparazzi?' Luca asked confused.

'I don't even know.' Neymar answered.

'So did you two have a great night?' Luca asked wiggling his eyebrows at us.

Kylian decided to join his team on the pitch, walking past the coach and us. Julia followed closely behind, stopping to talk to the coach.

Neymar turned his head, following Kylian with his eyes and then back at Luca.

'Oh, we had a great night, man.' he said winking at me.

Luca and Neymar started laughing seeing my face go all red.

'All we did was watch a movie and we even fell asleep halfway throu—' without being able to finish my sentence, Galtier shouted my name.

'I need to talk to you!' he said with a serious look on his face.

I exchanged looks with my two friends and decided to walk towards him.

'Did something happen?' I asked confused.

Julia flashed me a fake smile and walked away, leaving me and the coach by ourselves. He moved a bit back, making sure no one can hear our conversation.

'I've heard something and I would like you to be honest with me.'

The only thing going through my head was the article that was posted on TMZ about me and Neymar. However, I decided to say nothing and wait for him to talk again.

'Can you be honest with me?' he added.

'Yeah, of course.'

'Why did you pick Luca?' he asked serious.

Without realising, a small laugh escaped my lips. 'I picked Luca because he had the best presentation. He went into detail about everything.' I said sternly with a frown of my eyebrows.

'Well... some people are complaining that you only picked him because there's something between you two.'

'What?!' I said bursting out laughing.

'You were seen being very close.' he said quietly.

'What the...' I stopped, trying to put the pieces together. 'Did Julia tell you that?' I asked becoming annoyed.

'It doesn't matter who told me. I want you to be honest with me. Is that why you picked him? Because you have an interest in eachother?'

I couldn't believe what was happening and I realised that we grabbed the attention of a few players, including Kylian, Neymar, Messi, Ramos, Hakimi and Luca.

'I picked Luca Demie because he's the only one that stood out. Remember the idea I pitched to you?' he nodded. 'He pitched a similar idea to me. Me and Luca see eye to eye and that's why I picked him.' I said annoyed. 'Not because we have an interest in eachother.'

'So you weren't being close?'

'What is that supposed to mean?' I said in exasperation. 'Oh my God! Are you talking about the hug I gave him in the morning?'

The coach just shrugged his shoulders. 'You tell me.'

'He helped me with something and I just hugged him. We work together, for God's sake. Plus, I've only known the guy for a few days.'

'And what about Neymar?'

'Yes, me and Neymar were spotted together. But there's nothing going on. I told you from the beginning. I'm not here to hook up with none of your players.' without realising, I started getting angry. 'My job is to work with these people. To get to know them. Otherwise, it will never work. And you know that. All I'm doing is creating bonds with them so we can find a way to get along. And if that's a problem for you, maybe I'm not the right person for this job.' I said looking at him.

He clearly was surprised by my reaction, cracking a tiny smile, but not saying anything.

'Now if you'll excuse me.' I said leaving the pitch, not looking at anyone.

As soon as I entered the building and I wasn't in anyone's line of sight, I sprinted down the hallway and towards Julia's office. To my surprise, I bumped into her.

'What the hell is wrong with you?' I said staring at her.

'What are you talking about?' she asked with a confused look on her face.

'What the hell did you tell coach?'

'Nothing.' she answered, and tried to walk past me, but I blocked her way.

'Don't act stupid, please.'

'You think you can come here and start bossing everyone around?'

'Bossing everyone around?' I said surprised. 'I haven't bossed anyone around, what are you talking about?'

She stayed quiet.

'Are you angry because I picked Luca? Is that what it is?'

Nothing.

'I'm sorry that your presentation wasn't good enough, but that's something you should work on rather than blaming me.'

Silence.

'No...' I said taking a step back. 'This is about Kylian. Isn't it?'

She turned her head to the side.

Yes, this was about Kylian. How stupid was I not realising.

A small chuckle left my lips. 'This is unbelievable! Julia, I don't care about you and Kylian, and most certainly I'm not interested in stealing him from you or whatever weird shit you have going on in that head of yours.'

Chatter started hearing down the hallway, implying that the players finished their training and were going to come our way. I pulled her a bit to the side so it just looks like we're having a girl's chat.

'But don't ruin my job because of a guy who's probably sneaking around with a hundred other girls.'

She took a step towards me, the noise becoming all of a sudden non existent, meaning that everyone stopped to look at us.

'You don't know him.' she said staring at me.

'And I don't want to.'

'Then stop—' she said through her teeth but I cut her off.

'Stop talking. Stick to your business and stop bothering me. You see me around? You ignore me. You need something? You go ask whoever you want but not me. Stay the hell out of my way, Julia.' and with that Messi and Ramos came to us trying to grab us in case it turned out into something bigger.

But it wasn't going to turn into something bigger because she wasn't worth it.

'You want Kylian? Be my fricking guest, you have nothing to worry about, trust me.' I said, walking away from her and everyone else, not before catching a glimpse of everyone exchanging looks.

I walked into what it seemed an unused office. That way I could make sure no one will find me and ask me any questions.

I wasn't in the mood.

message from Luca
Where are you? Everything okay?

As much as I wanted to reply to him, I chose to ignore it. My peacefulness was cut short when someone barged into the office and locked the door behind them.

A lock? How did I not see it?!

I locked eyes with the golden boy, who was silently watching me from a distance.

'I'll very much appreciate it if you could leave me alone.' I said.

'What the hell was that all about?' he said taking a few steps towards me.

'Oh, so now you want to talk to me?' I said annoyed. 'How did you even know I was here?'

'You're not the only one that needs a hiding spot.'

'I'm not hiding.'

'You kind of are.' he said taking a few more steps and ending up in front of me.

'I'm not in the mood.' I said trying to get past him but he blocked my way.

'So much for mystery girl.' he said looking at me. 'Don't you think?'

'You should worry about yourself and your little girlfriend that tried to get me fired.'

'She's not my girlfriend.'

'I don't care.'

He never broke eye contact. It was like he was staring into my soul.

'Let me guess... he stayed over, no?'

I didn't say anything.

'I'm just asking because you did come here together, no?'

Silence.

'Did you at least enjoy it?' he said lowering himself and whispering it into my ear. 'Did you?'

'Who the hell do you think I am?' I asked, pushing him away from me. 'Do you think I got this job just to mess around with some football players? Are you kidding me?!'

'Irina...'

'Move.' I said pushing him one more time and reaching for the door to unlock it and out of that office.

What the hell?!

I rushed towards mine and Luca's office, praying that no one's in there.

Oh, and how wrong was I.

Luca, Galtier and Neymar were there, discussing something.

Great.