I'll Be Thinking of You

Chapter Eleven: Punishment

Gerardo Martino pursed his lips waiting for Neymar to arrive, he was far from pleased that there had been fighting and he knew that something had to be done about it.

Sitting at his desk Gerardo waited for the young man to arrive, he had thought long and hard about what he would do and he was sure that it was the right decision for his team.

Gerardo looked at the door as someone knocked, he knew who it was and he was mentally prepared for this; he cleared his throat and called for Neymar to come inside of his office.

Neymar quietly walked into the manager’s office, he swallowed knowing that he was in a lot of trouble and he had only recently joined the club; it wasn’t the best start but he wasn’t sorry for punching Rafa.

“Take a seat,” Gerardo said staring at the Brazilian, he was really disappointed to be talking to the new signing especially about something like this.

Neymar did so silently, he didn’t want to make things worse than they were going to be but he still stood by what he had done; Rafa was being disrespectful towards Meena and he had stopped it.

“Would you care to explain to me what you thought you were doing last night?” Gerardo asked calmly looking at the footballer, he had heard a lot of different accounts last night and now he wanted to hear Neymar’s excuse for what he had done.

They were team-mates and Gerardo didn’t want any drama occurring in the locker room; it didn’t matter what the reason was behind it, it wasn’t acceptable.

“I got tired of listening to him bad mouth about Meena… he’s been doing it for weeks and spreading horrible lies about her,” Neymar said simply looking down at his hands, he was grateful that Meena had helped him conceal his black-eye after what had happened.

Neymar hadn’t been able to forget about their almost kiss and he was determined to win Meena; he just had to get rid of Bruna first.

Gerard sighed looking at Neymar, he really didn’t understand what was going on with the two; they had been friends and it had all disappeared so quickly.

“So you punched him because of your son’s nanny?” Gerardo asked to be sure that he was hearing this right, it wasn’t the stupidest reason that he had ever heard but it wasn’t going to help things in the locker room if this happened again.

Neymar nodded peeking up at Gerardo, he didn’t know what his punishment would be but he was going to accept it; Rafa had got what was coming to him and he hoped that his former friend would back off now.

Gerardo sighed leaning back in his chair, he had already spoken with Rafa and delivered his punishment; he just hoped that this wasn’t going to happen again.

“You will be docked a week’s worth of wages and I expect a written apology to the club for your behaviour,” Gerardo said knowing that it was the most he could do, the club needed Neymar playing and they had paid €57 million for his services.

Neymar nodded his head taking a deep breath, he would willingly do it and he knew that it had been worth it; he just hoped that Rafa wasn’t going to case him anymore problems.

“Rafa will be leaving the club for a year on loan at another club,” Gerardo said knowing that while Neymar might have escaped a big punishment but Rafa hadn’t.

Rafa had been deemed not as important as the other man and had been sent out on loan to Celta for a year so that there weren’t any problems at the club and it would give them both time to calm down.

***

Meena looked up from her book hearing Neymar returning from his meeting with the club manager, she peeked over at Davi who was engrossed in watching his favourite television programme.

Meena smiled carefully setting her book down and stood up, she was sure that Davi would be fine by himself for a moment while she checked on his father.

After last night’s close encounter, Meena couldn’t forget about their almost kiss and she knew that she was going to have to since he did still have a girlfriend.

Meena refused to get involved with the footballer while he was still dating Bruna, she was never going to be the other woman.

“Everything okay?” Meena asked watching Neymar pull a bottle of water out of the fridge, she could see that something had happened and she hoped that it wouldn’t be too bad.

Neymar shouldn’t have punched Rafa but he didn’t deserve to be punished too badly, he had been trying to defend her and she felt amazed that he had done that for her.

“Fine,” Neymar said shortly slamming the fridge closed and leant against the counter, he couldn’t believe that Rafa would be leaving Barcelona for a year.

It seemed unreal to him and he hoped that this wouldn’t make things worse between them; he did care for Rafa as a friend and it was sad to see their friendship collapse like this.

“Rafa is moving to Vigo, Galicia for the rest of the season,” Neymar said looking at Meena, he felt horrible that this had happened and he wished that he had done things a little differently.

Rafa deserved what he had gotten but Barcelona was his club and they were getting rid of him for the season because of a stupid fight.

Meena sighed nodding her head, she hated that Rafa was being sent away but she knew it must be for the best; Barcelona wouldn’t want to footballers constantly fighting especially over someone like her.

“I’m sorry,” Meena whispered walking over to Neymar, it was all she could say about the issue and she was sort of relieved since it meant that Rafa couldn’t harass her for another date.

Neymar took a deep breath looking at Meena, he could see that she was only saying that to make him feel better and he couldn’t help but smile a little as she stood before him.

“It’s okay… I just didn’t think that they could do that,” Neymar murmured unscrewing his bottle of water and took a sip, he watched Meena as she looked away from him.

Neymar chuckled as he set down his bottle of water and pushed away from the counter, his eyes darkening slightly moving towards Meena; he hadn’t forgotten about last night.

“What?” Meena asked nervously stepping back nervously from Neymar, she could see where this was going and she couldn’t help it happen.

Neymar chuckled wrapping his arms around Meena and held her close, he was a little disappointed that they hadn’t gotten to kiss last night; it was something that had plagued his mind all night long.

“Neymar…” Meena whispered glancing down at his lips, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him but she knew it was wrong. Bruna was his girlfriend and as much as she disliked the Brazilian actress, she could never cause Neymar to cheat on her.

Neymar chuckled softly ducking down to kiss her, he had been wanting to do this for ages and now was the perfect chance for him.

“Meena,” Davi called padding into the kitchen making his father and the nanny jump apart, he peeked at them curiously as Meena blushed as she tried to ignore her rapidly beating heart.

Neymar sighed watching Meena walk away from him, the sooner that he ended things with Bruna the better; he couldn’t deny his feelings forever.