Mr. Brightside || João Félix

T W E N T Y - F O U R

Tuesday, November 29, 2022 6:30AM

I woke up, barely and got ready for practice. I walk out of my room to find João, Ruben, Antonio, Nuno and Gonçalo. I walk over to João and reach out for his right hand and interlock our fingers. He's confused but suddenly relaxed into it and tightened his grip on my hand giving me a smile.

He tries to give me a kiss on the cheek and I pull away "I'm still mad at you," I tell him. He faces forward and I think that's the end of that, but then I feel his strong hand grab my chin, and place a sweet peck on my cheek. I could've pulled away, his grip wasn't strong, he made it that way so if I truly didn't want it, I could've pulled away. My subconscious didn't let me pull away, it wanted that kiss.

"You two look cheery," Ruben says and João smiles at him.

"I'm afraid to let him go," I roll my eyes, "who knows who Mohammad  Ali will target next," I joke knowing João told him about the incident.

I drag João over to my dad so we can begin warming up. "We need your help dad," I tell him.

"Sofia we really don't," João says.

"What happened ?" He asks.

"João hit someone yesterday," I inform him, "how do we go about it ?" I ask releasing João's hand as we begin to stretch.

"What ? Why ?" My dad asks.

João groans "he deserved it."

"Why though ?" I ask.

"Sofia I don't want to repeat what he said," João said.

"I need to know so I can help you," my dad insists.

"He called Sofia a whore," João says.

"What ?" My dad and I say simultaneously.

"I don't know how much helpful that motive will be, but I'll do my best to help," my dad tells him.

"What ?" I ask again. "Are you stupid ?" I ask and he looks at me dumbfounded. "Why would you do that ? That's so stupid João, you could get sent home from the tournament, you can be banned from a couple games, who knows what the repercussions will be. Why would you do something so stupid over something so small ?"

"You think that's small ?" My dad asks, "Sofia he was defending you."

I sigh, "you think that's the first time I've been called a whore ?" I ask. "Newsflash it's not, insecure men who don't know how to handle rejection treat women this way, it is a known, this isn't surprising to me. That's no reason to risk this opportunity."

"What ?" My dad asks, "who has called you that before ?"

"Do you want a list ?" I ask, "because I don't have it, it's been too many men to count," I shrug. "Look João," I say turning my attention to him, "this was sweet, but so stupid, I appreciate you trying to defend me, but words are just words, don't let them affect you, if it bothers me, I'll do something about it."

"Who was he anyway ?" My dad asks.

"Some Ecuadorian," João tells him.

"Okay, after today you won't need to worry about him," he says, "just keep your head down. Who saw in case he opens his mouth back home."

"Pedri, Gavi and Hugo," João says.

My dad sighs, "they'd all have Sofia's back, I don't know how credible they'd be."

"Piqué saw," I tell him.

"Him we can work with," he says.

We get to practicing and after practice I meet my friends for brunch. We make plans to just hang out and walk around the streets of Qatar since we'd only be attending the last two games of today.