Back to us | Alexia Putellas

Fine.

Ale was standing in the hall when I left the office, Jordi was asleep in his car seat that was placed on the floor as she leaned against the wall.
"How did it go?" she asked, stepping away from the wall slightly and standing upright.

"I start back in the gym next week"

"That's great" She smiled briefly before noticing that was still mad.
"I'm sorry, I'm so used to leaving my phone in my locker that I forgot to take it with me, but it won't happen again. I promise"

"I need you to be available Ale, what if something had happened to him and I couldn't get a hold of you?"

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll have my phone on me at all times from now on"

"I better get him home, are you coming over to give him dinner and put him to bed tonight?"

"If that's ok with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you later" I said quickly, before picking Jordi up and heading towards the exit.

Ona was waiting for me by my car when I made my way outside, leaning against the driver's door as she watched me walk over with a worried look on her face. I knew that she wasn't going to let how I acted earlier go unnoticed, but I was not ready to talk to anyone else about this just yet. I was struggling to understand it myself so the though of explaining to someone else felt impossible.

"What's going on with you two?" She asked, walking towards me, clearly desperate for more information.

"Nothing, we're fine"

"You're lying"

"Ona, please just leave it," I said as I locked Jordi's car seat into the back seat, quietly shutting the door behind me trying not to wake him up.

"No, what's going on!?" She asked, blocking my way to the driver's seat, and placing both of her hands on my shoulders to stop me from running away from this conversation.

"It's nothing"

"You seemed mad at her when you spoke to me, Lucy told me about your little argument in the gym and now you are leaving separately. It's clearly something. I'm just worried about you Is"

"I need to go" I said firmly as I noticed Jordi starting to stir in his car seat, knowing that if I didn't start driving soon it was going to turn into a full meltdown.

"Ok, but can I come over later? I'll bring Chinese food and we can talk..."

"Ale's coming over later to put Jordi to bed," I said without thinking, immediately regretting my choice of words.

"What do you mean she's coming over?"

"I really need to go," I said as I pushed past her and climbed into the driver's seat, trying to close the door behind me but Ona's hand stopped me.

"Is she not staying at the house?"

"No"

"Are you ok?" She asked, her eyes meeting mine.

"No" I whispered, tears building up in my eyes as I answered. My emotions escaped as soon as she asked me that question and it made me realise that I wasn't ok. I was broken and exhausted, no matter how much I tried to pretend I wasn't.

"I'm coming with you" Ona said quickly, before letting go of my door, jogging to the other side of the car and climbing into the passenger seat.

Ona didn't push me to talk when we got back to the house, instead, she pretended like nothing had happened, which I was really grateful for. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet, but it felt nice having someone else in the house to help with Jordi, even though deep down I knew that it should have been Ale.

We ended up spending the afternoon on the sofa watching TV as Jordi napped upstairs. As time went on I could tell that Ona was getting more worried and wanted to know what was going on so that she could help. She kept looking over at me and opening her mouth as if she was about to speak before she eventually did.

"What's going on Is? Why isn't Ale here?" She asked gently, not wanting to push me too hard for information. 

"She kissed Jenni" I blurted out, as I kept my eyes focused on the TV in front of me.

She immediately turned in my direction, her mouth agape in shock
"What!?"

"She kissed Jenni... and I've kicked her out" I repeated, breaking down as I said it out loud for the first time and the reality of the state of my marriage hit me.

She immediately moved across the sofa to get closer to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and pulling me into her chest, holding me while I sobbed into her t-shirt. I usually hated crying in front of people who weren't Ale, but Ona was different, she'd seen me like this before and I needed to let this emotion out for the first time since Ale had told me about what she'd done.

"I'm so sorry Is" she mumbled into my hair as she kissed the top of my head.

"I- I can't talk about it"

"You don't have to, but I'm here ok? If you do want to talk or you need a shoulder to cry on I'm here and I always will be. You've got me, both you and Jordi."