The Wedding Date

Part Two - Chapter Fourteen: Because I Love You

Cristiano took a deep nervous breath as he stepped into the apartment, he knew that his girlfriend would be waiting for him and he was going to have to tell her about what had happened with Irina.

The footballer smiled softly as he took in the silence of his home, he knew that Thalia would be in bed now and Fabio would be hanging out in his room; it meant that he didn’t have to worry about them when he spoke with Felisa.

Walking through the halls of the home that he shared with his girlfriend, Cristiano couldn’t help but smile as he found Felisa curled up on the couch in the family room wearing a light grey night maxi dress.

“How was your meeting with Irina?” Felisa asked as she flipped through an old copy of The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl that she had found, she looked up at Cristiano as he leant against the entry way; she could see that something was bothering him.

Cristiano ran a hand through his hair as he watched his girlfriend for a moment, he knew that she wouldn’t be happy when he told her that Irina had kissed him; he had told her the Russian was just a close friend.

“She kissed me,” the footballer said not wanting to keep this from Felisa, he knew that it would only cause problems between that and he didn’t want that.

The brunette dropped her book to the floor as she sat up and looked at Cristiano, she hoped that she had heard him wrong since she knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

“I pushed her straight away,” Cristiano said as he moved to pick the book up off the floor and set it on the coffee table; he insistently reached for her hands only for Felisa to pull away from him completely.

The footballer sighed knowing that he wasn’t going to let this hurt them, he knew she would be upset and he wanted to ease her mind.

“But why?” Felisa whispered as she looked down at her hands, she had always known that she wasn’t good enough for Cristiano; she wasn’t good for him and he deserved someone so much better.

The brunette hadn’t been able to shake her self-doubt and it had only gotten worse at the news that Irina had made a pass at her boyfriend; she wondered why he had pushed the other woman away.

Cristiano looked at Felisa wondering what was going on, he didn’t understand what she was asking him; he would have thought that this would have been straight forward.

“Why what?” the footballer asked trying to understand what she was asking him, he watched her as she refused to look him in the face; he felt his stomach twist at the fact that she seemed so distant from him right now.

Felisa chewed on her lip, she knew that she wasn’t good enough but she wanted him to be happy even if it wasn’t with her; he deserved someone who wasn’t causing him all of this grief.

“Why did you push her away? She could make you happy,” Felisa whispered as she continued to look down at her hands, she messed with the night dress that she was wearing.

The brunette felt tears building knowing that she would allow him to wake away right now if that was what he wanted; she wouldn’t hold him back or try to guilt him into staying for Thalia.

Cristiano stared at his girlfriend speechless as he wondered why on earth she was saying something like that, he vaguely remembered what she had written in her parting letter that she had left him in Portugal before she disappeared.

The footballer felt anger course through his veins as he realised that she didn’t think she was good enough for him; he had thought that she would have realised that she was all that he wanted.

“Don’t you dare think like that,” Cristiano snapped as he took his girlfriend’s hands and forced her to look at him; he felt the anger subside slightly at the sight of tears in her blue eyes.

Felisa sniffled as she looked at him, she tried to lower her gaze but Cristiano refused to let her; she whimpered softly making the footballer sigh as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her to him.

“Why would you think that amor?” Cristiano whispered as he held Felisa close to him, he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed how insecure his girlfriend of seven weeks was.

The footballer had been so focused on making things right for them in the public domain that he hadn’t noticed this; he still had that note that she had left him that basically told him how he felt.

“Because you could do so much better than me,” Felisa said as she closed her eyes, tears trailing down her face as she buried her head into his chest; she couldn’t believe that she was crying while they were having this talk.

Cristiano held her close to him, he rested his head against hers as he trailed his hand down her back in comfort.

“You are all I want, I don’t even see other women anymore,” the footballer admitted as he pulled back slightly, he hadn’t dated anyone when he had been parted from Felisa and he had only been with Irina to fight off rumours that he was gay because he had suddenly gone off women completely.

Felisa sniffled making Cristiano smile at her, he knew he was going to have to work on her confidence; he didn’t want the press making this worse.

“I love you so much Isa… I wouldn’t have spent a year looking for you if I didn’t,” Cristiano said with a shake of his head before he moved to take something from his pocket; he knew that he had been right to pick this up before he had come home.

Felisa blinked confused as Cristiano revealed a small black box that he had been carrying making the brunette look at him panicked as she prayed that he wasn’t about to ask her to marry him.

“It’s a promise ring,” Cristiano said as he revealed the sterling silver fancy 12 point diamond solitaire ring, he had picked it up knowing that he wanted to lay his claim to Felisa even if no one else understood it; the brunette was his future and that was all that matter to him.

Felisa blinked as she looked at the ring wondering what Cristiano was doing, she really hadn’t thought that he would do something like this even if they did have a daughter together.

“I’m not going anywhere Isa… you are it for me, you are all that I have ever wanted,” Cristiano said as he carefully brushed some hair from her face, he wasn’t even thinking about her past and he knew that all that mattered was the future that they had together.

Felisa watched as Cristiano carefully slipped the ring onto her finger, she really didn’t know what to say to this anymore; she knew that this should ease her mind but it didn’t.

“Cris…” the brunette whispered as she tried to think something, anything to say to him about what was going on; she didn’t want him to regret this later on.

Cristiano shook his head as he pressed a kiss to his girlfriend’s lips, he didn’t care what the world thought; he was tired of hiding his family away and trying to fix damage that had been caused by someone else.

“I want you to come to my next match with Thalia,” Cristiano said knowing that he would show everyone just how in love he was; he would support Felisa when she wrote her book and he didn’t care what anyone else thought.

Felisa blinked as she stared at him, she really didn’t know what had brought this on but she knew that it had to be something if he was willing to risk things for her.

Cristiano brushed his thumbs against Felisa’s cheeks knowing that he was going to be happy no matter what happened.