The Wedding Date

Part Two - Chapter Seventeen: Male Bonding

“Do you have to go out?” Cristiano murmured softly as he glanced nervously over at his girlfriend’s younger brother, he was about to be left alone with the twelve year old and swallowed.

In the two months that he had been dating Felisa, he had never been left alone completely with her younger brother and now since he was on a two match suspension that was what was going to happen.

“Sinto muito… Jorge wants me to meet with the publisher and today is the only day that they could fit me in,” Felisa said as she pressed a kiss to her boyfriend’s lips, she brushed her fingers tenderly against his cheek knowing that he was worried about being alone with her brother.

Felisa knew that Fabio had been pretty quiet since he had been pulled from school and the brunette felt guilty that he wasn’t allowed to see his former friends anymore; she hated how isolated that her younger brother had become.

“I promise… I won’t be more than an hour,” Felisa whispered as she pressed a kiss to his lips again, she smiled up at Cristiano sure that he could find something in common with her brother.

Fabio glanced up from his Nintendo DSI, he frowned as he looked at his older sister with her boyfriend as he realised what was going to happen; he had never been left alone with Cristiano before and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

Felisa moved to press a kiss to the top of her brother’s head making him swat her away and glare at her; he looked up at her knowing that he was going to get the usual talk.

“Behave,” Felisa murmured as she glanced at Cristiano, the last thing that she wanted to do was come home from her meeting to world war three between her boyfriend and younger brother.

***

Cristiano sighed as he flicked on the match against Levante as he sat down in the den and crossed his arms; he smiled softly knowing that most of his team-mates weren’t upset with what he had done to Miguel Flaño.

Those who were had been told that he wasn’t interested in what they thought and that Felisa was here to stay; Cristiano had no intentions of listening to their negative words.

Fabio plopped down beside the footballer making Cristiano glance at him, he wasn’t sure why the twelve year old had joined him in the den; but he knew that there had to be a reason behind it.

“Casillas is a better goalkeeper,” Fabio murmured a little annoyed as he watched the teams take to the field, he had heard the match from the living room and couldn’t stop himself from joining the footballer that his eldest sister was dating.

Cristiano blinked as he looked over at Fabio as he wondered if the pre-teen was talking to him; he couldn’t actually remember a time that Fabio had spoken to him at all.

“Benzema isn’t that good either… he does okay but he’s not as good as you,” Fabio continued before he realised that he was actually talking about football with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The twelve year old blushed as he remained focused on the television, he felt his ears going a little red as he tried not to be embarrassed about what he had just said out loud.

“Benz does his best,” Cristiano said as he tried to keep the conversation light, Fabio had never said much to him before and he wanted to at least bond with the younger man.

Cristiano knew how much this would mean to his girlfriend and he knew that the twelve year old would be turning thirteen in October.

“Are you sad not to be playing?” Fabio asked softly as he looked up at Cristiano, he had been watching the match on television at a friend of Felisa’s and had seen the footballer punch the other player.

Fabio had only found out the next day that he had discovered that Cristiano had done so because the footballer had been bad mouthing Felisa; he felt sort of proud that the Portuguese had defended Felisa.

“A little… but what I did was wrong,” Cristiano said as he shook his head, he knew that what he had done would come back to haunt him and his official two match ban was the price that he’d been forced to pay.

Miguel hadn’t even been punished for his foul words that had caused the incident because in the leagues eyes, he had done no wrong.

“I might have been defending the woman I love but I shouldn’t have allowed him to bait me like that,” Cristiano said as he looked at Fabio, he wasn’t quite sure why he was explaining this to Fabio but he felt a responsibility to the young teen.

Fabio furrowed his brow as he turned to look at Cristiano, he tilted his head as the match got underway as he thought about the footballer had said.

“But why? He said horrible things Lisa,” Fabio asked as he stared at Cristiano for an explanation, he wasn’t quite sure how the footballer could regret doing something that he had done to defend Felisa.

Fabio knew little about the work that his sister had done before she’d become pregnant with Thalia; his sister had wished to spare him the details but now he had to listen to the horrible things that people called her.

It hurt to know that people were calling his sister a whore, and he regretted ever looking the word up; he had only ever known that what Felisa did, she did because she need to provide for her family.

“In doing what I did… I showed everyone just how to hurt me, when I return people will say far worst now to get that reaction again,” Cristiano said as he crossed his arms as he glared at the football on the screen.

The footballer wished to see what the people that wrongly judged his sister would do if they were in her position, she had done what she could and had do so much since.

The two were silent for a moment as they both thought about what Cristiano had said, they knew that he was right and it was only going to get worse.

“Why can’t they understand that she didn’t do anything wrong?” Fabio asked softly as he looked up at Cristiano, his brown eyes held so much confusion about why people condemned his sister.

It wasn’t as if his sister had been a common prostitute, she had been an escort and someone who merely offer companionship to people instead of doing other things.

“Because in their eyes she has,” Cristiano muttered angrily, he knew that Fabio didn’t quite understand what was going on and he was glad about that; the young boy seemed to understand what others didn’t though.

The footballer knew that people were questioning Felisa’s ability to care for her daughter and brother; he was watching carefully knowing just what he would do to protect his family.

Felisa came first for him with Thalia and he wasn’t about to allow some jumped up hypocrites think that they could meddle with his family.

Fabio frowned at the tone that Cristiano had used, he wasn’t sure why these people all thought that they could judge Felisa; she hadn’t broken any laws and she was raising him and Thalia well.

“Will everything be okay?” Fabio asked as he looked at Cristiano, he knew that the footballer would protect his sister but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it might only get worse.

Cristiano swallowed as he looked at Fabio knowing that there was a chance that everything wouldn’t be okay.