Probably

Chapter 9- Part II

If I forgot to mention, he also did dedicate this goal to me. I guess it was just my lucky day. I wished to run down and hug him tightly but I wondered what Crimsyn would think or what the world would think. But when Antoine and my eyes met the whole stadium seemed to disappear. The flashes of the camera, the cheers of the audience... everything vanished. It was only as if the two of us were there. The trance caused by his eyes was such that, even without me trying, I got up and I had started walking towards the stadium ground. But a phone call pulled me out of my hypnosis. It was Justin's and I knew exactly what he wanted to say.

I picked up the call and before he could say anything, I spoke in a disregarding tone- "Yeah, yeah, I get it... you won, we lost. You were right, we were wrong. Your team is the greatest team that has ever walked on this planet... blah blah blah blah... is there anything else you wanted to add?"

"yeah actually... are you alright?", he said a little concerned.

"Yeah I am. I mean its just a match. I'm sure England will play well the next..."

"I'm not asking about the match. I'm asking about whether you are fine after... you know... Antoine and stuff?" he said cutting me off in the middle of my statement.

"oh... you mean the dedications... well, we'll see about that in some time..." I said giggling a bit. I had a plan in my mind to figure out what was up with Antoine. I knew I had to find out whether he actually cared about me and hence, he dedicated those goals or was he just messing around with my feelings again. I hoped it would be the first reason... but the Antoine I had left 4 years back after that gruesome argument, and the one I saw at the wedding, made me fear that the second reason was more viable. As a result of the fear building up in me, I turned around and started walking back up to my seat. But a voice stopped me. I turned to look at the big screen, where Antoine was being interviewed for becoming the man of the match.

"you played brilliantly well Antoine. Splendid goals. I'm sure you did your country and people proud. Hence, I wish to know how you're feeling about this victory." Said the interviewer.

Antoine simply smiled. He then spoke in his heavy French accent," Yeah, the feeling is just not something that I can fathom or anyone on the team can. After every victory, there is a certain amount of joy that we feel, but today it's much more than that. There was a moment in all our hearts where we thought that the victory might not be ours today, but the second half showed a whole different spirit within all of us. We play most of our matches for the country that has made us what we are today, for the people who have given us so much love, affection, and respect, so, all our victories are because of them and also for them. The English team was brilliant, as usual, and gave us a tough competition. It is always fun to play against a team with such superior quality players. I really enjoyed today's match but next time I would prefer all the five goals to be made by France's."

"lastly, you became the man of the match... given the fact that there were so many players who displayed a spectacular performance... you of course had a tough competition for this award... so, if asked to dedicate this victory to someone special, who would it be?" the interviewer said with a smirk on his face.

I stood there listening motionlessly, hoping deep within that he would take my name, but that constant thought in my head kept bugging me- what if he does not take my name? what if he takes Crimsyn or someone else's name? what if he did dedicate those goals just to play with my feelings?

The fear in my heart, once again, wanted me to turn away but there was something in me that prevented me from doing that. I just had to know who he was going to dedicate his victory to. I just had to know who this special person was. I just had to know whether it was me or someone else.