The Dutch Girl (An International Story)

Let Me Go

Natalia's POV:

"Why aren't they back yet? When did they leave?"

"Monday morning." Jill said. 

"And what is today?"

"Wednesday morning." She whispered. "I'm sure they're fine!"

"It's Daan." Leah said.

"I'm sure Viv's fine!" 

I saw my phone ringing. "It's Alex?" I walked over. "Hello?"

"Hi."

"What's up."

"I think we should break up."

"What?"

"Yeah. We should break up. We both know it's not going to work out. You're in England and clearly don't want to listen to me. So I'm breaking up with you." She hung up and I looked at everyone. 

"Well?"

Daniëlle's POV:

"I still think you should've let me kill her."

"You broke your hand on her face. That's enough."

"She's still breathing. It's not enough."

"If you hurt her again, I'll let Daan deal with you."

"And what is Daan gonna do?" Alex smirked.

I slowly smiled and looked at Viv. She sighed. "Fine. Go ahead." 

"I'm not afraid of you." Alex said.

"Ok." I clenched my fist and grabbed her by the collar. "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF YOU FEAR ME OR NOT! YOU TOUCH NATALIA AGAIN AND THE ONLY THING YOU'LL BE FEARING IS YOUR HEAD BEING SHOVED UP YOUR OWN A-"

"Daan!" Viv yelled. "Where are you going with this?"

"Right." I nodded. "Where AM I going with this?" I let go of Alex's shirt and pushed her away. "Oh right. This is where." I punched her in the face. "That's for Natalia you piece of shit." I turned to Viv. "Get in the car. Get in the car right now and drive!" 

"She'll get what's coming to her, Daan. Right now, we need to focus on Natalia." 

"Right." I smiled. "Natalia."

"You still like her." 

"And if I do?"

"Then you need to stop lying to everyone and be honest."

Natalia's POV:

"What did you do!" I walked up to Daniëlle when they finally got back.

"I did what I had to."

I noticed her hand wrapped up. "Daan."

"She was hurting you, Nat. Did you expect me to do nothing?"

"I expected you to let me handle it."

"I couldn't let you do it alone!" 

"Why are you so worried about me!" I yelled. "Focus on your own girlfriend." 

"I'm worried because you're my friend."

"I don't want to be your friend!" She stared at me. I sighed and looked down. "I can't be your friend. I can't be here. I wanted to come to Arsenal and play for this club, be YOUR teammate. You are the reason I came here, I don't know why but you were. But you're also the reason I want to leave." I covered my face.

"Nat."

"Go away." I mumbled into my hands.

"Nat."

"No!" I pushed her back. "Go be with Beth, Daniëlle. Go be with your girlfriend." 

January 2021

Daniëlle's POV:

"Have any of you seen Nat?" Jordan asked.

"She's been practicing after us. Guess she's still getting back from the shoulder." Leah shrugged.

"Hopefully she's back soon." I headed out to the field. 

"Ok!" Coach yelled. "Listen up! These last few months have been rough. We all know about the situation with Natalia. Her shoulder injury was more serious than we thought, she has returned to match fitness and will play this weekend. The injury was also a lot deeper than we thought. Meaning the cause needed more attention. Luckily everything is cleared up, she did come in a few days ago and talk with us. She did express that at this time she feels like it's best for her to return to Italy."

"What!" Leah yelled. Everyone started talking.

"Ok ok. Settle down." Everyone quieted down and listened. "She will be playing this weekend, and then will join Fiorentina for the remainder of this season and next season. We want Natalia to be at her best, we all know what she is capable of on the field. If this is what she needs to do in order to return to that, then we all need to understand and respect her decision. Get practicing."

We started warming up. As we got into some drills, Natalia joined the group. 

"Join Leah's group." She nodded and walked over.

I was also in Leah's group. 

"Nat." Leah smiled. "You can work with me." 

Natalia smiled and stayed near Leah, avoiding eye contact with me. 

As practice started to wrap up, I walked toward her. "Hey." She turned to me. "Can we talk? Please?"

"Fine." We walked away from everyone else and I took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." I said. "For everything with Alex. I shouldn't have gotten involved but I couldn't help myself. You say you were drawn to come here for reasons you didn't know, and I was drawn to help for reasons I didn't know."

"We know my reason now." She said softly.

"And I know mine." I looked at her. "Don't leave."

"I need to go home, Daniëlle." She sighed. 

"Why?"

"Because coming here was a mistake. I came here because of you." She whispered. "I had to have surgery on my shoulder, I haven't played that well even before that. I need to regroup and get back to how I was, and I can do that back home in Italy. So you need to let me go. If you really care about me, you'll let me go." 

"Ok." I nodded. "You're gonna do great over there."

Natalia's POV:

After my last game for Arsenal, I got my things and went back to Italy. 

"Was this the best move?" My mom asked.

"For my career? Yeah."

"But for you?"

"I guess we'll find out."