suspicion has its dupes & credulities
With her not-so-recent relationship with Trent, the great progression that Liverpool had in their leagues and the new arrival of 2019, Wynter felt as though things were really looking up for her—both in terms of her football career and self-growth. With the number of hard-won goals scored by the player (so far), she believed by now, she'd received the trust from the Kop.
On top of that, it was clear from those who had knowledge of her tough past that Wynter had gone through a brief journey of progression for the past few months. Of course, it had yet to come to an end, but the fact that she was headed towards a positive outcome everyone felt as though there was nothing to worry about. If she was in a positive mindset, then it always outputted a productive effect on her playing both in training and on the pitch so all in all, collectively, everyone benefitted from the girl's newly adapted attitudes.
With unoccupied time, she built her walls up and blocked pessimistic emotions from taking control of her mentality. However, within a matter of a few minutes, those sturdy walls fractured faster than they were assembled.
Wynter sat across from her mother as she anticipated the older woman's verdicts. The way Claire greeted her with a soft smile which held a glint of sympathy, the way Claire took unhurried steps into the household clearly told the french girl that surely something was wrong, or her mother would come with something that she wouldn't be pleased with.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Wynter dropped the pin. "What's up, mom?"
"I have some," Claire cocked her head to the side, sucking in a deep inhale. ". . . good news to share with you."
"Really? It seems like you're a bit nervous to say what you want to say," Wynter said. She knew her older self better than her mother thought so.
Claire glanced at her daughter as a look of reluctance washed over her face. "Well, it kind of all depends on how you react to the news."
"Mom," Wynter gestured for Claire to offer a hand, which she did. Interlocking her fingers with her mother's, the french player glanced at Claire. "Just rip the bandaid off and just tell me. It can't be that bad." Anticipation had quickly taken over Wynter. With her mother's continuous rambles, the french girl's nerves only spiked up with time.
"Alright then," Claire exhaled before she continued again. "Ever since the whole ordeal with your dressing room in Russia, your dad and I along with FIFA have been trying to get to the bottom of who got into your dressing room after France won against Argentina. . ."
The slight mention of the match instantly brought back the specific memories that she believed she'd locked away for a long time. The ones that reminded her of the unpleasant sensations which were inflicted on her petit figure. The ones that held the masked perpetrator, his unidentified face by Wynter causing a significant lack of justice for the girl. The memory that Wynter never wanted to relive, but always found herself glancing back at it with a hint of curiosity as to why it out of all people, why did it happen to her?
". . Like you mentioned before, you were never able to identify the person since it all happened in the dark so the case hadn't been given much attention until now. I think we're going to get somewhere with this," her mother concluded, giving Wynter's hand a light squeeze.
"And that is?"
"The stadium recently pulled up video surveillance from that day and it shows the person moments before he got into your dressing room, so they can identify who it is."
Wynter's heart skipped a beat at the statement. "What? Really?"
Claire nodded. "Yes and because this is brand new evidence brought into the case, the court is going to be looking into it as soon as possible so that person can be charged for what he did."
"Okay," Wynter sucked in a deep breath, pulling her blanket closer to her body. "If charges are pressed on this person, doesn't it mean that I have to appear in court for it or something like that?"
"Unfortunately, yes you would," her mother clarified, sympathetically. "Though, I haven't been told when the whole process will begin so I'm kind of just giving you a heads up as of now." When she wasn't given a response, Claire frowned. "Winnie? Are you okay?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I'm not saying I have just forgotten about everything that happened in Russia, but it's just something I don't like to talk or think about because it just brings back shit I don't like," her voice cracked by the slightest mid-sentence. "The fact that I'll be in the same room as him again scares me."
"The fact that I'll be in a courtroom where people will have to talk about it, where I have to talk about it just seems so overwhelming to me. Not to mention, while this is all going down, I'm going to have football to deal with. Mom, how in the world am I going to be able to cope with all of that on my plate in the span of what? A few months? I don't know if I'll be able to handle it."
"Yeah, I knew you would most likely feel this is way about everything and I already have things dealt with. This whole case is currently private, so the media and the fans won't have any knowledge of this in the meanwhile. I've also talked with your club about what will be happening until the end of the season and they said it's alright if you make sure you're still working at your best abilities in training and out on the pitch."
"Is that it?"
"Just one more thing. This whole case will probably be extremely tiring for you both emotionally and physically. You don't have to yes to this since it's just a suggestion. . . but I think you should be going to more therapy sessions, just for precautions."
Wynter bit her lip in a nervous manner at her mother's suggestion. It certainly wasn't an awful an idea, but it was also something she was very reluctant to just give into. Sure, the genuine therapy sessions had their benefits, but it's what followed after them that placed the french girl in a hard position. Although the french girl had a well-defined relationship with Dr Torrens, the thought of continuously discussing her already emotionally day and past just placed a mental strain on her health, which was unfortunate considering she'd worked hard to get to the place where she was.
"No, I agree with you. I don't think I will be capable of enduring everything by myself. I think it's best if I do vent about my problems," she said, her tone almost making her answer seem sarcastic.
"I'm happy with whatever you choose to do," Claire pulled her daughter into a hug, placing a kiss on her hairline. Once they pulled away from each other, she spoke up again. "I know you probably don't even want to answer this, but has Trent any idea about this?"
Wynter simply shook her head as guilt consumed her thoughts. "Believe me, I want to but it's not easy. Every time I tell myself that I'm going to tell him, I never do. I think the problem is I'm scared of how he might judge me when he finds out, how he'll treat me after. I don't want it to be any different to the way he treats me now."
"I understand what you're saying. Take your time to open up to him. Just remember that he's your boyfriend and at some point, he'll get curious as to why you're doing this, that or whatever. This case also won't be kept private forever, so please Winnie, don't let Trent find out everything through the media 'cause that will just be a complete mess that neither of you will want to deal with."
She took her mother's advice into deep consideration. Wynter had too much at stake to simply just keep everything about herself closeted from Trent. By the end of the season, unfortunately for the french girl, the events which occurred in Russia would be exposed to the media so she knew it was necessary for herself to open up to not only to Trent but to her teammates. The ones who she called her close friends were also the ones who had no knowledge of Wynter's recent past, which made her question whether she was a good-hearted friend.
'Cause at a such slow but difficult rate, it seemed as though Wynter displayed herself as quite the opposite because of her intricate, skilled secretion of confidential matters which were nowhere near ready to be released worldwide.
. . .
"Does anyone know where Winnie is today?" Dejan asked while the boys were in the middle of their scattered physio session amongst one another.
It had been a rather quiet day at Melwood without Wynter's presence at the training centre. Training for the Liverpool squad normally consisted of intense training and laughter, and that day they definitely lacked the laughter element. She hadn't messaged any of the boys and being the caring people they all naturally were, it spiked concern within them for the french girl's whereabouts as well as her wellbeing.
"Nope, I haven't seen her around," Gini said where he was getting massaged. He tilted his head back against his medical bed. "Is she even here today?"
Once he'd received his treatments, Andy hopped off his examining bed before he placed his sliders back on. "I think she is at Melwood," Andy chimed in.
Bobby perked up at the Scot's comment. "Have you seen her day?"
"No, but remember the time when Winnie didn't train with us whenever training was open to the public? She was still here but she just wasn't training out on the pitch with us," he suggested.
"Yeah, but then we knew she was training inside since we saw her. We haven't seen Winnie at all today," Andy only shrugged at Bobby's explanation. The Brazilian groaned lightly, his face falling into his palms. "So nobody knows where she is? Nobody?" Bobby repeated, glancing at the boys for potential answers.
"I mean, Jürgen knows something, right?" Sadio added on to the discussion.
"Already tried that and apparently what he knows is confidential and private," Joe quoted with a frown, somewhat annoyed at the fact that he didn't know his friend's whereabouts.
"Guys, there's honestly nothing to worry about. Winnie is fine," Jordan announced, gaining the attention of all the players.
"Really? Where is she?" Bobby asked, curiosity clear in his voice.
Jordan and Virgil shared a glance between each other before Virgil spoke up. "We can't say where she is, but she was here earlier on training by herself. She's fine, we promise."
"Why can't you say where she is?" Gini questioned.
Jordan folded his arms. "It's not our place to blurt out someone's business to everyone." The captain of the team and Virgil knew better than to spill Wynter's business, seeing as she even struggled to tell them.
"Well, we may not know everything, but at least we know the woman is alright."
When Alisson noticed the absence of the scouse's voice in the conversation, he spoke up. "Wait, Trent, you're really quiet. Do you not know where Winnie is?"
Trent shook his head as he brought himself back into reality. "No, I don't. She hasn't mentioned anything to me so. . ." he shrugged.
"Dang, that must sting a bit. Your girlfriend shares more about her whereabouts with her teammates than she does with her own boyfriend," Daniel laughed which quickly got shut down by Mo who lightly elbowed him.
"Bro, be quiet."
"What? What's wrong?" Trent asked, soon noticing the pointed looks some of the players gave Daniel for practically outing Winnie in one way or another. From the looks of their facial expressions, it was clear to the scouse that there was definitely something which everyone knew that he'd no knowledge of, and as the french girl's significant other, he felt as though he should know what they were going on about. "Is there something I should know about that I don't?"
"Well, not that we know of, no," Bobby replied to Trent, shutting down his question.
When everyone believed the chat had finally died down in the room, Joe's voice was once again in clear ear-shot. "I think we should tell him."
"No way! He should find out from her, not from us!"
"Honestly, some of you guys can not shut up for like five seconds, can you? I thought we already agreed to this."
"Find out what exactly? We don't know what is going on with Winnie since she hasn't told anyone except Jordan, Virgil and Klopp, so what's the point?"
"What the hell are you guys on about? You're talking to each other about me like I'm not even in the room and it's getting a bit annoying," Trent exclaimed in an agitated tone. "What is going on?"
"Tell him then, Joe."
"Haven't you noticed that for the past few weeks that Winnie hasn't been training with us, like, regularly?" Joe asked the scouse who nodded. "Well, for every time she wasn't with us, she messaged at least one of to say that she wasn't going to be at the training with us. Did she ever send you a message?"
Joe's query pressed a button in the scouse's mind. Subconsciously, he'd noticed a few changes within Wynter when they were at training or when they hung out as a couple—distance soon became his best friend when he recovered from his recent injury. You'd think they would've spent even more time with each other after their injuries passed. However, when it came to Wynter, even when they remained in the same places, it seemed as if the distance between the two had quickly grown within the span of a few weeks.
When the couple both found themselves injured, their time spent together seemed limitless. They were always together and you wouldn't have found a single moment of one without the other one. However, that all took a turn for the worst when Wynter was no longer deemed injured. When the time came for the french girl to return back to training with the others, Trent failed to take notice of himself floating adrift from his partner.
The worst thing about it was that Trent didn't exactly know the cause of their unspoken fallout, what caused their relationship to go off-grid, why they felt like strangers in each other's presence. It only came to his realisation when his teammates touched on the topic themselves.
"No. . . she didn't. Not even once." Trent admitted to his teammates, a sense of sadness and somewhat angry in his voice as his eyes trained on his slider-covered feet. To him, there had clearly been a wide shift in where he and Wynter stood in their relationship so his emotions were left untamed by the single thought of it.
"Look, Trent. Maybe there's a reason behind why she didn't so before you run off and get angry at Winnie, actually find out what's up with her," Gini advised the younger player, knowing him well enough to predict his reaction to the situation.
"Alright, I'll ask her when I get the chance."
The scouse replied to the Dutchman, though it purely covered up what he truly felt, what he truly wanted to say. Though he maintained his demeanour as well as concealing his emotions and thoughts to himself to preserve the peace in the room.
. . .
She sat frozen in her seat as she waited for the case to go underway. People with certain roles in the court system were scattered around the room as they too prepared themselves for the court case. Wynter felt out of her element within the grey-walled courtroom. She was surrounded by many she was told to trust and yet somehow, she couldn't view herself vibing with anyone but the ones she knew.
Her outfit screamed too formal compared to her usual sporty clothing. Her attire comprised of only black—the only colour that she could've tolerated on such a gloomy day, for her at least. Like always, she wore her face bare with the usual adjusts made here and there so Wynter didn't seem as though she just tumbled out of bed.
In all honesty, if Wynter had the choice, she wouldn't have been in a courtroom. Even though she had only been in one once, it easily found a tangible way to increase her heart rate. On a wet rainy day like that one, a streak of sweat formed under her eyebrow while her lips were remained pressed together as she couldn't formulate a sentence without the sudden urge to throw up.
On another note, as soon as the french girl stepped foot into the court, it came to her that she'd never gotten a single glance at her alleged perpetrator involved in her eventual case, meaning that today would have to be the day she would've to come face-to-face to the person who had the shameless audacity to come after the player the day France beat Argentina. Why he did so? Wynter had no idea and so by the end of the case, she hoped she would have gotten a decent explanation as to why it occurred—even if the explanation wasn't exactly reasonable.
However, as much as she yearned to face this man, to put on her brave face when the time came for her to confront her attacker, an element of danger and fear came into her mind. He'd gone after her once, who's to say that it won't happen again if he wasn't to be faced with grave justice?
"Are you okay, Wynter?"
She quickly snapped out of her daze and caught sight of her lawyer for the case, Alyssa. She nodded as a fake smile landed on her face. "Yeah, it's just that I don't want to be here. I want to go home and be with my boyfriend," she said, looking down at her black-touched up nails.
"Does he know that you're here?" Alyssa asked in a cautious manner.
"No, he doesn't," Wynter simply her head, shrugging.
"Do you want to tell me why not?"
Wynter rubbed her arm with her opposite hand. "I don't know. It's just that I don't want him or anyone to know, I guess. I just haven't gotten to that yet."
"You do you know he'll eventually find out, right? With all the paps and media that were outside, he's bound to find pictures of you going to court."
"Again, I know," she throw her head back as she exhaled, closing her eyes in the process. "Everyone's going to think I've done some bad shit like doping or something like that."
"That is true, so shouldn't you at least tell your close friends about it?" Alyssa questioned.
"I want to, but I'm scared that if I tell people who don't know about everything, somehow something will come out to the media and that'll just make me look dumb. I'll let everyone know before the Premier League finishes this season and until then, the media can continue to make up different reasons as to why I'm going to court," Wynter sat back up in her seat, finally opening her eyes.
"Okay, well, whatever you plan to do, that's totally your decision to do so and I won't stop you, Wynter. I know you've already spoken to your mother about this, but maybe just consider all of your friends' feelings," Just then, an officer announced the case would commence in a few minutes so everyone needed to be seated. Alyssa continued on with her little speech before Wynter was to be swept under her feet. "This isn't something small that you're tackling, it's something so much more that," The lawyer tried to reason with the star player.
"They'll found out soon, I promise," Wynter said before she was pulled into a hug.
"Good luck out there. Your mother and I will be here the whole time."
"I know." They gave each other quick, sidelong glances before the player was escorted by the officer to the witness stand.
She sighed, longingly.
The judge cleared her throat before she spoke up. "So, Miss Wynter Reyes, can you tell me why we're in this courtroom today?"
From her seat at the witness stand, Wynter glanced at her mother and Alyssa for confirmation for which they both nodded as they returned looks of comfort. The player deeply inhaled before she spoke.
"Your honour, I'm here because I was physically abused and attacked in my dressing room during my participation in the World Cup."
——
[ edited—30/07/20 ]