บท 11: Chapter 11: Devoted
The match had finally come to an end but Axel wished that it didn't end the way it did.
At one point in the second half, Manchester City took the lead, it was three goals to two but once the match hit the eightieth minute, Juventus completely switched up their play and scored two goals in seven minutes to make it four goals to three.
The Manchester side tried everything they could to get an equalizer, they would have been happier with a draw at least but Juventus held them down defensively until the final whistle.
The match ending like that sort of broke Axel's spirit as he was just sitting on the couch with his gaze on the television but he wasn't paying attention to anything happening there.
What pissed him off the most was the chances they got that could have easily won them the game if the players up front had been effective with their finishing and then there were the defensive errors that led them to blowing a lead and conceding four goals.
Ariel walked out of the kitchen to find his brother still sitting there with his gaze fixated on the couch.
She let out a sigh before she slowly walked up to him and sat down beside him.
"Hey, there's no reason for you to be sad, they just dropped to second place and there are three more matches to go so they can still finish on top." She expressed before placing her hand on his shoulder.
"How did Peterson miss that?" He muttered before joining both of his hands together.
He didn't even pay any attention to what she said.
"Huh?"
"That was an open net and he ended up hitting the post." He muttered with a baffled tone.
"Hey," Ariel called before tapping him on the shoulder.
"What?" He sighed before turning his gaze to her.
"You look like you need a hug, I think you'll feel better after one." She smiled before spreading her arms.
Axel quickly shifted away from her to the other end of the couch before shaking his head, a subtle expression of disgust on his face.
"I'll pass."
"Hey, but you let me hug you the other day."
"That was because you were crying and I owed you an apology at that time."
"Hmm, so you're saying that if I start crying you'll say yes." She uttered with a grin on her face.
"Not a chance." He shook his head. "Quit trying to hug me, I'm not a child anymore."
"Yeah, you're right." She muttered before slowly turning her gaze away from him.
There was a little moment of silence between the two before Axel got up and began to make his way toward the staircase.
"I'm going to head upstairs now, you can call me if you need me for anything." He said.
"Okay." She nodded.
With that said, he quickly disappeared upstairs, and now that he was gone, she sighed before lying down on the couch.
"He's back to his normal self so that's good."
_______ _______
The next day was a brand new day for Axel, he went straight to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth before he returned to his room to get dressed for his daily workout.
It took him less than ten minutes to get dressed and walking out of his room now, he was wearing a black sports hoodie that matched his black Manchester City track pants but his running boots were lemon green.
He quickly made his way downstairs to find Ariel who was just making her way out of the kitchen.
"Hey, sis, good morning." He greeted before stepping down from the last step.
"Good morning, Axel." She smiled. "I see you're going out for a run."
"Yeah." He replied as he made his way to the door.
"Are you going with Ryan?" She inquired.
"Yeah, he should be out by now." He replied with a nod.
"Okay, then, have fun."
Axel didn't reply to that as he slowly opened the door but just before stepping out, he turned his gaze to her.
"Hey, sis, when are you going back to school?"
"Umm, Sunday next week, if you're worried about me missing out then you don't have to worry, my best friend makes sure I'm part of the important lectures through Zoom." She replied.
"Okay, well, that's good, see ya."
The next moment, the door was closed and she was all alone in the house.
Ryan was already waiting for him outside, he was dressed in his team's training kit, team B's training kit, and a pair of black boots with red outlines.
"Let's go," Axel said as soon as he got close enough to him, and without hesitation, the two took off.
Axel's home was somewhere on Darley Street so the two had to run into Ashton new road before taking the turn into Rowsley Street on the left.
They could see the Etihad stadium which stood out quite well in the area but they saw it every day so there was no reason to pay much attention to it.
On the right side of the street was the Etihad campus, in other words, their home.
They've been at the academy together since they've been able to kick the ball and although Axel had gone on to join the first team, Ryan was still in the B team.
The two ran down the street until they came across a bench sitting beside a tree and since they were starting to feel a bit tired, they decided to rest there for a while.
"Hey, there's a shop over there, do you need anything?" Ryan asked before pointing to the shop across the street.
"Some water, maybe." Axel shrugged before sitting down on the bench.
"Alright, then, I'll be back in a sec."
He zoomed off immediately leaving Axel to stare at the bright blue sky.
"It's almost winter." He muttered before raising his left hand.
"Here."
"Huh?"
He quickly brought down his gaze to see Ryan standing there offering him the bottle of water in his hand.
"When did you get back?" He muttered with a confused expression on his face before taking the bottled water from him.
"I told you, I'll be back in a sec," Ryan smirked before sitting down beside him.
The midfielder thought his friend was going to grab a bottle of water just like the one he brought for him but he had something else in his hand, and he didn't like it.
"There's nothing better than a chilled drink after a long run." Ryan sighed before pulling the rivet of the red can in his hand.
The fizzy sound followed after that, and without hesitation, he started gulping the thing down, but just as he was doing that, his gaze shifted to Axel who was glaring at him with his bottled water in his hand.
"Huh? You want some?"
"How can you even ask me that?" Axel snapped. "You know drinking soda isn't good for you, especially as a footballer."
"Hey, come on, don't be so uptight."
He had to bring the can down and drop it on the bench but on his side because he knew Axel was going to throw it away without hesitation.
"I only drink this stuff about three times per month, that's all."
"You shouldn't drink it at all." He insisted. "If you want to have a long and successful career then you should watch what you eat and drink, you should avoid soda, natural water has everything you need."
"Okay, okay, I'll try to stop drinking it after this one." Ryan sighed before returning the drink to his mouth. "You're so devoted to having a perfect career but I guess there's nothing wrong with that."
After hearing him say that, Axel let out a sigh before opening his bottled water.
"That doesn't sound very convincing."
"Speaking of watching what you eat, isn't your sister going back to uni soon?"
He was about to raise the bottle to let the water flow into his mouth, but as soon as Ryan hit him with that fact, his hand stopped moving.
"Yeah."
"Hmm, and you have zero cooking skills, I wonder how you're going to keep that up." He chuckled. "But if you want…"
"No," Axel interjected.
"Hey, you didn't even let me finish."
"Yes, and I say no."
Ryan just shook his head and let out a sigh before turning his gaze away from him.
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