One Night in Santiago/Football Under Flashing Lights (Neymar Jr. Fan Fiction)

68.

-Neymar POV-

Training was intense today since our next Champions League game against Juventus was in a few days. Coming off of a win against Chelsea was a huge mood boost and everyone was on their A-game. Lucho had us play a few scrimmages against each other to assess our lineup but his attention was diverted the minute Marina Vera arrived to the training ground. "Everyone take 5 minutes," he yelled to us as he jogged over to greet her.

"I definitely thought that was Kat at first," Marc laughed with our teammates, "she is remarkably unaged."

It was true. Marina was only in her thirties and since she had Katerina so young, she had physically bounced back impeccably. Although she didn't have a single wrinkle, her forehead was creased in distress as she checked her phone every few seconds while talking to Lucho. Our laughter ceased when he turned to us and singled Alexis and I out. He motioned for us to join them so we ran over to them quickly. "Hey mom, what's up? You okay?" Alexis asked as her worried expression became even more apparent since she was in front of us.

"No," she sighed, running her hand through her long brown hair. "When was the last time either of you spoke to Katerina?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in concern once I heard Katerina's name and shook my head. "I haven't heard from her today. We spoke on the phone last night and everything was fine," I informed her.

"I think she said she was going to be flying early to Paris this morning," Alexis added. "Maybe thats why you can't reach her. Did you try calling Lily?"

She shook her head. "Is something wrong, Marina? Is Katerina safe?" I asked since her expression didn't look relieved in the slightest by Alexis' explanation.

She took a deep breath before she met our eyes with a serious expression on her face. "I received a call this morning from law enforcement in Santiago. They need a family member to identify a body that was fatally shot last night. My mother confirmed the identity this morning. It was Sergio," she said as calmly as she could get out.

Alexis and I were speechless. We stared at Marina with a mix of emotions. Relief, sadness and shock were the only three I could register. I didn't know whether to offer my condolences or not because I couldn't read Marina's facial expression. It sounded like she was more concerned about Katerina's reaction than her own at the moment. I wasn't sure how this would affect Katerina. She had always had mixed feelings about her father and I knew she was too stubborn to admit she still cared about him.

"She's going to be-" Alexis inhaled sharply at the thought of Katerina's reaction.

"I don't want her to find out from the press. We need to stay ahead of this. I want her to be with family," she said to us.

"I'll try to call her," Alexis offered, putting a hand on her arm to comfort her. He jogged toward the locker room to get his phone.

"Marina, I am so sorry," I started as I gestured her to sit down on the bench near where we stood.

"Thank you, honey," she smiled a small smile at me. "But I mourned the loss of that man a very long time ago."

I nodded, knowingly. "Will there be a funeral?" I asked curiously.

She shook her head. "My mother is handling the arrangements with his family for him to be buried. I won't put Katerina through losing him twice," she said, letting out an audible exhale.

We waited for Alexis to return in silence, mostly because I was still wrapping my head around the fact of the matter. Sergio's death changed a lot of things. It was one thing for Sergio not to be around due to a prison sentence, but it was entirely different now that he was dead. Katerina had been through a lot and she was under a lot of pressure right now. I feared this would lead to a breaking point for her.