11/07/21
even though kai's euphoria was bigger than ever, and she was on the urge of crying of happiness, she allowed herself to calm down before her international teammate would have his go and they would be the euro champions.
not too long ago, before one of england's penatly-takers took his, kai's chance was successful, and her kick in the top corner was enough to pass the hands of jordan pickford.
now all she could do was stand in the line with her sweaty teammates, chests heaving as they waited for the whistle, and they prayed it would pass the keeper's hand.
she stood in between off moise and marco, their hands over her shoulders, all eyes panned on jorginho, who was patiently waiting for the reffree's call.
and when the ball was sent to the back of the net, everyone eurpted. everyone was running to tackle the chelsea midfielder, everyone piling onto him in pure excitement. all you could see was the pile of blue kits, and all you could hear was the shouts or excitement, or the crying of joyfulness.
they played away, most fans were from england but that didn't matter; she and her teammates just won the euros.
once all the commotion was slightly done, she still clinged onto jorginho, jumping onto his back as she laughed, a the biggest, most content smile on her face. words just couldn't describe how she felt, she'd worked so hard for this.
and what pained her, was the fact that jadon and marcus, her fellow united teammates, were heartbroken.
kai would say that nothing could take this night away from her, but she still needed to comfort them. kai hesitantly pulled away from the cheering italy players, not wanting to spoil the fun, but she had to go look for them.
on the other side of the field, she could see jadon as his teammates comforted him, his head buried in his hands. few tears came out his eyes, and kai's heart skipped a beat when he raised his head, and made eye contact with him.
she didn't know how to comfort him. her team had won, and his didn't. there was always going to be a winner, but it happened to be kai and not jadon.
before he could object, kai pulled him into a hug. his hushed little cries fell onto the nape of her neck, and kai rubbed up and down his back in comfort. their bodies were still damp with sweat, and they could've possibly sticked together, but right now she didn't mind.
he was first to pull away from the heartwarming hug, and kai placed her hands on the sides of his face. jadon felt himself choke with his tears and for that, kai gave him a kiss on his cheeks.
"you know how much people are gonna hate me now?" his voice broken in every possible way, making kai frown. "jadon, don't think about that." she assured.
"kai—"
"no, listen to me." kai turned his face, his face puffy and all sad looking. "don't think about that, you have a better thing to think about. i want you to think about how brave you were. to step up and take a pen, that took alot of bravery jadon." kai said softly, she did feel alot of pity for him.
"i know, but all this is gonna make people hate me." it hurted her to see him like this, alot. "i was so stupid,"
"no, none of that jadon, com'n." kai tapped his cheeks. "it's okay,"
"no, kai. it's not. i've let my entire country down, and i—"
"i've let down my country too. i've embarrassed my country as well, jadon. yes i did blame myself at first, but i took that as an excuse to only get better. you can't let all this get to you too much." she admitted, "i've missed penalties, i've messed up assists and goals, i've made myself look bad alot of times, and i did get hate for it. but did it stop me? no, and this can't stop you either." kai tapped his chest twice, then she wiped the tears from his face. "it's normal,"
"thanks, but i still feel so..like a let down." he looked down in shame.
"i know," she whispered, she'd watched as he was trying to control his tears when he missed, his hands were on his knees, and her heart slightly broke at the sight. same for marcus, she was happy they missed; of course she was because she was in the other team but it hurted her to see these men look so heartbroken.
"i'm proud of you, congrats," jadon said, smiling a bit for a while. "you did well." he went on to say.
kai sent him a tired one, "thank you. i'm proud of you too. so so proud."
"you don't have to say that to make me feel better, you know." he chuckled softly, wiping his hands over his face.
"i'm not, i really am proud of you." her hands brushed over his shoulders, before she gently pushed his neck down a little to peck his forehead.
he sighed, giving her a hug one more time. "well, i guess i'll see you on vacation," he smiled softly.
kai nodded, her lips turning up. they made plans to go on vacation together, "see you on vacation." she clarified, finalizing it off with a kiss on his cheek.
jadon bit his bottom lip, contemplating on whether he wanted to ask for her jersey or not.
just as she started walking away, jadon tugged at her hand. kai looked at him with a quirked eyebrow, but he nodded his head at the jersey.
"swap?" he asked with a tiny bit of hope and kai let out a giggle. "anything you want sir," she joked.
both clad in undershirts, the pair held the other's jersey's in their clutches. "careful, you're holding the shirt of the greatest player in the world there bro," she smirked, and he scoffed playfully.
they stared at each other for a second, then she didn't know what waved over her, but she just hugged him again. she knew jadon didn't feel so good about himself at the moment, she hoped it would help.
"okay, enough hugging." imrani interuppted, face glowing at kai. "time for the medals, kaia." she said, pointing to the officals that stood with the trophy. "bye," he waved at her. she repeated the guesture, giving him another smile as they walked away.
now, all he was left thinking about, was how lucky he was to have a friend like kai.
