La Reina | The Story of Melanie Kavitz

memory lane

i now have the exact opposite problem.
i'm now using writing angst to cope with depression.
😃😃😃
also, the players of the teams mentioned (club or country) will be consisting of active male and female players. i basically created a football utopia where men and women can play together because, hey, alternate universes exist. 🙂

...
leo's point of view
...

May 21, 2022

"Hey. You doing alright?"

Anto's plane from Lisbon landed earlier into the evening than anticipated, and she had asked me if she could come by my home - or, what used to be 'our' home - to pick the boys up. I didn't oppose, given that there's no reason to. But it's been just over three years since the divorce... and I don't know how to talk to her as a friend when we haven't been friends for such a long time. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Look, I can leave now. You don't have to put up with me through dinner if it means you can eat in peace."

"No... it's not that." And that's my honest answer because whatever I'm feeling has nothing to do with her. "Don't worry about me."

"Just because we're divorced doesn't mean I stopped caring," Anto sighed and put her fork down on her empty plate. "Tell me what's going on."

Do I want to talk about this with her? It's not as if she didn't know; now that I think about it, quite a few people knew, but it was kept between close friends and acquaintances. Laporta didn't know because we made sure of it; most of the team besides Xavi, Andres, Gerry, and Busi didn't know; the only reason I know that Josep knew was that he was one the one who had told me that Melanie requested a transfer and was to leave Barca.

Anto knew because I was the one who completely spilled my heart out to her ravaged with pain and grief while completely drowned in alcohol. A part of me regrets it deeply... but I know there's nothing to be done at that point.

"Xavi told us that Melanie is coming back to Barcelona."

Anto's eyes grow wide. "She... she WANTS to come back?"

"Yes, she does." I'm just as confused as she is, even after having sat with it for a few days. "Terms and conditions have been agreed to. She plays her last game for City on the 23rd."

Anto doesn't say anything for a few moments, leaving me to further reflect on what has been on my mind these last couple of days. "And... are you okay with that?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm okay with it." And that was true; it genuinely doesn't matter whether I'm okay with it or not, because there's no way I can influence any decision made by any board.

"It matters to me."

I run my fingers through my hair, not wanting to admit what I'm really feeling to the woman I essentially used as a rebound. "I don't know how I'm going to deal with seeing her again. I haven't... I haven't..."

"You haven't gotten over it." The look in Anto's eyes is enough for me to know what she's thinking. It's the same story of woe for both of us; finding our soulmates only for us to break the relationships apart. We both went down this road under different circumstances with different people... and that was what eventually brought us together again. It's not a foundation to build a relationship on, because that's not a relationship. It's a compromise.