A Manchester Affair (Rúben Dias)

Chapter Nine

By the time the international break came up, Rúben was more than ready to go to Portugal and spend some time away from Manchester. Knowing that Lucía was still in the same building as him but not seeing her was killing him. He knew he should talk to her, but he still couldn't face her and what might happen when they talked. What if she had moved on already? And that's why he pretended not to be home all the times she knocked on his door. She now did it less and less often, probably discouraged by the absence of a response. He liked to imagine he wanted to fix things but couldn't be sure that was the reason for her wanting to talk.

So yes, going to Portugal was exactly what he needed.

The day after arriving at camp, he was training with the rest of the team when Dalot approached him for one of the exercises they needed to couple up for. It was a bit surprising for him because they'd never been paired before. It's not that they weren't friends but they both had other people in the squad they got on better with.

"You ok?", asked Rúben.

"I am, yeah. You?"

"I've been better, I guess".

"We need to talk, Rúben".

"What do you mean?", he asked, surprised.

"We need to talk about someone we both know and what's going on between you two".

Rúben's face was of pure shock. Not so much because of his teammate's request, but the fact that Lucía had told someone else about the two of them. And she told Diogo? It felt a bit random since she never mentioned him as one of her better friends in the squad. But then he remembered how many times Lucía told him she was going to be late for their dates because she was out with Diogo's girlfriend. So maybe that's why he knows.

"Did she tell you to talk to me?"

"No", laughed Diogo. "I don't think she'll appreciate it but I'm tired of seeing her looking sad. And now I see you and you look as miserable as she does. So if I can at least try to help...", he shrugged.

"How much do you know?"

"All of it".

Ok, this should be a fun conversation.

**

After training, all the players showered and got ready for an afternoon off. Most of them had family visiting them, so that's what they did before dinner time arrived. Rúben himself was going to be meeting his family, who could notice there was something wrong with him. But just assumed he was tired.

"Do you want me to go to your room after dinner or do you want to come to mine?", asked Diogo.

"Mine is ok".

"Cool", he said smiling.

He was still very confused by the whole situation. But there was a part of him that was very excited about this conversation. What if Diogo could actually fix this? He mentioned Lucía being sad, so that meant she hadn't moved on. Maybe there was hope.

It would be such a surprising thing but maybe it was Diogo who helped them. Rúben didn't care as long as things were fixed. He had been miserable since they fought. He had only found solace in playing football. And even that was starting to be affected by their current situation.

He almost gave away a penalty in his last match for City that could have cost the team the victory and had both Stones and Pep screaming at him for it. Asking him where his head was at. Well, it was on the red side of Manchester. That's where. But they wouldn't understand that. Maybe Pep could, but a lot would have to be explained to him before.