Grace's dream was a career in the fashion industry. But while she's finally pursuing that dream, her personal life remains a nightmare. Will she be able to escape an abusive relationship? And will she be able to find happiness and maybe true love?
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"No way he scored!", I yell, surprised to see Rúben score the 4th goal for City. He had actually been playing almost as a striker for the last 10 minutes and he finally got the goal.
"Why? Isn't he supposed to?", asks Bella, genuinely confused.
But I can only see him running to one of the cameras and lifting both of his index fingers to dedicate the goal to me, as he promised.
"Grace? What's happening? Why are you smiling like that?"
"What?", I say, finally going back to the real world. "Nothing. Just happy he scored".
The match ends up with a 6-0 win for City, which means Bella spent the last twenty minutes asking when it was over and why they had to play the full 90 minutes when it was clear who had won. I'm sure some of the opposition fans, and players, agreed with her.
Rúben told us where to wait for him, so he could meet Bella and here we are now. Waiting. Waiting for a long time.
"Hi?", says a woman who seemed to be looking for someone.
"Hi, can I help you?"
"Only if you're Grace", she laughs.
"I am, actually. Do I know you?"
"No, I'm Ines. I'm Bernardo's girlfriend. He's Rúben's friend and I've been sent to collect you and your friend. Hi".
"Hi Ines, I'm Bella, nice to meet you".
"Nice to meet you both", says Ines. "Follow me. The boys had to do the drug test today, that's why they are so late".
We follow Ines to a waiting room that is empty.
"So, what do you guys do for a living? Something fun?", Ines asks us.
"We work for a fashion magazine", says Bella.
"No way! I'm actually a model!"
"Not surprising, really. You're gorgeous", I tell her. I've been thinking that since I saw her. Bernardo is a lucky guy.
"You're too sweet. As if both of you weren't stunning. You should model too".
"Me? No. I'm too awkward to pose for the cameras", I say.
"Your Instagram disagrees", laughs Bella.
"That's different. It's just Instagram".
"Let me see your account, please! I want to follow you. And you too, Bella".
So we spend the next few minutes exchanging Instagram accounts and following each other. While we are all laughing, the door opens and both Bernardo and Rúben come out. Ines gets up and starts to talk to Bernardo in Portuguese while hugging him. I'm assuming she's congratulating him. She looks too happy to be telling him off. And he scored two goals today, not just one.
"Hi", says Rúben when he reaches the chairs we were sitting on.
"Hi. Congrats on the goal. Who would have thought you could actually score them", I joke.
"It's not the first one I score, smartass".
We both laugh and then I hear a cough.
"Oh, right. This is my friend Bella. Bella, this is Rúben".
"Hi Rúben, nice meeting you", she says, giving him a hug. "I'm going to the bathroom quickly. Don't leave without me!"
"Never!", I tell her while she runs to the toilet.
"Thank you for dedicating the goal to me".
"A promise is a promise", he says. And I notice how close he is.
I don't know if it's the goal, the dedication or the fact that seeing Bella hug Rúben showed me I have never hugged him myself but I move forward to embrace him.
He puts his arms around me immediately and I notice my heartbeat going so much faster all of a sudden. Despite all the time spent together, we have never had this level of intimacy. It's almost as if we had been avoiding physical touch. Probably because of me and my fears. But God, does this feel nice!
I can hear him sighing, but I don't really understand the reason for that. When I separate myself from him, I feel a shiver down my spine. And the fact that Rúben is looking at my face, probably trying to read my expression, doesn't really help.
"Do you want to come to have dinner with us? We'll be going to a pub. Nothing fancy. And Bella is invited too, of course".
"What am I invited to?", she asks now that she's back from the bathroom.
"Dinner with me and some teammates", tells her Rúben.
