◖SWIM◗ Neymar Jr.

2

Sao Paulo, Brazil 

  Neymar woke up with a throbbing headache. He couldn't find the strength to open his eyes to face the light that was streaming in through his glass window. He hissed in displeasure when he heard a knock on his door. The sound vibrated in his brain, shaking it up and making his headache worse.

"Neymar Junior, get your sorry ass out of your room. Don't tell me you have forgotten that Davi was going to visit today?! " His mãe's voice echoed through the door, and he could tell she was not impressed by the state he had put himself in. As he slowly registered her words, he sat up abruptly on his bed, regretting his movements instantly. His head spun as he blearily opened his eyes for the first time that morning. Another wave of piercing headache shot through his head making him hiss.

"Are you up?!" His mother called out to him knocking on the door more aggressively than before. Neymar stumbled up from his bed to open the door. He could smell the faint odour of stale alcohol clouding his room and he knew that his mother would give him a good earful. But he opened his door anyway to find a very disgruntled Nadine. 

She wrinkled her nose at the smell of liquor and glared at his son, who was clearly hungover. She wasn't impressed with his behaviour lately. He was becoming unkempt even since he found out about the affair that his ex-girlfriend had with another man. She understood that her son was going through a rough time of his life but she expected him to behave better than this, especially when his son was about to visit him for the week.

"Bom dia mãe.. " Her son greeted her with a timid voice, he wouldn't even meet her eyes as he stared down at his feet. Nadine sighed. No matter how exasperated she was with his son, she couldn't blame him. She knew that he thought he had failed in everything, especially after the fiasco at the World Cup, the problems with his relationships were just the cherries on top. She knew that he felt like he had let everyone down and it hurted her to see her son going down like this.

"Go clean yourself up and come down to have breakfast with your family." Nadine shook her head. She knew her voice sounded harsh but she couldn't help it. It hurted to watch her pride and joy, making a fool of himself.

Neymar nodded and watched his mother walked down the stairs. He released a heavy breath he didn't know he was holding in and walked towards his bed and sat down slowly. He rested his heavy head on his hand and listened to the ticking of the wall clock accompanied by the faint sounds of pans being set on the stove and the cutlery being jangled coming from downstairs. He got up, his steps heavy as he picked out his outfits for the day. He took whatever he saw first and hopped into the bathroom that was connected to his room.

He walked under the shower and turned it on. He took a few moments to enjoy the warm sprinkles that rained down from his head, to his back and chest and down his legs before taking the sandalwood scented soap and rubbed off the filth on his body.

It was more than 20 minutes before he finally turned off the water and got out of the shower cubicle, feeling refreshed and more awake than before. His headache had subsided into a dull niggle at the back of his head and he could ignore it. He quickly wrapped his indigo towel around his waist and after completing the necessary morning rituals, he walked out of the bathroom and shook his head to dislodge any wetness on his head.

He walked up to his bed where he put the clothes he had picked for himself. Black t-shirt and grey track pants, he shrugged them on and stumbled a little as he struggled to put on his pants on his slightly damped skin. After throwing his towel into the laundry basket he finally headed down to where is mother and sister were busy setting up the table for breakfast.

"Bom dia.. " Neymar greeted them as he walked the last step of the stairs. Rafaella shot him a bright smile and greeted him back while his mother nodded in acknowledgement.