hard feelings - an erling haaland story

twenty-two

A sudden distance developed between them, he had barely seen or heard from the woman since the time he mentioned his love for her. He knew it was probably due to her work, she had stressed ahout finishing her notice period, occasionally hearing stories from Jack about the treatment she had gotten from her colleagues for choosing to leave. He pondered as to why she hadn't opened up to him about her situation, but the man from Birmingham reassured the Norwegian by emphasising that the only time they spoke was when they bumped into each other in the lobby of their building. He knew that the pair usually planned to go to the gym together daily thus reassuring him that it wasn't just him that had been gotten radio silence from Amelia.

"How is Amelia, Erling?" His father asked him as they sat together to eat dinner. "Danny says that she is to start a new job soon. Have you heard from her recently?"

Erling swallowed the food in his mouth, unsure of what to say. He hadn't told his family about what was going on with the two of them, he didn't know himself. He gave his father a swift nod before turning to look at his brother, who had kicked him underneath the table, mouthing something he couldn't make out. Erling shrugged before turning back to his father, who had grown impatient from the lack of reply from his youngest son. "She's fine. Busy with work. She works a lot and does not finish 'til late, so we don't talk as often as we'd like!"

His father rarely spoke to him in English when there wasn't a non-Norwegian speaker around, the whole interaction had seemed strange. He felt as though his father had news for him that he wouldn't want to hear. A nagging feeling grew like he needed to confront the whole situation. It was strange for his brother to be there during the father and son's pre-match routine. Silence filled the air, with none of the family members sure on what to say.

His brother pulled his aside as their father loaded the dishwasher in his home. Erling felt himself tense, knowing that his suspicions were right. His brother's words felt like a slap to the face, words he didn't want to hear before a big match. He hadn't realised she had been unwell, and for a while at that. He knew she had been suffering from recurring nightmares, which in turn, manifested into insomnia. He didn't realise she had been unwell enough to end up in hospital. A hospital stay she didn't even tell him about.

He was angry. Angry at himself for not noticing and angry at his brother and father for telling him the night before the Manchester derby. His first one, at that. His mind was now filled with worry for the woman who had stopped communication with him. It was almost as though he had blacked out, before he knew it he was outside the woman's flat, banging on the door like his life depended on it. He hoped it wasn't late, that the women who resided in the flat wouldn't be annoyed with him for waking them up. One minute he was tossing and turning in bed, and the next thing he remembered was standing in front of the apartment door, pounding on it until his knuckles bled.

"Erling, what are you doing here?" Chloe whispered, she grabbed her keys before pulling the door shut behind her. "Let's go for a walk."

"Chloe, what happened?"

"You know what Millie is like, she stresses and stresses and this time her body just couldn't hack it and she collapsed at work. Lucky she did because it turns out she had appendicitis and needed surgery for it. Mils just assumed the severe stomach ache was from the stress but her appendix had burst. She didn't want you to worry about her."

He huffed at the words. What a stupid way to prevent him from worrying about her. He'd rather have known that she was unwell and recovering than just left in the cold, confused and unsure as to what the silent treatment was for, and have to be told by his brother the night before a big match. "Can I see her?"

"Why would you not be able to?" Chloe questioned. "She was sleeping when you arrived and I didn't wanna wake her, you know she becomes an arsehole when she's disturbed."

As he trailed behind Chloe, he spotted the brunette sitting cross-legged on the sofa, watching a TV show he knew he would have to watch with her in the future. She didn't turn her head to look at him but he knew she knew it was him. She kept her gaze straight ahead but he could see the pale look on her face, the area under her eyes sunken. Yet as he got closer to her, the bigger the smile on her face grew. Something that he found himself replicating. She looked up at him as he stood in front of her, standing up carefully, a slight groan escaping her lips as she did so.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. He had felt angry that she had frozen him out when she needed him; he couldn't help but to rest his head atop of her. He had missed her touch. However, he had been stubborn enough to make it clear of his annoyance to her.

"When were you going to tell me?" He spoke, watching her as her soft eyes turned into a frown.

"Tomorrow, after you win your match. I didn't want to stress you out beforehand. I know you, you'd get in your head and convince yourself I'm dying or that it was your fault!"

He sighed. Of course she thought about him and of course she was right. She was rarely wrong. A trait he wished he could dislike but instead he found himself admiring that part about her. "You should've told me right away, I would've come and stayed with you when Chloe worked."

Her flatmate scoffed from the kitchen. "Bold of you to assume I didn't milk this at work to get time off, Erling."

He sat with her head in his lap, he paid no interest in the show, keeping his eyes fixed on her, assessing her every breath, watching for changes or any signs of pain. She glanced at him, their eyes meeting. She could tell he was tired. He was used to being in bed by that time of night but he didn't want to leave her. He would stay up all evening if it meant she was alright throughout the night.

Slowly sitting up, she turned her body to look at him, poking his cheek as he gawked at her. "E, you've got a derby match tomorrow. You should go home and get in bed, Alf is after you."

The stubborn Norwegian shook his head. "I'm staying with you tonight and then tomorrow first thing we'll leave for mine and you are going to go with my father and my brother to the match and then we are going to come back here to get your clothes and you are staying with me until you are better."

"E, you've got matches every other day, I'll only add stress to your routine and you go to Copenhagen on the eleventh. It'll be better if I stay here with Chlo."

"All but the eleventh are at home. I am not letting you out of my sight." He sternly said. "I'm angry at you for not telling me and keeping it from me but I also care for you and I'm making sure you recover properly and are well looked after."

The woman's flatmate let out a shout from her room, making him aware that the comment wasn't to her liking. "I heard that, you fucker. I take amazing care of your girlfriend."

He felt his face flush at Chloe's words. The title he never expected her close friend to give her. His girlfriend? It almost didn't sound real. He knew he shouldn't have even considered the option considering they had yet to go on a second date. It definitely wouldn't be an appropriate to do anything in that moment. Was he rushing into things? She hadn't even flinched at the words, she had just sat there like she was thinking his words over, wondering what to do.

"Say I agree to this, what are we even going to tell your dad? He'll surely ask why I'm staying in your room with you."

"The truth." He replied. Erling would be lying if he said he knew what the truth was. He didn't know what to say to his father, he had hoped he wouldn't question anything if Amelia agreed to stay with him whilst she recovered.

"What is the truth? Can you not just stay here?" She paused. "Ah, of course not, bed's not long enough. You're too tall for your own good, E."

"Mia, it'll be fine. Pappa won't say anything. He won't even notice." He was lying, his father would have many questions but he knew his father well enough to know that he wouldn't ask the questions in front of the Australian. Even though he would be able to ask questions in their native tongue and she wouldn't understand, his father was too polite to do that in front of the woman he had seen grow up.