Through Her Eyes - Alexia Putellas

Chapter Twenty-Two

The air inside of the meeting room choked Alexia as she sat down, surrounded by the FC Barcelona staff as well as Jonatan at the end of the table, his serious demeanour worried the captain as she nervously looked anywhere other than his eyes.

Alexia looked towards Ines, the physiotherapist looked almost apologetic as she attempted to maintain eye contact, but Jonatan interrupted them as he began to speak.

The meeting continued for the next hour, Alexia was silent through out it—they had spoken about the transfers before the end of the year, consisting of Jenni, Ana and Leila.

"We are done. You can all go now." Jonatan demanded in a strict tone, maintaining strong eye contact with Alexia who stayed planted in her seat.

When the room had cleared, Jonatan stood from his chair and walked towards the window, breathing deeply, "Your recent performances have been disappointing. Why do you think you're underperforming?"

Alexia's ego began to crumble, as she cleared her throat—it wasn't usual that Jonatan would critique her performance, after all she won the Ballon D'Or and was the captain of FC Barcelona.

What more did he expect?

"I can train more, or go on a diet." The captain pleaded, feeling that she was being looked down on, she hadn't felt helpless like she was currently in a long time. The urge to be great and be the best overwhelmed her, and Jona's disappointed gaze made her feel smaller.

"You could by ending your relationship with Valerie." Jona revealed, turning around and watched Alexia's expression become shocked, her face became paler by the second.

"We aren't..."

"I've already been told, and this person is certain that the two of you are dating." The coach shook his head, approaching Alexia and sitting down beside her.

"You're saying this as if Valerie is distracting me." The captain gestured, overwhelmed by her emotions. She wished that she was back in bed besides Valerie, missing the presence of the Brit.

"That's exactly what she is, a distraction." Then, Jona reached his hand across the table and held onto Alexia's, "Since I've known you, you've been a team player and focused on being a winner. Don't let some girl stop that."

"She's not just some girl. She's my girlfriend, Jona." Alexia snatched her hand back to her chest, looking at the man in front of her with offence. She had never seen her coach act like this, and the feeling that something bad would happen was growing inside of her.

"Listen, I just want what's best for you...And her? She won't make you happy." Jona was confused, not sure why the captain couldn't see where she was coming from. He believed that his word was correct, no one could cross him.

"Is this because of the loss against Lyon?" Alexia whispered, self-hatred building as she thought back to their defeat and the blame that she had put on herself sent her into a depressive stage of rewatching the match over and over.

"We lost because you weren't focused enough, Alexia." Jona yelled suddenly causing the captain to flinch in her seat, picking nervously at the hem of her shorts, "If you don't break up with her, then you'll have to face the consequences."

Jonatan stood from his seat, sparing a pointed look at the seated woman before leaving the meeting room, the door reverberated from the loud slam.

Alexia couldn't breathe.

✰

Alexia had been benched for the full ninety minutes, and Valerie had replaced her position on the pitch.