the love of my life - Pablo Gavi

(happy) birthday part 2

Tess pov:

It is now 2 pm. and visiting hours are about to begin.

I'm lying in my hospital bed, next to Pablo.

It still feels strange to see him like this. It is connected to all kinds of equipment and is very quiet. I grab his hand and kiss it.

''Please Pablo hold on. You can't leave us in this violent world. I can't fall asleep without you Pablo. I can not live without you. We can't live without you. Be strong.''

I feel tears welling up, but I don't want to cry. The wound from the c-section hurts a lot and it only hurts more when I have to cry, I discovered this morning.

"Hope misses you." I say smiling. ''She looks a lot like me and Xavi met her for the first time this morning. It was very beautiful to see.

Hope is doing well. She still has to fight but she is making small steps of progress every day.''

I look at Pablo with love.

"Please don't leave me alone with Hope, promise?" I want her to learn everything about football from you and I want to see her enthusiasm when you play football.

And what I want to see most is that you slowly change from my boyfriend to the father of my daughter.''

After a while I am driven to my own room. I lie in my bed, waiting for the visitors to arrive.

Then there's a knock on the door.

"Come in!" The door is opened softly. The whole team slowly walks in. I watch in amazement.

''How nice that you all came together. I carefully sit up, but I shouldn't have done that. A stab of pain shoots through my stomach. I try to stay strong, but I grab my stomach.

"Is everything going well?" Frenkie asks worriedly. "It's fine." I say, with a painful smile.

"I don't know if there are enough chairs," I say while smiling.

''Does not matter. I can sit on your lap, Frenkie, right?'' Pedri says funny. I smile. Laughing out loud hurts too much.

Everyone congratulates me on my birthday and on the birth of our daughter. I thank everyone.

Then everyone sits down. Some remain standing. Pedri, as he said, sits on Frenkies lap. "I'm sorry Frenkie, it must be hard for you that he's sitting on your lap right now." Frenkie nods to Fermin. I smile. ''You still look like a bunch of little kids.'' Everyone laughs.

"I didn't know you were that heavy Pedri." Pedri looks insultingly at Frenkie. "Yes, at least I go to the gym."

"Or is it the food that makes you a little heavier?" Lewandowski pokes Pedri in the stomach.

"I think it's not that bad how heavy you are, Pedri." I say reassuringly. ''Just listen to Tess. She is a good coach.'' I smile.

"Thanks for saving me," Pedri whispers.

"And now your gift." Lewandowski takes a large package wrapped in gift paper. It gently places the package on my thighs. I open the gift.

I look at the players in surprise. A shiny black guitar comes out of the package. ''You didn't do this! This is an way too expensive gift!''

Fermin smiles. ''Pablo said you loved music. He said you always wanted to play the guitar, but you never wanted to buy one yourself. Then we came up with the idea of buying you a guitar.'' ''Really, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.'' ''Nice to hear.''

''You have to come back soon and give us training. We are suddenly a lot worse without you.''

''I'm serious Pedri, as soon as I get out of this prison, I'll come to Camp Nou. They really treat me like a baby.

''I'm going to wash you Tess, let me braid your hair, you can go outside for 10 minutes.'' I say in a childish voice. Everyone has to laugh.

''And the food is terrible. But really terrible. Every morning a kind of disgusting porridge with lumps.'' I make a vomiting motion. ''Really terrible.''

''The only advantage is that I am close to Pablo and Hope.'' I say with a smile on my face.

I pull back the covers a bit, because it's terribly hot in the room. I feel pain in my stomach again when I sit up.

Lewandowski looks at me and then my stomach. "Tess, you're bleeding." I look at Lewandowski. "What are you saying?" Then I look at my stomach.

A red spot forms and only gets bigger. ''My stitches broke.''

''Shoot. How the hell can those stitches break?''

I feel myself getting really dizzy and nauseous. "Tess, lie down."

"No, I'm fine Alejandro, really." But I'm going to lie down anyway. I close my eyes. "Tess, you have to stay awake for a moment." I see Alejandro pressing the red button. I close my eyes again. I still hear someone say that I am losing a lot of blood.

Then everything goes black.