Victoria and Pablo meet by chance when she has to interview him after the Nations League final 2023.
He's immediately infatuated by her, but due to a few years age difference, she only sees him as a younger friend.
Will he make it out of the friendz...
IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: All the events that Vicky will encounter in the Middle East, are purely fictional. I am in no way a political expert and I don't want this book to turn into a political discussion. Comments I deem inappropriate and unfitting to the story, will be deleted. I will try to keep the facts as close to reality as possible, but the focus will clearly be on Vicky's journey and not on political circumstances. Just lay back and enjoy the story.
🎶 If I Lose Myself — OneRepublic 🎶
After making it through security, I had to get through passport control and after checking that my gate really existed (you never know), I went to the lounge to stuff some last continental food into my stomach - I wasn't the biggest fan of hummus and co, but I would have to survive on that for the next few months. Eventually, it was time to board the plane and I let out a deep sigh when we took off, leaving Barcelona behind us.
We landed in Tel Aviv on time and while I waited to get through immigration, I shot Pablo a message from my new Israeli phone number.
When it was my turn, I gave the officer all my documents which included my passport, my work visa and my press accreditation. He took his time to check everything thoroughly and finally put a stamp into my passport and waved me through. When I got into the arrival hall, I looked around for the driver who was picking me up and would take me to my apartment that was situated close to Gaza's border. It was impossible to miss him, he was holding up a huge sign with "HERNANDEZ - VANGUARDIA" written on it and I went over to greet him.
His name was Josep and he was an Arab Christian, as he told me on our two-hour ride. I listened to his stories about how Christians were living through this conflict and how their daily life as a minority in the country looked like. It was so interesting and I made lots of notes, this could definitely be a fascinating article - it wasn't really urgent, but I could definitely shoot it when I didn't have another story. We finally arrived and he was kind enough to drag my suitcase up the stairs to my small flat. I was staying in a small town near the border to Gaza and I had an eerie feeling when I saw fighter jets flying over our heads. I thanked Josep and gave him 80 shekels as a tip.
My flat was tiny. It had just one room with kitchen, bed and a table with two chairs in it and a small bathroom next to it. I opened up the tap and had to find out that I had no warm water, but when I heard the engines of the tanks rumbling outside, I realised that this was my smallest problem.
Vicky - Israel ❤️ In my flat now. All good. Going to meet my colleagues for dinner now How was your day? I love and miss you ❤️
Pablo ⚽️ Training was good Omw to Ilkay's now, he's hosting a team dinner after his comments about us "lacking passion" 🫠 I love & miss you too ❤️
After splashing some cold water on my face and brushing my hair, I went to the town's main square where there was... some kind of restaurant if you could call it that. There was one table occupied with Western-looking people and one waved at me. "Ha! The Vanguardia girl is here!" a man in his late thirties with a British accent shouted. "Hi, I'm Vicky" I said and waved at the round of five. "I'm Charles, from the Times" the man that had greeted me said and shook my hand. "Oh, you must know my friend, Claire Collins!" I said. "Indeed I do, very clever girl! I take it you studied together?" he asked. "Yes, LSE class of '22!" I replied and smiled at him. The other four introduced themselves to me: Joe from the New York Times, Katja from the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Aoto from the Japan Times and Francesca from La Repubblica. They were all definitely older than me, being between their mid-thirties and fourties, but they made me feel welcome as we would be spending a lot of time together in the upcoming months.
"So, let's get started, here's your bulletproof vest and your helmet, wear them whenever you're out on duty. Me and Aoto are the ones with cars - you're always welcome to ride with us, but most locals will give you a ride over to the border." Joe explained while we were eating some laffa and falafel with dips. The conversation shifted to today's happenings and I was horrified when I heard about what they had seen, I hoped that my skin was thick enough. Suddenly, Pablo's fangirl's comments wishing me death seemed ridiculous.
The next day, the action started. Aoto and I decided to drive over to the south of the Gaza strip, where an overnight bombing had happened, leaving 12 people injured. We talked to the people that lived in the area and I really tried to stay composed, but it was horrible. The day after, we drove up north, to visit a site where the Hamas had bombed Israeli military property. It was tougher than I had imagined, looking into people's faces and seeing no light in their eyes, regardless of them being Jewish or Muslim.
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📍 Israel - Gaza Border vicky.hernandez New job - less fashionable outfit choices
chiara2203 Missing you so badly!!!! 😭 pablogavi 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼 ana.cord Wow! 💪🏼 jkeey4 I like your Barcelona outfits better! Stay safe and keep up the good work 😊
In the evenings, I would get back to my flat, cry for thirty minutes and then get on writing an article. On Saturday evening, I knew that Pablo was playing and I tried my best to set up a live stream, hoping that it wouldn't crash every two minutes. The first few minutes were a struggle and I was sat on the edge of my uncomfortable bed, watching on. Pablo was starting and seeing him on TV made my eyes tear up, I was missing him so much - his touch, his embrace, his lips. It definitely wasn't Pablo's best first half, and I only hoped that it had nothing to do with me leaving Barcelona.
Hopefully, Xavi would give them a good pep talk during the break, because how we were playing now was a disaster. The beginning of the second half wasn't much better, although Pablo was being a bit more aggressive, which was what the team needed as we still weren't improving. My hopes got up when I saw Ferran and Pedri getting ready to enter the field - I was so happy that the latter was finally back from his injury and again, I wished to be there, at the stadium to cheer on my boyfriend and his friends.
Why was I regretting coming here so much? It had been my dream since I started at Vanguardia to do war correspondence and never ever would I have thought that a boy could make me have doubts about it. But it was too late now, I had to suck it up and get through those three months. Saying that I enjoyed being here was a long shot, given the circumstances, but I loved the job and I felt that I was doing something important - maybe I just had to focus more on these positive aspects instead of moping around.
87th minute. Yellow card for Pablo because he overreacted, once again - meaning he will miss the next game against Alavés. Fantastic - he looked pretty pissed too and he definitely wasn't happy about tonight's performance. Finally, the relief, in the last breath of the game: Araujo with a header. It was checked by VAR, but THANKFULLY conceded. This was a miracle, it definitely was. Then, the final whistle blew and I quickly typed a message to my boyfriend:
Vicky - Israel ❤️ You fought till the end!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️ So so so happy my love! You made my day 🥰🥰🥰
