Sure Thing • Gavi

Chapter 69: First Session

🎶 Hold On — Extreme Music 🎶

At 4pm the next day, I rang at the door to the therapist's office where my appointment was scheduled. The door was opened and I walked to the reception desk to register.
"You're perfectly on time. Dr Reyes is waiting for you - second door on the right." she said and I thanked her before making my way to the room she had indicated.

"Hello Miss Hernandez" a very friendly woman who must be Dr Reyes, greeted me.
"Hello" I said and sat down.
"I'm very relieved that you're open to therapy and not struggling on your own" she said and shot me a smile.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm struggling enough. But I know that I need to process everything and since you're a professional you will hopefully help me make it easier" I shrugged.
"Ok. First things first, how have you been sleeping?" she asked.
"Not at all." I replied dryly.
"Do you want some prescribed pills to-" she started, but I cut her off immediately.
"No. No pills. Nothing. Just my brain. I need to do it on my own." I quickly said.
"Would you like to explain your aversion against pharmaceuticals?" she asked.

I took a deep breath. "My cousin. He was in the military and... was in an operation in Syria. He came back and was prescribed sleeping pills. But he couldn't handle it and... overdosed. He was ten years older than me and I don't know, maybe he was a reason that I wanted to do this whole war correspondent thing, to... I don't know - connect with him?"
"Have you told anyone this?" she asked and I shook my head. The first tear of this session rolled down my cheek. In the following hour we talked extensively about my reasons for wanting to take the job in the first place. Nothing else, not Pablo, not what I experienced during captivity, we started at the very beginning.

When I got out of the room, I scheduled my next appointment in a few day's time and walked out. With my luck, there were paparazzi picturing me outside and I took the next cab that crossed my ways.
"Where to, Miss?" he asked. I took a deep breath and gave him Pablo's address.

📍 Barcelona, Catalunya, España
holacom Victoria Hernandez was pictured leaving a therapist's office this afternoon.

user1 She looks so done 😭 Sending her strength in these hard times
gavifan101 I need to know that Pablo and her are ok 😫
user2 Stop following her around please

I got out in front of the familiar house and rang the bell. Aurora opened the door and looked surprised to see me.
"Hi. Is Pablo here?" I asked.
"Come inside. He's at the Ciutat Esportiva for some tests but he should be back soon" she said and I got in.
"You've got some nerve to show up here" I was greeted by her mother.
"Oh wow. I had expected more of a 'Hi Vicky, nice to see you're still alive and enough of a bigger person to try and straighten things out with my idiot son' to be honest." I said sarcastically.

"He's had the worst time of his life thanks to you. He's only 19, you shouldn't have put him through all of this by leaving!" she shouted. Here we are, her true colours shining through.
"Oh! It's my fault now that your son can't keep his dick in his pants!" I replied and she looked ready to kill me.
"Don't talk about my son like that!" she shrieked.
"I was gone four weeks! Then I disappeared and in one week, he not only gave me up, no - he felt the need to get together with my supposed best friend! How on earth is that my fault?!" I said with tears streaming down my face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is happening here?" Pablo asked, having just come home and hobbling in our direction.
"Oh look, your cheating hero of a son is here!" I told Belen.
"You left him when he was at his lowest! They had just lost against Madrid and you left! Him and the team have not been the same since and then he got injured. And you not only weren't there, no, you just loaded extra pain on him with your disappearing!" she shouted at me.
"Oh! Yes, let's just blame me for everything! The team's bad results, an ACL tear, what else? Is climate change also my fault?" I asked sarcastically.

"Sorry, Pablo. I came here to talk to you, but the little energy I had for that is gone now" I said and stormed outside.
Tears were flowing down my face and I remembered that Pedri lived not far from here, so I took on the walk there. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't even expect him to be home, but to my luck, he was.
"Hey!" he said as he opened the door and I saw that he was holding today's edition of La Vanguardia in his left hand. My article's headline featured prominent on the first page - it made me proud to see it in someone else's hands. I made my way inside without waiting for an invitation.
"What do you think of it?" I said, nodding at the paper as I slumped down on his couch.
"It's very... technical? You're kind of only writing about what happened but not... what happened *to you*" he replied as he sat down across from me.

"That's a story for another time. You should send the paper over to Pablo's mum, she apparently thinks I was having fun and throwing parties over there while her poor baby boy was suffering all alone" I said sarcastically, crossing my arms. Pedri shot me a confused look.
"I just went over to Pablo's and was ready to... talk, but was faced with his furious mother who unloaded all her stress on me. I mean, I get it - everyone's emotions are running high, especially because of his injury, but what she said was completely out of line" I sighed and my tears started flowing again.
"Vicky, you know I've always been the biggest fan of you two, but right now... I think everyone needs to sort out their own issues first before you can talk about you guys together..." he said and I agreed with him.

After doing some superficial small talk, Pedri offered to drive me home, which I happily accepted. While I was sitting in the passenger seat and he was navigating through Barcelona's traffic, I pulled out my phone and opened the chat with Pablo:

Vicky ❤️
I need time.

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Next chapter will only be in a week, after the Antwerp game... But hold tight, it's going to be a shocker!