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...
At 2pm sharp, I arrived at the restaurant and told the waiter Luis' name under which he had booked a table. He arrived shortly after me and sat down. "What is this about?" he asked, still confused about the tone of my message. I took in a deep breath. "I need you to do me a favour." I said and he looked at me with a questioning face. "A huge one." I added. "What?" he asked. "You need to trust me on this, Luis, really. You need to fire Llorente and his closest aides. That Sonya chick and his assistant." I blurted out and his eyes widened. "Are you crazy? Why?" he asked. "Because I have a story. And it would make the club really look bad. I can't run it myself because it would discredit my persona if I did. I'd have to pass it to a colleague... because honestly, it's too good of a story to pass out on... and with the proofs I have - no one would hold back to slander the whole club's PR department. And Luis - you guys cannot afford any more bad stories right now." I said calmly, hoping that he would trust me enough.
"Vicky I can't just blindly go around and fire people for you. I need you to tell me what this is about" he said a bit exasperatedly. "Luis, I..." I said but he cut me off. "Either you tell me now or I'll read it in Vanguardia so speak" he said in a stern tone. "It involves Gavi. That's why I cannot run it" I admitted. "Fucking hell, Vicky..." he muttered and I stayed silent as he looked out the window, probably gathering his thoughts. "How bad would it be?" he asked as our food came around. "Well, you could survive it but... many would not take it well and your opponents would just laugh at you even more" I mumbled. "Jesus... Fine, I'll do it because I trust you and I very much hope that you're not using my good intentions" he said seriously and I nodded. "I promise Luis and I know this is huge. Thank you very much!" I said and a huge rock fell from my heart. "You don't want it to come out, right? That's why you won't tell me either, right?" he asked, reading me perfectly once again. I just nodded silently and he put his head in his hands.
We eventually changed the topic and after finishing up, he accompanied me again to my Vespa and I made sure to thank him again before putting on my helmet. "Luis... thank you for doing this for me." I said and he nodded. "Of course. I'll always trust you, Vicky" he said and hugged me. I hugged him back tightly and after a few seconds, we let go again. "Well then, I'll see you soon." I said and smiled at him before getting on my Vespa and turning on the engine. I felt Luis grasping my arm and looked up at him. "You remember what I said in Riyadh? That Gavi still loves you?" he asked and I nodded slowly, not knowing what he was on about. "You still love him too." he added and smiled before waving at me and walking to his car.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
📍 Barcelona, Catalunya, España vichernandez.updates Luis and Vicky grabbing lunch together today! They look so cute 😭
user1 why is she wearing her pyjama outside? vicky_hernandez_fan We stan 🙌🏼 user2 whore
When I returned back home, I slumped down on my couch. I was starting to feel bad to ask a friend for such a huge favour. I knew that Luis trusted me and I didn't feel as if I was abusing him - Barca was really better off if this story didn't get out. Imagine the laughing stock they would be that they bullied a defenceless 19-year-old into a relationship while he was out injured. But I hated that Pablo still had that power over me - that I wanted, scrap that, felt the need to help him out and do things right for him, even though he didn't even ask me for help. My thoughts were interrupted by my phone dinging:
Luis Laporta Llorente out
Victoria Hernandez Thank you so much Luis, really. I owe you big time
Luis Laporta You do
At around 7pm, I drove to the office with my Vespa as I would be reporting on the Getafe vs Real game from there. Originally, I was set to travel to Madrid, but I told my boss that I would do it from the office due to personal circumstances. I was pissed at myself that I let this Pablo and Ana thing even get a hold on me doing my job properly. Martin was already in the sports newsroom with another reporter that was reporting on the Premier League games of tonight.
"Good evening" I greeted them both and they exchanged the greetings. Martin and I took our seats in front of one of the bigger computer monitors and he put on a headset while I plugged my AirPods into my ears. My computer was open in front of me, but to be honest, I only managed to concentrate on the game superficially, Pablo occupying 99% of my thoughts. "You want me to take over? You can proof read it after the game... You look like you have stuff on your mind..." Martin offered and I just nodded, pushing my computer over to him.
I hated myself right now. Why couldn't I focus on work? When the game ended, I flew over Martin's notes and told him to write the article. It wouldn't be a big one anyways - we were a Catalan newspaper and no one of our readers cared too much about a game involving two teams from Madrid.
I looked outside our office windows - it had gotten dark outside and my head was still buzzing with thoughts about all of this, when I decided to just confront Pablo about the situation. I put on my coat and took out my scooter keys from by bag before hurrying downstairs. The drive felt familiar, yet strange after all this time and when I arrived in front of the house in Castelldefels, I felt nervous. But the anger in me started rising, I had gone to extreme lengths for him and I was going to confront him about that.
I rang his doorbell and it was opened up by his father. "Uh... Vicky, what are you..." he started but I pushed him aside and got into the house. I found the family having dinner with Pablo's agent Ivan. "Vicky!" Pablo exclaimed and everyone's heads shot towards me. He pulled himself up from his chair, but was met with a slap across his face from my side.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I shouted and he looked at me with a surprised face. I didn't even give him the chance to reply. "Instead of focusing on your recovery you spent your free time running around, obligated to post stupid Instagram stories with a girl that's only interested in your bank account?!" I continued raging. "How do you..." he started. "It's over now anyways..." he said but I cut him off. "Yes! Because I intervened! Why didn't you come to me earlier?!" I asked angrily. "You WHAT?! I didn't ask you to save the day! I had it under control!" he shouted back. "Oh really?! Didn't seem like it last week when you showed up with her at the gala" I shot back and he stood up, pushing back his chair, slightly hissing in pain - the movement seemed to have been a bit to abrupt for him. My heart shattered seeing that. "You're back at treating me like a child!" he shouted. "It's not my fault you behave like one! Cheating and lying!" I shouted back, a tear now rolling down my face. That hit him and he gulped, staying silent after hearing the truth.
"And you?! Aren't you supposed to be his manager? This was really poor..." I now turned to Ivan who stayed silent too, the whole room was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. "You guys owe me big time." I said pointing at all of them, having calmed down a bit. "What do you want?" Ivan asked me, completely annoyed. The audacity of this guy. He would definitely find a not so nice article about his agency the day after tomorrow in La Vanguardia. "An exclusive about his recovery journey" I blurted out and everyone looked at me with eyes wide open. They probably hadn't expected me to make this about my job. "Hell no! We strictly told the press that the wish is to keep this private and quiet!" Ivan shouted and slammed his hand on the table. "Fine. I can also write a story about Gavi fake dating around, bet that wouldn't be such great PR but... I do have to write about something, right?" I said with a challenging look. "Vicky, you wouldn't..." now Aurora said quietly, but I cut her off.
"GUYS! I already saved you from the incredible embarrassment of this coming out without you having a heads up! I went to extreme lengths to get Llorente and his team fired, just for you, Pablo! The least you could give me after everything you made me go through is a stupid interview about your knee!" I exclaimed and turned to my ex-boyfriend to look him in the eyes. There was an eerie silence in the room. "Fine." he sighed and put his head in his hands. "Thank you." I said calmly and my body somehow automatically moved towards him and I put a hand on his arm. He looked into my eyes and we stood there staring for what seemed ages.
"Anyways... um... sorry for interrupting your dinner, I'll get going now" I said as I snapped out of my trance. "You can join us... if you want" Pablo's Dad asked and I raised my eyebrows. "Very charming, but I'd rather not, thank you" I said, maybe a bit too coldly, but I just wasn't in the mood to sit down with my ex and my ex-in-laws and play happy family.
