In the spotlight

63

Sofia Christensen

I dragged my suitcases behind me, all the way up until the very last floor. The elevator doors opened slowly in front of me, revealing the very well known corridor that has been my home for almost a year now.

This thought put a smile on my face. To think about everything that happened to me, happened to us this past year since the first "I love you" were heard or since I had a sudden idea of moving to Madrid has warmed my heart.

I dropped everything down right in front of the door and fished out my set of keys, decorated with lots of different souvenirs from all around the world we collected during our travels. 

I turned the key in the hole and flung the heavy door open, right before I was greeted by a few loud meows coming from around the living room. 

"Hi baby!" I wide smile stretched across my face as I glanced down at our beautiful furball jogging straight towards me, her blue and brown coloured irises glistering under the setting sun's light flooding the whole apartment.

I gently picked Freyja up as I locked the door behind me, pulling the suitcases inside the very empty bedroom, beautifully made by our dearest and sweetest cleaner lady who took the task of feeding Freyja daily to her heart, and made sure that our beautiful girl never lacked anything. 

I sighed as I stepped back outside again, and nothing but quiet and calm greeted me. The jetlag and the strain that was put on me by the previous 15 hours long flight back from Los Angeles started to hit me like a damned truck right before I looked up to the manual clock on the wall, and realised that the match was just about to start.

I quickly dashed towards the living room, and placed Freyja down on her cat tree facing the rooftops of Madrid before I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Just in time.

The cameraman was right about to move from the team of Bayern Munich lined up on the pitch to my favourite team ever. As the bright white jerseys appeared, I felt a surge of excitement washing over me, the fangirl side instantly jumping out as I walked over to the kitchen to make some snacks for the match. 

All the familiar faces all locked in for the upcoming clash, but one particularly made my heart beat a lot faster than before. As his brown hair fell forward his forehead, casting a shadow over his sharp cheekbones and short stubble covered jawline I instantly understood all those Instagram fan pages about him.

Once his bright green eyes noticed the camera nearing his face, he let a small smile form on his face as he continued singing the Spanish national anthem with his teammates. Oh he knew perfectly well that he looked hot as hell.

I wasn't very far away from booking a ticket to the very next plane heading towards Munich at that point, but the sheer idea of having to hop on an airplane right now scared me to death.

With these turmoils in my head I turned back towards my macaroni cooking in the pot and quickly stirred it before I turned my attention back to the cheese sauce assembling right next to it. 

Freyja accompanied me on the kitchen counter as I shred the cheese and used up all of the seasonings I could currently find while the match started off in the background. 

I turned the heat off under the sauce and let the pasta boil as I headed towards the bathroom. The light reflected off of something on the ground which caught my attention, as I crouched down and grabbed it.

A picture frame looked back at me after Freyja probably pushed at down accidentally. I turned the picture in my hand, examining for any cracks but luckily the picture survived the fall completely. 

I could feel a smile forming on my face as I examined the image itself inside the frame more thoroughly. It was me and Matteo on a yacht back in last October when we went on a holiday to Greece on his birthday.

He was laying on his back in his swimsuit putting on his sunglasses, his hand thrown over my shoulder as I laid right next to him, my leg around his waist in my bikini. 

Marco took this picture of us as he stood above us, his outline clearly visible blocking the sun. Memories about his birthday suddenly came back to me, about the whole week on that yacht as we sailed the Mediterranean Sea together with his closest friends.

I carefully placed the frame back between the other two. The picture in the left side was taken on Matteo's parents' 30th wedding anniversary. We threw a big party for them in Tenerife, the whole extended family was present along with of course the two children and their families. 

I was holding Luna, both of us smiling, dressed similarly in a white linen pantsuit with the same black Dior belt around our waist. Even our hair was similarly done, two small braids on the two sides of our faces. 

Matteo was insistent on framing this picture and putting it out here, because according to him he loved being reminded of the fact that I had such a great relationship with his niece, and because he loved the outfits too. Meanwhile the one picture I took of him on my extended family's yearly grill party in Moscow posing with my cousins and uncles after playing football was placed at the other end of the corridor. 

And the last one finally, my favourite one out of them all. It couldn't be tied to any specific event or date, it was just the two of us on a random Wednesday afternoon right around Christmas. We were wearing the same matching PJ's too. 

It's a simple mirror selfie as we sat on the bed, me in the front and Matteo behind me holding my waist tightly. I was holding the phone with one hand, showing half of a heart with my index and middle finger on the other. 

Matteo completed the other side's of the heart, glancing down at me as I was smiling. But the look on his face, there was something about it that made shockwaves run down my spine and beat my heart faster every time I took a look at it. 

His half smile as he looked at me, the genuine love and happiness his gaze directed towards me was sometimes just too much to bear. Whenever I had a bad day or spent nights alone like I did today, I just had to take a look at this picture to cheer up instantly and fall even deeper in love with him. 

As I remembered my pasta on the stove I entered the bathroom and left as quickly, returning to the kitchen while listening to the halftime analysis of Real Madrid leading 1-0 against Bayern Munich. 

Right as the halftime break ended and I was finally done with my mac and cheese for dinner, I sat down next to the kitchen counter and grabbed my laptop from my backpack.

I opened it up for a few messages and emails, increasing from day to day as we were nearing the New York Fashion Week of this year. Ever since the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show ended in February I've been preparing myself for this week where I'll walk not once, not even twice but thrice for two different fashion houses this time too. 

A few emails were about this specific question too, but I answered them as professionally as I could, calming down everybody that no problems are about to arise as long as the plan is in motion. 

I finished my not as quick as expected dinner right as I was nearing the very last of my emails, and the match was nearing the very last minutes too with a confident 3-0 lead for Real Madrid. Serves them right after falling out of the quarter finals last year against Bayern. 

I sighed heavily as I finished the very last email and saw one coming in right at the same time. Without really even looking at it I opened it, skipping the subject and the sender alltogether and reading jumping straight to the message itself while watching the match.

Dear Ms. Christensen yeah yeah I hope this email finds you well thanks a lot, I need some further contact information alright alright say less. I opened the form and filled it out quickly, sparing the sender from sensitive information because for that they had to ask my manager.

Before any other email could have popped up I quickly shut the laptop down, washing the dishes I left and taking a quick shower after the match was officially over, falling into the bed with Freyja on my side and Matteo on the phone, listening to his excited story about the match with a constant smile on my face.