Becoming Ava | Dominik Szoboszlai

Chapter Three

I was scrolling through social media when I heard a key turn in the door to our flat, signalling my peace while Craig was at work was over. I quickly grabbed my laptop from where it was discarded beside me, pretending to be engrossed in my own work as he appeared in our dining room.

'Hi handsome,' I greeted him brightly, closing my laptop to make a big show that he had my full attention. 'How was your day?'

'Hi Rubes,' he smiled, walking straight over to kiss me. 'Absolutely hectic babe, back-to-back client meetings all day. I'm just happy to be home with you, I'm switching off to the outside world for the night.'

Something like guilt panged in my chest at his obvious love for me. Little did he know that minutes before he arrived home, I had been scrolling through post after post about a certain Hungarian on social media.

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'Is there anything that you want to watch babe?'

'I know what you're doing Ruby,' he mused with a fake laugh, not looking up from his phone. 'If you want to ogle over a player while pretending to look at your phone then you can do it somewhere else.'

Craig's sudden snarky remark was a drastic change from his laughter about me starting to enjoy the sport just a few days earlier. 'Excuse me?'

He raised an eyebrow at me. 'Please don't insult me by pretending that's not what you're doing. I haven't figured out who it is but there's no way you've suddenly become so tolerant of me watching this much football.'

Goddammit. 'I don't care for that accusation babe,' I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at him. 'I can barely name a football team let alone any individual players, why on earth would I be seeking one out?'

Craig's laugh was curt. 'Oh, come off it, you're not hiding it very well Ruby. I know you obviously think that I'm too stupid to notice.'

The man's not wrong...

'Don't put words in my mouth, especially when there's nothing to "notice" anyway.' I made air quotations at him. 'I didn't even ask if you wanted to watch football specifically, jeez.'

'And that's how you've been going undetected for weeks Rubes.' His tone is tinged with hurt, but I'm not backing down.

'You sound so paranoid right now, it's really not a good look. It's almost unattractive, actually.'

'Sometimes you can be such a bitch Ruby,' Craig sighed, turning his back to me. 'Put whatever you want on the TV, I'm past caring.'

For a brief second, I considered if it was worth the argument to show my hand and put the Liverpool match on. Ultimately though, I wasn't willing to give Craig the satisfaction of being right. It would only encourage him to try and figure out which player it was that I was looking out for. At least for now, I wasn't sure if he even knew which football team I was keeping tabs on.

Let's keep it that way.

'I'm going to go and watch Grey's in our room,' I decided, a plan forming in my mind. Craig absolutely hated Grey's Anatomy; the scenes of surgeries make him feel nauseous apparently, so there was no chance that he would disturb me.

'Rather you than me,' he muttered in my general direction, leaning down to turn on his PlayStation. Bonus, he definitely won't come looking for me now.

I stood and moved towards him, planting a quick kiss to his cheek before I padded along the carpeted hallway to our room. Pushing the door closed, I let out a sigh and quickly flicked on the TV and started the first episode of Grey's that I could find. I couldn't care less about watching it, I just needed a cover so that I could watch the Liverpool match on my phone. This way, if for some reason Craig came into the hallway, he'd be able to hear the TV. I couldn't have him questioning whether I was being truthful, everything would unravel.

I pulled up Lask v. Liverpool on my phone and settled back into the pillows, volume turned right down so I didn't give myself away.

As my eyes tracked number 8's movements around the pitch – not field as I'd been calling it – I was fully focused on the game. Dominik moved so quickly with the ball whenever it was at his feet, his control and accuracy making him stand out among his teammates. Off the ball, he was constantly moving too, meaning the camera loved him.

When he wasn't on screen though, I found my mind wandering. Craig was definitely onto me, and if he was pissed off already, I could only imagine what he would say when he worked out who it was that I'm lusting after. He'd have a field day with the fact that I'm a few years older than Dominik as just a starting point, never mind the fact that he'll probably see it as disrespectful to be keeping tabs on another man.

I needed to take a step back and not get caught watching or looking at anything Liverpool related.

Maybe I could try and throw him off the scent. I would have to try and make him believe that I have a crush on someone from whatever his favourite team is. Chelsea? At least that way he might take it a little bit better.

A nagging voice in the back of my mind was trying to draw attention to the fact that if I needed to hide my intentions from him, I know that what I'm doing is wrong.

Glancing at my phone, Szoboszlai was running over to take a corner – another term I've learnt – and just the sight of his face was enough for me to silence that pesky voice.

His handsome face was worth it. 

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The answer to my secrecy problems with Craig came a few weeks later when I was scrolling the 'Dominik Szoboszlai' hashtag on Twitter. There, I saw it; speculation that Dominik and his girlfriend had split up. A spark fizzed through me at the possibility that such a beautiful man was single, and a plan began to form. A plan that would require precise execution and timing, with a huge helping of madness.

Could I pull it off? Maybe.

Was this a delusional idea? Undoubtedly.

Regardless, I had to try.

I had to land myself Dominik Szoboszlai.