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...
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📍 Barcelona, Catalunya, España Tagged: lavanguardia vicky.hernandez 📰
user1 What Gavi did to you is unbelievable, I'm glad you finally spilled the tea chiara2203 🧎🏻♀️ user2 Turning into an Espanyol fan now kike_hrnndz Proud bro blaugrana101 I hope you rot in hell
I had just hung up my coat when I returned from a small grocery run, when someone wildly knocked at my door. "I was wondering when you'd show up" I sighed when I opened the door to Luis. "You have one hell of explaining to do, young lady" he exclaimed, slamming his copy of today's Vanguardia onto my table. "You out of everyone should understand that I was just doing my job!" I replied angrily. What the hell was his problem? "You know this is not what I mean! You've been sleeping with Gavi?! All while you whined about him being so mean to you?!" he shouted and I froze.
"I- I..." I stammered in shock, but my shock quickly turned to anger. "YOU were the one pushing for me to get back with him. All the time it was Gavi, Gavi, Gavi, so why are you all worked up now?!" I shouted back. "I wanted you guys to be together not cause drama after drama!" he replied. "You think that's not what I would want too? He messes up every fucking time!" I shouted in my defense. "And you're a Saint?" he asked and raised his eyebrows.
"Look, I was ready to get back together with him yesterday and then I found out that he disrespected me and went against my profession behind my back!" I defended my position. "Did you let him explain himself?! Or did you jump to conclusions in anger once again?" he challenged me. "Oh, I get it that Pablo is Barca's Golden Boy and you've always been on his side, but you're really going too far this time!" I shouted. "Always on his side?! Vicky, I've done everything for you these months, hell, I've been your friend through everything, always standing by you! You didn't even trust me to tell me half the stuff that has been going on in your life!" he shouted back even louder.
"Hell, I've fired people because of you and I have to find out in this article why! You could have told me, I would have understood!" he now said defeatedly, rubbing his front with his right hand. After a long, silent pause, where tears streamed down my face, I finally spoke up, with a shaky voice. "I'm afraid. I guess I just can't open up to him and when I see an obstacle in our way, I run in the opposite direction rather than confronting him and the obstacle. I... Luis, I... I want a family, I want a husband, I want what Chiara has. I was so jealous of her when she stood in front of that altar. Pablo... he's still a teenager... I... I don't know if I'm ready to affront life with everything he still has before him..." I sobbed and leaned against a wall for support.
Luis looked like he was pitying me, really, but he decided to remain steady on his hard front. "You're a coward, Vicky. And a bully, after what I read in this article. There was no need to drag everyone through the mood because of your personal revenge against a teenager." he said sternly, but I just buried my head in my hands, continuing crying. "Poor Marc Guiu has to get back home now to explain his parents and grandparents as to if he was really watching porn in his dorm with his teammates" he chuckled, in an effort to cheer me up, which somehow worked because I smiled at him through my tears.
"I'll leave you now, because I have to straighten out things after the wrecking ball you hit at me, but... Don't be a coward and run. You're so much better than that" he said and caressed my face, giving me a soft kiss on my head before leaving my apartment again. I continued crying and when my tears seemed to have finished, I just sat down, leaning against my wall and staring outside my window. It was a warm spring day and the sun was shining. Birds were chirping, it was a beautiful day, only I had ruined it with my behaviour.
Another knock at my door, gosh who was it now? My apartment was worse than a brothel with all the men going in and out all the time. I opened up the door to find my brother with a huge smile on his face. "I quit." he announced and clapped his hands happily as he walked inside. "You what?!" I asked confusedly. "I quit my job and you should too." he replied and now my eyes almost fell out of my head. "Are you crazy?" I exclaimed.
"Nope. I need to reset and you need to sort your mind out. And I already know how" he said proudly and slammed a world map onto my table. "A map? Why would I need that?" I asked confusedly, furrowing my eyebrows. "You, me and my old Defender - we'll be crossing the Sahara desert. No phones, just an old Nokia for emergencies and a photo camera, we leave every other connection to civilisation behind." he explained excitedly and my lips started to curl up in a smile. "Are you serious about this?" I asked, not believing what crazy idea this was. "Totally. I've got the route ready... I've been thinking about doing this for a long time but... I believe that now is the right time. And I think you could need the time off too" he said.
A wave of excitement came over me, and maybe also a door that made it able for me to escape all of this here. "Well, then I better pay a visit to Vanguardia" I said and a smile crept onto both our faces as I grabbed my jacket and hurried down the stairs to my car. During the ride, the giddy feeling inside of me didn't stop, on the contrary, it only got stronger. For the first time in my life, I was doing something outside of the norm, outside of the rules, outside of what was expected from me. And it felt good, I felt free.
Once again, I stood in front of Mr Gordós office, taking a deep breath before knocking and after I heard his deep "Come in", I opened the door. "Ah! The hero of the hour! You won't believe how our sales have increased today! We're recording a plus of 23%!" he exclaimed happily and I shot him a nervous smile. "... But I burnt down bridges" I sighed as I sat down at his desk, across from him. He looked at me and nodded his head slowly, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "You're leaving" he stated. "I am leaving" I confirmed.
"I kind of saw that coming, especially after what happened in Madrid" he sighed and looked at me, pressing his lips together. "I'm terribly sorry. I know I owe Vanguardia a whole lot, but... I'm not in a healthy place right now mentally and... I need to pull the plug in time" I replied and shot him an apologetic look. "It pains me unbelievably to have to let you go but... I understand. You have been through so much more than any normal person could ever take in a whole lifetime. You deserve time off. You deserve to find yourself. You deserve everything and I wish you nothing but the utmost happiness." he said and stood up to hug me, which I reciprocated.
"What are your plans now?" he asked. "Crossing the Sahara by car with my brother" I replied excitedly and his eyes almost popped out of his head. "Wow! Um... this I had not expected!" he chuckled. "Me neither!" I laughed and gave him one last wave before leaving his office. Then, I walked down to my desk, where I found Irene sitting at hers, across from mine. Shit, I was going to miss her.
"Hey! Why are you in?" she asked excitedly when she saw me. "I quit" I sighed and she looked at me shocked. "What..." she muttered and I nodded sadly. "Kike and I are going away for some time... I... It's all too much. I came back from Syria and thought that everything was going to be alright if I just got back into my everyday life, but... I need to hit the emergency brake before I completely burn out" I explained. "Does that mean... You're leaving Pablo?" she asked and I sighed. "Yes. I'm leaving Pablo. I need to sort out my head and what I really want. I'm afraid to be with him but on the other hand I feel like I can't breathe when I'm not with him. This is not healthy and I need to be at peace with myself first and foremost." I replied, a small tear escaping my eyes.
"Where will you go? How long will you be away?" she asked, lightly crying now. "Africa. And... I don't know. I will let you know when I'm back though" I replied and hugged her tightly. "This is the end of an era" she sniffled, looking at my desk across from hers. "It is. But better times will come" I told her decidedly and she squeezed my shoulder in our embrace.
When we pulled away again, I sighed before walking over to our secretaries to find a box where I could put all the stuff from my desk inside. It took me about ten minutes to clear my space and I sat down on my office chair one last time to look around the room. I'd miss working here, I'd miss the people and I'd miss the trust my superiors had always put in me. But it was time to say goodbye and close this chapter of my life.
