"Whispers of Affection: Forbidden Love in Familiar Arms"

Chapter 3

resilience
(noun) the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties

"Oh my God, I think I'm more nervous than Pablo, and I'm not even playing."
Rora nervously stretched left and right to get a good view of the entire field. In doing so, she almost crushed my hand she was holding. Javi, Aurora's boyfriend, sat next to us, grinning and relaxed, leaning back in his seat.
"Calm down, darling, they haven't lost a single game against Madrid this year."
With these words, he pulled Rora next to him and, thank God, she finally let go of my hand, the bones of which would probably have broken in the next few minutes.

Both Férmin and Gavi remained on the bench, while things got heated from the first moments. Fouls and yellow cards rained down and arguments broke out between the players. Just four minutes later, things heated up again and were critical for Barcelona. The referee awarded a penalty which had been triggered by Araujo's hand contact. "Fuck, it looks like Vini is going to shoot," Javi muttered, while I held my hands over my eyes so I didn't have to look, until a happy cry made me look up. Vini had only hit the crossbar, Madrid's best player had actually missed.
In the fifteenth minute, FC Barcelona scored their first goal. The Catalans took a short free kick. The ball reached Pedri, who made a great pass to Dembele, who scored to make it 1-0 for us Catalans.
Just four minutes later, things heated up for Barcelona.
The referee gave a penalty which had been caused by Araujo's hand contact. "Fuck, it looks like Vini is going to shoot," Javi muttered, while I held my hands over my eyes so I didn't have to look, until a happy cry made me look up. Vini had only hit the crossbar, Madrid's best player had actually missed.

After the first half, Madrid kept hitting the crossbar in desperation, but that also showed that Barcelona definitely needed to defend better. It was really just luck that they hadn't scored yet. In the 60th minute, there was a double substitution. Raphinha and Férmin came on for goalscorer Dembele and Pedri.
My heart almost exploded from all the excitement when Férmin ran onto the field, knowing that he must be feeling the same.
This was his chance to show Xavi what a special player he was.

Shortly before the end, what we had all been hoping for so much actually happened. Férmin took the chance and shot at the goal from 20 meters after a bad pass from Toni Kroos, with such force and such accuracy that Curtois, the opposing goalkeeper, couldn't react in time. The scream that Férmin let out after his goal brought tears to my eyes. I could literally hear his pride and, above all, the weight that had been lifted from his heart.
His teammates circled around, hugged and congratulated him.
After a few minutes, he suddenly pointed in our direction, formed a heart with his hands and then kissed the Barca logo on his shirt.
I immediately felt heat in my stomach, which then slowly moved up to my cheeks.
It felt like an allergic reaction or heartburn.
I was so focused on this strange feeling that I didn't even notice Aurora looking at me, partly horrified and partly confused.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" 
"Did he just dedicate the goal to you?"
"No-"
Javi quickly interrupted me with a proud "No that was for me!"
Rora looked back and forth between us.
"Yeah no Javi I have to disappoint you but the goal was for our girl here."
"Nonsense, why would he do something like that?"
"Don't ask me, ask her!" Aurora replied, her voice almost breaking.
"Uh, I don't know, we had a conversation once but otherwise-" "WHAT KIND OF CONVERSATION?"

"Only about-" The final whistle interrupted my awkward justification and the burning feeling in my stomach slowly subsided. The stadium was roaring with pride as the Barca players celebrated on the pitch, practically sending the opposing players off the pitch. Aurora and Javi pushed their way to my parents, who were already waiting for us to go onto the field to congratulate our players. I stood rooted to the spot, my eyes searching for someone in particular.
"Hermana, I'm here." Pablo pushed himself into my field of vision with a broad grin and I pushed aside the burgeoning disappointment that had arisen for whatever reason.
"I'm so proud of you."
I held out my open arms to give him a hug over the iron barrier, but it didn't really work.
"Lift her over!" Férmin, still slightly sweaty but grinning incredibly sweetly and proudly, appeared behind Gavi, who gave him a skeptical look. When he didn't respond to Férmin's suggestion, he sighed and came over to me, holding out his hands to me.
"What are you planning to do, Fér?"
I asked, looking at him, especially his tanned arms and his biceps, which were flexing under his shirt.
"Come here." Frowning but trusting him, I climbed over the barrier and let him grab me by the waist and lift me down to him as if I were a feather. He carefully put me down, our eyes immediately finding each other. My heart was pounding against my chest as his hands slowly moved from my hips to my waist, his fingers closing around the material of my jersey. Fér was at least six inches taller than me, which forced him to look down to maintain our intense eye contact. His lips formed into a grin and only then did I realize that I had been staring at them for a while.I wanted to say something, but it was as if someone was choking me.
He seemed speechless too as his eyes scanned every inch of my face.