Anyone but you (Fermín López)

Chapter 23

Once everyone found out about Fermín and Victoria being a couple, a lot of people started to talk about them. She was the manager's niece but...how did they meet? When did they start dating? There were still so many unanswered questions.

Victoria noticed a huge increase in her follower count. She hadn't been posting much lately due to how she had been feeling but was now back into posting a few posts per week. Even if she was going to go to uni and study to get a degree, she still loved social media. It was a fun hobby.

"How much will we post about each other?", she asked Fermín while he was studying.

"Huh?"

"On social media. I've only posted a photo with you once. Do you want us to post more or do you want us to be more private? I'm fine either way".

"I guess we can just play it by ear", he shrugged. "Whenever we feel like posting a photo together, we do. And if we don't, then that's fine too".

"Ok...".

He kept studying and Victoria thought he looked so cute all focused on his books. So she took a photo of him. She was Fermín's personal photographer now. Her collection of photos of him doing lots of random things was...big.

"Can I post this on my stories?"

Fermín looked at the photo of him and nodded. He also thought she was cute, wanting to show off their relationship. He knew now how hard it had been for Victoria to have to hide their relationship so if this was going to help her, he was fine with it. His phone beeped with a notification, since she had tagged him in the story, and he checked it out.

"I like my men smart? Really?", he laughed, seeing the caption Victoria had added to the photo.

"I do. You being smart is hot".

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. And the first time I heard you speak Catalan, I almost passed out".

"Good, I only learned the language to impress pretty girls. So I see it was worth the effort".

Victoria noticed a few replies to her story. It was mostly Fermín's teammates joking about how dumb he actually was. But then she saw a few from random accounts asking her to post about Fermín more. And then a reply calling her not very nice names. Well, that was social media.

"How smart do you think it'd be to do a Q&A?"

"About us?", wondered Fermín.

"No, just me doing one on my Instagram. I mean, I guess I'll get questions about you too but...".

"Ali will be here soon. We can vote then".

"Vote?"

"Yeah, because I say no and so will she. Go democracy!"

"It's my Instagram", she reminded him.

"Vicky...", he sighed. "You told the therapist about how painful it was for you to see the hate your family got. This will just allow people to do that and to insult me too. Do you want that?"

"I guess not but...maybe Ali can go through the questions and just leave the ones without insults".

"I guess...it's up to her, then".

Victoria appreciated Fermín worrying about her but she felt ready for this. So when Alicia showed up, they posted a questions box and her friend selected the ones Victoria could answer. It wasn't nice for Alicia to have to see certain things said about her friend, and so she also reported and blocked a few accounts.

"Fer! Can you answer this one with me?"

"What's the question?"

"You'll love it", laughed Alicia.

"It says: how did your dad react to you dating Fermín?"

Fermín shook his head but sat down next to Victoria.

"We could answer in a video".

"Ok".

They got closer so they could both fit in the screen and Victoria started to record.

"My dad's reaction was great. He has never been happier", she giggled.

"Oh yeah, he was thrilled when he found out. I barely made it out alive".

"But he adores you now".

"Maybe adore is a bit much. But he doesn't threaten to kill me anymore".

"He adores you", said Victoria. "Because you make me happy".

"Yeah, I guess I have that on my side".

They both looked at each other and Victoria left a soft peck on Fermín's lips that made him smile.

That little video got pretty viral quickly. People had only seen one photo of them together so this was a big change. And because so many people were talking about it, Victoria was told to not look at messages on any social media platform.

But she liked supporting Fermín publicly. So when Barça was knocked out of the Champions League, she posted a story about him. The background was black and she just wrote that she couldn't wait for him to be back so she could give him a big hug. She thought it was cute and not a big deal...but a lot of people didn't agree. Barça fans were also very angry because of being out of the competition so they needed to let their frustrations out somehow. And she was an easy target.

Since Fermín got back home late, he went back to his place. But Victoria was there early to try and cheer him up. She had made some breakfast for them, even if he insisted he wasn't hungry. Victoria knew now all about refusing to eat because of a bad mood and she didn't want Fermín to make the same mistakes she made.

While she waited for him to finish showering, she went on social media and made the mistake of checking some of the replies to her story. And she made the bigger mistake of answering to them. It was via DM, but people were likely to post them somewhere else for everyone to see.

-It's your fault Fermín played a bad match. Stay away from him!

You realise we didn't meet yesterday, right?

-Your family is the worst thing to happen to Barça 🤢

Yes, my uncle who is the reason this team has two trebles is the worst thing that happened to the team. Good point 👍

Fermín smiled seeing the food on the table that Victoria had prepared for him but then he saw what was on her phone's screen and didn't like it as much.

"Why are you reading comments? Don't do that".

"It's ok, Fermín. I already assumed a lot of people didn't love me. Whatever".

"I just don't want this to hurt you", he said, sitting down next to her and placing his hand on her thigh, trying to get her attention.

"You can't protect me from everything".

"I can and I will".

"You can't...like my dad can't. Like my uncle can't".

"It's not the same", he protested.

"It is. You're right and I shouldn't have answered...but it's up to me to decide if I want to see the criticism I might get".

"Fair", he conceded. "But that's not criticism. It's people talking shit".

"I guess...".

"But I loved seeing your story when I got out of the match".

"Did you?", asked Victoria, smiling at her boyfriend.

"Yeah. Losing like that...it's tough. But knowing you were waiting for me to try and help me feel better...it makes everything easier. It really does".

"Well, I'll be there for you after every win and every loss".

"Promise?"

And Victoria sealed her promise with a kiss.