Luce di Stella • Kenan Yildiz

Chapter 23: Berlin

🎶 Berlin — King & Potter 🎶

There I was, an Italian wearing a red Turkey jersey with the #19 and YILDIZ written on my back, standing in the middle of a sea of red Turks cheering on their team in Berlin, Germany. It was a friendly between the two countries and highly anticipated, because of the huge Turkish community living there.
"People are staring at you" Kenan's friend Ilyas joked and I shot him a glare. Him and Can had also come to the game and I decided it was probably best to stick with two strong guys in this mass of people, just in case.

"If a picture of me dressed likes this gets out, Italian media will tear me apart" I huffed, probably being more dramatic than necessary. No one in Germany really knew who I was.
"Much better to be here though, rather than there" Can commented and pointed at the VIP box where everyone was impeccably dressed in suits and tailored clothes. Yeah, it was nice to not be sat there for once, being able to wear a jersey with a player's name on the back, or just shouting and cheering without caring if a camera was going to be on you or not.

The anthems were a weird moment for me. As an Italian I obviously despised Germany, but I also didn't fit in with the Turkish fans singing their anthem at the top of our lungs, so I just looked around awkwardly, my eyes inevitably landing on Kenan though, who was looking as handsome as ever. When he had called me this afternoon, that he was starting tonight, he sounded unbelievably happy - and that made me happy too, knowing that this trip to Berlin would be memorable.

But just five minutes in, Germany went in the lead with a goal by Havertz, making the home fans erupt in ecstasy. It was difficult for their opponents to get into the game, but my man had the first shot of the evening, unfortunately held by Kevin Trapp, but still. I stood up and clapped, shouting "Vai, Kenan!" various times, throwing my fists around in the air. And then, the Turks equalised, which caused unbelievable scenes in the fan block that I feared the stadium would crumble by how hard everything was shaking. I had a smile on my face, the ecstasy of these fans was being so contagious.

Two minutes of injury time were added, and I was almost ready to get some beer and pretzel during half-time, when my jaw dropped and my hands grabbed the roots of my hair. Kenan took a shot which bounced into the German net.
"YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!" I screamed, grabbing Ilyas' jacket and shaking him wildly, for which the poor guy definitely wasn't prepared. Kenan ran to the Turkish fan block and pointed at it - delusional as I was, I thought he was pointing at me, but he surely wasn't.

"Awwww your first goal dedication" Can swooned and I hit his head.
"It was for the fans" I argued but he rolled his eyes.
"Bro is whipped, of course it was for you" he replied and rolled his eyes, while my cheeks were burning red. He really made me feel like just an ordinary girl who was in love for the first time in her life. With him, nothing else mattered, I was just Bibi, not Beatrice Agnelli.

After returning to my seat for the start of the second half, I looked even more stupid with a beer in my hand in midst of the majority of no-alcohol-drinking Muslims, but whatever. I did notice Ilyas eyeing me with a bit of envy, but I decided to not rub it too much in his face by just sipping on it in silence. Füllkrug equalised for the Germans just a few minutes in and we all groaned in annoyance - the Turkish team was definitely putting on the stronger display tonight and deserved to win. And also a bit of luck was on our side when we were awarded a penalty in the 71st minute which player #17 successfully converted into a goal (I still needed to learn all the Turkish names). Our tribune was shaking once again, and it did until the final whistle, signalling a 2:3 win for the visitors.

"YEEEEEESSSSS!" Can shouted and hugged me in a sandwich with Ilyas.
"WE WONNNNN" I shouted, slightly surprised by my sudden use of "we". Getting out of the stadium was an adventure itself, the Turks celebrating and partying like madmen, but we eventually made it back to the hotel where also the squad was staying - Kenan had been nice enough to pull some strings. And we waited there in a conference room with some other players' family and friends. Can and Ilyas easily made conversations with everyone, while I stood there a bit lost, so I just decided to move to a room's corner before someone could ask me who I was and what I was doing here.

"You look like you're hiding from someone" I heard a familiar voice behind me and quickly turned around to see my beautiful Kenan standing there with an adorable smile, his hair still wet from showering.
"More like hiding from everyone" I chuckled nervously. "That was a beautiful goal, I'm so happy for you" I said, carefully choosing a wording appropriate for a girl on his level, not his boss, avoiding words like proud or well done.
"Thanks, it was for you" he replied and winked, making me blush again, my face looking at the ground as a huge smile was playing on my lips.

I felt his hand on my chin, pulling my face up again.
"There it is, I have to remember this face" he chuckled and caressed my cheek. "You up for a walk?" he asked and I nodded, taking his hand which he had held out for me. We walked out of the hotel as the team was only leaving the next morning, giving the players the possibility to spend a bit more time with their friends and family.

"I'm going to take you to the best kebab shop in the city" he told me proudly as we walked through the streets of the German capital.
"Oh, so you're a real connaisseur" I teased him, grabbing his arm as he looked down at me with the most handsome smile.
"Don't come at me with yet another language, I'm already struggling with Italian when I speak with you" he said.
"But you've gotten so much better since you've known me" I replied, knowing he hated it when I gave him compliments on his language skills.

"Shut up" he joked and pushed away my head. "Here we are, I'll order for you" he said as we had arrived at a stand in the middle of a small square. Him and the vendor talked in German, probably because he was afraid of speaking in his not-perfect Turkish. My mouth already watered when the vendor prepared the kebab sandwich for me - although I cringed at how many onions were in there. Thankfully, Kenan was eating the same amount so we could kiss without anyone vomiting into each other's mouth when tasting the onions.

"Ok, this is amazing" I said with a full mouth and he laughed.
"Wait..." he said and wiped away some sauce from the corner of my lips. Our eyes were firmly on each other's and the world stopped in that moment for me. My lips quickly found his and we stood there, in the middle of this German street, each one holding their kebab sandwich in their hands, making out, our free hands holding onto the other's back.
"You make me so happy" I whispered, admitting what I didn't know I had been searching for.
"And you make me feel like I can achieve anything" he whispered back, our eyes glued on each other's.

"I love you" I blurted out, living in the carefree bubble Kenan managed to always blow and protect for me. A huge smile played on his lips and he quickly pressed another kiss onto my lips.
"And I love you... my Bibi" he replied, before we both took another bite of our kebabs and laughed.