Luce di Stella • Kenan Yildiz

Chapter 32: Betrayed

🎶 People You Know — Selena Gomez 🎶

Kenan POV

We were one day ahead of the start of the season and my return to Turin had been harder than expected. Saying yes to Juve again had been easy, to be honest, I didn't expect them to even think about bidding for me, considering whom they had just elected as a President. But I didn't expect the hostile front from the players who had been here two years ago, put up in front of me.

Bibi's and my break-up had been quite clean from a PR point of view, her family had obviously taken care of that, so I didn't quite expect my teammates to ignore me every time as soon as we stepped off the training or stadium pitch. But after finding out about Dean and Bibi yesterday, everything became crystal clear to me. He was the problem. He was the one to turn the others against me. He was the one to catch Bea like an easy prey after being hurt from our break-up.

Today, I didn't even care about my stupid teammates ignoring me, well, those few of them that were still around after those two years, I only had my eyes set on Dean, who acted like nothing had happened. Like I shouldn't care that the guy who I thought had been my best friend here was now shagging my ex-girlfriend. And I wasn't going to let that pass so easily.

He was still the same as two years ago, still the slowest after training, having barely just come out of the shower while all the others had left already. But not me, not today. I acted busy packing my training bag while he opened his locker and I looked back at him over my shoulder. On his locker door hung a photo booth picture strip with four photos of him and Bibi. When I saw the last one, on which they were kissing, I completely lost it.

"You filthy traitor!" I shouted as I plunged on him and pushed him against the nearest wall, but he had gotten so strong and was able to push me away again easily.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" he shouted back, but I wasn't going to let it slide.
"You were supposed to be my best friend!" I accused him, raising my index finger at him.
"And you weren't supposed to leave!" he shouted back, hitting me very low.

"You waited patiently, huh? Your childhood dream finally came true after I left the scene - you were very clever" I chuckled sarcastically.
"Listen to yourself! You have everything you wanted: you left at your highest, after Bibi literally built you up, had two hell of seasons at Chelsea, won trophies, got engaged...! And you come back and think you're in any position to accuse me of what happened after you walked away from what you broke?!" he shouted back angrily.

"You betrayed me" I spat. "Like her. You don't go off dating your ex' best friend or your best friend's ex." I told him.
"I'm just repairing what you broke" he scoffed and bumped my shoulder as he walked outside, leaving me behind dumbfounded. But I wasn't done here, not yet. I stormed out of the changing room and took the stairs up, knowing the way to Bibi's office still by heart. But I didn't have to get very far as I bumped into her on the staircase.

"Whoa" she gasped as we clashed together. She was looking at me confusedly, probably because my head was fuming after my argument with Dean.
"Kenan... I... I should have told you about Dean" she stammered, seemingly taken aback by my anger.
"No, no, it's fine. I'm glad I know now. About him. My best friend. Anyone else? My old physio here, maybe? You seem to get around" I scoffed.
"What did you just say?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"It's unforgivable" I snapped at her.
"I don't remember asking for your forgiveness" she snapped back.
"So, who's next? Cambiaso? I remember getting along with him so well..." I continued to provoke her. "I hear he likes to sleep around, you have that in common" I added, to wind her up even more. What she did was breaking the code, the least I could do was drag her through it now.

"You don't get to call me a whοre. When I met you, I thought that I had found the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with - I was done. You left me. You found Dilara. I'm glued back together now and I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke" she hissed at me.
"This with us... It's finished, over." I shot at her, not able to think of a better response. Because she was right. I left.
"It has been since you broke all your promises and walked away" she said with a shaky voice and I swear, I saw a tear in her eye as she bumped my shoulder while she walked away from me.

I scoffed and shook my head as I hurried to the parking lot, just wanting to leave this day behind. When I arrived back home, Dilara was already in the kitchen, preparing some dinner.
"Hey" I said as calmly as possible, not wanting to let my bad mood shine through to her.
"Hi! How was your day?" she asked excitedly.
"Alright, as usual" I replied dryly, not in the mood to elaborate much.
"You don't sound as if you're alright" she chuckled, trying to slowly get closer to my feelings.

"You're right. Today was... intense" I replied and hoped she'd think I was just talking about training and not my personal problems.
"I hope this tavuk sote builds you up then" she giggled as she brought the Turkish version of a chicken stew to the table, making my mouth water. This girl could really cook. Not like Bibi, she was an absolute disaster in the kitchen - I smiled as my brain pulled up a memory of that.

"I'm pretty sure you have to separate the yolks and the whites" I said, raising my eyebrows as me and Bibi stood in front of her stove, attempting to cook a Carbonara.
"Shh shh shh, I know what I'm doing" she chuckled as she did this weird sauce with the eggs and cheese and pepper. She then spilled it into the pan where the cooked spaghetti were waiting, already looking pretty dry. She energetically stirred around but when we saw the result we both broke out in laughter.

"You made spaghetti with scrambled eggs!" I howled and she covered her mouth from all the laughing.
"Oh my gosh!" she howled. "The Italian Pasta Gods have now booked my slot in hell for this!" she exclaimed and we both laughed even more, our bellies starting to hurt. I took her beautiful face into my hands and pressed a kiss onto her lips.
"Guess we'll just have to live forever then" I told her and she smiled back brightly at me, making my heart do somersaults. After almost three years of dating, she still had that effect on me. God, how I loved this woman.

"I'm happy this brought a smile to your face" Dilara said and pulled me back to reality.
"Huh... Oh yes, it's delicious, thank you so much" I told her and stood up to kiss her cheek.
"How are you doing? Do you like it here?" I asked her as I sat back down, showing some genuine interest. She left her life back in Turkey for me, as we got engaged and my move to Turin was drawing closer. She took a deep breath before starting to talk.
"I knew it wasn't easy... But I didn't imagine being lonely so much..." she admitted.

"You'll find friends as soon as university starts, you're easy to get along with" I tried to cheer her up.
"Yeah, I think so too" she replied and smiled, sounding a bit more cheerful now.
"Oh, and... an old friend of mine... um... from my time back here... he invited us to his summer home near Portofino... It's a small group of people so... maybe you could get to know someone there..." I mumbled, originally wanting to decline the invite, but Dilara deserved some social gatherings too, not only sitting here or at some park in the city alone.

"That sounds nice, I'm in!" she replied ecstatically.
"Um... Just so you know... He's a distant cousin of... Beatrice" - gosh how it hurt to say her full name - "I don't know if she's going to be there too" I admitted.
"Oh... But she'll surely be there with her new boyfriend Dean then, right?" she asked and I had to try my best not to show the anger that she just brought up to boil again by mentioning his name.

"Yeah... You're right. I just didn't want you to be surprised there and feel uncomfortable" I replied and smiled at her.
"Thanks, that's really nice of you. The situation with her uncle that evening was a bit weird but... I mean, it's me who's wearing the ring. Everyone seems to know their place" she said confidently and I just sent her a weak smile.
If she only knew who I had bought that ring for originally.