Luce di Stella • Kenan Yildiz

Chapter 54: Health Concerns

🎶 This Love — Maroon 5 🎶

Two defeats and now, we had just barely managed to equalise in the 93rd minute against Sassuolo, a mid- to low-table team. I groaned and was just relieved that football was heading into an international break and I wouldn't have to endure seeing my team play for the next two weeks.

"Now you look like a fresh rose!" my cousin Umbi joked as I was downing another glass of red wine in the VIP box as the stadium was almost empty now. To be honest, most of the fans had already left early, not able to stand watching this awful performance any longer.
"Shut up" I groaned and almost buried my whole face into the wine glass to get me high from the smell too, not just the taste.
"At least it was Kenan shooting the equaliser, that will pamper his ego a bit" Umbi sighed, equally as disappointed as every other bianconero fan right now.

"Good for him" I simply replied and grabbed my bag, ready to head out. I said my goodbyes and wandered downstairs where my driver was hopefully waiting. Kenan and I had hung out a bit more in the past weeks, but his mind and thoughts were constantly overshadowed by the team's bad performances. I had the feeling that there was something going on, which he didn't want to tell me about, but every time I asked, he downplayed the situation by telling me he was just frustrated about the start of the season.

"Bibi! Hey!" I heard his familiar voice behind me as I was about to walk into the VIP parking lot, and I turned around.
"Hey" I replied and shot him a small smile.
"I just... wanted to say goodbye, I'm... leaving for Turkey" he said and pressed his lips together.
"Oh... yeah... Good luck!" I replied, my head still in a haze from my bad mood in combination with the red wine from before.
"Any chance you're coming to a game of mine...?" he asked, showing me his perfect set of white teeth.

I just raised my eyebrows.
"You're not playing Italy, so I wouldn't know a reason why I should? To let the media go all crazy on us?" I asked back.
"I... mean, you... could just go undercover. Like you did in Berlin all those years ago with-" he replied, a bit taken aback, but I cut him off.
"I'm sorry, but I do not have time for this. We're in the middle of a messed up situation, Adidas hasn't delivered our third kit yet, we have sponsorship problems and a team that doesn't deliver. I have work here." I said angrily before walking away and leaving him behind.

When I was sat on the backseat of my car and being driven home by my chauffeur, I realised that I had been way too harsh, but I was just so wound up by everything and everyone. On top of that, I was also on my period, but I shouldn't be pulling excuses for shitty behaviour. So, I pulled out my phone and opened my chat with Kenan. Before typing, I clicked on his profile picture - one of him in action on the pitch in our black and white jersey - and looked at it for longer than healthy probably. The fangirls know what I mean.

Bibi 🩷
Sorry for earlier... I'm just... exhausted
Let me rephrase now:
I doubt that I'll manage to come to a game but I'll  make sure to tune in on the TV 😊

He read my message but completely ignored me, even after I texted him again after Turkey's win at their first game of the break against Serbia. My mood was sour and to make things worse, Giulia and India had invited themselves over on the evening of Turkey's second game against England.
"Oh, look what is casually running on the TV!" India told Giulia sarcastically as they walked inside my living room.
"You two are huge pains in the ass" I huffed as I pulled out the take-away lasagna from the oven where I had simply heated it up.

"From AlleVolte... Fancy" Giulia snickered as she read what was written on the food box.
"Shut up, you know I can't cook" I replied and rolled my eyes.
"Not even some kebab?" India continued to tease me.
"That's actually not easy at all to prepare at home" I snapped at her before sitting down at the table.
"Fine, fine. How's it going with... you know... kebab guy?" she asked and I furrowed my eyebrows.
"He's not Lord Voldemort that you can't speak his name" I replied.

"Anyways, he's ignoring me after I took out my bad mood on him after the last game" I sighed.
"Guy needs to chill" India said and rolled her eyes.
"Chill? I doubt he's chill, India. None of the guys are, they're all beaten down from how awful they've been playing" Giulia argued.
"Yeah, I should have thought before speaking, but whatever... I'll just talk to him when he's back" I mumbled and pushed a loaded fork into my mouth.

"There he is!" Giulia squealed when Kenan appeared on the screen for the national anthems. I noticed his knee being taped with at least seven different strips in various colours and I couldn't help but wonder what that was about. England was always a strong opponent but the Turks managed to match well with them and the teams went into half-time equal on 1-1. The camera quickly showed Kenan slightly limping off the field, but unfortunately cut to a close-up of Bellingham's face too soon for me to see better.

"Did you guys see that?" I asked the girls, who looked at me confusedly. "The limping" I clarified, but they shook their heads.
"It was probably your brain trying to savour every one of his moments in slo-mo" India teased me. I didn't even reply to her comment, but just shot a piece of focaccia at her face. For the second half, we made ourselves comfortable on the sofa and I brought out some ice cream. As the players walked out of the tunnel again, I obviously looked out for Kenan, unable to find him, until the commentator said that he had been subbed off.

The whole thing left me with a weird feeling, but I delayed texting Kenan to until after the girls had left, or I'd never be able to hear the end of it. The game ended with a 2-2 draw, which was a strong result against England. Shortly after, also Giulia and India left and I was finally able to get out my phone again. The chat with Kenan looked pathetic with only green messages and blue arrows on my side, but I couldn't really sink much lower anyways, so I texted him. Again.

Bibi 🩷
Hey, what's up with your knee? I hope you're ok?

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And again, there had been no response. But today he was going to return to training at the Continassa and I was ready to confront him. I caught him at the entrance, as I had waited in my car for him to pull up too, to walk inside with him "coincidentally". Psycho behaviour, I know.
"Hey!" I shouted this time, with him turning around towards me.
"Oh... hey" he replied and nodded at me shortly.
"You... didn't reply to my messages" I stated as we walked through the hallways.
"Sorry, I... had a lot on my mind" he simply said.

"How's your knee?" I asked. It was still September and he was wearing shorts, making me notice the tapes that were still there.
"I'm fine. Just took a blow at training. I talk about this stuff with my physio, not the President" he huffed and walked away from me, but I could see a slight hesitance in his step. That worried me, instead of being pissed about the sharp words he had used towards me. I gritted my teeth and turned around, knowing exactly where to go next.

I flung the door to the physio room open angrily and maybe I should have knocked, because I was met with a view of Cambiaso's bare ass - for whatever reason - as he laid on one of the massage beds.
"Hey!" he shouted, but I ignored him.
"Who of you here is Yildiz' physio?" I asked with a loud and angry voice.
"Um... that would be... me" a short guy in the corner stammered.
"Name?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"Leonardo, ma'am. Leonardo Assanti" he replied after clearing his throat.
"Good. You will keep me updated about every health detail of Mr Yildiz" I stated.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but that's confidential information, I-" he started, but I cut him off.
"Do I look like I care? I'm your boss and if I give you an order, you simply execute it without raising any stupid moral concerns. And I just want to know about his football fitness, not if he can get hard or not, I can check on that myself, thanks" I hissed at him before walking away and leaving that poor guy behind very confused.