Lover II- ML

353. Young Maturity

AN: this chapter follows Clara and Romeo more than it does Kaia or Mapi, so please don't think Kaia has just forgotten about Pere.

Her actions and feelings are reserved for the next chapter...

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The night of the fallout between Kaia and Pere, the tension was thick.

Kaia had forced herself to sit through Pere's post match team talk because she didn't want to be disrespectful to her team, but she was already texting her lawyer and asking him to get to Barcelona within the next few days.

Pere then made the ignorant mistake of asking Alexia if she wanted to say a few words on today's performance as captain.

And Alexia stood confidently, seeing that every other player in the room also felt just as uncomfortable and annoyed as her.

"Segregation doesn't belong in this team, and although today's draw doesn't revolve around one single person, the atmosphere we've all felt these last few days has massively affected us as a group." Alexia stated calmly, making sure her eyes didn't land on Kaia for a second.

Pere warned her discreetly to stop there, but Alexia carried on maturely and made a very obvious statement that she wasn't pleased with the manager in the slightest.

Clara listened to it while picking her nails nervously, her eyes trailing over to Kaia who was texting on her phone with the most defeated and stressful look on her face.

This wasn't the team Clara envisioned when she signed her contract, it felt dangerous to have such a vindictive man as their manager, someone who had targeted Kaia for a reason none of them were too sure of.

Clara was scared, and the naive girl inside her needed the opinion of the only person outside of her sport who might understand.

He was also Kaia's cousin, so he'd be heavily invested in hearing Clara's worries anyway.

Romeo answered the FaceTime call from Mapi and Kaia's living room, a sleeping little girl resting her head on his shoulder that he was supporting with one if his arms.

"What happened?" Romeo asks immediately, his voice a mix of curiosity and confusion. "I saw the game, I saw Kaia didn't play after she had to cancel her surgery yesterday."

Clara was actually glad Romeo was already mad, because it meant she didn't have to explain her own feelings nearly as much. "Our manager... he had no intention of playing Kaia tonight, I even overheard him saying it was an example to others."

"An example of what?" Romeo asks rhetorically, his hand still sat supportively on Aurora's back. "Being a complete insecure dick because he tried to sell Kaia and was told no?"

"Romeo, I'm scared." Clara admits quietly.

That wipes all of Romeo's bitterness, his want to rant about this man he had only seen on the TV just now but already hated the sight of.

"Scared of what?" Romeo urges supportively.

"I don't feel comfortable playing under his management, I don't like his decision making." Clara explains. "How can he treat someone like Kaia this way? How can he completely disregard her health? It's so dangerous and he's messing with her mind so much."

Romeo sighs softly, because he also didn't feel comfortable with Kaia, Mapi or Clara playing under Pere's management. "Talk to someone about it, the owner of the club maybe."

"No," Clara quickly shakes her head. "Pere is technically my boss, if he finds out I've gone behind his back to speak bad about him to the higher ups, he'll just bench me forever or make me run laps until I drop." She rambles.