lolita | bellerín

munich

"and I looked and looked at her
and knew clearly as I know
I am to die,
that I loved her
more than anything
I had ever seen
or imagined on earth,
or hoped for anywhere else."
--------

Salome stared at the interior of her new home, her mouth a little wide in awe. It was far too large for just three people, but she supposed Hector wished for some space, since she surely wasn't going to be having more kids anytime soon after the first one.

"You relax, Salome, and I'll bring the luggage in." Hector placed a hand on her shoulder, still somewhat concerned for the way she was coping with the things going on in her life right now.

Salome turned to face him. "I can help you, Hector."

"No, I've got it."

"But—" Salome paused, saw no point in arguing, and turned back around. Hector sighed and went back out to the car, which was a rental until his other car would arrive from London.

Salome approached the large, squeaky clean glass window and stared out at the city of Munich, her arms crossed. Hector had stated that, coincidentally, a few of his teammates lived in this neighborhood as well.

Silently, she closed her eyes and breathed in, taking a moment to identify herself. Salome Reyes, 17 years of age, from Barranquilla, Colombia. Soon, she'd probably go by Hector Bellerin's girlfriend, or something general. And her age wouldn't matter, because she'd be eighteen soon enough. For now, no one knew who she was, and she hoped it stayed that way for a long time.

Salome tapped her stomach, humming softly to herself; a tune from an old reggaeton song she used to listen to. Maybe I shouldn't feel so empty, she thought. This is a good change.

Hector only needed to make one trip from the car to the house, because Salome had barely enough belongings worth taking with her to throw into one suitcase. They would probably go shopping the next day, for clothes and furniture alike. Until then, Salome would work on learning how to be happy.

Hector set the luggage down and glanced up at Salome, who had a look of satisfaction on her face. Hector rose his eyebrows. "What's got you looking so... happy?"

"Why shouldn't I be happy?"

Because your mother died and you have no family, you're pregnant at seventeen, and you just dropped out of school, Hector wanted to say, but he shrugged. He didn't want to remind her of that. "I don't know, Salome. You're right, we have all the reasons to be happy. Come here."

Salome listened to the soft sound of her white Converse sneakers against the ground as she frolicked over to Hector, who pulled her into a hug. "Everything will be okay," He mumbled, against her forehead. Salome didn't respond, but instead pulled away and stared up at him.

"I want a son." She concluded, backing out of the hug and gazing up at Hector. Hector pouted a little, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Why is that?"

"I could only raise a daughter the way my mother raised me, and that would be horrible." She spoke, snaking an arm around Hector's neck. "But if I had a son, I would want him to be just like you."

Hector smiled a little. "What makes you think you aren't somebody special?"

Salome tucked her hair behind her ear. "I don't matter to anyone."

"You matter to me, and you matter to our child. You do matter, Salome." Hector kissed her forehead. "We need you. Personally, I want a daughter. And we can give her the life that you've always deserved. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

"No, but—"

The doorbell rang. Salome stared at Hector. "You have visitors already?"

"I don't know...lets go see."

"You want me to go?"

"You look twenty, Salome. It's alright." Hector took her hand in his and made his way to the door, opening it without glancing through the peephole to make sure the people weren't murderers.

There stood, for Salome, an unfamiliar man and woman. "Hello," The man, handsome, spoke in strongly accented English rather than German.

Hector smiled. "Robert Lewandowski! What a pleasant surprise."

Salome just blinked and somewhat shied behind her boyfriend as she made eye contact with the pretty woman that must've been Robert's wife or girlfriend; mostly because her English was bad and she didn't know a word of German, either.

"This is my girlfriend, Salome." Hector spoke, moving and throwing arm around her shoulders; leaving Salome with no choice but to show herself as a shy smile found her lips and a rosy color mantled her olive cheeks.

Robert's azure eyes shifted to hers and the Colombian watched something click within his orbs, something she hated to see but only did see if she met a man. She didn't understand what it was that got them so fired up—was it really her face? She was pregnant, so there was no way it could've been her body—which was normally priceless. "You don't have to be so shy," He practically smirked. "I don't bite."

Salome opened her mouth and spoke. "Hi."

"How many months along are you?" His wife—Anna, Salome heard was her name—inquired. Salome placed a hand on her stomach. "Oh, four months."

"Wow. I hope I look as good as you when I'm pregnant," she noted, kindly. Salome smiled a little more genuinely as Robert spoke, his eyes still on Salome—as though he was asking her the question—before he snapped out of his daze and turned to Hector.

"I'm having a few others over tonight, and Thiago figured it'd be a good idea to invite you over. We live directly next door..." Robert motioned to his house. "We'll probably just play FIFA, and you can meet some of the other guys on the team ahead of time."

"Yeah," Hector responded, immediately. Salome didn't mind. "Yeah, I'd love to stop by."

Anna spoke up, to Salome. "And I would love your company, so you can feel free to come by, too."

Salome smiled and nodded in response.

"Sweet." Robert grinned and the two conversed some more before finally saying goodbye, making their way back to their home. Salome turned to face Hector the minute the door was closed.

"I don't know about him, Hector."

"Are you kidding? He seems like a great guy. Besides, his wife was friendly...maybe you guys can be friends. We haven't even been here for two hours and things are going better than I expected." Hector kissed the Colombian beauty, directly ignoring her slight warning. Only eventually, Hector would realize, he should've done the exact opposite.