THE OTHER MAN / germany nt

ONE

ONE ✐ Miss Rya Schweinsteiger

"You're insane, Marco," concluded Mario. He took another large bite out of his burger and unpleasantly wiped away the grease that drizzled down his chin.

Typically a close friendship between an affluent and successful businessman like Marco Reus and a fatuous and immature Ronald McDonald like Mario Götze (yes, Dortmund's very own Ronald McDonald) wouldn't exactly work. Contrasting personalities seem to clash under most circumstances. However for this pair, the balance of seriousness and puerility just seemed to work itself out, despite the lack of subjects in common.

Marco shook his head. "But am I? I mean, I won't be seeing her for the next month. The least I can do is give her a romantic surprise, something to put a smile on her face before she goes away on that business trip." He looked up from his laptop screen to meet a disapproving glance from Mario.

Mario rolled his eyes. "Save the emotional speeches. What's her name again?"

"Rya. Rya Schweinsteiger. She's amazing." Marco spoke, love struck.

"Surname sounds familiar," Mario pondered aloud. "Maybe I slept with her during my trip in Munich," he joked rascally.

Marco sighed, slamming his laptop closed and screwing his brows together. He folded his arms, trying to fathom out how Mario could be so unromantic and undesirable and yet keep a girlfriend like Ann-Kathrin. Mario was somewhat handsome, not exactly every woman's ideal definition of a man. He wasn't particularly wealthy, being a full–time clown wasn't exactly a high earning job. The only thing Mario really had was humour, and even that was too childish for Marco's liking.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Mario." Marco muttered, sinking down in his seat. Honestly, he was never in the mood for jokes.

"I wasn't joking!" Mario defended. "I literally might have slept with her in Munich. I slept with twelve women that week."

Marco furrowed his brows. "What the fuck? I didn't need to know that." He took a swig of his now lukewarm beer before announcing: "Right, I better go now if I want to be at Rya's house by nine–thirty to surprise her."

"Good luck, Mr. Romantic." Mario chuckled as Mario packed up his sleek laptop. "And who knows? Perhaps Rya has a special surprise waiting for you."

Little did Marco know, Mario's childish remark was just about accurate.