Midnight ➳ Rafael Alcantara

➳ Chapter 16 ➳

➳ It was midnight. Alessia was sat on the beach all alone, waiting for Rafinha. She waited for an hour and a half until she fell asleep on the sand. It wasn't until three am that Rafinha finally decided to go down to the beach. He thought Alessia wouldn't be there tonight especially after what had happened between her and Maryse. He felt hurt by what Maryse did but Leo's words made him feel a lot better. He knew he could always count on his team and friends.

When he got to the beach he couldn't really tell if she'd be there but she was, except she was lying down. Maybe she got bored of sitting and decided to lie down but the closer he took his steps, he noticed a beautiful sleeping Alessia. 

There she lay, curled up asleep with her head resting on her arm. It looked uncomfortable, but she looked breathtaking at the same time. Quietly, he took a few steps closer to Alessia watching over her, trying not to wake her up. Seeing the way she looked so calm and drama free made him feel something for her. He liked that about her but the waves crashing in the background hit him and brought him back to his senses. 

Leaning closer to her, he whispers "Alessia, you awake?" Nothing. When he got closer, he could hear her quiet snores and it sounded cute. He felt bad at the same time for not meeting her at midnight, like they agreed they would. It was the golden rule of their friendship and for the first time he broke it. 

Gently picking her up he carried her bridal style, all the way to her home. When he got there, he realised he couldn't get in and stood there with her in his arms, her face against his chest making his heart warm. What did it ever feel like to hold someone so dear, close to your heart like that?

"I can't get into your place Alessia, what should I do?" He whispers to himself, maybe talking to Alessia or just himself since she was fast asleep. Instead, he had the idea of taking her back to his hotel suite and he knew there would be consequences and that she wouldn't be happy but he could worry about it tomorrow and deal with it later but for now, she needed to rest as well as himself. So, he carried her all the way back to his hotel suite without making any noise and tucked her into his bed. He didn't mind crashing on the sofa in the living room for one night. 

➳ 

It felt like there was no alarm today. No one to wake you up, screaming at you to get ready for work. Unless you did that to yourself, well, your mind. Today, Alessia was woken up by Rafinha himself. He didn't know exactly how to wake her up but when he opened the curtains and let the summery breeze and sunlight in, Alessia's eyes were forced to be open. 

She blinked open one eye and gave a sigh, then sat up and stretched her arms out in the air followed by a long yawn. Rafinha stood there near the end of the bed, his hands behind his back and fiddled about nervously with his fingers. Alessia looked up and realised Rafinha was in her bedroom but then realised that this wasn't her bedroom and she was elsewhere. 

"Rafinha?" She mumbles.

"Good morning Alessia!" He replied.

"What am I doing here? I-I was at the beach.." She questions, raising an eyebrow.

"Waiting for me and gave up and then fell asleep." He replies, finishing off her sentence.

She then gets out of bed, standing up. "No, I didn't give up. I could never give up on you, I was just tired." Then as she began to walk, her feet tripped over the phone charger cable beside the bed and landed luckily in Rafinha's arms. 

"Tired from all the drama?" He mentions, looking into her eyes. She says nothing, struck by his words and the way he spoke. Rafinha took this opportunity to look into her eyes, his favourite feature on her. 

"Uh-Uhm, you can let go of me now Rafinha." She whispers, giggling slightly when she realised he was just holding onto her, his hands around her waist and her arms around his neck. 

"And about that, the drama. I'm so sorry for not filling you in on the drama but I didn't want to drag you into this mess. And who would tell their friend that, after a while of not seeing them. It feels like I haven't seen you in forever." Alessia says, shrugging her shoulders as they released each other. 

"Alessia, it's literally been one day but I've missed you too. I'm sorry for what you had to put up with, but I can't stand that Maryse. Leo's right about her being a bitchy breadstick. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life. So let it go." He smiles, placing his hands on both her shoulders, looking into her eyes trying to reassure her.

Alessia smiles back, "That's why I'm going to quit work today. I just don't want to work there anymore, not with her working there and I feel like I've saved enough money to travel and afford more thin-"

And suddenly she paused. Rafinha frowned when he realised what she just said and knew his ears wasn't deceiving him. Alessia went silent and then looked up at his face, whose face looked like a meme trying to add up and solve the equation of what she just said.

"Well, I'm here to support you with that babygirl and you have a lot of explaining to do but for now, we can go sort your job out." Rafinha smiles, placing his arms around her waist and walks out with her.

When they got to the bar, Alessia gulped and took a deep breath. Leo came by, told her everything would be okay and put his thumbs up before she walked into her managers office. Maryse stood from afar, watching the three closely and saw Alessia walk in. She knew exactly what Alessia went to do and decided to walk away since she didn't mean anything to Alessia now.

"Alessia, what brings you here. You're incredibly late to work today-"

"I'm here because I came to say, I resign. I quit Mr Gomez. I've loved working here and so thankful for the way you've looked after and treated me but it's time for me to leave and continue with my life. To find myself and do what I truly want to do, find happiness and surround myself with people who deserve to know me and love." Alessia interrupts, placing down a piece of paper on Mr Gomez's desk.

He picked up the piece of paper, read through it and placed it back down and then walked over to Alessia. He places one hand on her shoulder, and says "You've been an amazing employee and I've grown to love you like my own daughter over the years. It's been a pleasure to work with you, I hope the future brings you joy Alessia. Good luck on your adventures and I hope you find someone who loves you very much. Here's your pay check." He then walks over to his desk and pulls out an envelope with her wages and hands it over to Alessia, making her smile and look back up at him.

"Thank you Mr. Gomez." She replies, with a generous smile and leaves the office outside to Rafinha and Leo.

"How did it go?" Leo asks, squinting his eyes since the sun was shining bright. 

She sighs, followed by a smile. "It went well. Now, what to do with my work free life." 

Rafinha then immediately responded, taking her hand in his. "Spend a day with me, explaining yourself. Oh and Leo, she's mine today so I won't be allowing anyone else to join."

Leo just frowned, pretending of course. "Well, take care of her you goof, after all. She's my little sister."

They both smiled at Leo, and then walked off holding hands which Leo focused on and gave a smile. "What you smiling at?" Neymar asks, appearing out of the blue.

"Yeah?" Luis adds.

"I wanna know too guys. King Messi never smiles." Gerad mentions right after. 

Leo just keeps his eyes focused on Alessia and Rafinha walking off into the distance and replies, "I do smile you rats. And them." He points towards Rafinha and Alessia making all the boys look that way and then look back at Leo walk off.

"Did he-" Gerad mentions with a shocked look on his face.

"Just call us-" Luis interrupts Gerad, frowning.

"rats?" Neymar adds interrupting Luis and then smiles in a cheesy way.