Fame.| Manuel Neuer Fanfiction

Chapter 23

The smell of spring filled my nose as I got out of my car at Bayern's outdoor practice. Every time I looked down at my hand I was always surprised to see the engagement ring- it was all still surreal. It had been 4 months since Manu proposed on Christmas. The last few months have been a whirlwind of congratulations from everyone far and wide as well as major news articles written on us. We were the current talk of Germany and everyone was eager to hear the wedding plans. Unfortunately, not much planning had gotten done so far. I have been preoccupied planning the trip to Russia for the World Cup and participating in the 2018 Olympics. I finished fourth, which was an acceptable position for me, considering I had not been back in competition for long enough after the accident. 2018 had been and still is a busy year for Manu and I and trying to fit a wedding in is not reasonable. 

On the other hand, my mind had still been distracted by Jake. My stalker/attacker had been released from jail over Christmas. I still hadn't seen him, keep in mind I have a retraining order against him, but I have also failed to tell anyone about his release, including Manu. There have been dozens of moments where I have almost let it out, but I choke up in fear of his reply. 4 months later, there has been no news, so I think I'm in the clear. 

All my thoughts fade away as I encroach on the side of the field. Manu was back in practice today, he had taken months off because of his ankle injury, but was desperate to get back out there in time for the cup. Bayern had just one the Bundesliga for the 6th time, and had their eyes set towards the Champions League. I smiled at Manu and he waved back as I sat in the bench on the sidelines. Every once in a while I'd catch a glimpse of a photographer take a picture of me, and I learned to dress rather nicer when I come to his practices because of this reason. A few moments later, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Guten Morgen, Izzy", says Lisa, and she sits down beside me and hands me one of two coffee cups in her hand.

"Hazelnut latte?" I inquired at the cup.

"Of course!"

"Thanks Lisa! Guten Morgen to you. How is Thomas? Still happy over that win last week?"

"Ugh," she partially rolled her eyes, " so happy. He is almost losing focus on the next task because of it, I had to knock some sense into him. How's Manu?"

"Oh he's struggling. Intensely eager to get back out there and wear that captain band, you know? He was super excited to get back into the next officially this morning, I'm happy for him. I just hope the next few months are enough for the cup this year." 

We let out a moment of silence before we glanced at each other, "we are travelling to Russia together, right?" Lisa looked and me desperately, and we both laughed. 

"I would never leave you alone with all that testosterone." I giggled, motioning to the field. In sync, we both waved at the photographers who shifted from capturing images of the boys to capturing images of our giggling moments together.

"Funny, if it's not because of skiing, it's because of my fiancé."

"And if it's not for horse jumping, it's because of my husband." 

"Speaking of, any updates on wedding planning?" Lisa glanced at me as she took a sip from her cup, leaving a red stain from her lipstick.

I let out a deep groan, and Lisa laughed. "I honestly haven't even picked out a colour scheme yet. This is awful."

"You know what, I'll call up our wedding planner that Thomas and I had, she was amazing. The three of us can sit down and spit out ideas. I know Manu won't have too much time, but he won't know the difference between lavender and lilac anyways."

"Could you? That would be amazing, it would really settle my mind."

Lisa pulled out her phone and left a note for herself, "consider it done. Besides, your training is lesser now and that will give you more free time!" 

We sat and small-talked for the rest of practice. We knew it was our queue to get up when we heard the boys clap on the pitch.

A couple minutes later I was waiting outside the car for Manu to leave practice. I eventually recognized his walk, and proceeded to get in the drivers seat to wait for him. He had showered (thank God) and was wearing jeans and a sweater, holding his gym bag. He opened the passenger seat door and sat down.

"Do I even have to say it now?" I said, giving him the side-eye.

He laughed and launched his gym bag into the backseat, like I always asked him to do.

"Thank you!" I said, finally reaching over and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Good practice this morning, you looked good out there." I said, glancing at his full lips. 

"Looked good, or, looked good?" He said, kissing me back.

---

Later that afternoon, Manu and I were both sat on the couch doing work on our laptops. Today was a quiet day, and we were grateful because we hadn't had one of those in a long time. 

We both sat quietly tapping away on our keyboards, and I had my feet resting on top of his shins. 

My phone let out a loud buzz and I checked who it was from; Lisa. 

I opened the message and it was a link to a news article, attached with a message from her:

"Cute messages! But is this true?"

My heart picked up in speed, is what true? Probably just another terrible rumour. 

I opened the article to see cute close ups of Lisa and I laughing and sipping our coffees at this mornings practice. I smiled. I scrolled up to read what witty title the journalist would use this time, but that was when my heart sunk.

Skiing Champion, Isabella Krause, found overly relaxed while attending her Fiancé's, Manuel Neuer of FC Bayern Munich, practice this morning upon her attacker being released from jail just a couple months ago.

They found out, the press had discovered Jake's release. Before I even had time to react, Manu's phone started going off, and mine starting going off more too.

I got an incoming text from Brooke, dad, my trainer, manager and all my friends.

"What's going on?" Inquired Manu at the incoming sounds of all the new messages on our phones regarding the article. 

"Uh Manu, you're not going to want to read that" I said, slowly closing my laptop and sitting up straight on the couch.

"And why not?" He asked, as the images of Lisa and I reflected on his glasses, I knew I was too late. 

I also knew I was too late when he looked up from his phone, and shut his laptop.