Wild at Heart

Part One - Chapter Forty-Three: Saying Goodbye

“So this is it,” Mia said softly brushing some hair from her face, her heart pounded in her chest knowing that her flight would be called at any moment.

Iker nodded his head as he offered his girlfriend a weak smile, he was dressed in the new Real Madrid tracksuit and he didn’t even care that a couple of his team-mates were staring.

“You’ll call me when you land?” Mia asked knowing that she would land back in Broederstroom earlier than he would land in Los Angeles.

Iker offered her a smile as he carefully pulled her into his arms, he hated that this was over for them now and he knew that the next stage of his relationship wasn’t going to be easy.

Mia was wearing a pink top with detail front and drop neck and white linen shorts paired with white heeled sandals; she was dress comfortably since the weather back in South Africa would be unbearably hot.

“Will you be going back to the apartment?” Iker asked looking down at Mia curiously, he brushed a strand of hair out of the way knowing that if Cristiano could be apart from Irina for most of the year then he could do this.

Mia shook her head, she wanted to spend some time with her family as she adjusted to life without him by her side; the brunette would go to the apartment in a couple of weeks’ time.

“I want to spend some time with my family,” Mia replied looking up at Iker, it felt strange to her that they were actually saying goodbye; it wouldn’t be easy to let him go.

Mia took a shaky breath as her flight was finally called, she shouldered her Quamba cross body bag as she offered Iker a weak smile.

“I love you,” Mia whispered pressing a kiss to Iker’s lips, she wrapped her arms around him knowing that the moment had finally come for her to leave.

Iker held her close to him for a second savouring what he had, his eyes closed wishing that there was an easier way for this to happen.

“Te amo,” Iker murmured slowly letting go of his girlfriend so that she could leave, he offered her a small smile knowing that he couldn’t ask her to stay, it wouldn’t be fair on her to leave her entire life just for him.

Mia swallowed knowing that if she lingered for a moment longer then she was going to cry, she made sure that she had her passport and ticket.

“This isn’t goodbye… it’s I’ll see you later,” Iker said softly trying to make this easier on her, he knew that she had to get on the plane or he would never forgive himself.

Mia deserved to be able to live her life and she couldn’t do that here in Madrid, she had a greater purpose back in South Africa; he would be proud of her for doing what she did there.

“I’ll see you later then,” Mia said with a smile, she pressed one last kiss to Iker’s lips before she turned and walked away knowing she couldn’t miss her flight home.

***

Sergio slowly approached his best friend as they flew to LA, everyone was giving the captain a wide-birth and seemed to know that he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

Iker had his headphones in and his brown eyes closed as he tried to ignore the ache in his chest at the fact that Mia was now gone.

Iker swallowed as he felt someone watching him before he sighed and opened his eyes to see it was just Sergio.

“You okay?” Sergio asked softly as Iker removed his headphones and turned off his iPod, he could see that everyone nearby had gone silent to hear what their captain had to say.

Sergio knew that Iker would be hurting and had given him a few hours to calm down after Mia had left on her own flight, he could understand what his friend was going through and he had seen how in love Iker had been with Mia.

Sergio hadn’t forgotten the moment he’d injured the brunette by accident and how murderous Iker had been over it.

“I’ve been better,” Iker said offering Sergio a weak smile, he watched as his friend sat down beside him as if knowing that he needed someone right now; he needed to hear he’d done the right thing.

“You did the right thing Iker… she would have hated you if she’d been forced to move to Madrid,” Sergio said smiling at his friend, he couldn’t help but admit that he was amazed at how selfless Iker had been about all of this.

Sergio knew that he would have never have been able to let the love of his life go like that and it would have only ended in disaster if Iker hadn’t of let Mia return home.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Iker replied fingering his iPod, it was loaded with pictures of his girlfriend but he wasn’t sure that he could look at them right now.

Seeing a picture of Mia would only remind him that she was no longer there with him, she was thousands of miles away preparing to return to her own life without him.

Sergio sighed wrapping his arm around his friend, he patted him on the shoulder wishing that there was some way that this could have all been easier for Iker.

Iker deserved to be happy and a long distance relationship was going to be far from easy, especially since Iker was a world famous footballer.

Iker looked out of the window knowing that the next week was going to be difficult, it was going to take some getting used to not having Mia around him all of the time.

***

Rosie chewed on her lip as she searched the airport for her sister, she knew that Mia’s flight had landed and she couldn’t help but be nervous about her sister’s return.

Mia had seemed miserable when she had called the night before to confirm that she was coming home and Rosie couldn’t help but feel her heart break for Mia.

It was clear that the brunette was deeply in love with Iker and Rosie could only respect Iker for what he had done to let her sister come home.

Rosie had been frightened that Iker would spend the entire trip trying to convince Mia to stay with him in Madrid and steal her away; however he had done everything in his power to get her to come back to South Africa.

“Mia,” Rosie breathed as her eyes finally locked on her younger sister, her heart lurched knowing that Mia had been crying. It was something that she had always been able to pick up on faster than anyone else.

Mia sniffled as she hurried towards Rosie with her suitcase, she knew that she was being silly but she was really missing Iker right now and she hated that she had cried on the plane.

“It’ll be okay,” Rosie whispered as she hugged her sister, she knew that leaving behind Iker hadn’t been easy on her but it had been for the best.

Mia nodded her head knowing that she must look a right mess right now, the brunette couldn’t help but think that she had just made the biggest mistake of all.

“Now let’s get you home,” Rosie said with a small smile, she wasn’t about to tell her sister that she was thrilled for her to be home; especially since it didn’t look like Mia wanted to be there at all.

Mia nodded her head weakly as she allowed her older sister to led her from the airport, the brunette couldn’t help but think that she had left Madrid with a little more than what she had arrived with.