Off the Deep End (Cristiano Ronaldo / Lionel Messi)

Chapter 13: Surprise Guest

Monday 23rd March 2015

"Welcome home!" Maria – Cristiano's household keeper – greeted him happily as soon as he stepped the threshold. He gave her a grateful smile, when she picked up his duffel bag and went to throw his dirty clothes in the laundry. It took Cristiano a moment to spot the shy pair of dark brown eyes peeking at him from behind the corner.

"Junior, what are you doing? Come here!"

His son gave him a little smile and then lunged at him, laughing and poking at his sides. Cristiano smiled broadly and tickled him, lifting the child onto his shoulders.

"You lost", Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. stated after a while, clearly bothered by the fact. "2–1. But you made a goal!"

"That's right, little one. We lost. But failure is the first step to success, remember that."

Junior nodded, but something told Cristiano he didn't quite catch the beauty of his words. He bent over to let the child jump away from his back and let him explain all the fun things he had experienced with his nanny while he was away.

After a while Cristiano decided it was time for his daily workout routine, changed his clothes and retreated into his gym, offering a little ball for his son to play with. He had just finished warming up, when suddenly Maria appeared in the doorway. Usually he hated it, if someone other than Junior dared to interrupt his well-structured training session, but this time Maria looked extremely alarmed. Cristiano took the hint and followed her out of the room.

"What is it?" he asked her impatiently as soon as they were out of Junior's earshot.

"It's Irina", Maria whispered. "She's at the door. She said something about coming to pick up her things."

Cristiano looked at her dumbfounded and it took him a moment to fully grasp on what she was saying. Then he gathered himself and cleared his throat.

"Right. I'll go, you – look after Junior."

He grimaced to himself as he rushed to the hallway, checking himself out in the mirror on his way. He looked sweaty and tired, far from his best. Quickly he fixed his hair and wiped his face with the small towel draped over his neck and went to open the door.

And there she was, Irina. Beautiful as ever, standing in front of his door a stony expression adorning her face, wearing a business-like black dress and jacket and clutching a couple of empty bags in her left hand. She looked him straight in the eye and there wasn't a single trace of forgiveness in that stare.

"Well, nice to see you too", Cristiano said coldly, trying to get the upper hand of the situation. "I heard you had actually a good reason to come here."

Irina flashed him a fake smile.

"Yes I do. I need my stuff back", she snarled, totally unaffected by Cristiano's unwelcoming attitude.

"Go ahead", Cristiano opened the door wide and stepped aside, careful not to touch her in any way. "You could have just hired someone to do that for you, you know", he couldn't help adding.

Irina shrugged and threw her jacket to the nearest chair.

"Right. I don't want any furniture, just some clothes and my grandmother's jewels. In case you didn't sell them already."

Cristiano frowned.

"Of course not", he said quietly. "Where are they?"

They walked in silence to the master bedroom and Cristiano let her get through her things. She yanked a dress after dress unceremoniously from their hangers and stuffed them roughly into her bags, totally ignoring Cristiano who was standing nearby, watching her every move with blank eyes.