imbalance | trent alexander-arnold¹

twenty-four.

[ warning: heavy mentions/descriptions of panic attacks ]

. . .

all the good he didn't do

Overtime, Wynter found herself drowned in her varied feelings—rather a state of intense dejection and she couldn't extract the silently painful sensation even if she tried. Fortunately, the player coped but only just about as it was compulsory for her to do so with matches and training. The worst part about the situation was the fact that she didn't mask her deep sadness and dejection, but her pride prevented her from actually expressing her emotions and how she felt with anyone.

Even the Liverpool squad noticed a shift in her cheerful demeanour. Usually, the french girl lit up training with her warm presence, making her teammates appreciate her even more. She brought a special edition to the squad that her teammates never expected from someone like her to bring to the team when she first joined. So as soon as all of her lively actions were replaced with her current downcasted mood, they wished their usual Wynter could return.

They debated whether if the change seemed worth confronting, but seeing as the french girl was still upset with some of them from the last confrontation about her bruise, they decided to let her be and placed the situation into Virgil and Jordan's hands to take care of. However, the pair retrieved absolutely nothing from the girl so eventually, they let her be and hoped she would come through soon.

With the on-going court appearances and football, the repositioning of her uncontrollable emotions definitely took a toll on the girl for the worse to the point where she trialled for more therapy sessions. Though as much as she appreciated her doctor's time, the more sadness washed over her body, the less useful therapy became with time, but nonetheless, she resumed her regular appearances at the centre.

"Winnie!"

"Huh? What?" Her brows dropped at the sudden voice, her eyes blinking quickly to fall back in line with reality. It soon came to Wynter that she was in a facetime call with Nate who waved his hand in the frame to grasp her attention.

"Winnie, this has been like the third you've zoned out during the call," Nate pointed out. "C'mon Pooh, speak to me. What's going on?"

Since her brother had knowledge of the whole situation, she didn't waste a second to spill the news to him. She sighed, dropping her chin on her fist. "I'm. . . I'm just really upset and angry about, well, pretty much everything that's going on right now."

"Why?" he questioned.

"I just feel so upset because I have a lot on my mind. Recently, Trent and I broke up, I'm not on the best terms with Joe at the moment, I almost didn't get called up during the last break because Didier thought that my playing declined, which I agree with. I haven't been at my best.

"The jury and the prosecutor for the case won't come through with a verdict and said they will come to a conclusion only after our match against Barcelona. Not to mention, we lost against Barcelona so I don't know if we'll make it to the Champions League final and the title race for the Premier League puts my stress levels on another level! I don't want to come second, Nate," she spoke her last words in a low tone.

Nate blew out a breath as he took Dylan into his arms, placing his pacifier in the baby's mouth. "Well, shit. You have it hard over there across the ocean."

"Yeah, I do and honestly I don't know what to do," Wynter buried her head in her hands, her words coming out muffled.

"I mean, I don't think the problem is that you've too much on your mind." Her face scrunched up in confusion as Nate uttered those words, but she allowed him to explain further. "Pooh, have you ever considered the fact that maybe, you're feeling this way because you are handling most of your problems, like, alone?"