Cristiano's Love [Sequel to Change of Heart]

Chapter 10

The team along with Jesús Núñez were surprised to see Annabelle arrive with Cristiano but after a short period of commotion, they started the try outs.  The drills they had her do were a cinch for someone who used to train with FC Barcelona.  After a few more drills, Jesús seemed to have realized it too and split up everyone into two teams to play a match together.  There were a few other girls trying out for the team as well and they were all mixed in with the starters of the team.  The game was very fast faced and the other girls were really good but in some areas, Annabelle was better.  She read her teammates well and set up perfect passes that led to their 2-1 win.  At the end of the game, Jesús rounded up the ladies and announced that he’d contact them by then end of the day when he’s made his decision. 

“You did really well today,” Cristiano said as he led her to the car.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, not many of the other girls have your versatile playing style,”

“I hope the manager thinks so,”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he smiles at her before giving her a kiss on the forehead, then closing the door for her.

“There’s somewhere we have to go before we go home,”

“Sure,”

Soon Cristiano pulls into the driveway of a large glamorous house.  He gets out of the car and gestures that she does the same.  Slightly nervous, Annabelle steps out of his car and walks up to him as he leads her to the door.

“Don’t be nervous,” he kisses her on the head and takes her hand before walking into the house.  “Mamãe!  I’m here!” as soon as Annabelle heard him shout out that first word, her heart felt as if it was going to leap out of her throat.

“Meu bebê!” an shorter older woman hustles into the foyer and gives her boyfriend a big hug.  She then turns to Annabelle with a warm smile and opens her arms to embrace her next.  “You must be Bella!  Cris has been talking so much about you.  I’m so glad to finally meet you,”

“The pleasure is all mine senhora Aveiro.  I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier,”

“Nonsense!  Dolores is just fine and Cris tells me how busy you are.  How did tryouts go?” Annabelle looks at her surprised and looks over at Cristiano, wondering exactly how much he has told his mother about her.

“It went well.  I hope to hear from them with good news sometime later today,”

“Splendid!  Let’s get out of the doorway.  We’ve got lunch all ready,”

Dolores ushers them inwards towards the dining to where little Cristiano Jr. was already munching down his food.  At the sight of his father, the young boy smiles and swallows a big bite before running over to jump into his father’s arms.  They give one another a bear hug before the footballer turns his son’s attention over to Annabelle.

“Cristianinho, this is Bella.  She’s a very special person to me and I wanted you to meet her,” the little boy looks up shyly at her before walking over with a cheeky smile to shake her hand.  Annabelle smiles back at him before they were interrupted by Dolores.

“Come on, come on, take a seat and let’s start eating!” she waved her hands around as she took her seat at the table.  The meal was delicious and Annabelle felt like she was in heaven.  After lunch, she attempted to help clean up but no one would let her.  Instead, her boyfriend pulled her away to play soccer with him and his son.

“He shoots and he scores!” the little shouted as he danced his way around the couple, flaunting his goal.

“Well I definitely know where he gets that from,” Annabelle smirks at the tall Portuguese and he just smiles with a shrug.

“What can I say?  He has his father’s charm,” he laughs when Annabelle snorts aloud and jogs over to congratulate the boy.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Cristianinho but soon her cellphone rings to interrupt them.  Seeing the blocked number, Annabelle panics.  Hesitantly, she picks up the phone and tries to sound professional.

“Hello, Annabelle speaking,”

“Miss Pique, this is Fernando from Atlético de Madrid,”

“H-Hi Fernando, thanks for calling,”

“Of course!  So I have the results of the try outs and after careful consideration, we’ve decided to make you an offer for a professional contract,”

“Oh my gosh…  That’s such great news… Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome!  We’re very excited to have you join the team.  From here I need to schedule a time for you to come in with your agent and get some paperwork completed,”

“Definitely!” Annabelle chirped excitedly as she continued to chat about next steps with Fernando.  After what seemed like the longest conversation ever, she ended the phone call and looks over at her boyfriend who was wrestling his son to the ground in a tickle fight.

One look at Annabelle’s face and Cristiano knew that she had gotten on the team.  He beamed at her with pride as he picked her up and gave her a big kiss.

“Congrats Bella!”

“Thank you!  I can’t believe this is really happening…” she said in disbelief as she followed the duo into the lounge and plopped herself on the couch.  The little boy climbed on beside her and rested his head on her lap and she stared at him in surprise.

“I think he likes you,” her boyfriend smiled as he claimed the other seat beside her and threw his arm around her.

“I’m glad he does,” she caresses the young boy’s hair to find that he was already sound asleep.

“Now going back to the previous topic, you’ll have to call your agent and have her come to Madrid to assist you with the paperwork,”

“Yeah, then I have to tell my family… I have to figure out my model career…” Annabelle’s head swirled as she thought about the pace her life was moving in and Cristiano grabbed her hand.

“Bella,” his serious tone made her nervous and she forgot about everything else for that second.

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you move in with me?” her jaw dropped a bit at his question.

“A-As in… move to Madrid?”

“Well if you’re going to play for Atlético de Madrid then you’ve got to move here,” he said matter-of-factly and her head started spinning again.

“There’s so much to do…  This is such a big decision... Everything’s gonna change,”

“Bella, this is a good thing.  Pursuing professional football is a dream that not everyone can live,”

“I know… It’s just-”

“My Bella,” he cups her face and turns her to look at him.  “You know you want this.  Don’t be afraid of it.  I’ll be here with you every step of the way.  Just move in with me,”

“A-Are you sure?”

“Bella, this last week with you, has made me more sure than I’ve ever been of anything in my life.  I want to wake up beside you each morning.  I want to cook for you.  I want to go to sleep each night with you in my arms.  I can’t help but feel like it was all meant to be that you going to be contracted with Atlético de Madrid,”

“Cris…  You’re right.  I’m scared to make such a big decision…  The last big decision I made was becoming a model and I had Lulu with me,”

“But this time I’ll be with you,” he smiles when she nods in response and he gives her a gentle, reassuring kiss.  Annabelle leans her body against his and snuggles her face in his neck as he wraps his around her.

“I love you so much,” she whispers and his heart skips a beat.  It was going to take a while before he got used to that…

~*~*~*~

A/N = I'm so sorry I took forever to update!   Life has been crazy... but I'll try to update more consistently now.  Probably still not as frequent as before but I'll aim for 1-2 updates a month.  Please stay tuned!  Thanks!