Chapter 9: Go Home

Peterson had to take his leave after talking to the youngster for a while because it obviously looked like he was heading somewhere, and after practicing his long pass for a little while longer, Axel decided to head home.

Out of twenty tries, he only managed to hit the target about five times but he knew he was a bit off his game that day so it wasn't really anything to get upset about.

As soon as he walked out of the stadium, he raised his watch to his view to see that the time was 2:30 PM.

"Hmmm."

He made sure to put on a hoodie to avoid unnecessary confrontations on his way back.

He was all over the news after his debut last night and it only got worse after it was confirmed that his parents were in a plane crash and didn't make it.

However, that wasn't really what was in his mind at the moment.

'I'll just say sorry and that's that.' He said inwardly as he slowly walked down the street. 'I just hope she doesn't start her annoying drama, it was sort of fun living alone and I was looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad, not her.'

It didn't take long before he got home, and after slowly making his way to the door, he let out a deep sigh before slowly opening the door.

He made his way into the house expecting to find a red-haired girl on the couch but he found a blonde girl lying there instead with her gaze fixated on her phone as she typed away.

"You're still here?" He muttered with a confused expression on his face and beneath that was also annoyance.

"Well, yes, unlike a certain heartless little brother, I have to stay here and help out Ariel." She retorted.

"Don't call me little, I'm two years older than you." He remarked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he slowly took his backpack off his back.

"And you don't have a problem with being called heartless?"

"I don't care." He replied before making his way toward the staircase. "Where's my sister?"

"Oh, she went upstairs a few minutes ago, she said she needed a nap." She replied before slowly sitting up on the couch.

"If she's upstairs taking a nap then why are you still here?" He turned to her with a glare.

Normally, she would just brush that off as a joke but his voice sounded really cold and she could tell by the way he was looking at her now that he meant it.

"Axel." She muttered before biting her lower lip. "Well, I didn't come here to see you, so you don't have any right to tell me when to leave, and besides, my brother's going to be here any moment now." She retorted.

He didn't say anything in response to that and just turned away from her before he began to make his way upstairs.

She just kept her gaze on him and watched him make his way upstairs until he was finally out of sight.

"Life is cruel." She muttered.

Axel's room was very close to his sister's and that was the reason why he was staring at it even after getting to his door.

'Maybe I should knock.' He contemplated before raising his right hand toward the door.

He was about to bring it down and knock when he shook his head and suddenly pulled the hand back.

"She's sleeping, I shouldn't disturb her." He muttered before he opened his door and slowly made his way into the room.

His room was a mess before he left for the match yesterday and he had planned to clean it up that night but the devastating news ended up crushing every will he had to do anything that night.

His dirty clothes were still on the floor, including the pajamas he was wearing that morning. There were a couple of empty snack packs on the floor along with his game controller and Nintendo Switch.

"I should clean this up." He sighed before hanging his bag on the nail stuck in the wall beside the door.

It didn't take long before he put everything where they belonged and threw away the trash.

With his room now looking like a place where a normal person stayed, he crashed down on his bed and let out a sigh.

He kept his gaze on the ceiling for a while before turning it to the right and that was when he caught sight of something on his cupboard.

A picture of him holding a trophy but he wasn't the only one in the picture, there was a red-haired woman behind him, she was putting on glasses and had both of her hands on his shoulders.

He stared at the picture for a while before he slowly stretched his hand toward it and picked it up.

The woman in the picture had brown eyes which meant that blue eyes were something they got from their father.

The trophy he was holding in the picture was the B team league trophy, that was his first season playing for the B team and they won the league that season.

He was a huge help to them scoring eleven goals while providing thirty-seven assists.

He won the best playmaker award that season which was exactly what he was aiming for but that wasn't the only award he won, he also won the Player of the Season award which was well deserved.

He stared at the picture for a while with a lot of memorable thoughts running through his mind.

His eyes were slowly filling up now, and just before the liquid could start spilling, he dropped the picture on the bed and quickly sat up.

He cleaned his eyes with his sleeves before turning to his cupboard to pick up the marker there.

With the marker now in his hand, he got up from the bed and made his way to the calendar hanging on the wall by the side.

"Today's Saturday." He muttered before pointing to Saturday on the calendar.

It was November twenty forth two thousand and forty.

'They'll be facing Juventus on Tuesday for a group stage match.' He said inwardly before circling the twenty-seventh. 'And then we have a big match against Arsenal on Saturday the first of December.' He added before also circling that spot.

"I'll be a part of that match." He muttered before he put the lid back on the marker and began to step back.

He made it a habit to mark the days his team had games on his calendar even though it was easy to do it with the calendar on his phone.

"I guess I'll just play some games now and then go take my bath later."

He was about to sit down on his bed when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

He slowly changed his course to the door and opened it to find Aurora standing there.

"You still haven't gone home?" He sighed. "What do you want?"

"Well, my brother is here so I decided to come get you." She replied before putting her hands on her back.

"He should have come himself, why did you have to come?"

"Well, he was on a call so I decided to come do it, I also…"

"Huh?"

"I want to talk."

Just before she could say another word, he slammed the door shut right in her face.