Chapter 588: Charity Case!

By the time Leo got back to his apartment, the match adrenaline had almost completely faded.

He hated to admit it, but all that was pressing on his shoulders was a lot heavier than what he could deal with that day.

Leo sighed heavily, then bent down to untie his shoes.

He kicked them off near the entrance, picked them up again a second later and placed them where they belonged.

Then he walked further inside and there, the matchday duffel bag came off his shoulder and was left beside the cabinet.

His jacket followed, then his keys and then the rest of his stuff routinely.

Leo eventually made his way into the bedroom and dropped onto the bed without bothering to change.

He stared at the ceiling and then brought his phone to his side before he lifted it above his face and unlocked the screen.

There were hundreds of notifications, notifications he’d learned to tune out and ignore, but almost out of habit, Leo opened Twitter.

The first few posts were the same arguments he’d already seen.

Some people were asking what had happened to Wigan.

Others were joking about the league leaders suddenly becoming generous with points.

There were posts about the defence, the midfield and Dawson’s tactics, and then there were the ones about him.

Leo stared at one for several seconds before scrolling past it.

He kept going and going until, eventually, he locked his phone, but he still couldn’t do without it.

He opened it again and checked his messages instead.

He found several from Noah, asking how he was, with some also asking Leo to call when he saw the messages, but Leo just stared at them without replying.

His eyes moved further down the screen, and there were missed calls from Vittoria.

Leo stared at her name for a while with his thumb hovering over her contact, but when it came down, he swiped the notifications away instead.

"Sorry, Tori, just this once."

He placed the phone on the mattress beside him and turned onto his side.

The next morning, however, came earlier than he wanted.

Leo woke before his alarm and lay still for a few seconds, trying to convince himself that getting up was a bad idea.

His entire body felt sore.

His legs were heavy, his back ached, and even his shoulders felt stiff from the previous night’s game.

He sat up slowly, and for a moment, he considered staying inside.

Nobody would blame him for taking the morning off, but that just wasn’t good enough a case for himself.

With a sigh, Leo dragged himself out of bed and put on his running shoes.

Nineteen months.

That was how long he’d been doing this.

Every morning he could manage it, regardless of whether he felt like it.

It had started because Dawson had told him something very simple when he had begun training him.

He needed to learn how to run and run properly.

Learn when to push, when to slow down, how to recover, how to use his body efficiently and how to keep moving when his legs were already tired.

Leo had taken the advice seriously, and nineteen months later, it had become routine.

.......

Across the Italian countryside, Vittoria stood in the hallway with her phone in her hand.

She stood tapping her phone in her hand and then, just like she had been doing since she woke up, she checked it again and found what she’d been finding all morning.

Nothing!

She opened their conversation anyway and found that the last message was still hers.

She stared at it for a few seconds before locking the screen.

Then she unlocked it again, but just before she could check it for the umpteenth time, she halted.

"Fiorella."

Vittoria’s head snapped towards the voice.

"Coming, Mom," she said before she began to walk towards it.

.......

With a similar result from the Bournemouth game, the internet was having a field day.

By the time the morning had properly begun, another trend had started spreading online.

TAKING POINTS OFF WIGAN!

That was the name, and it started as a joke.

Then people began adding to it.

Pictures of clubs celebrating draws against Wigan and memes of Wigan players handing out points.

"You get a point," a post said, while above it was a picture of Oprah Winfrey’s famous GIF.

There were posts talking about Wigan indulging in the Christmas spirit and posts joking that the league leaders had apparently decided they had collected enough points and wanted everyone else to have some.

The joke grew quickly, and it was everywhere.

And unfortunately for Leo, it reached Mia.

He sat on the couch with one hand covering his face, and beside him, Mia was laughing so hard she could barely speak.

"I tried not to join in," she managed between laughs.

"I really did."

Leo lowered his hand slightly and glanced at his sister but decided not to indulge her.

She looked at her phone again and saw the meme of Dawson dressed as Santa Claus with the Wigan players as elves, and that was enough for her to burst out laughing.

"The memes are too funny."

Sofia, sitting opposite them, had clearly reached the end of her patience.

She stood up, walked around the couch and grabbed Mia by the shirt.

"Come here."

"Wait, wait."

Sofia pulled her back down beside her despite her protests, while Mia finally sat down and comically wiped at the corner of one eye.

"Seriously, though. Why are you lot turning into a charity case?"

"What?"

"We watched the game."

"I thought you weren’t going to watch another game of mine again."

"I watched the game," Mia repeated, ignoring him, "and those three goals Bournemouth scored were ridiculous."

Sofia glanced at her.

"Not the penalty."

"Obviously not the penalty. That was a penalty."

Mia pointed towards Leo.

"But Alex Scott? Really?"

Leo lowered his hand.

"What about him?"

"I’m just saying, he’s not exactly the tallest player on the pitch, is he? He’s not even some ridiculous athlete who’s going to win every header."