387 Devil Mode... On I
After taking a few minutes to get back his breath, he went right back to preparing to leave, not wanting to spend any extra time thinking about what had just happened.
It was past and he needed to make sure it stayed away.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, Jason realized that time had flown by quite a bit, but luckily, he was someone who always tried to be earlier than needed because one could never tell when things would become confusing and something could get in the way, hence he was still within schedule and didn't have to rush himself.
However, he didn't slow down for a single second and went straight to getting ready, speed running his preparation and having his bag over his shoulder less than half an hour later.
Once he was done, he stepped out of his house and on realizing that Sofia hadn't thought to wait around and pester him, he heaved a sigh of relief.
It would be a difficult situation if that was the case, but luckily, it wasn't and Jason could leave his house without any trouble and he made his way to the the Portogaia training center.
Despite the interruption from Sofia, he still managed to be among the first of his teammates to reach the trainig grounds and without hesitation, he quickly parked his car, took his bag, and got on the bus.
On comfortably taking his seat, he plugged his ears with his headset and let music play while closing his eyes to try and calm his mind in anticipation for the game, but try as he might, he could only keep his mind blank for so long before it was inevitably disturbed by the last few day's occurrences and Jason's annoyance grew instead of slimming down like he had originally intended.
Luckily, he didn't have anyone pestering him and soon the bus was filled and the trip began.
Throughout the trip, Jason had his eyes closed like he was trying to sleep as he didn't want to be drawn into any conversations by his teammates as he couldn't ensure that he had full control of himself at the moment, especially since Mylo was also on the bus.
The guys around him took the hint and did not bother Jason at all, so with his eyes shut and his ears blocked, Jason wasn't bothered by anything apart from his mind on the full trip.
The Oporto team bus pulled up to Estadio D. Afonso Henriques at a few minutes past 7pm and the players filed out of the bus and walked into the stadium amidst the flashes of the photographers who were quite a bit more abundant in number than previously.
With the threat of Covid having reduced a lot and the vaccine finally having been created and undergoing mass production, it seemed that the world would soon put this episode of Covid behind them which was good news for everybody.
The football community among other sports communities were especially delighted with this news as it meant that the fans would soon be able to once again fill up the stadiums and electrify the atmosphere of the matches.
Both the fans and the players were happy at that fact, so everyone inevitably had a lighter heart as they watched the fight against the virus slowly go in their favor.
For the moment however, all eyes were on the Oporto players who deftly walked into the stadium, prepared for the match.
Jason was one of the last to come down, and unlike normally when he usually waved at a few cameras and flashed a smile that couldn't be seen anywhere but in his uncovered eyes, this time, his gaze was hard and he walked past the cameras like they were mere statues.
He was annoyed, but he was doing his best to control himself which led to him being constantly locked in and in full focus.
At that moment, the only thing on his mind was the game and everything that threatened to pop up quickly faced the brunt of Jason's mental defense.
In this locked in mood, he reached the locker room with his teammates and they quickly changed their clothes and got onto the field for a quick warm-up.
After the warm-up, the players went back into the locker room to have the last pre-match tactical meeting before the match.
"In goal will be Augustine, Our two center backs will be Ivan and Pepe while Zaidiu will be on the left and Uribe will be on the right sides of our defence line,"
"In midfield, we will have Corona on the right wide side and Diaz on the left while in center midfield will be Otavio and Viera,"
"Up front will be Marega and Taremi," the manager quickly called out the final line-up for the game while the remaining players that didn't hear their names immediately knew that they were on the bench.
Jason's annoyance flared for a bit on hearing that he wasn't first choice, but he quickly calmed himself before he let his annoyance make him react stupidly.
'This is not the first time you aren't starting, and it wouldn't be the last time, calm yourself,' he reminded himself countless times like he was reciting a mantra mentally.
His annoyance was threatening his whole psyche and it was getting really annoying to deal with something that came as a result of something that wasn't even his fault.
Him not being a part of the starting line-up was a completely normal thing and he knew that, but this time, due to his irritation, he didn't want to accept it and it was best if he got rid of these feelings that were making him volatile.
Luckily, he had enough emotional control to keep himself in line as he listened to the manager's game plan with his teammates.
Soon enough, the manager finished explaining and it was soon time to take the business to the field.
Jason and the other bench players went to the bench while the players in the starting line-up went to the tunnel to await their cue.
In a few minutes, the Primera Liga's next match day would kick off.