After setting up the dinner table and serving the dishes, everyone sat down to eat together and that included Amber who wanted to leave as soon as she was done helping her senior, but Emma told her that it would be inappropriate to just leave after helping her with everything so she had to stay and eat dinner with them.
There was a little moment of silence in the room as everyone ate their meal quietly until Emma decided to break the silence.
"So, how was Switzerland?" She asked with her gaze fixated on Dave who didn't even know as his attention was on his food.
Catherine didn't even bother to tell him anything.
"Dave." She called, forcing the goalkeeper to quickly turn his gaze to her.
"Oh, you were talking to me."
"Of course, I was talking to you, who else would I be talking to?" She replied.
"Um….You know, Mateo was also in Switzerland with me so I thought you were asking him."
"Well, I'm not asking him."
"What's funny, Amber?" Emma asked before turning her gaze to Amber who she heard giggle a little.
"Nothing ma, I just think you two are really cute together." She said before covering her mouth with her hand.
"So, how was Switzerland, Dave?" She asked before turning her gaze back to her husband.
"Switzerland's a great country, the weather can be a bit chilly at night, their streets are way too lively at nighttime and they have wonderful people." Dave expressed.
"I see, so you guys enjoyed yourselves."
"You bet," Dave said before turning his gaze back to his food.
"I hope you enjoyed yourself, Mateo?" She asked after turning her gaze to her little brother.
'She's using that tone again, I'm not a little child anymore.'
The winger wanted to say something corresponding to his thoughts but he knew it wouldn't be nice to do something like that with Amber here so he decided to keep things down.
"Yeah, I enjoyed myself, sis."
"Good," Emma said with a smile.
"I'll like to visit Switzerland one day," Amber said before turning her gaze to Mateo who was sitting beside her.
"That's great, you'll love it there." The winger said.
He was trying really hard to make sure things weren't awkward between the both of them.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you guys." She said.
"Tell us what?" Mateo asked.
"Congratulations on your victory, I pray you guys beat them at home and advance to the group stage." She said.
"Oh, thanks, Amber," Dave said.
"Thank you, we'll do our best," Mateo said.
After dinner, the four talked together and had a few moments of laughs before Mateo and Amber had to leave.
They said their goodbyes before leaving, Amber was the first one to leave the house before Mateo.
Everywhere had already gone dark as they had been in there for a while.
Mateo seemed to have gotten comfortable around Amber during their little conversation inside where he asked her a couple of things about herself but now that they were outside, that awkward atmosphere seemed to have returned although it wasn't as heavy as it was before.
"Alright, I guess I'll get going now." She said before taking a step forward.
"Get going where?" Mateo asked.
"My home of course." She said after turning her gaze to him.
"I know that, but you know my car's here and I don't mind giving you a ride home." The winger asked.
"No, don't bother yourself, I'll be fine with a cab."
"Yeah, but who knows when you're going to find a cab on this street."
"I'll just walk to the junction and find one."
To be specific, Mateo felt quite comfortable around her now, she was the one creating the awkward atmosphere and she was doing everything possible to avoid making eye contact with him while he talking to her.
"No, you don't have to do that," Mateo said before he walked closer to her and grabbed her by her arm. "I'll drive you home, you can thank me later."
She tried to resist at first but as his grip tightened around her wrist, she had to give up.
"Fine." She before letting out a sigh.
Dave slowly opened his eyes and turned his gaze to the side to see Emma there with both of her arms wrapped around him.
'That's what you said the last time, honestly, this is starting to feel impossible to me.'
'Okay, I'll keep trying.'
He checked his phone to see that the time was 5:59 AM before he slowly slipped away from Emma's arms.
Once he was out, he changed into something good for running and picked up his running boots before slowly making his way out of the room and downstairs.
Once he was downstairs, he put on the boots before quickly making his way out of the house.
'How about we do twelve kilometers today, Catherine?' The goalkeeper asked subconsciously as he made his way to the road.
'Yeah, I forgot the only thing you have is a mouth which only works in my head.' He said subconsciously before zooming off.
He decided to run a straight path today instead of the forest path he had gotten used to taking and by the time he was done with twelve kilometers, he had already gotten to the highway road.
[ 29% stamina remaining ]
He was breathing heavily now but he wasn't exactly out of breath as he had enough stamina to walk back home but running would mean that he would have to drop dead on the road.
'To be very sure that this stamina will be enough, because I don't want to wait around here.'
[ +10 stat points added to endurance ]
'Yeah, but I don't want to take the risk until I get closer to the house.'
The goalkeeper turned and was about to leave when a young boy about twelve years old popped up from nowhere and was standing in front of him now.
"Hey, you're Dave Richards," The boy said with a shocked expression on his face."
"Yeah." The goalkeeper replied.
"I'm your biggest fan." The boy said before wrapping his arms around him.
"Oh, I see," Dave said before placing his hand on his hand. "Thanks for being my biggest fan but I have to go now."
"Okay," The boy said before letting go of him.
"So, what's a little boy like you doing here all alone by this time?" The goalkeeper asked.
"No, I'm not alone, my mum's over there." He said before pointing to his mother who was sitting on the bench by the side.
She waved at Dave and he returned the wave.
"Get to your mother then, bye."
He continued his walk home and just after walking a little distance, he was spotted by two teenagers standing by the side.
"Hey, isn't that Dave Richards?"
It started with just those two, and before the goalkeeper knew it, he was surrounded by about nine people.
'I don't , Catherine.'
A magic castle= one extra chapter.
Two magic castles= two extra chapters.