The transition from the quiet, sun-drenched courtyard of Casa de los Niños to the opulent, almost surreal luxury of Saudi Arabia was a jarring, disorienting experience that left Mateo feeling like he had stepped through a portal into another dimension.
One moment, he was surrounded by the familiar, comforting sights and sounds of his childhood home; the laughter of children, the gentle chiding of Sister Maria Elena, the wise counsel of Don Carlo.
The next, he was in a private jet, soaring through the clouds at thirty thousand feet, on his way to a world he had only ever seen in movies and magazines.
The jet was a marvel of modern engineering, a flying palace that defied every conception he had ever had of air travel.
The cabin was larger than the main hall of the Casa, with plush leather seats that could recline into full beds, a fully stocked bar with champagne that cost more than most people earned in a month, and a personal chef who catered to his every culinary whim.
The walls were lined with flat-screen televisions, the floors were covered in Persian rugs, and the bathroom was equipped with gold-plated fixtures that gleamed like the sun.
But Mateo was not interested in the champagne, the caviar, the gourmet meals that were presented to him on silver platters. He spent the flight with his headphones on, listening to music, his eyes closed, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.
He was excited, of course. He was about to meet his heroes, the players he had idolized since he was a small boy kicking a tattered football in the streets of Barcelona. But he was also nervous, intimidated, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what lay ahead.
He was a boy from an orphanage, a boy who had known poverty, hunger, and despair.
What would he say to these legends of football, these men who lived in a world of unimaginable wealth and fame? How could he possibly relate to players who earned more in a week than most people earned in a lifetime?
The flight attendant, a beautiful woman with a warm smile and perfect English, tried to engage him in conversation, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to respond with anything more than polite nods and shy smiles.
She brought him magazines, offered him movies, suggested he try the massage chair, but he was content to sit by the window, watching the world pass by below, his mind a thousand miles away.
He arrived in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to a scene of controlled chaos that was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
The airport was a cathedral of glass and steel, its soaring ceilings and marble floors a testament to the incredible wealth of the kingdom.
A fleet of black cars was waiting for him on the tarmac, their tinted windows reflecting the harsh, unforgiving glare of the desert sun. Men in traditional white robes and red-checkered headdresses moved with quiet efficiency, their faces masks of professional courtesy.
He was whisked away to a five-star hotel, a towering monument of glass and steel that seemed to pierce the very heavens. The lobby was a wonderland of marble and gold, with fountains that danced to classical music and chandeliers that cast rainbow patterns on the walls. The staff, dressed in immaculate uniforms, bowed and smiled as he passed, their deference a reminder of his new status as a global icon.
His suite was bigger than the entire ground floor of the Casa. It had a panoramic view of the city, a sprawling metropolis of gleaming skyscrapers and ancient mosques that stretched out to the horizon.
The bedroom featured a king-sized bed with silk sheets that felt like clouds against his skin. The marble bathroom was equipped with a gold-plated jacuzzi that could have accommodated half the children from the orphanage.
A personal butler, a dignified man with perfect English and an encyclopedic knowledge of the city, was on call 24/7 to cater to his every need.
But Mateo was not interested in the luxury, the opulence, the extravagance that surrounded him. He spent the first few hours in his suite just sitting by the window, looking out at the city, at the endless expanse of desert that stretched out beyond the urban sprawl.
The landscape was alien, almost lunar in its stark beauty. The sand dunes rolled like frozen waves, their golden surfaces shifting and changing with the wind. The sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue that seemed to go on forever.
He felt small, insignificant, a tiny speck in a vast, indifferent universe. He was a boy from the streets of Barcelona, a boy who had found a home in the industrial city of Dortmund. What was he doing here, in this land of kings and sheikhs, of oil and sand, of unimaginable wealth and power?
He was a footballer. He was a Nike athlete. He was a global icon. He was almost multi-millionaire.
He was all of these things, and he was none of them.
He was just Mateo. And he was lost.
The next morning, he was taken to the film set, a journey that felt like a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine. The convoy of black cars moved through the city like a funeral procession, their tinted windows protecting him from the curious stares of the locals. Check latest chapters at NovєlFіre.net
They passed through neighborhoods of incredible wealth, where mansions the size of palaces sat behind high walls and armed guards.
They passed through markets where the air was thick with the smell of spices and the sound of haggling voices. They passed through industrial districts where oil refineries belched smoke into the clear desert air.
And then, suddenly, they were in the desert, the city falling away behind them like a mirage. The road was a ribbon of black asphalt cutting through an ocean of golden sand. The landscape was empty, desolate, beautiful in its stark simplicity. There were no trees, no buildings, no signs of human habitation. Just sand and sky and the endless, hypnotic rhythm of the dunes.
The film set, when it finally appeared on the horizon, was a surreal, almost hallucinatory sight. It was a massive, custom-built football pitch in the middle of nowhere, a perfect green oasis in a sea of golden sand.
It was surrounded by trailers, production trucks, and a small army of crew members who scurried about like ants, their faces grim and determined in the face of the oppressive heat.
The pitch itself was a work of art, a perfect rectangle of emerald grass that seemed to glow in the harsh desert light.
The goalposts were gleaming white, the lines were painted with mathematical precision, and the surface was as smooth and as level as a billiard table. It was a temple to the beautiful game, a shrine to the sport that had brought them all together in this unlikely place.
He was led to a large, air-conditioned tent, where the other players were gathered. And there they were, his heroes, his idols, the gods of his childhood dreams. The sight of them, all together in one place, was overwhelming, almost too much to process.