Chapter Nine

CHAPTER SONG: MAD LOVE BY MABEL

Pour le joue aujord'hui! The Golden Boy is back at it!! Don't forget to vote and to comment!!

The kind of pretty that was natural, beauty that a guy would never get tired of seeing. Her flawless brown skin certainly didn't need make up. She'd thrown up her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, a university hoodie, sweatpants and hotel morning shoes. Kylian loved how she was comfortable with herself.

"Come on in." He stepped aside and made space for her to pass, rubbing his free hand against his shorts as he did so.

The group cheered as soon as they saw it was her.

"It's about time you showed up," said Presnel.

"We heard from a little bird that you are legend in FIFA. You want to join?" This was Marcos.

"I don't know about being a legend, but I can hold my own."

While she was speaking to Marcos, Kylian watched as Ach guided an unsuspecting Sapphie to the 'only empty seat' in the room. Kylian saw that he'd given up his chair so she would be sitting next to him instead. As he was passing by to find another seat, Ach slapped him on the shoulder whispering in his ear,

"I see that look in your eyes, just be you. Good luck, mon gar."

Kylian shook his head and laughed at his friend. He promptly offered her a drink, to which she denied with the shake of her head anything alcoholic.

"Sorry, I don't drink. But any soft drink will do."

Once she had her beverage in hand, Kylian finally sat down beside her.

"So, what were you doing before I invited you over?"

"Literally nothing," she took a sip, "I was getting ready for bed."

"I hope you didn't feel pressured to join."

Sapphie snorted.

"If anything, I'm a little insulted you guy didn't invite sooner. I was bored out of my mind. Thanks for inviting me."

"You're welcome." He took a sip of his win to hide his grin.

"So, give me the crash course. What's going on here?"

Kylian explained the rules of the game. They were eliminating each other on a knock out basis. The player with the most goals at the end of the game would continue playing until someone else knocked them out. As it were, Sergio knocked out Presnel and Marquinhos. Then Marco beat him, and the latter was eliminated by Neymar. Before long, it was Neymar versus Kylian. The only other person who'd not played was Sapphie.

Ney ended up losing tree-two to Kylian. Then finally, after what felt like eons later, came the time for him to go head-to-head with her. Calling their duel, a fierce competition would be an understatement. It practically had everyone at the edge of their seats, curious to see who would come out victorious. They each had their own cheer sections, where the guys had divided into two groups. For every goal Kylian scored, Sapphira would score two and vice versa.

When Sapphie scored her first goal, it was within the first two minutes of the game. And during the entire first half, it seemed as if she'd win with a clean sweep. They went into the second half with her three up over Kylian. But things soon changed quickly.

"Why won't you just lose already?" groaned Kylian as he furiously moved his thumbs over the game pad clutched in his hands.

"Not without a fight remember?" She bumped him with her shoulder.

"You don't even like football." He retaliated.

"That's beside the point."

Kylian scored on her until he equalized making the score line seven goals each. He then scored once more with only two minutes left on the clock, putting him in the lead. And just when Kylian thought he'd won, Sapphie surprised him and everyone else when she scored another equalising goal in the last minute.

Knowing that it was adding insult to injury, she winked at him as the screen changed. It was time for penalty shoot outs.

This is where Kylian ended up beating her five to three. So glad that it didn't need to go to sudden death, he shot up onto the couch in celebration.

His team volleyed from their seats behind him to celebrate. One would have thought they'd just won the World Cup Final or the Champions League. Sapphie shook her head and gently replaced the controller onto the table whilst her team clapped for her and encouraged her.

"Great game Sapphie, that was the best!" Ney clapped her on the back and hugged her.

Though she was a tiny bit disappointed—mostly because Kylian's team's celebrations were purposefully annoying, she was happy he'd won. Besides, it really had been an exhilarating experience going against him like that. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks and the rest of the squad made it all that much more enjoyable.

"Thanks Ney," she mumbled into his shoulder.

A little while later, after most of the hype was over, Kylian turned to her with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah gloat all you want. I'm going to get back at you."

"Then you know what it means...?"

She sighed, fighting the smile she felt tugging at the corner of her lips.

"...that you'll get bragging right."

"That's right, now how about paying your dues?"

"What do you want?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"You know what I want." He wiggled his brows.

Sapphie shook her head and laughed, "Fine, I'll see when I can set it up. We'll have to go over our calendars though."

The following morning, while waiting to board the plane back to Paris, they sat down in the airport café and opened their calendars.

A while later, with no success, Sapphie spoke first.

"Seems like any other day won't work but I have a great idea. We always throw these amazing Christmas parties about a few days before Christmas. I think that would be the best time for you to come by. Then you can see what it's like when everything is in full swing."

He was a little hesitant to accept since their last match before the Christmas break would be on the 23nd.

"When is that?" he asked.

She checked her phone, "Saturday the 21st." she looked up and smiled knowingly, "Just after your birthday."

Kylian held her gaze for a bit. His heart skipped a beat, "Sounds like the perfect day to collect my payment, non?"

Sapphie reciprocated his smile, "Great! I'll go ahead and set it up then. Prepare to be wowed."

"It's a date then." He nodded and pocketed his phone.

***

When Saturday the 21st rolled around, Sapphie couldn't sit still for anything. It was six o'clock in the evening and they'd agreed that Kylian would pick her up from her house in about an hour. Her family was attending the party too but would be traveling separately. As she waited for his text, she couldn't help but grinned when she thought about the curve ball, she'd throw his way.

Make that two surprises, she thought.

Conscious that she didn't have much time left, Sapphie immediately jumped into the shower she second, she made it home from work. About a half hour later, just as she was finishing up with her hair, her phone buzzed where she'd left it on her dresser.

I'm outside, read Kylian's text.

Sapphie gave her screen an ear-splitting grin as she replied him.

Come on up, I want to show you something.

"Why are you looking all goofy like that. Is it Kylian?" Michael suddenly appeared at her open bedroom door and started making kissy faces.

Somehow her brother had figured out her new crush on the star football player. After Caleb's birthday, Kylian came by only a couple of times. On was to drop her of at home after landing at the airport. For some reason, her car had refused to start and so it had to go to the mechanic. The second time was when he had come by to personally drop off tickets for one of PSG's home games. Although both had been brief visits, somehow Michael managed to see she'd been making googly eyes at the man.

"Michael, get out!" she picked up the closest thing she could throw and sent it flying his way. The boy dodged right it in before the hair brush kissed his forehead. He vanished just as fast as he'd appeared. But that didn't stop Sapphie from promptly shutting her door. She quickly discarded her bathrobe and threw on her least ratty sweat pants and a t-shirt. She'd just finished dressing when she heard their door bell go off.

"I'll get it!" She practically ran to the door to beat her brothers to it. Stubbing her toe against a dining chair in the process.

"Hey!" She greeted him, grinning through the pain. But she soon forgot about that when she took in how he looked, or rather just how good he looked.

"Hi!" He shot her one of his devastating smiles.

Kylian wore jeans, a polo neck sweater under an overcoat. Chelsea boots and a Christmas hat tied the entire outfit together. Where the coat was open, the way the woollen jumper looked like it was plastered onto the areas of his chest and taut stomach. It only helped accentuate the physique he spent hours in the gym per week working on.

Sapphie glanced away and focused on his face instead.

"So, what's up?" He asked, one of his brows raised. He looked her up and down, causing him to frown in confusion.

"You'll see, come on in." she stepped aside to let him in.