Rise of a Football God

"What?!" Ian stared at his best friend incredulously.

"A girl is coming?" She took another glance at Sam. "To meet you?!"

Sam felt a bit offended. "What do you mean by that reaction? Do you think a girl can't come to meet me?"

"No, no, it's not that," Ian chuckled. "I'm just surprised, you know, you never really seemed like the type that could pull a girl".

"Get lost bastard!" Sam cursed.

Ian laughing, escaping from him.

Well, it did feel incredulous to Sam too. He didn't call Kayla though; all he did was send a WhatsApp chat message to the girl and she answered almost immediately like she had been waiting for it all this while.

Sam never knew that she stayed in Netherlands till then.

Apparently, she was English but her parents moved to Netherlands when she was younger, so she lived most of her life growing up in Netherlands.

To Sam's shock, despite literally being halfway across the world, Kayla Banks agreed to travel all the way to meet him in Japan.

Sam still couldn't believe that he asked her, what came over him? Was his best friend now influencing him? But what shocked him most was her agreement to come.

It was crazy, almost scripted but it was reality. In the end, Sam had no choice but to accept the reality. And heck, he felt excited about it.

The next day, Kayla finally arrived in Japan.

"Ian, Sophia, this is Kayla".

"Kayla, meet Ian and Sophia, my best friend and little sister".

"Nice to meet you Kayla," Ian said with a big smile on his face, walking closer to her. "I am his best friend and she's his little sister, and you are?" He asked in a mischievous tone.

Sam glared daggers at his best friend. Before she could answer, he did. "Kayla is my very good friend".

Kayla smiled. "Yeah, we're friends".

"Wow!" Ian exclaimed exaggeratedly. "A friend that can go halfway around the world for you," he stared with dreamy eyes. "They're rare to come by, I'd know since even my best friend never went halfway around the world for me".

Sam glared at Ian. "T-that's enough, let's go inside".

"Yeah, let's go inside," Ian grinned. "Let's go know ourselves more".

Well, it was safe to say that this vacation just became spicier.

Sam didn't just rent a hotel room in Japan this time though, rather, he rented a small villa here in the city of Tokyo, Japan.

The villa had 5 rooms, more than enough room for all of them.

That morning, Sophia made food. Having voiced her interest in Nigerian homemade foods earlier to him during their conversation in the restaurant back in Fulham some time ago, Kayla agreed that she would partake in the feast.

While they ate, they got to know each other more.

At first it was awkward, but with Ian who was ever ready to spice the conversation up, Kayla soon became comfortable, feeling at home.

Around this girl, Sam felt a bit unlike himself. Today was one of those days when he was truly grateful to his best friend for easing the atmosphere up with his talk, he appreciated it.

As they ate, discussing different topics, he could not help but pay attention to her more.

Due to football and a lot of other things that always took his attention, he never took the time to pay attention to Kayla beyond the superficial till today.

She was a beautiful white girl with silky smooth skin. Her deep black hair was long, falling freely down her back. Her eyes were blue and dreamy, making Sam wonder how on earth he failed to appreciate them since.

"Ahem," Ian cleared his throat, interrupting Sam and throwing a knowing glance at him. "You don't stare that hard the first time".

'What?! Bastard!' Sam blushed, staring daggers at his friend.

Ian only chuckled.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

After eating, they took their time to admire the scenery of Japan from the balcony of the villa before Kayla suggested that they go skiing.

Unfortunately, Sam, his best friend, and his sister had zero idea about skiing. Kayla volunteered to teach them though, prompting them to go.

Well, at the end of it all, they had an enjoyable time.

In the evening, due to her presence, Sam insisted to go back for another hot bath. And this time, he was no longer envious.

No one said it explicitly, but Kayla naturally stayed close to him in the water.

Feeling her presence close, Sam felt his body heating up. It was a feeling that he was not exactly used though. 'Damn, this is so embarrassing!'

Noting his unease, Kayla initiated a conversation, making him feel at ease.

And before he knew it, he already forgot about being embarrassed as together, he engaged in conversations with her, getting to know her more.

From one conversation to another, Kayla eventually asked a question. "You don't have a social media handler?" She was genuinely surprised.

"No, is it important?"

"For a popular person like you? Very important". She nodded. "Give me your phone, let's go through your social media handles, how many social media platforms do you have an account in?"

Sam tilted his head and counted. "I think WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram".

"You don't have a tik tok account?"

"Not really," Sam chucked. "It's been dormant for a long time".

Kayla sighed, shaking her head. "You're really wasting a lot of your fame potential".

Taking his phone, she went online and finally, she accessed what she wanted.

(Instagram – Samuel Moses)

(3M+ followers)

(4 posts)

"3 million followers and just 4 posts?!" Kayla looked at him reproachfully. "Your social media really needs some work".

"By the way, those 4 posts, what did you post?"

Hearing that question, Sam froze. "Umm, please can you not look at it?"

Experience tales at empire

Kayla looked at him. "Why?"

"Because they're embarrassing childhood pictures I took during 4 dark years of my life when I didn't play football".

Kayla looked at him, suddenly smiling mischievously. "Now I want to see them even more".

"Please…"

Sam couldn't stop her though, Kayla peeped, eliciting rapturous laughter from her. A few minutes later, after checking his Facebook and dormant tik tok accounts, thinking of something, Sam made her check transfermarkt.

Transfermarkt was the official website to know the current value of every professional football player in the transfer market.

Since transferring to Fulham, Sam never really paid attention to his transfer value but now, driven by curiosity, he checked and he got a big surprise.

(Transfermarkt!)

(Name: Samuel Moses)

(England- Premier league)

(Date of birth/Age: August 6th, 2005)

(Citizenship: Nigeria)

(Height: 1,86 m)

(Position: Attacking Midfielder)

(Current International: Nil)

(Market Value: 30 million Euros)