Chapter 658: Cup Final Replay!

By the following evening, Leo was back on his couch, the television playing in front of him, but he wasn’t really watching.

A sports programme was discussing Liverpool’s win, replaying Salah’s equaliser and Díaz’s late winner, a sigh Leo had seen first-hand, so watching it again wasn’t particularly interesting for him.

His attention drifted between the screen and the thoughts he was trying not to revisit.

While he sat with his thoughts, Vittoria entered the living room and paused beside the couch.

"You look busy."

Leo turned his head. "I’m torturing myself."

She smiled and sat beside him, tucking one leg beneath herself.

For a moment, she watched the replay with him before nudging his arm.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Depends."

"Would you come with me to a shoot?"

Leo finally turned towards her.

"Which one?"

"One my aunty just closed out. A shoot that will be going on in London with Valentino."

Vittoria finished and looked at her boyfriend, but he too just waited for her to elaborate.

"You look so annoying sometimes," Vittoria said and then pinched Leo’s cheek before letting go.

"I’m modelling a limited collection of Haute Couture wedding dresses for the spring season," she explained.

"They’ve been working on it for a while, and the shoot is coming up soon."

"Wedding dresses?" Leo said, not sure why he’d repeated it despite hearing it loud and clear.

Vittoria nodded, watching his reaction with obvious amusement.

"Yes, babe, wedding dresses. Twenty-seven pieces in total. Only twenty will be sold. The model gets to keep one, if she wants it, and the other six are going to be auctioned for charity."

"That’s quite a collection."

"It’s Valentino," she said, as though that explained everything.

"They aren’t exactly making them in bulk."

Leo leaned back against the couch.

"And you want me there because...?"

"Because I’d like you there." She gave him a look.

"Also, I might need someone to tell me whether I look good. And it feels good when you do it."

"You’re asking the wrong person if you want an unbiased opinion."

"Why?"

"Because I’m obviously going to say yes."

Vittoria laughed and rested her head briefly against his shoulder.

"Speaking of auctions," she said, sitting up again. "My dad said that your shirt, which was supposed to be auctioned, got an offer before it was even put on the table.

Leo nodded. "That’s nice."

She stared at him.

"That’s a dull reaction."

"Hmmm."

"You’re not even going to ask who or how much they were offering?"

Leo sighed and then turned towards Vittoria, pretending to be much more interested than he was earlier.

"How much?"

"Two hundred thousand euros."

When he heard that, Leo’s eyebrows rose.

"Two hundred thousand?"

"Mm-hm."

"For the shirt I signed?"

"The very same one."

He stared at her, waiting for the punchline.

When none came, he let out a disbelieving laugh.

"Who wanted to pay that much for a shirt? Signed by me, no less. Understandable if it’s Messi or Ronaldo or some other player."

"That’s a whole lot of self-sabotage, but yeah, someone with a lot of money, apparently."

"That’s ridiculous."

"It’s a charity auction. The money goes to a good cause."

"I know. I’m not complaining." He shook his head. "I just didn’t think it would go for that much."

Vittoria looked pleased with herself for finally getting a reaction.

"My dad, though, refused, saying he was holding onto it for a bit. I tried to get Papa to tell me who tried to buy it, but he isn’t letting me know."

"I’d want to hide too if I tried to pay 200 grand for a shirt signed by me," Leo muttered to himself.

Then he turned to find Vittoria narrowing her eyes at him.

"Who is your admirer, anyway?"

Leo turned towards her, a small smile forming.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You must have some idea."

"Vittoria, I signed a shirt and gave it to a charity auction. How am I supposed to know if I have any admirers that would fork out that much."

"Maybe it’s someone who follows you."

"Then there are quite a few possibilities. All I know is I haven’t met them yet, but I can’t imagine what they plan to do with it if they are forking that much out for that shirt."

"Maybe someone who likes you a little too much."

"Or someone who wanted to donate two hundred thousand euros to charity."

She gave him an unimpressed look and then looked away/

"You’re no fun."

"Not the first time you’ve said that," Leo said with a chuckle and then picked Vittoria’s phone up.

"Can I continue the game you had the last time?" Leo asked and got no reply, but after he started to play, her annoyance lasted all of three seconds before she shifted closer and laid her head in his lap.

Leo adjusted his position to make her comfortable, one hand settling lightly against her hair while the television continued playing in the background, now showing the league table and discussing Wigan’s reduced lead.

Vittoria, on the other hand, lay on his lap for a while before dozing off soon enough.

...

When the league discussions died down, the focus shifted again to the oldest cup competition football has.

It was FA Cup fever again.

The FA Cup’s fifth round had arrived, bringing with it a series of difficult ties and the possibility of more surprises.

Clubs that had spent the season fighting for league positions now had another competition to worry about, where one bad afternoon could bring everything to an end.

Yet among the upcoming fixtures, one stood above the rest.

Manchester City against Wigan Athletic.

It was a rematch of the FA Cup final that had gone on the past season, back when City were winning the league, and Wigan were trying to make it into the Premier League.

This time, however, they would face each other in the fifth round, with neither having the luxury of treating the tie as anything less than a battle.

For Wigan, it was an opportunity to settle an old score.

For City, it was another chance to prove that their victory in the final had been no accident.