5. Confronting the Past

That afternoon, we arrived at our hotel and I rushed to the bedroom of our suite, Luke followed behind me. "What happened back there?" He asked, concerned. He still didn't understand why I had raced out of the hotel like that and why I had asked him to get us out of there. He probably thought I had gotten mugged or something or the sort.

I went to sit on the bed and brought my head into my hands in frustration, a sigh escaped my lips. "When I was taking Bastian to the toilets..." I began, taking a deep breath to steady my shaking voice. "We bumped into the hotel manager."

"And he didn't allow you to use the hotel toilets?" Luke guessed.

"No," I shook my head. "That wasn't it."

"Then what?" He urged.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I could feel my eyes welling up with tears as I continued, "I looked at his name tag. He was Daniel, our Daniel." By ours, I meant that he was the same Daniel who had been Luke's bestfriend, and he was also the same Daniel who was my brother, and the person I was in love with.

Luke's heart seemed to stop in that moment. He knew well that I was happy with him, but he also knew how I still felt about Daniel. 

"Did he tell you anything?" He wondered. He was trying so hard to control his voice, but it sounded panicked. We both didn't want the truth to get out, but especially not around the children. We didn't want any of this to affect Kale, especially not when he was representing his country at a juvenile world cup and was captain of the team. Bastian was too young to understand something like this and Marializ had nothing to do with what was happening. We wanted to avoid unnecessary drama in our children's lives.

With a shake of my head, I replied, "He didn't recognize me. But I ran away because I was afraid that he would and then he would ask me so many questions. I'm not ready to answer them yet."

Luke let out a sigh of relief. Coming to sit by my side on the large bed, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, "At least we're in the clear for now." He said.

But it felt like we were nowhere near being in the clear.

Being back in Australia meant we would need to confront our past sooner or later. And I wasn't sure which of the two options would hurt less.

-

We stayed in our hotel all afternoon to rest. That was the excuse Luke and I gave Marializ and Bastian when they wanted to go explore the city. But really, we were trying to prevent ourselves from being spotted by anyone we knew. We were also aware that we couldn't spend the entirety of the summer hidden away in our hotel room. One month in Australia wouldn't be so bad, then we would be returning to Mexico, and everything would go back to being hidden like an old memory box in the attic. 

During this month, we would have to be careful and prolong the inevitable as long as possible. But it would be difficult.

The next morning, I set my alarm on my phone bright and early. The national team had morning training and the families were allowed to attend in order to help the young players feel less nervous about being in a foreign country. 

They would be training on the grounds of the local football team Melbourne City FC and some of the world cup games would also be played there. I was the first to get up and I went around the bed to shake Luke awake. Both Bastian and Marializ were sharing the other bedroom in the suite and would be sharing it all summer long. "Luke," I whispered to my husband who was fast asleep. "Wake up. We're going to Kale's first official practice today."

Luke groaned loudly, he had never been much of a morning person, mostly because he always fell asleep so late. Still, he opened his eyes and stretched his arms out over his head. He loved Kale as though he were his own son and was willing to make any sacrifice for him as well as our two other children.

Patting him on the chest with a smile, I told him, "Get up and start getting ready while I go wake Basti and Mary."

With that, I left the room and walked across the hall to the other bedroom in our suite. Inside were two beds, in one was our daughter Mary, and in the other our youngest son Bastian. I went to wake Mary first. Sitting at the edge of her bed, I shook her softly. "Mary," I whispered. "Sweetie, its time to get up. We're going to visit your brother Kale at the training grounds."

Her eyes shot open immediately. She loved the idea of seeing her brother again because we all knew there would be some days in which we wouldn't be allowed to see him during this world cup. "I'm up." She told me, sitting up in bed before quickly climbing out of it. "I'll be ready in ten minutes." Mary assured, grabbing her clothes which were neatly folded on the night stand and she went into the bathroom for a shower.

Last, I went to wake my youngest son.

Walking over to his bed, I crouched by the side of his bed and shook him gently. "Basti, sweetie, its time to get up. We're visiting your brother Kale today."

"Mommy, I'm tired." He complained. He was just like Luke, hated to wake up early and it was currently six in the morning. We would have to leave the hotel by seven, and the drive to the training grounds was forty five minutes. Training would start at eight and I wanted to be there early to get front seats at the training ground.

"Come on, sweetie." I smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder gently. "Kale will be very happy to see us there."

My words seemed to convince him because he opened his eyes and let out a yawn. I went over to his luggage and picked out his clothes, since he was eight years old and was used to me doing that for him. I got his green Mexico jersey with his brother's name and number on the back, as well as a pair of jeans for him to wear. Then I handed them to him and we waited for Marializ to finish her shower. She got out with a towel wrapped around herself and I went into the bathroom with my son to prepare his bath. 

Then I left the room to get ready.

By the time it was seven in the morning, we were all ready to go. We all wore our football jerseys and headbands, as well as a bit of tri-color paint on our face. 

Before leaving the suite, we grabbed our poster that said: We love you Kalin! #10

We left the hotel that morning with excitement to see our boy triumph. In that moment, no other thing mattered to me.

-

i know i havent updated this in ages, ten months to be exact. but here is a new chapter for those of you who still read this. thank you so much and i hope you continue to read, vote, and comment. i will try my best to update once a week at least, every saturday. 

and yeah, thank you for reading. i assure you there will be more drama coming!

i love you.

-clary xx