9. Cousins

Luke left with Kalin and Ander from Gina's house. They only had permission for one to two hours of free time to spend with their families. It was a rule that had been put into place by the FIFA because normally, the players weren't allowed to see their families during important tournaments because it would break their concentration. That law had been changed for the younger categories because they were only seventeen, and they needed their families. Many of them had never been away from home before and they weren't used to not seeing their families.

In our case, Kalin was quite used to it. He had been in the national team since he was thirteen, and had been away from home already. Two years prior, he had been called up to the under-fifteen squad that had gone to Japan for a tournament. 

The family and I hadn't been able to go with him then. Luke had his job to attend to, while I had our two other kids to take care of, and little Bastian couldn't leave the country because of his own football training. But we made sure to call him every night to make sure he was okay, and he video chatted with us quite a lot while he was away in Japan.  His team had ended up first place of that tournament and it was one of his biggest wins that we had been unable to celebrate with him in person.

When Luke was out of the house, Gina looked to me with a friendly smile. "How has everything been in Mexico?" 

She wanted to know all the sincere details of our life there, since Luke had always told her everything was fine and dandy. He didn't want to worry her whenever we had a problem. Gina was almost like a mother to me as well, but I didn't want to be the one to lie to her, especially when a big lie I had told was what had made us flee from Australia. Heaving a sigh and looking down at my cup of coffee which Gina had prepared, I said to her, "It was difficult at first, to be completely honest. We didn't know the language, we didn't know anything about the country, and we didn't know anyone there." I explained to her, recalling our first days in a new country. "But we adapted quite well and met people who gave us the opportunity to work with them. And the language was pretty easy to pick up since most people there don't speak english."

"Glad to be back though?" Beau shot me a grin. 

A small smile formed on my lips as I nodded. "So glad to be back home."

"Why don't you guys stay here?" Gina suggested, trying to play it off as casual. But I knew it was what she had been wanting most for a long time, she had just never said anything about it before. "After the tournament ends, you don't have to go back to Mexico."

"But we do." I shook my head at her suggestion rather quickly. "Luke has a stable job there, Kalin and Bastian play for some of the most prestigious teams in the country, and Marializ attends the best music school in the country. Our lives are in Mexico, we can't leave it all behind like that. The kids wouldn't like it. Mexico is their home."

Now Jai was the one adding his input. "Your kids may have been born there, but your family is Australian. They'll understand."

Except Liz, I thought to myself. Liz was adopted. 

"And the boys can continue their football careers here." Beau informed me. 

I knew that was a possibility. If we could move back to Australia, Kalin and Bastian could transfer to the Melbourne City FC, but I knew they wouldn't like it. The Mexican youth system was among the most prestigious in the world, and held much more weight against the Australian league. Many players who would start out in a Mexican youth team would later play for the best teams of their country, while some even ended up trying their luck in Europe. Ultimately, it was what all young player wanted. My two sons would never be happy playing football in Australia.

"I'm sorry, guys." I began, "I know you're just trying to suggest what would be best for the family, but Beau and Jai...you guys don't even live in Australia anymore." I knew from our video chats with them that Beau was living in Los Angeles with his family, while Jai was living in Florida with Ariana's family whenever she wasn't on tour. 

"We're thinking of moving back too." Beau told me. "We just want to be together as a family."

"I'm just nervous about confronting the past." I finally admitted. 

A large part of me did want to move back to Australia. It was my home and the place I loved. But there was another part of me that knew I would have to live in constant fear until Daniel finally found out the truth or until my parents found out I was back in the country. Then I would have to face their denial and possibly their hatred for what I did. I wasn't ready for that. And I especially wasn't ready to receive any hate from Daniel. He and I had always been close, and we had struggled through this forbidden love together.

Everyone in the room knew exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned confronting the past, and they didn't press me any further on moving back. Beau and Jai would probably spend the rest of the month trying to convince Luke.

Luke returned some time later and told his family we would have to get going. The first game for Kalin would be in a couple of days and we wanted to be well rested enough to cheer our hearts out for him. Bringing a white envelope out of his pocket, Luke told his family, "The federation gave us fifteen tickets. We'll be using four of them, but if you all want to come with us, it would mean a lot to my son."

I nodded in agreement. "Kalin would be so happy to see you all there."

"We'll be there." Gina assured us.

Luke handed his brothers each some tickets for their families, and then one for Gina. By the time Luke finished splitting the tickets for everyone, we still had three tickets left. Luke said he would hold onto them and give them to someone at the entrance of the stadium who might not have a ticket. The federation had been generous to give out so many tickets to the players because it was a tournament so far away from home and they wanted all the support they could get.

I went to one of the bedrooms, which had belonged to Luke and Jai, while Luke caught up with his brothers and mother. As I walked down the hallway expertly, knowing exactly where to go, I could hear the kids talking loudly from the bedroom. It was the voice of Beau's daughter Brissia, who was mentioning to Marializ that she thought Ander was very handsome.

Marializ then assured her cousin that Ander was single and available. I furrowed my eyebrows at my daughter's words. Ander was interested in Marializ, and she was probably more than happy to get him off her back. She then promised Brissia she could help her win over Ander if she really liked him that much.

As I reached the bedroom, I pushed the door open and told the girls in the room, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, girls. But you guys talk so loud that I heard everything." The three of them stiffened nervously with their eyes peeled that I had just heard their love life gossip. But it was a natural thing for girls to do, I merely wanted to give them some advice. "Your plan to make Ander fall in love with Brissia might not be such a good idea. He's already interested in someone." I looked straight at Marializ.

Marializ gave a shrug of her shoulders. "I've never been interested in Ander to begin with, you know that, mum. I only see him as a friend, and he's Kalin's best friend anyway so dating him would be super weird. I just want to help him find someone who will actually see him as boyfriend material."

"Well," I sighed. "Its time to go. Go get your brother, Liz."

She nodded and I left the room, but something told me they weren't going to listen to me. They were still going to go through with their plan.

-

another update for this story. thank you to those people who still read this. i know i took a long time to get back into the habit of updating this. but now that im back in the habbit, i will try to update even more often.

i hope you like the update, and i hope you all have a great weekend!

-clary xx