It was night time, Erika was in her son's room with their dog since it was bed time. "You know, mom, today I got another perfect score for a pop quiz," Thirdy said as he climbed to his bed.

The young mother was elated and proud to hear that, then gave him a hug. "Is that so? That's great, Bubba. Don't worry, we'll celebrate that this weekend."

"Thanks, mom."

"Alright, it's time to go to sleep," Erika said, then tucked her son in bed with Crumbs lying down beside him. "Good night, bubba."

"Good night, mom," Thirdy yawned, then fell asleep.

Erika planted a kiss on his forhead, and swayed his hair to the side for a bit. She stayed for a bit just to be with him.

All of a sudden, she heard a notification ringtone from her phone, so she checked on it. It was from her Instagram and to her surprise, it was a request to follow from none other than Shay.

Erika could feel her heart beat so fast that she couldn't breath for a second from that one little thing. She would rather have her nosey parents follow her on every social media platform than her ex.

Although, part of her wanted to follow Shay, but she couldn't because she was not ready to show that big part of her life, which was her son. Erika ignored it instead. However, she got curious, so she checked his account and saw all of his posts.

As expected, just soccer stuff like his trainings, and his teammates. Other than that, his sponsorhip with brands, the parties he went, and of course, him and his father.

Erika took a closer look of an image of Shay and Rome. They had their arms around each other with beer bottle in their hand, being all happy with each other. It may seem legit, but Erika felt it was fake when she recalled how Shay used to vent to her about his father.

Perhaps because Shay was a successful soccer player like his father always wanted. It was that time when they started getting along without her interfering with his passion.

Looking back at how their relationship was like before made her close the app quickly. She gave another kiss on the cheek for her son, then left his room rightafter.

Days passed and during those times, the photoshoot was going well. Also, Erika was getting used to having her ex around. Just as long as she didn't have to talk to him, and she was successful for while when the director had to talk to her and that an assistant had to talk to her about her next gig.

From all that, her ex-boyfriend couldn't find any chance to have a word with her, but he wasn't giving up.

Nevertheless, there would be a chance for him when Erika was waiting for her turn at the side with her hair, make-up, and clothes done. She was just watching her model friend had her picture taken until Shay went to her. "Hey," he said, as he stood next to her.

"Hi," Erika greeted politely.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. What about you?"

"Yeah, same, by the way, I followed you on Instagram the other day," Shay informed her.

"Really?" Erika choked, then pretended to clear her throat. "I'm... not really active with Instagram, and any of my social media after I started modeling."

"Oh, I get it." The soccer star tried to hide his disappointment. "So, when did you start modeling?"

"About seven years ago. I realized I had to work while studying."

"Seven years ago?" Shay did the math in his head. "So, you balanced your studies in Eliard, while working as a model?"

"Actually, I didn't get to study in Eliard," Erika blurted, then that was when she became aware of what came out from her mouth.

Shay was stunned, and even glanced at her in a weird way. "You didn't?"

It was too late to take that back. Erika had no choice, but to keep that part of the truth going. "No... I didn't," she replied reluctantly.

"Hold on. Didn't you pass the audition?"

"I... I wasn't interested in going to study there anymore."

"How come?"

"I just realized that. It's just wasn't for me," Erika claimed, as she looked at him in the eyes.

Shay could not believe what he was hearing. The Erika he knew was very passionate about ballet and dreamt to study Eliard, so for her to say all those thing was very unexpected. "I always knew you that was your dream," he said.

"Dreams can change."

"How did it change then?" Shay asked the million dollar question.

"Erika! You're up," the photographer called out to her.

"I have to go." That was when Erika dashed at the set, and started doing her job, leaving her ex-boyfriend baffled. She felt like she was saved by the call, but not for long of course.

Once she was finished and changed in to her own clothes, Shay was about to go to her once again. However, it did not happen because an assistant approached her instead to have a word with Erika.

So, the soccer player waited until he get another chance to speak to her, and when it happened, he hurried to get to her. "Erika... Wait..."

Erika darted to him. She couldn't help, but feel annoyed towards her ex-boyfriend yet tried to hide it. "What is it, Shay?"

"I just don't understand. Why didn't you go to Eliard? What happened?" Shay questioned her.

"I... Just change my mind, that's all."

"Yeah, but why?"

"Shay, I don't have to explain anything to you," Erika replied bluntly.

"But..." Shay uttered.

"Mr. Shay," an assistant stopped him. "I'm sorry to bother you, but you need to get to the set to have your pictures taken."

"I'll be right there."

Erika exhaled heavily, and began to shake from accidentally telling the truth to her ex-boyfriend. Also, she was sweating that she had to wiped it off with the back of her hand.

----

Meanwhile, Shay glanced over to her while standing in front of the camera. Seeing her looking uncomfortable with all the questions he asked made him contemplate for a second.

Afterwards, when he was done, Shay decided to give Erika some distance until things cool off between them. So, he went to one of his teammates instead.

Hours later, the shoot ended for the day and everyone gone home. The soccer player was driving, and couldn't help, but think about what happened earlier.

He went to a construction site in the area where he grew up that was half done, and got out of the car to check it out, then an engineer came to him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Shay," he greeted politely.

"Afternoon, so how's everything here?" Shay asked as he looked proudly at the unfinished structure.

"As you can see we are making great progress, and on schedule."

"Awesome, I can't wait for it to be finished."

A worker approached him all of sudden with a pad and a pen. He even looked nervous. "Mr. Shay, can get an autograph for my son, Jason?" he requested. "He plays soccer."

"Marv, we talked about this..." The engineer reminded him in a firm tone.

"Oh! Right. I'm sorry."

"No, that's alright," Shay assured him, then turned to the worker, and took his pen and pad. He signed his name, and wrote down a short message, as well, to always focus on your goal. After that, he returned it to him. "Here you go. Once this is done, I hope your son trains here."

"He would love that. Anyway, thank you," the worker said, then he ran back to the site to get back to work.

"I should head back there, too," The engineer told the soccer player.

"Okay, thank you for your time," Shay said to him.

That was when his buddy came to see him again. "Shay! Over here!"

"Gio!" Shay ran up to him, then they glanced at the construction site. "So, what do you think?"

"So this is gonna be the training field for the future soccer player?" Gio asked. "Looks awesome."

"Yup."

"I remember when we used to play here when we were kids. What was our team called again?"

"Ice Blitz." Shay felt the nostalgic about the area. "Yeah, those were the day. I remember I would stay here until midnight to practice this new soccer move for an upcoming match."

"Wow, I guess it's nice, huh? From a little boy playing soccer in a neighbourhood street to this top striker playing in the stadium," Gio remarked. "Now all the little boys and girls will get to hone their skills and become a pro by you and the other Super Tundra team."

"And also, to have fun."

"Yeah, but still, look at what you achieve from being a super league soccer player. You open a stadium for little league players."

"I always wanted to train little kids," Shay said.

"I bet you'll be a great trainer," Gio replied.

All of a sudden, Shay had someone in mind that made him wonder again. "Speaking of achievements, I just found out that Erika didn't get to study in Eliard and become a professional ballerina."

Jio was taken aback by that. "Seriously? How did you know?"

"She told me today."

"So, why didn't she? Did she tell you?"

"No," Shay sighed. "She snapped at me when I asked her."

Gio shrugged his shoulder. "Maybe something happened that stopped her from pursuing her dreams," he said.

"Yeah, like what?"

"Want me to investigate?"

"No thank you, I don't want to find it out that way," Shay chuckled from his best friend's offer.

"Had to try," Jio responded. "Anyway. if she snapped at you, maybe it was bad."

"You know, she even told me that it's because she doesn't like ballet anymore."

"What? That can't be right."

"I know," Shay exasperated. "All Erika wanted was to get into Eliard and to be a ballerina. She talks about all the time, so for her to say that she doesn't want them anymore is just unlike her. It's like I don't know her anymore."

His bestfriend raised a brow at him. "That's because you broke up with her, left to join Super Tundra, and you guys hadn't seen each other for eight years now."

"What are you saying? That it's my fault?"

"No, that's not what I meant. All I'm saying is that, who are we to know what happened to her these past years?"

"It's just... odd, that's all," Shay expressed.

Jio suddenly recalled an event from the past. "Wait, I remember on Graduation day, something happened to Erika?"

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure, but I remember after the ceremony. We were all in the gym for lunch. That was when we all saw her in pain, or something," his buddy explained. "Next thing I knew, her parents ran up to her, and her dad had to carry her to the car."

Shay became troubled. "Did you find out how?

"No, I even asked Chris, and she didn't seem to know what's wrong."

"Maybe that's why she "changed her mind"."

Jio let out a heavy sigh after seeing his bestfriend scrutinize over his ex. "Maybe, but I hate to break it you, man, it's none of our business. If Erika doesn't want to tell you, then just respect that."

The more the soccer player thought about it for a minute, the more he thought what his buddy said. "Maybe you're right. I did overstep a bit," he admitted. "I guess, I was suprised that she didn't become a ballerina. It affected me more than it is to her."

"Look at it this way, Shay. She might not be a professional ballerina, but at least she got to be a successful model, right?"

Shay smiled, and finally saw the bright side. "Yeah, Erika seems to be doing well, and she's great with her job."

"I can't wait to see the campaign then," Jio said back.

"Thanks for listening, man."

"Anytime."

"Come, on let's get out of here."