day one hundred & fifty-seven . 

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Frida woke up the next morning feeling miserable.

She knew in a few more hours, everyone would be meeting up that afternoon at the university, awaiting the arrival of their Mexican penpals. But there would be no one for Frida to meet. Jürgen remained on the other side of the world, most likely asleep, but he would be leaving for Chile later.

On her night stand her phone screen lit up and vibrated, creating a loud noise against wood. There was one name that made her heart race; Jürgen.

Her hand shot out to grab her phone in her hand and her thumb slid over the screen to unlock it. Her thumb later clicked the answer button and she brought the phone to her ear. "Oh, hallo, Juju." She hummed into the phone, trying to hide the fact that she was upset. 

"Hola, flaca." He told her, his voice sounding tired. "I was just calling to hear your voice."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" She blurted out, not wanting to sound rude. But she thought he would need to get up early the next morning to travel.

"Yeah." He replied to her question, letting out a chuckle.

"But..." She admitted, biting her lip. "I'm glad you couldn't sleep. You better call me everyday while you're in Chile." She warned, a smile playing on her lips at the thought of talking to him. If she wouldn't be able to see him, talking to him was the next best thing.

"Only if you promise you'll be listening to every match." Jürgen said.

"Without fail." Frida promised.

The two were on the phone for a good hour until Frida heard his voice growing more and more tired. At one point, his sentences stopped being coherent and Frida knew he was ready to fall asleep. She giggled at his attempts to keep the conversation going and himself awake, and she was about to urge him to hang up when she could hear his calm breathing fromt he other line.

She called his name various times, but it was clear he was asleep.

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In the afternoon, she sighed when she saw the time. In a half hour the students from the Mexican university would be arriving. But Frida remained laid in bed, sulking. Her mother asked her what was wrong, but she was in no mood to talk about it.

She was happy for Jürgen, but there was a part of her that hoped he had chosen to visit her.

Minutes after the students were set to meet with their penpals, Frida recieved a text message from one of her classmates. Her name was Heidi and she wasn't too close with Frida, the only reason why they had each other's numbers was because they were often assigned partner projects. Most of the people who Frida considered her friends at the university had different classes than she did. They all studied different majors than her.

heidi: frida where r u?

frida: at home. my penpal couldnt make it on the trip. why?

heidi: there's a man and a woman here to see you.

frida: did they say who they r?

heidi: i dunno. they showed up with the university, but they said they were the parents of some guy named Jürgen.

frida: omg. umm...tell them to give me fifteen minutes. i'll be right there. 

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Frida ran up to the group of people having conversations. They all seemed to be getting on well with their penpals and as she reached Heidi and her penpal, they turned in her direction. Heidi gestured towards the dark haired girl with pale skin and chocolate brown eyes. "That's Frida."

The woman who looked to be in her late forties smiled wide. She was certain the woman was Jürgen's mother. By the sound of her voice over the phone, her voice matched that of her appearance. She had the look of a happy person. Standing next to her was a tall man who looked to be German with greying dark blonde hair and honey colored eyes. His skin was fair in color. Both were wearing green football jerseys with a lightning design at the front and the Mexican football logo in the middle. She assumed the jerseys had their son's name on the back.

Mrs. Damm was quick to pull Frida in for a hug. "Oh my gosh, you're so lovely!" The woman exclaim. When they pulled away, she added, "Jürgen is so sorry he wasn't able to come here himself. I don't know if he told you, but he got a call up for the national team. It was very short notice, but he got called by Miguel Herrera. He wanted him to report with the national team as soon as possible. He's finally getting to live his biggest dream." Informed Mrs. Damm with excitement.

"Did he ask you to come instead?" Frida wondered.

His mother shook her head. "No. He doesn't know we came over here. We told him we were travelling to the US for something business related."

"Oh." Frida bit her lip.

This time, his father was the one to speak. "The reason why we're here was because we wanted to meet the young lady that makes our son so happy. And we came to invite you...well, you and your family included, to go to Chile with us. But we want it to be a surprise for him, so please don't say anything to him about this. Jürgen tells us you and your family are some of his biggest fans."

A blush krept onto Frida's cheeks. "We never miss any of his games." She said,  matter-of-factly. "We've even stayed up at odd hours of the night to watch."

His mother reached into her hand bag and produced a green national team shirt, handing it to Frida. The twenty year old university student unfolded the shirt to see it had Jürgen's name on the back with the number twenty-five, just like the number on his Club Pachuca. A smile tugged at the corners of Frida's lips. Mrs. Damm patted her on the shoulder warmly. "We want you and my son to meet. You both deserve this. So...what do you say?"

"As much as I'd love to say yes and leave this very moment," Frida began, "I need to talk it over with my parents."

"That's fine." Mrs. Damm nodded, "The tournament won't start for another five days, so take all the time you need. We'll be staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel."

"I know where that is." Said Frida.

Grabbing something else from her purse, a cellphone, the woman added, "Give me your cellphone number just in case."

The two exchanged phone numbers and Frida headed back home, practically jumping for joy. If her parents allowed it, she would be able to meet Jürgen that summer like they had initially planned. And that made her mood so much better.

-

its one in the morning and i'm gonna bake a flan with my sisters.

this is all in preparation for the perfect new year's dinner.

anyway, i hope you all enjoy the update. tonight i will try to post another update, but i might not be able to until the first day of the new year.

so have a happy new year!

i'm so glad to have all of you as my friends, because i consider all of you my friends. so don't feel afraid to message me about anything. i'll be there for you for anything you might need, except maybe money. lol.

anyway, thank you for your support and well wishes.

i love you.

-clary xx