[ cinco ]

Diego had let go of Memo and stormed off angrily. He knew Memo only wanted to help him, but sometimes he wished Memo didn't have to get in other people's businesses all the time. He knew he was the same way for the other footballers in the national team. Memo knew their secrets, sometimes because they wanted him to know or sometimes because he was around when something was happening.

With Javier, Memo had been approached first. The pressure of keeping the secret all to himself was too much for the Real Madrid footballer and he needed to tell someone. Of his friends, he knew Memo was the most reliable.

In Diego's case, he had been caught in the act.

It had happened when Memo was still with Club America and Diego thought he was alone in the locker room. He had been focing himself to vomit in the toilets when Memo heard the noise and went to check it out. Diego had no believable excuses to give and ended up having to tell his team mate about his problem.

Memo was left alone in the hallway when the next footballer was spotted.

-

"I didn't kill Memo." Diego said through gritted teeth.

Miguel scoffed. "Of course it wasn't you, gordo. The only thing you think about is eating."

Diego had enough of the nickname. A hand balling up into a first by his side, he told his friend through gritted teeth. "I don't want you calling me that anymore, Miguel."

The Watford footballer smirked at his friend in a challenging way. He knew Diego never spoke out for himself, this was the first time. It had always been easy for him and Paul to poke fun at their friend because he never said anything. But Miguel could never do that with Paul because he had done so once, their banter had been fun at first. Eventually Paul got offended and threw a punch at his friend. And though Miguel thought he needed to, Paul never apologized for it. He was truly, as his nickname in their group of friends proclaimed him, el valemadres. "Callate pinche gordo." Miguel said in a smug smile.

To which Paul mimicked with the same facial expression. "Callate pinche gordo."

Something in Diego snapped in that moment and the Porto footballer shot up from his seat on the bench as the others watched. No one even imagined what would happen next. When he reached Miguel, he pulled his arm back and took a swing at Miguel. His fist came into contact with Miguel's face and there was a loud cracking sound heard in the silence of the room.

The silence was at first broken by Paul who started to laugh.

"Ay! Pinche puto." Miguel's hands went up to cover his nose and when he felt something warm soaking his finger tips, he pulled them away to see he had blood on his hand.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Diego growled.

Before the fight could escalate, Moreno stepped in between them. "Instead of wasting our time fighting each other, the guilty person should just step forward so the rest of us can go home!"

"Someone confess!" Vela shouted, growing more annoyed with every minute they spent in that room.

Paul raised an eyebrow at Hector Moreno. "What about you? What were you doing the last time you saw Memo?"

"It wasn't him." Chicharito shook his head. "I trust More, he's my brother-in-law." Javier completely trusted Moreno because he was dating Javier's sister Ana Maria. What the Real Madrid footballer didn't even suspect was that the secret Memo had on him involved all three of them: Moreno, Ana Maria, and Javier.

-

The footballer from RCD Espanyol snuck stealthily through each hallway in the busy Estadio Azteca. He had travelled from Spain with Gio, Carlos, and Chicharito. The third of his friends had been thrilled when Moreno started dating his younger sister Ana Maria. But Moreno was tired of her. All he wanted was for her to leave him alone. 

He had asked her for a break, and she agreed, returning to Mexico under the guise that she was going to visit her parents who she hadn't seen in months. Javier didn't even know about their break in the relationship, as far as the Real Madrid footballer knew, Ana Maria and Hector were still happily dating. 

But when Ana Maria Hernandez found out Hector would be in Mexico, she jumped at the chance to see him again. She wanted to make things work. Especially after she had miscarried a child when she fell down the stairs of their apartment together. Ana needed Hector, but he was more and more distant from her. She didn't want to let him go. But that was one of Hector's secrets. A secret only Memo knew about. The other was one that still made him feel guilty, but there was also relief in the back of his mind. 

As he made his way down the hallways, trying to take a long route to the locker room so as not to be seen by Ana, he bumped into someone. He sighed in relief when he found it was only Memo. 

"You scared me!" The RCD Espanyol footballer hissed. 

"Sorry." Memo immediately apologized, adding, "What are you doing sneaking around like that?" 

Hector looked both ways down the empty hallway before answering, "Ana Maria is here and I don't want to see her. She doesn't want to understand that we're over." 

"Hm." was all Memo said. 

He was the only one who knew the way Hector really was when it came to dating women because Hector had talked to him about it. It was something he wasn't able to control. According to the RCD Espanyol footballer, he only liked women who resisted him because he liked the challenge of winning them over. Then when he had them, he would grow bored of them and push them aside. The same had happened with Ana Maria Hernandez. 

Hector had seen her when he was on vacation in Guadalajara with Carlos, Gio, and Javier. Ana Maria was a beautiful young woman who he instantly felt attracted to. But when she refused to go out with him, he knew he had to have her. By the end of the summer, she had finally agreed and they began to date. 

Their relationship had even gotten to the point where he had invited her to move in with him. He genuinely believed he had changed. But he was proved wrong when he grew bored of seeing Ana Maria months later. 

By then, it was too late and they were expecting their first child together. 

That was when Hector did the worst thing he could ever imagine doing in his life. When she was distracted, he pushed her down the stairs to her apartment. Hector didn't feel ready to be a father, much less prepared to spend the rest of his life with a woman he didn't love anymore. 

When Ana woke up in the hospital days later, their baby was gone and she didn't remember anything that had happened. Soon after, Hector told her he needed a break and she moved out of the apartment and returned to Mexico. 

"Maybe you should tell Ana you purposefully pushed her down the stairs." Memo suggested. "Then she'll see the kind of asshole you are and she'll leave you alone so you can continue doing the same to other innocent women." 

"Don't talk so loud!" Hector hissed, not even phased by his team mate's words. "Besides, if I tell her that, she'll tell Chicha, and he's my best friend. He'll chose her over me and then I'm dead." 

"Well, you did fuck up his sister's life." Memo pointed out. 

Hector nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but she doesn't know that. As far as she knows, I've suffered just as much as she." 

The national team goalkeeper shook his head in disappointment. "How do you live with yourself?" 

"I didn't take pleasure in doing this to Ana, okay?" Hector swore. "Its just what I had to do, and I'd do it again if I had to." His brown eyes looked behind Memo, who stood at the edge of the set of stairs that led to the old hallways used during the 1970 and 1986 world cups. "I'd definitely do it again." He repeated, thinking in mind that if Memo were to tell anyone his secrets, he'd be forced to push him down a set of stairs, just as he had done with Ana Maria.

-

new chapter! i'm in a great mood since chivas is number one in the clausura 2015 leaderboards FOR A THIRD WEEK IN A ROW. and they tied el clasico when they were down by one goal. AND THEY CONTINUE TO BE UNDEFEATED AT HOME. so congrats to my boys, i support them to the death. rojiblanca de corazon. i hope you all enjoy the chapter. i'm sorry it took a bit long to write. i'm running out of secrets to tell. haha.

but yeah, thank you for reading! i love you. 

-clary xx