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Adjusting to a new country on the other end of the planet was difficult for Anna-Frida Becker. She spent most of her time cooped up in Jürgen's apartment, occasionally doing some chores, watching television, or looking out the window longing to go out. That was all whenever she wasn't feeling nauseous and miserably sick. 

 Frida wanted to go out and see the city, and learn some Spanish while she was at it. But Jürgen suggested it was best for her to stay home. He told her that he didn't want her going out by herself while he was at practice, and risk getting lost. He also told her that he didn't want the media catching a glimpse of his personal life, it was one of the things he most dreaded. But he was quite good at hiding his personal life from the public eye. On one instance when she was bored at his apartment, she had gotten her phone out and searched him on google.

Not very much was known about him other than the fact that he had been born somewhere called Tuxpan, in the Mexican state of Veracruz but he had lived in the United States and Canada for a while due to his father's job, that his name was Jürgen Damm Rascón, and that he played for Tigres of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León after transferring there from Club Pachuca. Other details she found after stalking him online for hours was that he had absolutely no social media accounts, that he was half German, and that he spoke fluently in Spanish, English, and German. He was more secretive than any government agency she had learned of. Now she was part of that world of secrets he was keeping up.

She thought it was a good thing, in part. The public life didn't much appeal to her. She preferred to live a calm and happy life with Jürgen, without having photographers chasing them around all time. But she also thought he couldn't keep the secret forever and that uneventfulness and calm would soon become chaos. 

It was a good few days of settling into the apartment when he returned from practice one day with a smile, though it was tired from all the training they had done. "Hallo Frid." He greeted her in German. 

Ever since she had arrived, he had made an effort to speak to her in German more often, the language they both shared and had learned from their families. He wanted to make her feel more comfortable, and more at home. Frida wanted him to speak to her in Spanish, so that she could learn the language and grasp it more quickly, but she appreciated the effort he was making for her. Still, she thought that letting him know that he didn't have to do that was only fair. "Liebe, you don't have to speak in German for me. I can understand you perfectly in English. Or speak to me in Spanish, and maybe I'll learn quicker." A smile formed on her lips.

He let his training bag drop by the front door and tiredly cut the distance between them. She was sat on the couch, but she got on her feet to meet her boyfriend. She tilted her head up, as he was much taller than her and closed her eyes happily as he kissed her on the lips.

It was one of the things she already loved about Mexico. It was the place where Jürgen lived, it was his country, and it was the place where they could be together. When she was in Germany, and he in Mexico, she could never kiss him like this. He was too far away from her and all they had to communicate were cellphones and video chatting.

Pulling away from their kiss, he sighed, "I know I don't have to do this, mi amor. But I want you to transition into Spanish slowly and comfortably, not go for it head on. English and German are West Germanic languages. Spanish is a Romance language. They are two entirely different things to learn." He explained to her, his arms wrapping comfortably around her waist. 

"Look at you." She grinned, looking up into his hazel eyes. "My little history know it all."

There was a second of silence between them before he started talking to her about something else. "I'm sorry we haven't gone out anywhere since you arrived in Mexico. Things have been busy at the Club." He told her.

She nodded. "Don't worry, liebe."

Jürgen shook his head. "I do want us to have our privacy from the media, but that doesn't mean I want to have you trapped in this apartment forever."

"I understand." She assured him, and she did.

But somewhere in the back of her heart she hoped he would say he was going to show her Monterrey. She hoped he would take her to his games and practices, and that he would introduce her to his friends as well as his team mates. She also knew that he was very cautious about everything and that they would take things one step at a time.

"I don't really know Monterrey very well since I kinda just moved here and all the places the guys from the team have showed me are night clubs." He chuckled to himself for a moment when he remembered that the guys had taken him and Andre-Pierre clubbing. The new French player of Tigres UANL had gotten so drunk that he had fallen over on several occasions. The photos were all over television and the media the next morning and the club owners, as well as their coach Tuca were fuming. Tuca had yelled at them during training and warned them that if they did something so stupid again, he would bench everyone and play with youth academy players all season as a punishment to the first team. Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he added, "We can just drive around town and stop wherever you think looks nice." He told her with a smile.

Frida's smile seemed to grow bigger in that instant. "That sounds like a great idea, liebe." And looking down at her pajamas, she said, "Let me just go change and get ready. I'll be right back."

She jumped up happily and raced for their bedroom with excitement. Jürgen sat on the couch nearby, where she had been sitting moments earlier. The television was on and she had been watching a soap opera about a girl who played the violin and had fallen in love with a doctor who was six years older than her.

Nearly an hour later, Frida had changed outfits about ten times and had combed out her long jet black hair. She had applied a bit of make-up on and emerged from the bedroom with a grin still plastered on her face. She walked out into the living room where she found Jürgen fast asleep on the couch. It was only seven at night, and he was already drained of energy from a heavy day of practice. Her smile dropped slightly and she didn't want to wake him.

Frida figured training for several hours every single day had to be exhausting.

Instead of waking him up--like part of her wanted to--she returned to the bedroom and changed back into her pajamas. Her long dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she cleaned the make-up off her face. She returned to the living room with a blanket from their bedroom and sat on the couch next to him, draping the blanket over the two of them and laying her head on his shoulder as she watched the television.

It was on the channel where they played soap operas and she watched one without knowing what anyone was saying. Just by looking, she was able to grasp most of what was happening.

Her boyfriend stirred awake about two hours later, jumping slightly when he realize he had fallen asleep. Looking to his side, he saw Frida there with him and his lips turned into a frown. In a tired voice, he said to her, "I'm so sorry for falling asleep, liebe. All the training caught up with me, and we haven't exactly been sleeping every night." He reminded her. 

"I know." She blushed.

"We'll go out tomorrow, I promise." He swore to her, wiping his sleep filled eyes with the back of his hands. "I have something very important to give you and I wanted the night to be special first."

"I can't wait to see what the surprise is." Frida grinned, snuggling closer to him.

"I love you, Frid." He told her, a yawn escaping his lips and she knew he was just about ready to go to sleep again. Placing a hand on her belly, which wasn't showing yet, he added, "I love both of you."

"We love you too." She replied.

They waited a few moments, comfortable and warm on the living room couch, until they decided it was time to go to their bedroom to sleep. As soon as they were under the covers and Jürgen's head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. 

-

another update for this story (finally). i know it takes me ages to update certain stories. but i think it has gotten better. one time i didn't update a story for like a year and a half. i really don't want that to happen again. so im going to try harder to have more updates posted on each of my stories and i hope you all like this update.

thank you for reading, and voting, and supporting my stories.

have a great week!

-clary xx