Second Half Chapter 48

“Thank you for apologizing first.”

If he hadn’t, even though Jerim knew he was in the wrong, he would have dragged his feet because his pride wouldn’t let him apologize first when they were both at fault. Thanks to Aaron apologizing first, Jerim was able to resolve things easily. At that, Aaron simply curled his lips into a smirk as if it were no big deal.

“We have to do well in the second half. We can’t let the first match of the group stage end in a crushing defeat just because of the two of us, can we? Why do you think I transferred here?”

“…”

The moment he heard the word “transfer,” a certain hypothesis flashed like a bolt of lightning through Jerim’s mind. He had been inwardly curious why Aaron, at the point of changing his mind from retirement to a transfer, had struggled so hard to move without even signing a short-term contract extension with Tabarona, but could it be…

“Did you perhaps transfer this season on purpose? Because you were afraid I’d retire before thirty?”

Since he was a guy who remembered even a single conversation they had shared as children, Jerim felt certain he would remember the detail of “before thirty” as well. As it happened, Jerim was currently 28 years old, and by the time of next year’s Champions League final, he would be exactly 29. The timing fit perfectly.

“My goal is to lift the Big Ear with you, and that can’t happen if you’re not here.”

Aaron, shrugging his shoulders, spoke the words lightly. Even though he didn’t explicitly say yes or no, the answer was practically an affirmation, making Jerim’s eyes grow as wide as lanterns.

Even if he was suffering through extreme mannerism, he really betrayed the team he had belonged to for nearly 20 years for such a reason? He transferred while enduring the reputation of being the greatest ungrateful “Seonggol” youth in history who ran away on a free transfer? All because of a single sentence from a conversation they passed by when they were young? Appalled, Jerim muttered, even reflexively pointing a finger.

“Hey, even so, to come all the way to England while eating all that criticism… and you’re a guy who’s about to get married, too.”

“Marriage? Who?”

Ah, shit. Realizing his slip of the tongue, Jerim shut his mouth tight, but the milk was already spilled. Aaron, whose eyes grew even rounder than Jerim’s, pressed him relentlessly.

“Me, by any chance? I’m getting married? To whom?”

The way he pointed at himself and asked who he was getting married to looked quite absurd. Jerim desperately avoided his gaze. He could never confess that after overhearing a phone call where someone called him “Ari,” he had been slightly bothered and searched for his scandals using all sorts of keywords.

However, because Aaron kept prying so insistently, he had no choice but to spill it.

“Did you… by any chance see the rumors that popped up with Gabi… Delgado this time?”

Look at that, they call each other by nicknames? Marriage aside, it was certain they hadn’t been in a normal relationship since ten years ago. And yet he sucked my dick, this son of a bitch… Jerim grumbled, pushing back the unidentified ugly spite that flared up.

“…It’s not that I meant to see it, it just happened.”

“How does that just happen? They were preparing some third-rate pornographic novel saying we met at home, so I had all those speculative rumors taken down that very day.”

“…I saw it by chance before those ‘they say’ rumors were taken down! Got a problem with that?”

No wonder when he looked the next day, the articles were all deleted, and things were quiet even though that Delgado had come to England. While blaming his own reckless mouth for digging his own grave, Jerim acted brazenly instead.

In this global era where you can see news from the other side of the world in a second with a flick of a finger, one could see such articles faster than others. Then why did they meet at a house without thinking about their fame? In the end, it’s all your karma.

Jerim, forgetting the fact that he was the one who actually stayed alone in the house and did something like a third-rate porn before parting ways, puffed out his chest confidently. Aaron half-collapsed and scratched his head aggressively.

“Yes, I do. You must have believed that again. Wow, then did you think I was human waste who sucks his ex’s dick and then immediately goes to meet his fiancée?”

“…Well, since there’s a track record.”

“Track record my ass, there’s no such thing!”

The guy who had been crouching despondently like a scientist who failed an experiment suddenly stood up and started spewing all sorts of curses in Spanish. Jerim, provoked by that, didn’t back down and paid him back with curses of his own.

“This brat? Hey, I get that the marriage was my misunderstanding, but you had a scandal with Delgado ten years ago too. With that history, how can you raise your voice?”

At that moment, the voices of their teammates calling out from outside were heard: “Jeri, Aaron! You’re not fighting again, are you? Wrap it up and come out. We have to prepare for entry.” Jerim’s pupils, shaking uncontrollably, glanced at the firmly closed bathroom door.

Since they were speaking softly, the voices wouldn’t have leaked out… right? Judging by how the teammates’ voices echoed faintly like a mumble, it seemed they hadn’t come all the way to the front of the bathroom but were calling from the locker room. Still, just in case, he blocked Aaron who was about to say something and made a gesture to be quiet.

Then, Aaron muttered in a whisper, almost to the level of just mouthing the words.

“Why does this topic have to come up in the bathroom right before the start of the second half? Last time Lehmann interrupted us. Why is the timing always so shitty?”

“If you have something to say, say it quickly and get it over with. Let’s go out.”

Jerim likewise mouthed his words like a goldfish. If they didn’t hurry, they would really come up to the bathroom to find them. As Jerim urged him while pointing outside the door, Aaron replied after a short hesitation.

“…Later. I don’t want to make you distracted by saying something hard to believe right before the match, and in the first place, it’s not a story that can end in a few words. So once this match is over, talk to me this time. …Please.”

Aaron grabbed the arm of Jerim, who looked ready to burst out the door at any second. Jerim, conversely pulling Aaron who held him, urged him on.

“I get it. Let’s just go out, quickly. I don’t want to be substituted as soon as the second half starts, you know? You must feel the same.”

“Of course. If that happened, I’d die from a bruised ego.”

“Don’t die. Your specialty is pushing hard in the second half especially when you’re having a bad game, isn’t it? Do well, okay?”

“…That’s right. That is my specialty.”

If Jerim’s specialty was delivering a decisive blow in big matches, Aaron’s was running persistently to reverse the situation in the second half no matter how down the team’s atmosphere was. When he mentioned that point, the usual composure finally settled on Aaron’s face, which had looked somewhat anxious.

Though he hated to admit it, seeing him smile like that made the guilt and annoyance Jerim felt from ruining the first half because of himself vanish completely.

I don’t think we’ll lose.

He had such a hunch without any basis. Clearly, until a moment ago, he thought they would have no choice but to give up the first match of the group stage. Is this the sense of security that only a team with the world’s best attacker can feel? In that sense, the existence of this guy named Aaron Reyes really was like a lucky charm.

…And he was grateful that this lucky charm-like guy remembered a promise from the old days and came to Sefton while enduring all sorts of mockery and insults. There must have been a purpose to overcome his mannerism too, but anyway.

The emotions that had been hidden by shock revealed their shape belatedly. While rubbing his chest which had grown strangely tight, it was just as Jerim was about to step out of the bathroom.

“Jerim, just this one thing.”

Aaron, standing a step behind, leaned his upper body slightly and put his lips to Jerim’s ear.

“I have never done anything, then or now, that I couldn’t be proud of in front of you.”

After whispering it like a declaration, he swung the door wide open and stepped out ahead. Jerim tapped his tickled ear, threw a towel at Aaron’s broad back, and soon matched his stride to head toward the pitch. Compared to when the first half had just ended, his steps were light as if he were flying.

Jerim flicked his captain’s armband on his left arm and let it snap back before taking a deep breath. Only now did the scenery of the vast stadium and the sight of the packed stands slowly enter his field of vision. Jerim lightly punched Aaron’s forearm and then dashed onto the green pitch.

It was the start of the second half.

Just because they returned after a 15-minute break didn’t mean drastic changes would occur for both teams. Becina, who had practically dominated the first half, was still in high spirits; the referee watched for fouls by Sefton players with eyes like fire, and Sefton struggled somehow to make up even one goal. The only thing that had changed slightly was Jerim’s own condition.