"He is awake! Young lady, he is awake!"
Harry opened his eyes to find himself lying on a comfortable bed of an unfamiliar room.
He saw somebody rush out of the door yelling. Thirst was killing him. So, he sat up. He looked around in search of water, yet all he saw was pink. He saw pink walls with a couple of posters of Cristiano Ronaldo. He noticed a pink cupboard and a fancy dressing table with lots of things in pink on it.
He found out that the bed he was sitting on was king-size. There were a couple of books, Harry Potter style glasses, a few rings, a lady's watch, a fancy black purse and one empty glass lying on the side tables.
'Am I in a young married lady's room?' Harry wondered.
"My lady, look, he is up!" Harry's observation was interrupted by a loud voice, followed by the sound of rushed footsteps.
"Oh, he really is. Hi, are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?" A beautiful girl who looked like she was only 13 or 14 walked in the room and asked Harry.
"W-w-water." Harry barely spoke with his dry throat.
"Annie, bring him some lukewarm water." The girl immediately commanded her maid.
"Yes, my lady." The maid nodded.
"In your current condition, it's best if you have some warm water first, eat something and then move back to drinking water of your preferred temperature." The girl explained to Harry.
Harry nodded. After having a glass of water, he felt much better. He faced the girl and said, "Thanks, may I know who you are?"
"You're not very well-mannered, are you? Don't you know that it's polite to say your name before you ask someone their name? I'm Alizey. You are?" The girl spoke in a haughty manner.
"I'm Harry. I mean Harris. You can just call me Harry." Harry replied a bit intimidated.
"Sure. So, Harry... Who are you? What do you do? Why did you faint at my door? It was about time for sunset, so you couldn't be having a heat stroke." Words quickly left her mouth as fast as bullets firing from a machine gun.
Harry immediately got embarrassed thinking about his situation. His eyes looked here and there, trying to think of a reason not so lame. Suddenly, his stomach growled. His cheeks turned red and he quickly lowered his head.
"Hahaha, you must be really hungry. Do you have spare clothes? I was hoping you could take a shower before eating. Your shirt was fully soaked with sweat when the gatekeeper uncle brought you in the house." Alizey was amused and spoke in a lighter tone.
"Yeah. I do have spare clothes in my bag. Sorry for all the trouble." Harry politely apologized.
"Annie, bring his bag and take him to the guest room." Alizey commanded the maid, looked at Harry and continued, "Sorry, the guest room wasn't clean before, therefore you were brought to my room. There is an attached bathroom in the guest room. Annie will guide you."
Harry got up and had not even walked out of the room when Alizey once again spoke, "Oh, before I forget, do you have any preferences for food? It's almost dinner time. So you will have to eat what I eat if you aren't a picky eater."
"I'm an athlete. So, I prefer nutritious food. Nothing too oily, spicy or too sweet." Harry didn't want to mess up his diet too much and answered candidly.
"Wow, okay." Alizey acted surprised due to his straightforwardness.
Some time later, after dinner, having washed their hands, Harry and Alizey sat in the lounge.
"Your cooks make really delicious food." Harry politely opened the conversation. His instincts told him she was a good girl. He felt much more comfortable around her by now.
"Thanks. By the way, you were wearing a football kit, so do you play football?" Alizey asked curiously.
"Yes. I want to play professional football on the E continent one day." Harry replied subconsciously.
"You must be really good to have that aim." Alizey complemented in admiration.
"Nah, actually just today... I was disqualified from the training camp being held by Blaugrana and Red Devils. I was upset and aimlessly ran all the way here." Harry felt a little too comfortable and the truth left his mouth.
"You must be kidding me! It's like 25 kilometers from here to the national stadium." Alizey exclaimed in surprise.
"Damn, that's really far. I see... No wonder why I fainted." Harry dumbly acknowledged.
"Duh, obviously." Alizey said sarcastically, but then she asked in a concerned manner, "When did you leave the stadium?"
"It was around 2 or 3. It was after lunch that I was given my souvenirs and told I was not going to join the actual trials. They didn't even let us complete the fifth day of camp." Harry complained as he felt a bit downcast as he recalled the day.
"We found you at 6 pm. Wow! You ran for 3 hours or more. Damn! This can't wait for my parents to make a decision. We really need to get you checked by a doctor. You got dehydrated and maybe even had a heatstroke. You can't just collapse otherwise." Alizey became a bit too worried about Harry.
"Umm. It can be a panic attack too. I was anxious before I lost consciousness." Harry added nervously.
"A panic attack? Why would you have that?" The little girl almost yelled.
"Well, I was really hungry and thirsty. I was lost. Besides, I didn't have my cellphone in this strange city. I couldn't contact anyone... So, you see... I panicked." Harry explained but suddenly remembered something important, "Crap! I need to find a way to call gramps. What time is it?"
"It's only 8 pm, you just slept for a little more than an hour." Alizey tried to calm him down.
"I have been missing for 5 hours. Grandpa might have shaken the entire city by now." Harry accidentally spoke out his thoughts.
"Hey, this is the capital. What kind of a big shot is your grandpa? Are you bragging?" Alizey gave him a cautious look as she asked.
Harry was amused. He simply replied smugly, "My Grandpa is someone who owns a private airport."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Alizey jumped out of her seat in shock. Totally, missing the fact that Harry was showing off.
Harry let her settle down before asking "Do you not have a way to go to the stadium?"
"The car's with the parents and so is the money. They will come back at 9 pm. Don't worry, it's only an hour's worth of wait." Alizey comforted Harry.
"Okay. Umm, do you want to watch TV or something?" Harry said something completely off topic. He had suddenly realised that he was alone with a beautiful girl in her lounge.
All of a sudden, the temperature of the room rose as the sparkling jet black eyes of Alizey drew him in. Harry felt hot all over. His throat became parched.
"Are you okay? You're sweating a lot."
"Oh, it's just a little too hot in here. Cool water will do the trick for me." Harry blamed the heat.
"Hey, the room is so cold with the air conditioner turned on. Are you really okay? You don't have a fever, do you?" Alizey got worried once more.
"I am okay. Perhaps I should rest for a while." Harry spoke in a low voice.
"Alright, you should rest. I will let you know when my parents come." Alizey agreed.
Once he was inside the guest room, Harry got lost in his thoughts. Harry felt a bit stupid for walking out of the lounge. 'I really need to work on my behaviour around beautiful girls.'
Furthermore, Harry felt bad about making his friends and Grandpa worry. 'I should memorise my grandfather's number. I have gone missing twice this year.'
Moreover, he was depressed about the fact he wasn't selected. 'How could they not choose me?'
In addition, he was most worried about where his system had gone. 'Is it because I am incompetent?'
Fifteen minutes later, Harry walked out of the guest room. He was going to go crazy at this rate. He needed to distract himself. He walked to the lounge, saw no one around, sat down, picked up the remote controller and turned on the TV.
Sadly for him, there was no coverage. It looked more like there was no connection. The noise made by the TV attracted the attention of the maid. She noticed Harry sitting on the sofa from afar and decided to call her young lady.
It didn't take long for Alizey to come to join Harry in the lounge. "Why are you out of the room so fast? You should rest." She looked concerned.
"I was just getting bored and I feel okay."
"So, what do you want to do? The TV won't work as I have been grounded." She said with a little blush on her face.
"Really? What did you do to get grounded?" Harry was surprised. Alizey didn't look the immature or naughty type to him.
"I watched movies while staying up all night because it's winter vacation. I was found out and my laptop was taken away. Even my right to use TV in the day was robbed off me." She complained.
"Ahaan, what about your cellphone?"
"I don't have it yet. I can't get one before I go to college." She sounded a bit sour.
"Okay, sucks to be you. What do you do to pass time with?" Harry teased her.
"Nothing much. Just doing my assignments." She indignantly answered.
"Oh." Harry didn't know how to continue the conversation feeling awkward.
"So, umm... You really want to go to the E continent?" Alizey asked after adjusting her emotions.
"Yes." Harry hastily nodded.
"Have you ever been to the E continent?"
"No, but why do you ask?"
"I want to go there as well." Alizey had a wistful look as she spoke.
"What for?"
"I want to see Ronaldo up close." Harry saw stars in her eyes as she said that.
"I see. You're a Ronaldo fan." Harry said in acknowledgement.
Harry felt like teasing her and offhandedly commented, "Sorry for you, but it seems like Ronaldo already has kids."
Alizey's expression immediately didn't look good. "Hey!! You.. uh..You.. Hmph... I am sorry for you that you aren't a good enough player for even the declined Red devils." She snapped back.
"Damn, that hurts. Lady, you just wait,. Within 5 years, Red Devils will sign me for big money. Just like they had to bring back Pogba after letting him go." Harry retorted angrily.
"Well, Pogba hasn't really lived up to his reputation." Alizey countered. She didn't look like she was going to let him go.
"It's those managers that suck. It's all about getting a holding midfielder who can pass long and defend well." Harry played the blame game.
"I don't know so many tactics. Anyway, so you will not go to the club if Ole is the manager?" She asked, expecting him to make an excuse.
"I don't know... If an offer is there, I probably won't refuse no matter who the manager is. If it's not a good manager, I will most likely leave for Los Blancos after I establish myself at the club." Harry answered thoughtfully.
"Will you not choose Blaugrana?" She asked suspiciously.
"Nah, if they can't get me twice. It means they didn't acknowledge my talent. Or maybe I don't have that much value in their eyes." Harry responded snobbishly.
"Your ego sure is big for an academy tryout failure." Alizey snickered as she teased Harry.
"Hey, you just wait. I will definitely leave for the E continent within 3 months." Harry got upset and took the bait.
"What for? To come back crying?" She immediately commented as if she was waiting to say that.
"That's so mean of you." Harry couldn't come up with a better response.
Alizey gladly accepted Harry's defeat. She smiled and politely spoke in her princess-like manner, "Alright, I was just kidding. Best of luck to you."
"Thanks."
*Ding dong*
The door bell rang, halting their conversation.