Chapter 45 A Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart

Not long after, Kaka arrived.

Fino injured her foot, and living alone always brings various inconveniences. Kaka asked Fino about her plans after the injury.

After learning that Fino wanted to stay in the hospital temporarily, Kaka invited Fino to stay at his home.

“Finnie, would you like to stay at my house? We have two nannies, and they can drive you to and from the hospital when you need to. Come on, come on! Carol gets bored at home alone during training and matches, so you two can keep each other company. Didn't you two get along really well last time?”

Fino twitched his lips; he thought Kaka was such a naive and innocent girl.

Who would be so abstract as to invite an adult man to live in their home and spend every day alone with their wife?

Whether in Brazil or Italy, this is an act of inviting trouble.

Fino firmly declined: "Thank you for your kindness, Richie. But the doctor said there will be a lot of treatments in the first few weeks, so it's better to stay in the hospital so the doctors can monitor my recovery at any time. Don't worry, I'm doing very well."

Fino wanted to remind Kaka of something, but he didn't know how to bring it up. Kaka's thoughts were pure, and he didn't want to ruin that purity.

Fino had a vague feeling that Pirlo should step in and do something wicked at this point. Many times when Fino hesitated to speak, he could resonate with Pirlo, even though their ways of expressing themselves were completely different.

Sure enough, Pirlo spoke up: "Wow, Richie, it's a good thing you didn't play in England."

Pirlo glanced at Inzaghi, then turned to Kaká and said meaningfully, "Perhaps it's the same playing in Italy; your passion is dangerous!"

Kaka was stunned for a moment, his mind blank, before he realized what Pirlo meant.

He punched Pirlo directly, gritting his teeth and saying, "Of course I know that! But Finney is different from you bastards, Andrea, your mind is too filthy!"

Fino twitched her lips. This trust was acceptable, but unnecessary.

More teammates came to visit Fino, and the single room was bustling with activity. It wasn't until the afternoon when the nurse came to take Fino for treatment that the teammates said goodbye and left.

When Fino was wheeled back by the nurse after his treatment, only Inzaghi remained in the ward.

Inzaghi walked over and took the wheelchair from the nurse, who then said goodbye to Fino and left the ward.

Inzaghi helped Fino sit up on the bed.

"Pippo, go home and rest. You have training tomorrow. You worked hard last night," Fino urged Inzaghi.

Inzaghi did not leave; instead, he sat down in the chair in front of the hospital bed and talked to Fino.

Does it hurt?

"It hurt a little at first, but it's much better now."

To make her point more convincing, Fino even flashed a smiling emoji.

“That smile is really ugly.” Inzaghi patted his leg through the blanket. “Don’t act with me, I want to hear the truth.”

Fino's smile vanished.

Inzaghi held Fino's hand and asked him with concern, "Were you very scared at the time?"

Fino fell silent. He looked down at their clasped hands, pursed his lips, and said softly, "Of course I was scared. How could I not be? My mind was foggy at the time. I jumped up with all my might to head the ball away. When I landed, a sharp pain shot through my ankle. In that instant, I thought of Ronaldo. He collapsed like that 20 days ago."

Inzaghi was heartbroken.

"Does it hurt?" He pulled Fino's hand to his lips and kissed it lightly.

He's someone who gets injured frequently, how could he not know if he's in pain?

The words swirled in my mouth, but no matter how I tried to say them, they all felt light and airy. In the end, all I could do was sigh and ask, "Does it hurt?"

Fino's eyes stung with tears.

He always silently digests all his emotions and always presents an optimistic side, but when he is treated gently, he also feels wronged. All his pretense is dissolved by Inzaghi's care.

"It hurts, Pippo, it hurts so much." He gripped Inzaghi's hand tightly, his voice slightly choked with emotion.

Hearing Fino's aggrieved voice, Inzaghi felt his heart breaking. The usually eloquent Inzaghi seemed to have suddenly lost his ability to speak. He didn't know how to comfort Fino, so he could only kiss the back of Fino's hand repeatedly.

Fino did not let his emotions run wild, and he quickly suppressed his grievances.

"But, Pippo, it was because of this injury that I truly understood how you felt when you were frequently injured."

Fino raised her head, leaned forward, and stroked Inzaghi's cheek with her other hand. With moist eyes, she looked into Inzaghi's eyes and said gently, "You've had such a hard time these past years. You've suffered so much and endured so much hardship. It breaks my heart to see you like this."

At that moment, Inzaghi was pierced by a thousand arrows.

He felt like a complete bastard, how could he be worthy of Fino's sincere heart?

He really has to let go.

...

Fino was bored in the hospital. Apart from cooperating with the treatment, he had nothing to do every day.

Fino started going online frequently to keep up with the latest news from Milan and his teammates. The news from professional media outlets was a mix of truth and falsehood, while the tabloids' stories were often outrageous, making them unreadable for those truly in the industry.

By sheer coincidence, he stumbled upon a fan forum. This forum didn't analyze the game situation much, nor did it hold "meetings" for the players. It was extremely harmonious, with a flood of fan-generated content such as videos, photos, and drawings of the players coming at him, and the comments were full of praise.

Fino felt as if a new world had been opened to him, a fertile land he had never been to before.

He immediately typed Maldini's name into the search bar and was overwhelmed with happiness.

After seeing countless fan-made creations of Maldini, he developed a strong interest in this kind of online content creation. Perhaps he could also join the ranks of content creators and express his own image of Maldini.

He asked his teammates who came to visit him to help him buy a laptop so he could start learning image processing and video editing from tutorials. Once he recovered, he also wanted to learn to draw.

In just a few hours, he learned basic image processing: adjusting colors, adding filters, adding artistic text, and then exporting it to create a beautiful picture of Maldini.

He created an account called "Red and Black Faith-3", posted the images he made, and carefully added a caption praising Maldini.

Although his skill level was limited and his work wasn't as exquisite as others', he quickly received several complimenting emojis.

Fino was greatly encouraged. The people here were very nice and spoke very kindly. He loved it here.

After being praised, he became even more motivated to learn. He not only started buying all kinds of fonts, materials, tutorials, etc., but also set aside a hard drive specifically to save Maldini's original materials.

This is so interesting! Fino was in high spirits, and even some of the depression he felt after his injury dissipated.

When Inzaghi came in with flowers, Fino had just finished editing a photo and was adding artistic lettering to it.

Fino was busy thinking of words of praise and didn't notice that Inzaghi had come in and was already behind him.

After deciding on the content, he created a new layer and typed it in word by word, adjusting the text to the appropriate position and size. Before he could click save, a faint voice sounded behind him:

"1500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Milan welcomed a new emperor."

Fino was startled. He turned around and saw Inzaghi. He was so frightened that he immediately slammed his laptop shut.

Inzaghi shoved the flowers in his hand into Fino's hands, took a few steps back, crossed his arms, and looked down at him: "I saw it."

Fino wished he could dig a crack in the ground with his toes so he could crawl into it.

Even the summer insects are silent for me; silence is Cambridge tonight!

Inzaghi patted his hair, took a few steps back and sat on the small sofa, and asked him softly, "Do you really like Paulo that much?"

“No.” Fino racked her brains for a reason. “I was bored and wanted to learn some image processing. I happened to have a picture of the captain on my computer, so I used it to practice.”

"Little liar." Inzaghi chuckled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He had decided to let go, but he couldn't control the bitterness in his heart.

Why does Fino like Paul so much? Is it because Paul is a so-called "good man"?

"Paul was quite the wild one when he was young," Inzaghi couldn't help but say sarcastically, "Don't let Paul's current..."

“Pippo!” Fino interrupted Inzaghi. “I don’t want to know that. Let’s change the subject, okay?”

Inzaghi stared intently at him.

Fino felt a little uncomfortable, and he explained, "My feelings for the captain are different from my feelings for you, so don't worry."

He clasped his hands together and pleaded with Inzaghi, "This is a secret forever, please don't tell anyone, okay?"

Seeing Fino's innocent eyes, Inzaghi nodded.

Fino immediately changed the subject: "Why are you here? Didn't we have training today?"

Inzaghi sighed: "Muscle injury, I can't participate in training for the time being."

After the match against Arsenal, Ancelotti only took one day off and resumed training on the third day because the 27th round of Serie A matches was about to begin in a few days.

When the schedule is packed, players significantly reduce their training intensity to focus on relieving stress on muscles and tendons and restoring physical fitness.

If the training intensity is too high at this time, it will not only hinder recovery, but also increase the risk of injury to the player.

Even so, an accident still occurred during training.

After taking a shot, Inzaghi suddenly clutched his left groin and bent over, his expression showing great pain.

After examination, the team doctor determined that Inzaghi had a groin muscle injury and would miss training and matches for the next week.

Even though his groin was still sore, Inzaghi breathed a sigh of relief; it was just muscle pain and nothing serious. He'd suffered countless minor injuries like this throughout his career.

Ancelotti was in a terrible predicament.

With Ronaldo out for the season, Fino out for at least six weeks, and now Inzaghi injured, only 18-year-old Pato remains of the four forwards after just twenty days.

He turned his head and glanced at Paloschi, a youth academy trainee who was a few months younger than Pato, and cried out in his heart: "Boy, are you ready to be a savior?"

Paloschi looked at him with a puzzled expression. What's wrong with the coach?