Chapter 4
After about seven or eight minutes, poor No. 28 finally got back into the team and started running.
He didn't seem to be affected at all, but his passing became more and more crisp and clear, as if he became more courageous with each setback.
Cristiano had no idea what was going on.
He thought he was dead, but in the blink of an eye, he opened his eyes and saw a group of people surrounding him. He thought he had come back to life and created a medical miracle.
But the truth is even more miraculous than creating a medical miracle.
When Cristiano raised his eyes, he saw Sir Alex Ferguson sitting in the VIP seat, a young Sir Alex Ferguson - at least much younger than the Sir Alex Ferguson he remembered later.
Cristiano was stunned, and then he looked down at himself. He was wearing a large green and white striped jersey, and the number 28 was printed on the bottom edge of his white shorts. This was the jersey he wore when he was playing for Sporting Lisbon.
In other words, he went back to twenty years ago? !
The team doctor who treated his wound seemed very worried and asked him: "Are you okay, Ronaldo? Can you still concentrate?"
Cristiano was still in shock and didn't have time to answer for a while. Then he heard the team doctor advise his teammates and the head coach who had just run up: "He may not be fit to continue playing now. Maybe a head CT scan should be arranged..."
"No, no, I'm fine!" Cristiano quickly got up from the ground.
He had never felt so strong, with inexhaustible strength. He felt his legs, his arms, his young, flexible, injury-free body.
Cristiano has always had a strong desire to win the game. On the court, even if he still doesn't understand what happened, the unexpected surprise of regaining control of a young and energetic body and running on the green court again is enough to make him put aside other worries temporarily.
It was somewhat difficult for him to adapt to his old body at first, but soon, his soul and body fit together perfectly.
"Cristiano Ronaldo! Scored from a small angle! The referee blew the whistle for the end of the game! Sporting Lisbon vs. Manchester United, 3-1!"
Cristiano scored the last goal of the game. Even though it was the Nth three-digit goal in his football career, he was still excited and jubilant. The game ended with their big victory. He subconsciously pointed his hands to the sky and couldn't help but take big gulps of the most refreshing air.
Ever since his father passed away, he would end his celebration in this way after scoring a goal, as if to tell his beloved father who didn't have the chance to see his success.
This was a habit he had been doing for nearly seventeen years. He did it subconsciously and never thought that it was 2002 and nothing had happened yet.
Before Cristiano could run a few steps away, he was quickly surrounded by his teammates. It was unknown whose hands ruffled his hair. He was squeezed into the crowd, surrounded by thunderous cheers.
Countless kisses were placed on his head and neck.
In an unknown bar in another city, Kaka was completely stunned by Chris in the broadcast camera.
He watched the boy's beautiful dribbling without any frills, and his perfect long-range shooting technique, with the power and angle just right. Faintly, that young face overlapped with the King of the Bernabeu in his distant memory.
Just as he was smiling bitterly at his hopeless longing, the next second, the boy pointed his hands up to the sky, and his beautiful plump lips moved slightly, as if he was saying something.
Kaka stood up suddenly, and stared at Chris on the screen in a rare absent-minded state. He even lost his composure and knocked over the water cup beside him, causing the water to flow all over the table. However, he had no idea what was happening.
He remembered everything Chris had told him about Dinis, how his father had opened the door to the world of football for him and how he had supported him, but he was not able to see it when he was at the pinnacle of football. He knew how regretful Chris was, and naturally he also knew what this gesture meant to Chris.
God.
Kaka burst into tears and almost desperately wanted to rush to the TV to touch the boy's face on the screen, but he was stopped by the angry men around him.
Manchester United lost the game, those drunks were like barrels of explosives ready to explode, and the glass of water that Kaka knocked over was the spark.
"Oh God! Digan! Go and bring your brother back!" Simeone screamed in panic.
Bosco and Digan rushed into the chaos, and the drunk who raised his fist had already hit the Son of God's beautiful face with a punch.
Kaka was punched unexpectedly. He tilted his head and fell on the bar counter. The dull pain on his face brought him back to his senses, but he was not angry at all. He was even grateful for the dull pain. The pain confirmed that he was in the real world, not some pitiful fantasy.
He even looked at the drunk and smiled without hesitation.
That’s great, Chris, that’s great, Kaka asked quietly in his heart, that’s not a coincidence, right? It's you, isn't it?
The drunk was startled by Kaka's smile. Then he looked behind the young man and saw two men rushing towards him with ferocious looks. He immediately turned around and ran away.
Digan finally squeezed next to his brother, but was frightened by the tears on Kaka's face. He hadn't seen Kaka cry like this since he was five years old!
He was at a loss and quickly hugged his brother: "Kaka? What's wrong, Kaka? He beat you up?! I'll beat him back for you!"
Bosco quickly grabbed the impulsive Di Gan, and carried the two boys back to Simeone, one in each hand.
Simone gasped when she saw Kaka's appearance. Before she could ask anything, she heard Kaka speak in a tone that could be described as "happy" for the first time in so many days, and murmured and laughed almost dreamily: "I'm fine, I'm fine. In fact, I can't be better."
Digan opened his eyes wide, held his head and whispered: "Oh my God, that guy broke my brother's brain!"
Bosco rolled his eyes, raised his hand and slapped Degan on the head.
Simeone quickly glanced around. The situation here had attracted the attention of most people in the bar. Maybe someone had recognized Kaka, the "Golden Boy of Milan" Kaka.
"We have to go back." Simone said quickly, dragging her two children and husband and quickly leaving the bar.
On the way home, Simeone kept turning her head back to look at Kaka while sitting in the passenger seat. She couldn't help but open her mouth and ask, "Ricky, are you really okay? Are you..."
She had seen Kaka's tears too many times recently, and she could hardly tell which one was more desperate.
When she saw Kaka now, with a subtle smile on his face, she couldn't believe that this was a change for the better. She was even more afraid that something might have happened again that irritated her eldest son's delicate and fragile nerves.
God have mercy on her for being such a poor mother.
"Mom, I'm really fine." Kaka interrupted Simeone.
He sat forward, clutching his phone tightly, wondering if Chris's number was still the same.
It had been several years since they had exchanged contact information in their last life, and he wasn't sure if Chris had changed his phone number before then.
Of course he knew Chris's contact information by heart.
Kaka gave Simeone a genuine smile.
Simone seemed to understand. She nodded and covered her mouth, choking a little, more like crying of joy. She turned around and sobbed twice.
Bosco drove home in silence.
Digan looked at his brother in a daze, then at his mother who was sobbing in the front row. The two seemed to be playing some riddle that he couldn't understand.
Digan spoke cautiously: "Kaka?"
"Thank you Di Gan." Kaka turned around and hugged Di Gan tightly.
If it weren't for Degan's suggestion, he might have completely forgotten that tonight was the crucial game. He might still be looking through Chris's old games, and it would take who knows how many days before he realized that his Chris was back.
God, why was he always so slow? Kaka blamed himself in his heart. God gave him a second chance and he must seize it. He could not let Chris slip away from his life again.
After returning home, Kaka immediately went back to his room, took out his mobile phone, and dialed the phone number that he knew by heart without even a second's pause.
He didn't even think about what to say, maybe this was also a habit -
During the ten years when he was alone, he would quietly dial Chris's number every night. Of course, no one answered the phone, but he felt a little relieved when he heard the busy tone, as if the world still left a trace of connection between him and Chris.
However, one time later, he carelessly forgot to renew the payment for that phone call. Maybe it was because ten years was too long, or maybe it was because he was old and his thinking was numb and slow, so he made a huge mistake.
When he dialed the number again, the phone beeped twice, and then the other end was suddenly picked up, and a young man's energetic voice came from there: "Hello? I'm David, who are you..."
At that moment, Kaka hung up the phone in panic, lowered his head and repeatedly confirmed that the string of numbers was correct, and then he realized that he had made a mistake.
He personally severed the only connection between him and Chris. He was so upset that he was out of his mind. When the headlights of the truck came screaming towards him, he didn't even have the strength to dodge.
…
The call was connected after several tries, and it seemed like the person on the other end hesitated before picking up.
Kaka heard his own heartbeat hitting his eardrums like a drum, and he blurted out subconsciously: "Cris?"
There was only a few seconds of heavy breathing from the other end of the line, and then the call was suddenly hung up.
Kaka almost jumped up on the spot, it was him! He couldn't be more sure! It's him!
Kaka rushed out of his room and bumped into Digan, who was eavesdropping outside the door. Digan covered his nose with a painful "ouch" and said, "Kaka!"
"I'm going to Lisbon." Kaka held his brother's shoulders. He had never laughed so happily before. He held Digan tightly and repeated over and over again, "I'm going to Lisbon! He's there!"
Kaka cheered with relief, pulled out his suitcase, and began to pack clothes into it quickly.
Di Gan looked at Kaka stupidly, but as if he was infected, he subconsciously grinned as well, completely forgetting that rationally he should stop his brother from packing his suitcase at night.
Simone and Bosco heard the noise and rushed over. Bosco's face changed slightly and he shouted, "What are you doing?"
Kaka turned around and faced Simeone, knowing that Simeone was the one who was most likely to be soft-hearted. He took a few steps forward and hugged his mother, saying softly: "Mom, I was wrong, I thought I would never find him again, but my God is merciful and sent him back... Mom, he is there, I must take him back. Let me go, okay?"
Simone listened to her eldest son's sobbing and weakness. She thought to herself that she had already surrendered to Kaka's love. She had never shown any strong intention to stop him. Why did Kaka look so...
She couldn't explain it, as if she and Bosco had done countless things to hinder Kaka from finding the child.
Simeone felt her heart aching. She stroked Kaka's slightly curly hair and asked softly, "Is it the child named Cristiano Ronaldo?"
Kaka trembled slightly, then he raised his eyes and looked at his father and mother: "It's him."
Bosco pursed his lips, as if he was still struggling: "He is also a football player. You have to know that you two will destroy each other if you are together. Even now, if anyone leaks the news to a gossip tabloid, you and him will never have to play on the court again. Do you understand this?"
Kaka looked pale, but he still nodded firmly: "I know. I know there will even be fans sending us death threats, but I am sure that if I can't be by his side, then only death will be our end."
He once couldn't sleep for countless days and nights because of the blood on the threatening letter to Chris. He couldn't imagine that Chris would be threatened or even killed because of his deep love. He backed off because of this, and seeing his lover's puzzled and disappointed eyes made him feel worse than death.
Simeone stomped on her husband viciously, and then warned Kaka very seriously: "From now on, I will not allow you to hear any word about "death" in this house. Do you understand? Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite!"
"There are still five days left before your vacation ends. I think we can stay there for three days and treat it as a vacation." Simeone clearly saw Kaka's eyes light up because of his words.
When she saw Kaka like this, she knew that her child was back, and she curled up the corners of her mouth slightly, thinking that she had made the right decision.
But she changed the subject: "But before that, you still have a mess to clean up. Caroline and her parents want to see you at noon tomorrow."
Kaka paused, but he thought that he should give Caroline a positive and firm answer and apologize in person.
"Okay." Kaka agreed, "Can I book the ticket now? The flight is tomorrow afternoon."
Simone and Bosco looked at each other helplessly and nodded: "Okay dear, the flight is tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Dad." Kaka stepped forward and hugged Simeone again, then hesitated, looked at Bosco, and did not hug him.
He was not sure Bosco would want a hug. In his previous life, his father hated his choice so much. The conversation in which he could not be buried with his lover even after his death would always make him feel fear and cold.
Bosco maintained his fatherly dignity and nodded slightly in response.
After he watched Kaka and Digan return to their respective rooms, he put his arm around his wife's waist and walked towards their bedroom, muttering depressedly: "Why didn't Ricky give me a hug? I mean, I didn't show too much about his sexual orientation, did I?"
Simone looked at her husband and curled her lips speechlessly: "Then maybe you should show more enthusiasm to Ricky's partner, maybe Ricky will be more enthusiastic towards you too."
Bosco couldn't help but shudder. "My God, Ricky's partner? You're just going to call that guy like that?"
"I thought we had already agreed on this." Simone crossed her arms and looked at her husband with a scrutinizing gaze, like a lioness protecting her cubs, with a hint of threat in her words, "Bosco?"
Bosco paused, then spread his hands in surrender: "Alright, alright."
Although he did not agree to his wife's proposal on the surface, he had already thought about how to behave when he saw the boy.
Well, smile. There’s nothing wrong with smiling, right?
The next morning, when Simone saw her husband practicing smiling in front of the mirror in the bathroom, she was almost scared to scream for help, thinking that her husband was possessed by some evil spirit.
"God, if you smile at Chris like that, the little guy will be scared to tears." After Simone came to her senses, she guessed the reason behind her husband's strange behavior, and she couldn't help laughing softly and teasing.
"Chris? You called him Chris? Little guy, oh my dear, please don't make me unbearable." Bosco muttered, refusing to admit that his rebuttal was out of anger and shame for being exposed by Simeone.
Simone snorted. No matter what her husband said, she had quickly hypnotized herself into the equation of Chris = future daughter-in-law.
Especially the footage of the football game last night, the boy's handsome footwork, his indomitable fighting spirit, his raised eyebrows when he won, the way he prayed to God, and... his beautiful eyes filled with tears, looking aggrieved and pitiful, his red eyelids and the small piece of skin under his eyes, wet like a puppy.
Simeone didn't realize that when he was watching the game last night, he had already gotten to know Cristiano Ronaldo with the admiring eyes of a mother-in-law looking at her future daughter-in-law.
Her excellent memory helped her to surrender without any resistance as she recalled - what a cute boy, no wonder Kaka fell in love with him.
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