MY ONE-NIGHT STAND SOCCER BOYFRIEND

Chapter 4: Concealed identity

It was one of those fine mornings in one of the most beautiful cities under the sun. Hillwood. The morning was crisp, birds were chirping their melodies, crickets stridulating under the rocks and barks of trees and a cool breeze from the ocean made the foliage to sway in synch from left to right. The sky was deep blue and the sun though weak shot a beam of yellow golden rays on the earth.

In the sub-urban areas of the city, the equivalent of Malibu and Beverly hills of Hillwood, in a house worth millions of dollars with essential and most luxurious furniture, lying sprawled on a comfy king-sized bed was a Lisa and Jake. They were both naked covered under the white sheets.

Jake was the first to come round. He yawned and stretched inhaling the smell of the ocean allowing it to engulf his senses. Then he heard Lisa's phone buzz.

"Rise and shine beautiful I think someone is trying to find you" he said softly in her ears.

She groaned and covered herself, smiling with her eyes closed.

"One more minute of sleep"

"Just answer the call then you can go back to sleep" Jake said leaving the bed for the bathroom, but he also heard his phone buzz.

Looking at the time on his wrist watch and health monitor he still had an hour to get sober and go for practice so he ignored the call and he went ahead to wash his face. He was the world famous Jake woods, the Hillwood FC Talisman, an enemy of the goalkeepers and defenders for how he was good at making them look like fools in front of a crowd of thousands and millions of eyes on the planet. That's why he was surprised Lisa didn't know him.

Not anymore. She was awake and sober now.

"What!" She screamed.

Jake came from the bathroom bare-chested, in a pair of boxers that did less to hide his protruding boner. Lisa was cuddled with her back on the front of the bed, her arms around her feet.

"What's wrong? I heard you scream"

"You're Jake woods" She said admiring his extraordinary physique, his six packs were taking her breath away and just by looking at him the memories of the previous night swooped through her brain.

"Yes and you're Lisa" Jake said looking around his room to find out what might have triggered her memory, not that he was trying to hide his identity.

Then he remembered a portrait of him in the Hillwood FC jersey above her head. He noticed his phone was still buzzing.

"Ooh my God, are you sure this is right what will your girlfriend say?"

"Then it's a good thing I don't have one" Jake said confidently taking his phone.

Jake

There were more than ten missed calls from coach Brooks, my agent Edison and my friend and teammate Liam, also the captain of our team. This was strange. Usually I was the one waking them up for practice unless the training schedule had changed.

"What's up Liam? Practice is like an hour away why is everyone blowing up my phone?"

"Dude have you checked your socials?"

"No am just waking up, what’s trending?"

"You and not in a good way just check" he said and hang up.

That fear rolling down my spine forced me to sit and check my social media. Twitter was trending with a hashtag; Jake the cheat. At first I thought this was Whitney my girlfriend with whom out relationship died what we call a natural death, we stopped talking to each other abruptly and took an indefinite break even though the world knew otherwise but when I kept scrolling I saw it.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked concerned probably by my look of concern.

"Sorry but you have to leave" I said gathering up her stuff quickly.

My guess was the paparazzi were already at my front gate with their cameras ready to snap anyone that walked out of the front door. She dressed up without demur and I led her to the back door. It was a safe exit.

"What's happening?"

"Check your social media on your way" I snatched her phone and typed in my phone number then called mine, "I will call you when the dust settles I promise for now please go, sorry this is not the best way to treat a guest"

"Okay, thank you and am sorry if all this has something to do with me"

"No it's on me, bye!" I gave her a two hundred dollar bill and shut the door.

This was the first time in my career I was trending in a bad way and it was scary. My reputation and maybe career was on the line. What I cared more about however was my reputation and professionalism, nothing meant much to me than that. For the few years of stardom thanks to my agent I had amassed wealth enough to chew for the better part of my life. I quickly called my agent and manager Edison. He always found a way to fix things, an important pillar in my personal and professional life.

"How bad is it?"

"Very bad Jake what were you thinking exposing yourself to this hyenas like that?"

"I couldn't be more careful, please can you come over and help me think through this" Looking outside I could see the media and paparazzi buzzing around my gate like a bunch of hyenas he said.

"Liam and I are coming stay tight and don't tell the media anything and stay away from social media"

"Okay"

The next person on my call list was Whitney and she did not answer. No surprise there for months I have been the only one trying to save our sinking relationship. Not anymore. In the midst of this storm that as building up I needed someone who cared about me in my corner, not my money or fame and what I could do on that pitch and she was not even close to what I needed.

Lisa

It was hard to tell how I was feeling that morning. I walked briskly in the well-trimmed lawns of the affluent looking for my way back to the main road. My heart was racing. I slept with Jake woods, the heartthrob and arguably every girls dream guy. Funny thing, I was not regretting although there were traces of guilt.

Like he instructed I checked my social media and girl I was surprised. My Twitter followers had increased to a hundred thousand and I only had like two thousand. i********: was ticking a million plus followers and thousands of DM's were coming in making my phone vibrate nonstop, the celebrity effect. When I kept scrolling I saw what was worrying Jake.

"Ooh my God!" I froze.

A picture of Jake and I in the club looking into his eyes with his jacket around my waist then there was this one outside his palatial mansion. I had to give credit to the guy who took it although he might have just ruined his career and reputation even more his integrity. More guilt consumed me. The headlines were really demoralizing and I had my face on every social media platform. Which explains why mum and everyone was calling me. I called her back.

"Mum..."

"What’s happening to you? Sleeping married men a week to your wedding with David? You have really embarrassed us where will we hide our face" she screamed in my ears.

My biggest regret that morning was calling her. And she had no idea David and I were not a thing anymore.

"Is this true?" I heard my elder sister Ruth ask from the background, “Lisa, what are you even doing in Hillwood? When did you get there?”

"Yes, but I had no idea he is Jake woods I just realized this morning guys cut me a slack here. Am going through a lot right now, I broke up with David"

"What?” she asked surprised, “When did this happen? but still doesn't make it right, come home enough of this shenanigans you’re not the first and last to get your heart broken, take the next plane home and let’s talk about this you hear me Lisa!"

"Okay mum I got to go now everyone is looking at me"

Upon hanging up on her I walked to the nearby store and grabbed a cape and a jacket. From the store wearing my disguise I quickly went across the road to the subway station. My heart was still racing. I had just done what my friend did to me to another woman named Whitney and it didn't feel morally right despite the fact that I was drunk when it all happened. The quicker I got to a bathroom the better because I felt like throwing up.

Out of curiosity and guilt I decided to look up Whitney. She was a model. Jake's test was fashion, kind of interesting. Her social media had pictures of Jake, together they looked happy. David's call interrupted my scrolling. And yeah I had not blocked him yet. Love is blind they say. Despite what he did to me whatever remained of my heart kind of still beat for him and I knew how f****d up this sounds but sometimes the heart doesn't listen to the brain does it?

"What do you want David?" I asked angrily.

"Ooh you picked, so you're f*****g celebrities now?"

Yeah I was also surprised he had the audacity to ask me that having not caught me in the act like I did. His argument was based on a rumor. The guy had some nerve. His annoying behavior easily got under my skin and sometimes I asked myself what did I really see in him?

"Little David is Jealous, so what if I f****d him? How is that your concern we are not together anymore. Whatever we had ended the moment you got in bed with Bianca"

"I didn't get the memo as far as am concerned you're still my fiancée and we are supposed to get married, come home and let’s talk about this before it’s too late"

"Not a chance in hell, we are done and don't ever try to dictate how I should live my life"

"If you really don't want to talk me to me you should have blocked me"

There was some truth there.

"Look, Am sorry can we talk about this when you come back or I can come for you if you want. We both f****d up but am willing to have you back if you do"

"No, I can't lie to you David. You broke me into pieces and to pick them up I need to be far away from you as possible. Don't call me gain or I might just grant you that wish"

I hang up and immediately switched off my phone. My heart sank again after talking to him. The memories of him sweating on top of my best friend came fresh and added more insult to my injury. My heart that had healed was ripped open with one phone call and I felt the blood gushing out of it with nowhere to go drowning my insides.

Feeling sick and angry at myself for ignoring the red flags in our relationship, I walked to the hotel cuddled and fear struck, feeling withdrawn from the world. My life had changed very fast in a span of forty eight hours and I couldn’t help but feel like a stranger in my own body. It felt like I was seated in the theatre watching the story of my life. My little room was lonely as expected. I dropped my purse on the bed and went to the bathroom, tears welling up my eyes again. The thought of everything going to be okay was abstract, the whole world was now on my neck and others were calling me names. A slut, a w***e. But I didn’t care for my reputation that much, I cared for Jake.

At first I thought it was just stupidity but it was true, the night I spend with Jake was the best of my life and I wouldn’t mind having another.