"Are you excited for the game?" Mapi asked curiously as she was sitting next to me on the bench in the changing room of the Estadi Johan Cruyff where we'd play Villarreal in about 10 minutes. It was the last home game before winter break, the only remaining match afterward being the Champion's league game against Bayern on Thursday.

Hopefully, today would be an easy match, but I learned the hard way not to count my chickens before they were hatched.

"Yes, of course," I smiled at the injured defender, putting my hair up in a tight ponytail. "I can't believe it's our last league game before the winter break already!"

It's been two weeks since Mapi's injury and I hadn't spent a single night at home. The Zaragoza native never even bothered to ring her mother as everything just fell right into place with us.

Well, almost everything.

Both of us meticulously made sure to keep a physical distance between us, apart from an occasional hug or an accidental touch. And of course, there hadn't been a night when the Spaniard didn't fall asleep in my arms.
But that was due to her needing a little bit of extra support due to her injury, right?

At least that's what I was telling myself.

"Yeah, time flies when your life is falling apart," Mapi joked, gathering her crutches to prepare herself to join the other injured players in the stands, one of them being Alexia who was set to return right after Christmas. I was happy for my friend, but unless our squad changed during the winter transfer window it meant I would most likely lose my starting spot.

Quickly putting my thoughts aside, I jokingly nudged the blonde into her side. "Don't say that. You're gonna be back on this pitch in no time."

"Hopefully, but...," the tattooed defender sighed, scanning her surroundings. When she realized our teammates were busy preparing themselves for the upcoming game, Mapi gently took my hand into hers, our gazes finding each other immediately. "But if not... score for me today, Princesa, will you?"

Princesa.

She hadn't called me like that since before the international break. As my eyes searched for answers in hers regarding the sudden change in her vocabulary, my thoughts shifted back to the conversation we had last week. We spoke about everything that went down since the break, however, it quite frankly didn't change anything between us as it felt like we had forgiven each other at that point. At least as friends.

"I- I'll try my best," I mumbled nervously, my thumb running over the back of the blonde's hand.

After all, it was an easy game. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong.

"I believe in you," Mapi smiled at me, letting go of me as she took one crutch in each of her hands to which the Spaniard had gotten quite used to at this point. "Buena suerte, Emi."

"Gracias," I said as my eyes followed the blonde limping out of the room, on her way to join the bunch of other unlucky injured players. She seemed sad which was understandable considering it was the first game she'd be watching from the stands since the last two games had been away games, one for the Spanish league and one for the UWCL.

Trying to put my mind into game mode, I stood up and joined my teammates who were already standing in a tight huddle, listening to today's captain Sandra's last encouraging words.

The Spanish goalkeeper ended her speech by shouting the famous line "Alé, alé, alééé" and after we had all repeated it, we were finally allowed to leave the changing room to line up.

Now, un dia de partit could really begin.

I walked on the pitch behind Geyse, the Brazilian international, the crowd's cheers almost drowning out the Barcelona anthem that was blasting through the speakers. As I turned around, I was now facing the second-floor stands as well and my eyes automatically searched for a certain blonde who would be sitting in a secluded area. My body could already feel her gaze resting on me and as soon as I saw Alexia's Nike cap from far away, I knew where she'd be as well, trying to remember the exact spot.

Just in case I would manage to score.

Like in trance, I lifted my hand for the Villarreal players, before shaking the referees' hands and walking over to my starting spot. When the referee's whistle sounded, I instantly tried to forget everything around me and only concentrated on the game.

I had known that Villarreal was weak and Jonatan had prepped us well to give the fans a good home farewell for 2024. But honestly, I hadn't thought they'd play this badly. Perhaps, the fact that we had won a game against Manchester City last week and knew we had an upcoming match against Bayern Munich made the whole game comparatively seem like a fun one to us, our whole formation instantly moving to Villarreal's side of the pitch. It only took 8 minutes for Mariona to beautifully score the first goal of the match, Geyse following with the 2-0 less than 10 minutes later.

Now, in the 25th minute, I was running towards the goal, Frido passing me the ball from the side of the pitch. Jumping over a defender who was trying to tackle me, I shot the ball to the goal with full force and no chance for the goalkeeper to hold it, making it 3-0.

"Great job," the Swedish international exclaimed, putting her arm around me as we made our way back to our side.

"Gracias," I mumbled absentmindedly, my eyes locating Mapi in the stands.

Just like I had promised, I scored just for her.

Unsure of what to do now, I raised my hand to point toward her, hoping she knew who it was meant for.

Just five minutes afterward, Claudia ran to the edge of the pitch for a corner, the rest of us assembling in front of Villarreal's goal. The short Catalan woman passed the ball to Patri, who then shot it straight into our huddle, allowing me to score a header.

4-0.

"Let's dedicate it to Alexia again, okay?" Claudia proposed, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look at the stands.

So, she thought I had dedicated my earlier goal to Alexia. Using the fact that she had probably not been the only one to think so, I formed a heart with my hands and showed it to the stands.

Only for her.

Shortly before halftime, Mariona managed to make the score 5-0 and I could feel Villarreal slowly giving up, especially when Geyse scored again just after the break.

I knew that I had to act fast if I wanted to score again as Jonatan had announced he's sub Mariona, Patri, and me off sometime after halftime to give us some much-needed rest before the upcoming Champion's league game. Ever since he had Lucy on his team, it seemed he was listening to our needs more which was a nice and overdue change.

As our whole formation was moving forward again, Mariona shot the ball in the direction of the goal, but the keeper tried to deflect the ball with her palm, causing it to spike back. With my left foot, I redirected the ball to where it was supposed to be; the back of Villarreal's net.

"Hat trick!" Patri yelled, excitedly throwing her arms around my neck to congratulate me.

"What's up with you today?" Mariona asked curiously, her hand running through my hair. "You're incredible!"

As we were jogging back to our side, I quickly blew a kiss to the stands, before turning back to Mariona. "It's just good luck," I laughed, even though I knew it was a lie.

My eyes shifted back to Claudia, the small Catalan woman's eyes once again searching for her role model. If she had shown me one thing, it was that playing for the people you cared about most in the world really provided you with some extra powers.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aitana, Bruna, and Keira getting ready to be subbed on and I instantly knew my time on the pitch was over. As I was running off, I had a big smile on my face, thankful that this match played out so much better than our last home game.

The game eventually finished 9-0 after both Bruna and Aitana scored, making it our best result of the season. One after another, even the injured players made their way down to the pitch to celebrate with us as everyone was hugging and laughing.

All but one.

While everyone else was congratulating me, the blonde defender didn't bother to show up, even though I had dedicated every single goal to her. I could feel my heart drop to my stomach when suddenly one of our media managers pulled me away for an interview with the press.

It definitely wasn't what I needed right now.

"Hola," a brunette interviewer smiled at me, three microphones being held straight into my face. "Can you tell us how you feel after scoring your first-ever hat trick for Barca?"

"It feels great," I replied genuinely, my eyes once again shifting to the left in hope that Mapi had joined the others.

Suddenly, a small, chubby man with huge glasses appeared right in front of me, holding his microphone up.

Oh, hell no. It was the same guy from the last social media day who asked so many inappropriate questions that Mapi had needed to save me from his interview.

Where was she now that I needed her?

"Hello Emilia," he greeted me, a malicious grin on his lips. "Care to elaborate on what gave you the strength for such an outstanding performance today?"

Inhale.

Remember all the previous media training.

Exhale.

"Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment, but it was a true team effort. We were in great shape today and showed what we're truly capable of."

"Mhm," the man mumbled, quickly checking his notes. "Even though your team wasn't complete? You really seemed to care about that, dedicating all your goals to your injured teammates? Or perhaps to a special someone?"

"Yes, even when we're not complete," I inhaled sharply, trying my best to withhold the urge to strangle the annoying reporter. "Every injured player is a big loss for our team, but we do what we can and I think we're managing just fine."

Judging by his twitching nose, he was not at all happy with my evasive answer. "Do you think it will be enough to win against your old team Bayern Munich next week?"

"Yes," I shrugged simply.

"Care to elaborate?" he hissed, scratching his nose.

"No."

"But-"

"Hola Emilia. Are you happy about going back home to Germany?" a blonde interviewer interrupted him, saving me from his annoying questions.

"Yes, it will be good to see my old teammates, friends, and family," I answered truthfully as I was already counting down the days to see them again.

An eternity later, our social media manager finally gestured to me that I was allowed to finish the interview. "Have a nice day," I smiled at the reporters, suddenly realizing that the pitch was now completely empty as everyone had already gone back inside. Accelerating my speed, I hurried into the stadium, making my way back to the changing room. Just as the red door came into sight, I noticed a silhouette standing next to it in the empty hallway.

"Hola, Princesa," Mapi greeted me with a big smile, holding both crutches in her left hand while leaning against the wall to stabilize herself.

"What are you doing here?" I wondered angrily, my mood completely ruined by the post-game interview. "Was the pitch too far for you or...?"

"I wanted to congratulate you," the blonde defender simply stated, looking at me with an innocent gaze. "Thanks for the goals. You were on fire today."

"And you couldn't have said that on the pitch?" I sighed, wanting to walk past her to get into the changing room to finally get out of my sweaty game kit.

"As a matter of fact, no," Mapi grinned nervously, her eyes scanning the surroundings before she slowly raised her free hand to place it on my neck, holding me back. I could immediately feel my heartbeat accelerating, my gaze locking with hers as she gently pulled me closer to her.

"How so?" I whispered almost inaudibly, unable to produce a sound as my whole body was focusing on her touch.

"I don't think you would have appreciated it very much if I did this in public," the Spaniard grinned, brushing a hair strand out of my face before I finally felt the gentle contact of her lips on mine again, making all my earlier frustrations disappear immediately.

After over one long month, it ultimately seemed as if I was complete again.