八字万年历

Chapter 63  Arrival at Guimares

*8:33 am*

Jason arrived at the CTFD Portogaia training center almost a full hour before the agreed meeting time, but it wasn\'t because he wanted to do individual training.

If he wanted to do individual training he would have arrived even earlier, but he wasn\'t here for that, rather it was mostly because he didn\'t exactly have anything he was doing back at home…

Okay, that was a lie as well.

It was actually because Mylo\'s "friend", Melissa was back at the apartment and she seemed to have developed more of an interest in him after not meeting him for a few weeks.

She and Mylo had probably had one of their exciting nights once again as Jason had come across her in his living room when he had woken up this morning and this time she had on even lesser clothing.

The worst part was that lately, Mylo had been taking a page out of his book and had been waking up much earlier to go training thus he wasn\'t around to put the b**ch on a leash.

Seeing that it was just him and her in the apartment, Jason bolted.

He escaped back into his room and quickly took his bath before quickly throwing on his clothes, grabbing his sports bag, and fleeing the apartment like he was running away after a bank robbery.

From his long-deceased Christian parents, Jason remembered a quote they used to say that was supposedly somewhere in the Bible, "Flee from temptation…" Despite his heart having long waxed cold to the religion that his parents had tried to instill in him when he was younger, he still chose to listen this time and he fled as quickly as his legs could carry him.

He wasn\'t ready to explain stories that touched to anyone should any problems arise if he stayed back, so he didn\'t dilly dally and that was why he was here at the CTFD Portogaia a whole hour before the agreed time.

At least it wouldn\'t be a waste if he spent his time preparing his equipment and clothing for the trip, as he just now remembered that he was supposed to go collect some equipment and clothing from the logistics department.

He quickly made his way to the logistics department and there he was given a tracksuit and a pair of New Balance sport shoes that the whole team would be wearing on the trip as well as before the game as they arrived at the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques.

He was also given a vest that he would wear over his jersey while he sat on the bench.

Jason also used the opportunity to collect new shin guards as well as a pair of black gloves from the logistics department before stuffing everything into his sports bag except for the black New Balance tracksuit, and the New Balance 574 shoes that he would have to put on soon.

After leaving the logistics department, he arrived at the team\'s locker room where some other players had already arrived and were already prepping as well.

Jason said a few greetings before going ahead to change into the new black tracksuit and shoes, while also taking the time to repack his hair carefully as he had been too hurried when he left his place to do it properly.

After he was done dressing up and saw that there was still time till the agreed meeting time, he decided to rearrange his sports bag to be more orderly and while he was at it, he took out his headphones and connected it to his phone before beginning to listen to music.

It didn\'t take much longer for everyone who was part of the line-up to gather and soon they got on the team bus along with the manager and some other technical staff that would be following along and headed to Guimares. Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn

The distance from Porto to Guimares was 58km so it would take a bit less than one hour to arrive at Guimares.

Jason was seated in the middle of the left row and had the team captain, Pepe seated beside him.

Pepe wasn\'t much of a conversant and was more inclined to take a nap which Jason didn\'t mind at all.

Not that Jason had problems conversing with people, but at this moment he rather preferred silence and he was thankful he got it.

He would have also taken a nap if not that it was a bit too early in the morning for a nap, so he stayed awake and listened to music all the way.

The team bus arrived at Guimares just after eleven and the bus headed to a hotel where they would have a meal and rest for a little while until 2:00 pm when they would finally head to the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques for a little prematch training and warm-up before the match would finally begin at 5:30 pm.

The bus first arrived at the hotel and the players went in to have a brunch of sorts, but still had to keep their meal light as they would have a match soon, and by 2: 00 pm they were already on their way to the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques.

When the bus finally came to a stop outside the stadium, there was a crowd of traveling fans around to welcome the players and the players heard their names being called by some of the fans.

Since they had a little time before the game, the head manager gave the players ten minutes to interact with the fans and sign autographs if they were requested to while the head manager himself and other members of the staff headed inside the stadium.

Jason was already prepared to follow the manager and the staff members into the stadium as he was a new signing at the club that didn\'t have any fans yet, but he was held back by the team\'s captain.

"You can\'t leave the fans hanging whether they are here for you or not. As long as they are wearing the team\'s colors, then you should at least pay attention to these people who are here to support the team," Pepe whispered into his ear.

Jason nodded his head, newly enlightened by his team captain and he decided to join the other players in interacting with the fans.

Funnily enough, he was actually recognized by a few of the fans who called his name and asked him for an autograph despite his surprise.

He was especially attracted to a man who looked to be in his early thirties who held up a young girl who looked to be around seven years old, so he approached them.

"How are you little angel," Jason asked in Portuguese, surprising the man who held up the girl as he was a diehard fan of the team so he knew about Jason\'s signing and had even seen the promotional video that contained Jason\'s highlights, so he had done a little research in his spare time and realized that Jason was a new player who shouldn\'t even be able to understand Portuguese let alone speak it.

But the little girl, completely unaware of this answered, "I\'m fwine," her voice containing a little baby babble in it despite her slightly older age, but it sounded very cute.

"Can I get your autograph?" the young girl asked Jason while holding out a Porto jersey that seemed to be new and surprisingly had his name and jersey number on it.

He didn\'t even know that the club was already producing merch using his name.

"Of course little angel, do you have a marker?" Jason who couldn\'t resist this little girl\'s cuteness acquiesced immediately.

"Dwady has one," she replied while turning to her father.

Uh, yeah, the man quickly switched to using one hand to hold her up while using his other hand to search for a marker through his clothes, "Uh I saw the video and you are really good, I hope you can bring that to the pitch in the coming games," the man said to Jason while he searched through his clothes for a marker before finally finding it and pulling it out.

"Thanks, I hope the coach allows me onto the pitch to play too," Jason replied with a wry smile as he collected the marker before turning back to the little girl.

"Alright little angel, what do you want me to write?" he asked her with a smile on his face.

"Hmmmm…" the little girl suddenly looked thoughtful before saying,

"Write you like Selina and you\'ll score a goal for Selina," the little girl finally said after some thought, not noticing Jason\'s hand that froze mid-air and trembled slightly.

"... Selina?" Jason asked, the smile on his face frozen.

"Yesh, that\'s my nwame," the girl spoke, her voice still sounding very cute, but Jason\'s mind was somewhere else as a melancholic smile slowly broke out on his face.

His deceased little sister was also named Selina.