Early the next morning, Michael got up, washed his face, and immediately kicked off his daily training routine.
Since he finally had a solo day to practice yoga, Michael called the studio and booked a private session.
After leaving his apartment, he flagged down a taxi.
The driver was a heavily built guy in his forties, rocking a sharp black suit, pitch-black sunglasses, and a Bluetooth earpiece.
Honestly, the guy looked exactly like an off-duty FBI agent.
The driver locked eyes with him through the rear-view mirror.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel, and he looked visibly hyped.
“Wait…
are you Michael Chen?”
Michael immediately went on high alert, but he forced a calm, polite nod.
“Yeah, that’s me.
Nice to meet you.”
“Holy shit!
Michael!
You’re my idol, man!
I’ve been a Santander die-hard for years.
My name is William Yaris.” Confirming his passenger’s identity, William got so hyped he immediately pressed the accelerator a little harder.
“Thank you, William, much appreciated.
Could you take me to the CBD Center Tower?” Michael let out a quiet, tense breath of relief.
For a split second, he legitimately thought the guy was a hitman sent by those street thugs from the other night.
In reality, Michael was severely overthinking things.
Those three muggers wouldn’t be walking properly for years, and nobody in the local underworld was going to start a war with a rising professional footballer over a few small-time idiots.
Throughout the drive, William talked non-stop, enthusiastically breaking down everything from the gritty history of the club to the origins of the city itself.
Michael actually found it pretty fascinating.
When they finally pulled up to the tower, Michael asked for the driver’s business card.
Walking into the studio and seeing Emma again, Michael felt like his heart had just taken a heavy right hook.
Emma was exactly his type.
Right now, she was sitting on a mat, playfully entertaining a little girl.
Michael walked over and flashed a warm smile.
“Morning, Emma.”
Emma turned around, her face lighting up.
“Hello, Michael.
Look at you.
You’re officially a local hero in Santander now.”
“I’m just doing my job on the pitch.
You’re definitely giving me way too much credit.
So, what’s the training plan for today?” Michael asked, playing the role of the perfectly obedient, dedicated student.
“Come on,” Emma laughed.
“Today, we’re going to dive deeper into meditation first, and then I’ll walk you through a targeted stretching routine.”
Emma carried the little girl over to the front receptionist before leading Michael into the private studio.
….
By the time the exhausting session wrapped up, Michael could genuinely feel the tendons and muscles in his lower body loosening up.
Sweating but satisfied, he packed his gear into his duffel bag and casually tested the waters.
“Emma, do you happen to be free later today?
I’d love to take you out for dinner.”
“I’m really sorry, Michael,” Emma said, flashing an apologetic smile.
“As you saw, I’m stuck looking after Alice today, so I have to take her straight home after work.”
Family absolutely comes first,” Michael recovered smoothly.
“Alice is adorable, by the way.
She honestly looks like a little Barbie doll.”
Michael had naturally just assumed Alice was her daughter.
“She really is, isn’t she?
She looks exactly like my younger sister did when we were kids.” Emma blinked, a playful, knowing smirk crossing her lips, as if she had seen straight through his mental panic.
Upon realizing that Alice was just Emma’s niece, Michael’s mood instantly skyrocketed.
He completely stopped worrying about the rejected dinner!
…
After smoothly exchanging phone numbers with her, he left the tower and headed straight for a commercial office downtown.
As it turned out, during that messy street brawl the other night, Oriol had been frantically pushing his beloved mountain bike out of the way.
That tiny detail in the news reports had somehow caught the attention of the region’s largest mountain bike manufacturer.
Looking to capitalize on the viral hype, they had officially invited Michael to endorse their newest high-end electric model.
The endorsement fee was a solid €500,000 after tax, tossing in a brand-new top-tier bike and a lifetime VIP membership for good measure.
The specific model was currently retailing for a steep €10,000 and had actually become wildly popular among La Liga elites, including Barcelona heavyweights like Messi, Fàbregas, and Piqué.
Michael didn’t hesitate to accept the deal.
First, considering his current rookie level of fame, bagging a half-million-euro endorsement was a massive win.
Second, the guy desperately needed a free way to commute.
An electric mountain bike was practical and completely ignored city traffic jams.
Since it was strictly a regional commercial contract, Michael only had to pose for a quick promotional photoshoot in the studio.
“Mr.
Chen, here’s to a very happy partnership,” the brand manager smiled, firmly shaking Michael’s hand.
With the ink dry, Michael officially locked down the very first commercial contract of his professional career.
Michael was naturally photogenic, so the shoot was a breeze.
Once they wrapped, he hopped onto his ridiculously expensive new toy and rode it all the way back to his apartment to rest up.
…
The next morning, Michael arrived at the Santander training base and got straight to work.
As per the usual schedule, the squad was gearing up for an intense internal practice match.
While stretching, Michael quietly debated whether he should burn any of his rewind time today.
Following this scrimmage, Raul would finalize the starting eleven for the weekend.
Mario’s suspension had officially ended, and even though Michael had essentially saved the club’s season over the last two games, there was no guarantee the veteran keeper wouldn’t ruthlessly fight to reclaim his spot between the sticks.
At that exact moment, up in the general manager’s office, Herman stood with his massive belly pushed aggressively forward, lecturing his head coach.
“Raul!
Look, Michael has performed brilliantly in these two matches, yes, but Mario absolutely needs to play.
We cannot afford to let the veteran core of this locker room lose faith in the system.
You cannot just completely erase Mario’s years of loyal service because of one red card.
I don’t agree with benching him!”
Raul stood firm, crossing his arms.
“Herman, if we genuinely want to secure promotion this year, Michael is an absolutely essential piece of our tactical puzzle.
Besides, we are actively competing on two fronts right now.
Mario can easily take the starting role for the Copa del Rey fixtures.”
Despite keeping a straight face, Raul cursed viciously in his head.
‘Don’t treat me like an idiot.
I know damn well that Mario and Seth are your loyal corporate lapdogs.
Mario definitely went crying to you about losing his spot.’
Raul’s intuition was spot on.
As a veteran who had anchored the club for years, Mario had always acted as Herman’s eyes and ears in the dressing room.
The second the final whistle blew against Atlético Madrid B, Mario’s paranoia went into overdrive, and he marched straight up to Herman’s office.
“Boss, I have given the best years of my physical prime to this club!
You cannot just ruthlessly cast me aside like this, or what the hell is the rest of the squad going to think?” Mario had been so intensely emotional that spit literally flew from his mouth as he pleaded his case.
Herman had quickly stepped in to coddle the stressed veteran, swearing up and down that he would force the manager to rotate the playing time evenly between the two keepers. The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.
He even whispered that the club might undergo a massive squad overhaul at the end of the season, but assured Mario he would remain an untouchable pillar of the franchise.
Deeply grateful for the political protection, Mario had practically sworn an oath of loyalty on the spot!
And that backroom dealing was exactly why Raul was currently dealing with this headache.
“Let’s just go down and watch the practice match,” Herman finally concluded, waving a thick hand.
“Whoever looks sharper in the box will get the league minutes.”
With the terms set, the GM followed Raul out to the training pitch.
…
“Michael, make sure you show up today,” Raul muttered quietly, giving the rookie a firm pat on the shoulder as he walked past.
Michael nodded seriously.
He could easily read the room; today’s scrimmage was a direct audition for the permanent starting role.
He quickly strapped on his gloves and locked in.
As usual, the squad split into the A team starters versus the B team reserves.
The second the whistle blew, the intensity instantly spiked to match-day levels.
Morandi deliberately chose to play on Mario’s squad.
After firing blanks for two consecutive matches, the star striker was desperate to bag some goals and prove he was still the undisputed main man up top.
Receiving a threaded pass, Morandi used his explosive acceleration to completely bully his marker.
He aggressively cut inside just outside the penalty box and drove hard into the danger zone.
He shot!
Morandi struck the ball viciously with the outside of his boot, generating a wicked amount of swerve and power.
Michael read the trajectory perfectly, shifted his weight, and punched the ball clear with a single, commanding fist.
‘What a joke,’ Michael thought.
Thanks to his relentless recent training with the Barcelona specialist, Michael was a completely different beast.
Even without relying on his rewind cheat, his pure fundamentals were now fully up to par for a starting Segunda División keeper.
…
For the entire first half, Morandi attacked like a man possessed, launching relentless wave after wave of pressure against Michael’s net.
Ironically, this just made Mario incredibly anxious on the other side of the pitch.
‘Morandi, you bastard,’ Mario fumed from his own penalty box.
‘You act like such a loyal teammate, so why the hell are you suddenly trying so hard to make the kid look like a god?’
With his own defense completely suffocating the B team, Mario had no shots to save, leaving him bored and intensely frustrated as he watched Michael steal the spotlight.
Just seconds before the halftime whistle, Koné whipped a vicious forty-five-degree cross in from the right flank.
Morandi out-jumped his marker, connected cleanly with the delivery, and buried a textbook header straight into the back of the net.
‘Damn it!’ Michael cursed internally.
He had been completely caught flat-footed by the cross.
‘Rewind!’
Time snapped back.
The ball whipped through the air once again.
This time, Michael didn’t hesitate on his line.
He aggressively charged off his mark, tracking the flight of the cross.
As the ball dropped toward Morandi’s head, Michael launched himself into the air and aggressively punched the ball completely out of the box!
Landing smoothly, Michael raised both hands, hyping himself up and scanning the pitch.
Nobody even blinked; to them, it was just another routine, elite clearance!
The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the half.
Sweating and desperate, Mario jogged straight over to Raul on the touchline.
“Coach, can Michael and I swap teams for the second half?
I need some action.”
Raul instantly read between the lines.
Knowing the veteran needed a fair shot to prove himself to Herman, the manager nodded and immediately authorized the swap.