My Goalkeeping System

Tom Richards had been out of the country for about two months now and Dave didn't expect him to be back now that was why he was very surprised to see him.

"Can I come in?" Tom asked.

"Sure dad," Dave said, making way for him to enter the house. "You can have a seat there." He said pointing at the couch.

The goalkeeper quickly scanned the room with his eyes and when he couldn't find Emma he quickly made his way to the kitchen where he saw her cleaning the dry blood stains on the floor with a sponge.

"Hey, you don't have to do that," Dave said as he quickly rushed to her and pulled her up from the floor.

"It's not much work… I was almost done," Emma said looking at the floor.

"Let me do it." He said taking the sponge from her. "But that'll be later because we have a guest now."

"Who?" Emma asked.

"My dad," Dave said.

"Your dad? You mean like the president of Unique FC?"

"Yeah, him," Dave said.

"I thought you said he wasn't returning home until next month," Emma said.

"Yeah, he was supposed to but I think he caught his stay short for some reason," Dave said.

"So are you going to introduce me to him?" Emma asked.

"He's already here…so."

Tom was looking around the room as he sat on the couch, he had been to his son's house before, once and he didn't even come to see him as a father, he came to see him as the president of the club.

He quickly turned his gaze toward the kitchen area as he heard footsteps and that was when he saw Dave entering the room with Emma.

"Hello Mr. Richards," Emma said as soon as they had gotten close to him.

"Dad, this is my girlfriend, Emma Smith," Dave said, introducing her to his father.

"The one that was here when your house got robbed last night right?" Tom said.

"Yeah…how did you?"

"The commentators said it during the match and I happened to be watching the match at that moment," Tom said.

"Is that why you came back?" Dave asked.

"No, no, I was already on my way back when I heard it and I decided that this would be a good time to come see you," Tom said, adjusting his collar.

"Oh," Dave said.

"How are you doing now, Emma?" Tom asked, turning his gaze to Emma.

"I'm okay now," Emma said with a meek smile as she placed her hand on her wounded shoulder. "Would you like me to get you anything to drink?"

"A glass of water would be okay," Tom said.

"Okay," Emma said.

"No, sit down, I'll get it," Dave said, already walking toward the kitchen.

He walked to the cabinet and grabbed a glass before making his way to the fridge.

He dropped the glass on top of the fridge and brought out two liters of bottled water from the fridge.

<So your father is the president of Unique FC>

"Yeah." Dave said before quickly taking down the whole content of the bottled water.

[ Daily quest completed ]

[ Drink two litres of water everyday ]

[ +5 exp received ]

<I don't think you realize how privileged you are to have your father as the president of a club you play for>

"I realize that very well, Catherine." Pouring the contents of a smaller bottled water into the glass cup. "But things aren't always the way you expect them to be."

He slammed the fridge shut and walked into the living room to see Emma talking with his father.

"Here's your glass of water." He said dropping the glass on the small table before dropping the small bottled water.

"Hey, your dad was just telling me about the first trophy you won in the academy," Emma said, turning to him with a smile as Tom grabbed the glass of water.

"Oh really? I'm not surprised since that's the only thing he's ever been proud of me for." Dave said as there had been a sudden change in his tone.

Emma had noticed it as the smile on her face had slowly diminished and Tom had stopped the edge of the glass between his lips just before he could take a sip.

"I'll be back." He said as he turned and quickly made his way upstairs.

<So you have quite a sour relationship with your father>

'I don't want to talk about it, Catherine.' Dave replied as he entered his room.

<You don't have to, I already know bits of what happened and with time, I'll know the rest>

Dave didn't reply as he had his gaze on the little cupboard by the side where he kept his wristwatches.

He had about eight different wristwatches on top of there but they were all gone now.

He slowly walked to the cupboard and opened the first layer where Emma kept her Jewelry to see that they were gone and then he opened the second layer where he dropped a few euros to see that it wasn't completely empty now.

<What did you expect from a robbery?>

"Hey, babe."

Dave quickly turned to see Emma standing at the entrance of the room.

"Your dad wants to leave." She said pointing backward with her thumb.

"Okay," Dave said, turning his gaze back to the cupboard.

"He wants to talk to you before he leaves." She said,

"Oh, does he?"

"Yeah, Dave, he really wants to talk to you." She said with a pleading voice.

He stayed there for a while without saying anything before quickly springing up and making his way to her.

"Stay here." He said.

"Okay," Emma said with a nod.

He gave out a deep sigh before going down the stairs to meet his father who was outside now.

"So you guys have already started talking about signing new players for next season," Dave said as they entered the street now.

"Yeah, that's the reason why I cut my stay short," Tom said.

"So what positions are you guys talking about, are you planning on buying a new goalkeeper?" Dave asked.

"No, we already have two goalkeepers and one will be returning next season," Tom said. "You did really well in the match yesterday."

"Yeah, and if I fail to do something similar in the next match, I immediately turn to your enemy," Dave said.

"You know I've always wanted the best for you, Dave," Tom said as they halted just before they entered a junction in the street.

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's why I loaned out Anderson so that with the pressure you may be able to get better and I think it's beginning to work," Tom said.

"You think I'm a fool?" Dave said as the expression on his face had turned to something unpleasant.

"Huh?"

"I know you loaned out Anderson just because the club was about to go bankrupt just like you loaned out the other players, you would have loaned me out too but you couldn't because nobody wanted me."

"Dave…" Tom stuttered as he didn't know exactly what to say.

"Goodbye dad, I believe you can find your way home from here," Dave said as he turned and began to walk back as Tom stood there and watched him walk away with a devastated look on his face.

***

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