[Football] Madrid's Lover

Updates follow the rankings~

The companion novel next door, A Love Letter from the Apennines, is complete. It includes scenes such as the leads’ first meeting.

1.

Zhao Qin fell for Raul at first sight.

But the one who falls in love first isn’t necessarily the loser. The one who takes the initiative, though, is the one most likely to get hurt.

Zhao Qin had it all planned out. She was the one who asked him out, so why shouldn’t she be the one to propose? But an accident put her plan on hold.

Afterward, she shot to fame overnight, with one acting offer after another. His career flourished too, and he went from golden boy to superstar.

In 2001, she brought along the ring she’d bought years earlier and flew to Madrid to celebrate his birthday. But just before the lights went out and she could propose, Raul, sitting across from her with reddened eyes, broke up with her.

“I can’t stand it anymore. Every time I need you, you’re not by my side.”

She fled the place that very night, heartbroken, unaware that a little tail was following her. In the sleepless city of Las Vegas, she woke up from a drunken stupor to find Guti, just as dead drunk, beside her, and a marriage certificate on the nightstand.

Only then did she realize that the bickering frenemy who was always at odds with Raul seemed to have fallen for her.

But so what? Love always changes.

2.

Guti fell for Cui Wangshu at first sight.

But he’d already lost from the start, to time and to all the chances he’d had to speak up.

At Madrid’s wishing fountain, he wished he could finally let go, and that the next person he fell for would love him back.

But the gods only granted half his wish. He let go of his first love, but the next person he fell for was his friend Raul’s girlfriend. And he knew perfectly well that she didn’t love him either.

When he learned that Raul and Zhao Qin had broken up, the feelings he’d kept bottled up made him betray his own moral code and follow his heart. After a wild night, Guti woke up to find the space beside him already cold, with nothing but disarray left behind.

In his disappointment, he caught the lingering scent of orange blossom in the air, the perfume Zhao Qin always wore, and the first gift Raul had ever given her. Turning around, he saw Zhao Qin emerge from the bathroom, sit at the hotel bar, pour herself another drink, and take out a lighter.

“Do we get divorced now, before anyone finds out, or do you become my secret lover?” Zhao Qin gazed at Guti. Smoke made her expression hard to read, and her voice was bewitching yet utterly cold.

“The choice is yours.”

Content warning: messy love triangle. No need to speculate about who the male lead is: it’s Guti.

Theme: True feelings reveal themselves over time.