Chapter 4 - Dominik

Finally, after almost 13 hours, the flight coming from the Munich International Airport landed on American soil and, in just a matter of seconds, the FIFA committee deployed all over the place.

Dominik looked out the window and noticed the huge amount of people expecting them, from fans to journalists.

One by one, they came out of the jet. Dom waited until everyone else was out. He always did. He loved being the last man out, both from the bus as much as from the plane.

He did not like walking behind his teammates. It made him feel like a sheep following the herd, so he always tried to be as far back from the rest as he could. Many times, this even allowed him to go unnoticed.

He pulled his iPod from the pocket in his jacket and put the ear buds in as he turned up the volume to Faint by Linkin Park. He could not help it, he loved his music, the music that had marked him during his teenage years. Listening to it helped him cope, somehow, with the void he felt after his father's death. His father liked listening to that music while watching Dom training.

He put his hood over his head and carried on.

Friedrich was quite busy, carrying Dominik's bags and chatting with Ewald about the new Adidas campaign, since they both wanted Dominik to be the exclusive spokes model and, for a minute, the publicist forgot he should keep an eye on his friend. He halted immediately as he noticed Dom was not walking beside him or behind him.

“Crap” he muttered.

“Something wrong?” Ewald asked.

“Dominik” Friedrich yelled.

Coach looked around trying to catch any hints of his star player, but it was so crowded and cameras were flashing everywhere he gave up.

“Don't worry, we'll wait for him in the bus.”

The publicist took a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling, praying for the day Dominik would behave as a normal person. Impossible. Dominik was not normal.

A few steps back, a pair of blue eyes were staring at his friend. Dominik let out a laugh at the whole scene. He could not understand how he managed to get under Friedrich's skin so easily. He should be used to it by now, he always behaves like this. He never liked the spotlight, he ran from it every chance he got.

He turned around to carry on and leave the airport, but he did not notice something.

Someone bumped into him and fell flat on the ground.

Dominik opened his eyes to realize this was a woman he bumped into.