Chapter 1

"It starts today."

At 7.00 AM in the morning, A was finishing his morning run around Lloyds park, feeling his heart beating with excitement as he sped back home.

He could not properly describe how he was feeling at the moment, excitement, running into his flat, greeting his mother as he rushed to the shower.

It had been 8 years since Akin had inexplicably woken up in the body of his Four years old self; he soon learned he neither time travel nor was he had a crazy dream.

As time continued, he learned that this was not his original world but a world filled with a certain sense of contradiction for what he knows.

His mother still used her married name, Alicia Adeleke.

And while she was still a single mother. Rather than being divorced, she was widowed; Joseph had been rather ironically a Police Officer, while Alicia worked as a Nurse at the Homerton University Hospital.

The two lived in the London borough of Walthamstow, much to his excitement, 30 minutes away from Hale end. This was home to the youth Academy of his favorite club Arsenal FC.

When Akin finally came to terms, he realized that he had a chance to follow his dreams, and from an early age, he began to train himself to be a football star.

He had been religiously following a strict balanced diet while doing strength, speed, flexibility, and balance tailored for his age group.

Akin had spent his childhood preparing himself for today; he had convinced his mum that should he get a good score on his SAT'a in year 6.

She would allow him to attend the football Arsenal's Youth Academy trials at Hale's end.

He was obviously confident in his ability as his mental age was still technically 36 even though he was physically 11.

Now he rushed up the steps to the second floor of his and ran inside to shower.

Alicia heard him running into the house from the kitchen as she prepared his breakfast.

"Hurry up and get ready so you can eat breakfast if you want to register without a rush!"

Akin hopped out of a lukewarm shower 8 minutes later and got dressed in the outfit his mum had prepared.

Alicia turned to see him wearing the new Arsenal 2000 kit she had bought for him on his birthday in April and smiled.

"Aww, look at how big my baby is now!"

Her exclamation was heard with a grimace as Akin frowned half-jokingly as she pulled him into her embrace and stroked his hair.

"Please don't call me a baby anymore. I'm already 11 now."

Hearing him, she laughed and cuffed him lightly on the head before pulling away and smiling down at him gently.

"Even if you were forty, you forty still be my baby."

Akin looked up at her, staring into her eyes as she watched him with the loving eyes that no one other than a mother could provide.

He felt his eyes begin to burn; he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head in her stomach.

He had always caused her headaches in his previous life with his childish antics, always drinking and getting into fights; he could not do much due to his criminal record; in the past, he was a rough soccer hooligan.

He had resolved to make sure she didn't suffer in this life.

Akin looked at the breakfast she had prepared; whole-grain cereal, egg whites, orange juice, avocado toast, and banana.

At 9.00 AM, they both left walked to Hale's end, and made it in time for registration; there, he met a familiar man.

At Forty-Eight, he looked much younger, but Brady O'Connell was still recognizable to any Gunner fan. Former Player, the Irish man, was wearing a tracksuit as he stood with the rest of the team coaches.

After registering, he received registration number 9 and then began stretching and warming up.

As he warmed up, a young black man in his 30s approached him wearing the arsenal staff tracksuit with a kind smile.

"Akin, are you ready for today?"

Akin turned to him before smiling brightly at the young coach.

"Brian! Yeah, I am ready to surprise you today."

Brian Alsworth was a youth coach who worked for Arsenal for 10 years and trained at Hales end.

Playing professionally until he was in his 20s, but ultimately injury made him quit his football dream. He still loved the game, and Arsenal, so he was happy.

"Alright, kid, I'm looking forward to it; show me something great today!"

Brian laughed aloud as he patted his back before standing next to the other coaches; Brady noticed Brian's cheerful expression return. His own solemn expression lifted into a grin to greet the younger man.

"Well, someone is in a chipper mood, that kid in the number 9, someone you know?"

Looking at his supervisor, Brian nodded as he crossed his arms before turning back to see Akin finishing up his stretches.

"That kid I know often shows up to our summer camps; his level should not be any lower than our trainees in under 16's at least skill-wise."

Hearing this, Brady raised a brow in interest momentarily, then grinned at Brian.

"How about we do that then?"

Brian looked confused and turned to the Academy manager.

"Do what now?"

Brady called over the staff member in charge of organizing the trial.

"Akin is his name, right? Put him in the Under 15 trials."

Brian was stunned momentarily before he began laughing as he saw Akin being led to the group with the under 15s.

"This will definitely be interesting to watch."