"Umm, Mr. Moses, how on earth did you suddenly appear at the scene again?" A confused Ian asked as he looked at his best friend's dad.
Now that he thought about it, those dark shades…, he thought he saw someone who looked exactly like this when he just entered the football viewing center with his best friend.
'Was he there all along?' This boy thought. 'But I thought Sam's mom banned anything football from their family after what happened to Sam 4 years ago'.
Staring at the 17-year-old boy, Mr. Moses chuckled. "You see my boy, I was not supposed to be there but this friend of mine just couldn't let me be, he was the one who dragged me there".
"I refused at first but you know, friends," he chuckled and waved his hand. "They can be so persuasive sometimes".
"Yeah," Ian nodded, understanding as he could relate it to how he also dragged his best friend to watch the football game. 'So, it's like that'. He thought.
But then, Mr. Moses added after quickly glancing around. "Umm, about what I just told you, can you please not tell my wife or my daughter about it".
"Huh?"
"Just tell them that after it happened, you were flustered but you still had the presence of mind to call somebody. My number is in Sam's emergency contacts, you can say you called me through there and coincidentally, I was closeby".
"That was how we were able to rush Sam to the hospital on time, okay?"
Ian nodded slowly. "Ok…," he scratched his head. "I can do that".
"Good". Mr. Moses nodded, after which he rubbed his hair; it was the umpteenth time that he was doing it since he came to the hospital.
And then, he threw a nervous glance at his son who was on the hospital bed.
He still didn't know exactly what happened. One moment, he was celebrating exuberantly with all the other Argentine supporting fans present but out of the blue, the celebrations stopped as shouts of alarm started.
Rushing to the scene, to his absolute horror, it was his son.
Apparently, in the midst of the celebrations, Sam suddenly fainted.
Without wasting a single moment, he paid to order an uber drive that ferried him, Ian, and his son to the nearest hospital, Abraka General Hospital.
The Doctor already checked on his son and they said his situation was stable as they put him on bed rest, but their tests was yet to bear results.
It was already about 30 minutes since they arrived here.
And just as Mr. Moses had all these thoughts, the door to this ward of the hospital opened again as a nurse on blue nursing scrubs entered.
She smiled at the middle-aged man. "Mr. Moses, right?"
"Yes," he stood up immediately. "Are the test results out?"
"Yes, sir".
"What is it? What happened to my son?"
"Calm down sir," she smiled reassuringly. "Sam is perfectly fine and healthy, what happened out there was just a phenomenon caused by cascading emotions".
"His dopamine levels were too high due to his extreme joy and emotion, to protect his body, his brain had to shut down".
"That is why he fainted, otherwise, Sam is perfectly healthy".
Hearing that, Mr. Moses grabbed his head and heaved a huge sigh of relief. "God is still on my side, afterall". He could finally smile again. "Thank you nurse, I…"
Bam!
The door was pushed open again as 2 women entered, one of them looking extra dramatic as she tied native wrapper round her waist on a black polo shirt. The other much younger looking lady wore a simple sky-blue gown.
These 2 women were Mrs. Moses and Aurelia, Sam's mom and sister.
As soon as the older woman stormed into the hospital ward, seeing her husband, she exploded. "Just kill me Moses!" She screamed loudly.
"Kill me!"
Mr. Moses reacted immediately, going closer as he grabbed his wife. "My wife, please calm down, you'll…"
"Just kill me you bad man!" Tears started flowing down her eyes. "You want to kill yourself and my son for me!"
"What were the both of you doing in the viewing center?"
"What happened to your promise?"
"What happened to no more football?"
"I always knew that the both of you wanted to kill me, take," she brought out a knife. "Take and just end my life because that is what the both of you want".
"Moses, end my life!"
Mr. Moses was exasperated. "Sarah, please calm down, Sam is on bed rest, all your noise will wake him up".
"It's now you care about his health, abi?" She spoke pidgin.
"When the both of you went behind my back to go watch a football match, you never saw this coming, did you? You both just want to kill me!"
"S-Sarah," Mr. Moses grabbed his head, frustrated. "Listen to me, it's not like that, Sam is completely fine, listen to the nurse first before concluding".
"It was just the emotions of the moment that caused all this…"
"Emotions my foot!" She screamed. "Those emotions, was it not caused by the football match?"
"That…," Mr. Moses was tongue-tied. "See, just listen to me".
"I won't! I will never listen to you!"
While Sam's mom was being all dramatic and all, Ian wisely retreated to the corner, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible even as Aurelia, his best friend's sister walked up to check up on her big brother.
At the same time, the noise also got to Sam.
His eyes didn't open yet but the brain woke his conscious self up. He was the one who decided not to open his eyes.
This decision was partially because he didn't want to face the wrath of his mom and also because the moment he woke up, he confirmed that he was not hallucinating, it was real!
~-----~
[Your plea for a miracle has been answered!]
[Congratulations! You have received a reward: Ultimate Football System!]
[Initializing…, please wait…]
[Collecting host information…]
[Analyzing data!]
Beep!
[Initialization complete!]
[Please wait 5 seconds…]
…
[Welcome to the Ultimate Football System!]
[Your earnest yearning for a miracle has created one. You have received a system that will help pave the way for you to rise to the top of the football world as the ultimate player and football God.]
Host: Samuel Moses
Current Career Status: Stagnant (Doomed Aspirations)
Talent Rating: C-
Player Position: Undefined
Player Attributes:
*Pace: 70
*Shot: 69
*Pass: 74
*Dribbling: 64
*Defending: 33
*Physicality: 60
*Stamina: 78
Overall Rating: 67
…
[You have been rewarded with a start-up bonus: Random loot box!]
[Click to unlock rewards of random loot box!]
~----~