When Adrian walked out onto the pitch in his jersey, the cheering and applause shook the entire stadium.
I stood on the sidelines as an official member of the medical staff, my eyes fixed on the leg that had once been broken.
A real match was crueler than any training session by far. Opponents slammed into his weakened leg from the side again and again, trying to throw him off balance. Each time he hit the ground, my heart all but stopped with him. And each time, he got back up.
"This is the most important match of the qualifiers. He has to hold on," the staff member beside me murmured.
They didn't have to say it. This was Adrian's first match since coming back, and no one knew yet whether he had recovered to the level he had once played at. But I believed in him, and I believed in my
