You Are Mine

Chapter 1 - First Meeting

Year: 2034

“Mom, whois Zayn Anderson?” My eldest son, Dustin asked me.

I wasafraid that he was going to ask me this question. The question that I’ve beenwanting to avoid at all costs. But he’s 14 now; he’s old enough to understandthese things.

Dustin andI are currently on a road trip from Pennsylvania to Toronto, to surprise hisgrandmother. “I don’t know,” I answered.

“Come on,Mom. Can you stop answering that same sentence all the time?” Dustin retorted.That irked me.

“Do notraise your voice to your mother, Dustin!” I exclaimed. Dustin kept quiet andlooked down to his hands. “I’m sorry. But can you just tell me the truth,please?” He asked me.

I took adeep breath, thinking about my mom’s words. ‘One day, Dustin will want to know,and you would have no choice but to tell him. He has the right to know. Afterall, he is his son.’

“Dustin,Zayn Anderson is…...your father,” I said.

“What? Buthe—” Dustin was shocked. “I know. There are many reasons why I didn’t tell youthat he is your father. But its time that I do tell you since you’re oldenough. I will tell you from the beginning on how I met your father. It allstarted in 2018….”

Flashback year: 2018

Its today.I can’t believe it. The day that I’ve been waiting for is finally here. Today wasour match against Japan, and if we win this one, we win our group stage. Itfelt so good to come back on the field again. As I was holding the littlegirl’s hand in mine, I could hear the cheers of the audience from inside. Myteammate, Mallory Pugh, was standing in front of me and turned around, lookingat me.

“You readyfor this, Liv?” She asked me. I heard the cheers once again, looked back at herand smiled.

“Bornready,” I replied to her. She smiled and turned back.

I sufferedan ACL injury last year and the only thing I was worried about was whether Iwould be able to play in the world cup or not. Since then, I’ve been workinghard in therapy so that I can start running again. At first, it was hard for meto even continue but I didn’t want to let go of soccer, but with the support ofmy family and my best friend, Jack, I was able to power through the journey ofhealing.

We walkedout onto the field and the cheers got louder. We lined up next to the referees,gave each other high fives as the team were lining up. First the Japan’snational anthem was played and after it was over, it was US’s national anthem.Both national anthems were sung and then we all wished our opponents’ team goodluck. The game started.

We lost thegame against Japan and we were out of the group stage. My dreams of winning theWorld Cup were shattered. I couldn’t believe that this happened to me, when Icome back from my ACL injury recovery. Our support and fans were shattered aswell.

We left thefield and went back to the locker room and waited to hear the outburst from ourcoach. Our coach came inside the locker room and we all stood up and looked ather. “Well, I know that this loss is unbearable. But, there will be another onein 2022. We will train harder and get that trophy for our country,” Coach said.

“I believethat we will win,” I said.

“I believethat we will win!” We all said together. We gathered our bags and left for thebus and reached the hotel. Our fans were standing outside the hotel and werecheering us on. It felt good to see that even though we were out of the groupstage, the fans were cheering us up. The teammates took pictures with fans andsigned their signatures on their hats, pictures of us, arms, forehead, etc.

We wentinside to our hotel rooms, packed our bags and left the hotel and went on thebus, and left for the airport. We reached the airport and went on our plane tofly back home.

After along flight, we reached New York and all went our separate ways, without sayinggoodbye to each other. I had already booked a train ticket to Pennsylvania. Igot on the train, sat in my seat, plugged my earbuds in, turned on my music andstared out the window, replaying the last few minutes of the game, and I didn’trealize that I slept off.

“Excuse me?Miss? Excuse me?” I was jolted awake and looked at the female attendant. “Miss,here’s your order.”

The femaleattendant laid the tray of my food in front of me. “But I didn’t orderanything,” I said.

“I know,miss. He ordered for you.” She pointed to a guy who was sitting diagonal fromme, in another seat.

Because ofhis attire, he was a business man. A young, handsome, and sexy businessman. Hehad the perfect hair, chiseled jaw, green eyes, perfectly trimmed beard, andwell built. He looked like a Greek god. He got up from his seat and man, he istall! He came over and sat in front of me.

“I hope youdon’t mind that I ordered food for you.” Oh my god, his voice is so sexy! Butof course, Nala Malik must ruin everything.

“I don’ttake food from strangers,” I said.

“But thisis the food that you ordered when you probably booked your ticket,” Thebusinessman-Greek-god told me. I opened the top of the tray and looked at thefood, and it was the exact food that I put along with my ticket.

“Oh yeahthis is what I ordered. Wait, how do you know that? Are you a hacker?” I got alittle creeped out after that. He just chuckled at me. His chuckle is—oh mygod!

“You’vebeen sleeping here for quite a while. So I asked the attendant to have yourorder ready once you wake up. By the way, I’m Zayn Anderson,” He said andintroduced himself.

“Hi—Ohwait! You’re the youngest billionaire Zayn Anderson! Oh my god! I’m sorry fornot recognizing you,” I said.

“Its ok.You must be Nala Malik,” Zayn said.

“How do youknow my name?” I asked him.

“Well forstarters, you are in the US Women’s Soccer U-20 team. My cousin sister watchesall your games. She’s your biggest fan,” Zayn said.

“Aw that’ssweet,” I responded. “I heard that you got drafted in the US Women’s NationalSoccer Team. Congratulations!” He congratulated me and held out his hand. Itook his hand and shook it. “Thank you.”

“Attentionpassengers! We will be reaching Pennsylvania in 15 minutes.”

“15 moreminutes and I’m home,” I said to myself. “By the way, don’t feel bad,” Zaynstarted.

“For what?”I asked him. “The loss against Japan. Don’t feel bad. Losses happen,” He said.

“You don’tunderstand. This loss struck like a bullet in the chest. I just came back fromACL injury and find out that I’m in the roster for the world cup, and the nextthing I know, we lost against Japan. But I can’t blame them. They are a goodteam,” I said with sadness.

Zayn puthis hand on top of mine and I felt a jolt of electricity course through mybody. “Don’t worry. You’re now drafted in the US Women’s National Soccer teamand the whole country knows that they will qualify for the World Cup 2019 andcompete in France. Maybe you’ll make the roster.”

“I reallyhope so.” Within 15 minutes, the train arrived in Harrisburg and, Zayn and Istepped off the train and got our stuff. I walked from the platform and insidethe station. As soon as I got inside, I saw my parents, siblings and……Jack.

My longtimecrush, Jack. He looks so good with his black tank, shorts and sneakers. I ranto my mom and hugged her. She rubbed my back to console me as she knew how Ifelt about losing in the group stage. My mom and I are the same people, sosometimes we’re best friends or we butt heads with each other. We separatedfrom each other. “Don’t be sad, honey. There will be another world cup and yourteam will definitely win,” Mom said.

I nodded ather in agreement. I went over to my dad and hugged him. I hugged my youngerbrother and did not hesitate to hug Jack. His arms went around me like I was hugginga teddy bear. He just made me feel protect with him. We separated, and helooked at me straight in the eyes and leaned in.

Oh god,don’t tell me that he’s going to kiss me in front of my family. And ofcourse—“No! No PDA in front of me, please!” My brother, Nathan whispered-yelledat us. “Yes, Nate. Say it louder so that everyone can hear you.”

“Ok. NO P—”I clamped my hand on his mouth to shut him up. “I didn’t mean it literally.”Nathan laughed at me.

“Did youhave a safe trip?” Jack asked me. “I did. I slept actually.”

“Oh! Sothat’s why you weren’t answering my texts,” Jack said. “You texted me?” Ireached to my front pocket of my pants to take out my phone, but it wasn’tthere.

“Uh…where’smy phone?” I panicked. “Its not with you?” Nathan asked.

“No. Idon’t remember when the last time I put my phone. Oh crap! I hope I didn’tforget it on the train.” I ran back to the platform and Jack and Nathanfollowed behind me while my parents were putting suitcases in the car.

“Nala!” Ilooked to my right and saw Zayn walking towards me with two bodyguards walkingbehind him, carrying his stuff. “Were you looking for this?” He held out myphone. I sighed in relief as soon as I saw it.

“Thank god.Thank you so much, Zayn. Oh uh, Zayn, this is my best friend, Jack and myyounger brother, Nathan. Jack, Nathan, this is Zayn—”

“Anderson,right?” Jack completed the sentence. “That’s me.”

“Yeah Iheard about you,” Jack did not sound so happy meeting Zayn and who knows why.“Anyway, thank you for finding my phone, Zayn.”

“Noproblem. I hope I’ll see you around,” Zayn told me.

“Samehere.” Zayn went his way and we three went to our way. We walked back outsideand to the car and my parents were ready to go. On the drive home, Jack wasmostly quiet while my parents were explaining to Nathan of what he wants to dowith his career.

“So Jack,any gossip that I should know about?” I asked him, trying to make him talk. Heshook his head at me. “What’s wrong Jack? Why aren’t you talking?”

“How do youknow Zayn Anderson?” He asked me. “I met him on the train. Remember when I saidthat I slept on the train? Well I slept for three hours and the attendant wokeme up and had my food order ready. I didn’t order it, but she told me that Zaynordered it for me. Then, Zayn and I introduced each other and got to know eachother, that’s all.”

“That’sall?”

“Yeah why?”

“Just becareful around him, Nala. He’s a businessman,” He told me.

“So? Thereare many other businessmen like him in Pennsylvania.”

“Yeahbut—never mind. Don’t worry about it.” Jack kept quiet and plugged in hisearbuds to listen to his music. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. My phonebeeped, signaling a text message. I opened the text message.

(Inserttext message pic)

He doesabbreviations in his text messages? Never expected that. I texted him back andwe went back and forth.

(Inserttext message pic)

I looked upfrom my phone and saw that we reached Jack’s home. Before Jack got out of thecar, he hugged me goodbye, got out of the car and went inside the house. Weleft his house and reached our home next door. Yes, Jack and I are neighbors.

We got outof the car, grabbed my suitcases and went inside the house. I ate dinner withthe family and hung out with them, changed into my pajamas and went to sleep,wondering what the next day will be like for me.

How’s thatfor the first chapter?