The players did not have pleasant looks on their faces after finding out from Ferran that Okafor had returned from an injury that had taken him out of action for a whole month.
"Why now? Why does he have to return now?" Pirlo said, slamming his hand on the table in anger.
"The dreadful Okafor is back," Emma said with a sarcastic voice before taking a sip from her glass of red wine.
That little joke from her was enough to earn her piercing stares for all the men in the room including her boyfriend.
"I shouldn't have said that." She muttered before raising her glass against her mouth to avoid their gaze.
There was a reason why finding out about Okafor returning to Lesica United's squad had stirred up the players.
The thirty-two-year-old Nigerian footballer had only joined Lesica United from Brentford at the beginning of the season and seeing him in the attack during their first meeting of the season, Unique FC players, fans, football pundits, and even Lesica United players didn't think he would be much of an attacking threat given his performance during his three seasons at Brentford until he went ahead to prove them all wrong.
The player went ahead to score three consecutive goals against Unique FC before assisting the fourth goal.
Lesica United weren't that great in the match but he was able to find spaces and create chances for himself to score before creating a chance for his teammate to get the fourth goal for the team.
'The guy just returned from injury and he's already scored two goals in ten minutes.' Dave said subconsciously as he felt a little chill run down his spine.
<I'm sure Okafor doesn't even know that he makes Unique FC's stars panic like this but he will be really proud of himself if he finds out>
"I just hope coach can come up with a very effective way to stop him," Adolf said.
"Yeah," Pirlo said.
"I know Okafor is a big threat considering what he did to us last time but I think you guys are overreacting," Mateo said. "He's a great player but you guys seem to be forgetting that we have improved since that match and although our defense is still sloppy, it's better than before, we are on a six-match unbeaten run for crying out loud, if we can hold Spree City down to a draw, I'm sure we can do the same against them."
"That's the problem, a draw will not be enough if they win this match which I clearly see happening, and if it happens, we'll have to win against them tomorrow to qualify for the UEFA conference league," Ferran said.
"Then that's what we're going to do," Mateo said.
"And you think they're going to just sit back and watch us," Pirlo said.
"No team sits back and watches their opponents win, no match is easy but I'm confident we can beat them, our defense has gotten better, our midfield is still evolving and I'm pretty sure we can get things done up front with the chances we're given." The winger said, turning his gaze to Merino.
"I like your sense of confidence Mateo but Okafor's long-range shots are going to be a problem," Adolf said.
"Why will that be a problem? We have ball magnet Dave to deal with them." Mateo said, turning his gaze to Dave.
"Took the words straight out of my mouth," Emma said.
"Yeah, Dave can maybe deal with most of the shots but the most effective way to prevent anything from going wrong is to stop the shots from happening," Pirlo said.
"Can't you guys just wait till your training session tomorrow to talk about the different ways you plan on stopping your players?" Pirlo's brown-skinned wife said.
"It's the dreadful Okafor effect," Emma said.
"Yeah, this was supposed to be a dinner party, not a match tactics party," Amaya said.
The men had gone quiet for a while as Ferran picked up his phone again and turned it on for a horrid look to appear on his face again.
"Let me guess, Okafor just completed his hat trick," Mateo said.
"Yeah," Ferran said with a nod before putting his phone down. "But let's talk about that later."
<This Okafor guy is really good>
"Hey, babe." Emma leaned closer to him to whisper.
"Yeah," Dave replied.
"I need to use the restroom."
"I don't know where the restroom is, ask Ferran, it's his house."
"Uh….okay." She said before getting off him and sitting back up in her seat. "Um….Ferran."
"Yeah," Ferran said, turning his gaze to her.
"Do you mind taking me to the nose powdering unit in your house?" She asked.
"Nose powdering unit?" The midfielder said with a confused expression on his face.
"You know what she means," Amaya said.
"Yeah, I do," Ferran said before getting up from his seat. "This way."
<Nose powdering unit>
"Nose powdering unit?" Merino muttered.
"So, how many of you have played tennis ball before?" Mateo stood up to ask before Ferran left the room with Emma.
After about seven minutes, Emma opened the door and walked out to see Ferran standing in the same spot she left him with his back relaxed against the wall. She was a bit startled when she saw him.
"I didn't know you were waiting for me." She said,
"I brought you here, so I have to take you back." The midfielder said, walking closer to her.
"I don't think I would have had any problem finding my way back." She said with her gaze on the door they had entered the hallway through before turning it to see how long the hallway was and that was when she realized that it ran quite a distance down.
'This place is huge.' She thought.
She didn't notice how long the hallway was when they entered the area due to the feeling of her floodgates about to collapse.
"Are you sure about that?" Ferran said getting way closer to her.
"Your place is huge." She said, changing the topic.
"Yeah, do you want me to maybe show you around?"
She was standing so close to her now that she had to raise her gaze to look at him.
"Won't the others be worried that we're taking too long?" She asked.
"It won't take long, trust me." He said before walking off further down the hallway.
She was hesitant for a few seconds before she decided to follow him.
_____ _____
Back at the dinner party, Mateo's idea of playing tennis ball was welcomed by his teammates who knew about it but had never gotten the chance to play it before.
"So, this is going to be a two versus two game so I'm picking Dave as my teammate," Mateo said before turning his gaze to Merino. "Who are you picking?"
"If Ferran was here I would pick him so I'm going to go with Minino," Merino said.
'I wonder what's taking them long.' Dave thought.
[ Quest received ]
[ Defeat your opponents ]
[ Quest rewards ]
[ +30 exp ]
[ +1 stat point to all stats including Energy bar ]
'No skill points again.'
***
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