A Million Miles Away

Amelia walks out of her room, making her way down the stairs. She walks towards the kitchen, entering and finding her older brothers seated at the table eating breakfast.

“Amelia, what would you like to eat?” Jay questions.

“I’m fine, I can get myself some cereal.” She smiles, appreciating the offer, but she didn’t need to be looked after all the time.

Amelia grabs a cereal bowl and a spoon before sitting down beside Vince at the dining table.

“Morning,” Amelia greets her two older brothers.

“Morning,” they say in unison, giving their younger sibling a smile.

Amelia’s not sure how everything happened. She has to admit, it’s been a bit difficult trusting people ever since the accident. The people she truly feels comfortable with are her two older brothers and her mother, thought she was weary at first, she grew to trust them. Waking up with no memory of who you are was difficult for Amelia; it’s still difficult for her now. At times, when she would meet people from her past and she sees the disappointment in their eyes, it upsets her. It’s not like she means to forget these people, it just happened.

The fear that crept into her when she woke up was indescribable. Seeing her surroundings, the unfamiliar faces around her was absolutely terrifying for her. To see the disappointments in her loved ones eyes upset her, she didn’t want to make anyone sad. For a moment, she was so afraid that she didn’t want to see anyone for a couple of days, but finally her brothers and mother got through to her and she let them in.

Slowly, her memory is starting to come back. She remembers a whole portion of her childhood, when her parents were still alive, when her brothers would pick on her for days, but other than that, it would just be spurt of past memories she had. There’s one man that constantly comes in her memories, he’s no longer a part of her life now, but she’s seen him around when she watches football with her older brother, Jay.

His name is Cristiano Ronaldo.

She’s not sure who he is to her, but in most of the memories she remembers, he was usually around. If not hanging out with her brothers, he’s with her, pestering her about her clothes, her hair, and just about anything. He looks younger then, maybe fifteen? But he’s definitely a part of her memory. She would ask her brothers why he’s no longer a part of her life, especially since there were pictures of them in some family albums, and Vince would usually cut in to tell her he’s not important. And they’re close to his whole family, yet he’s nowhere to be seen during those get together.

At times she wonders if she’s the reason why he stays away. Did she wrong him in the past? Jay, who is the only one who talks about Cristiano, assured her that she didn’t do anything to Cristiano. His schedule with Real Madrid keeps him busy. Being a footballer isn’t all glamor and money.

She’s met him once before, it was on his sister’s birthday and the look in his eyes was one she could not forget. She’s not sure who she was to him or what he was to her, but when his eyes landed on her, she saw the pain that was present in her siblings’ eyes when she didn’t recognize them. But with Cristiano, it seemed different. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint it, but he was cautious around her the whole night. At times, he would return her gaze and even smile at her. There’s a pull towards him, something was pushing Amelia to go talk to him, yet, she fights it hard enough not to go. Vince doesn’t seem to like the idea of her talking to Cristiano, she wants to respect her brother’s wish.

“What’s your schedule like today, Amelia?” Jay questions her.

“Just school, nothing much really.” Amelia replies. “Anything going on?”

“Yeah, it’s Katia’s birthday and she’s inviting us for dinner.” Jay informs his siblings earning a small scowl from Vince. He notices this, giving his younger brother a warning look. “Don’t start Vince, she’s your best friend.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he counters. “I’m fully aware it’s her date of birth, I just don’t feel comfortable with her brother being present.” Vince blames Cristiano for everything that has happened to his younger sister. That’s not a secret whatsoever, he’s not as vocal as he was two years ago, but it’s a bit uncomfortable to stay in the same room with the two men.

“Don’t, Vince, I’ve had enough of this.” Jay looks over at Amelia. “Go get ready for school, I’ll drop you off.” She knows why her brother is sending her off, he’s going to scold Vince and he didn’t want his younger sister to be around. Amelia obviously doesn’t know Cristiano’s involvement in her accident.

“Okay,” Amelia stands up and heads up to her room to get ready for school.

Jay turns to Vince, narrowing his eyes at him. “Listen, I understand you’re upset at Cristiano, at one point, I think everyone in this family and his was, but you have to get it through your thick head that it was an accident, he didn’t cause it.” Jay has had this conversation with Vince numerous of times. It gets tiring and old, but he has no other choice; Vince needs this constant reminder. It’s not like anything improves after every conversation, but Vince is going to have to face facts. He can’t erase Cristiano from Amelia’s life, especially after everything the two went through together.

“I don’t know why you defend him. We both know he could have killed Amelia, he practically did.” Vince lets out through gritted teeth. He can never forgive Cristiano. Because of his carelessness he almost lost his only sister.

Their parents divorced when Amelia was only five years old. As part of some agreement between their parents, Jay, Vince, and Amelia were sent to Portugal to live with their mother and during their summer breaks, they would stay in England with their father. Of course, during Christmas and special occasions, they would celebrate with both of their parents, alternating from Portugal and Los Angeles every year. The thing that marveled the three siblings about their parent’s divorce was that they became closer when they separated. They stayed as business partners, their mother handling her part of the business at home, while their father took care of the company in Los Angeles.

Jay, the oldest of the three, is now thirty-two years old. Vince, the middle child, is twenty-nine years old. Amelia, the youngest and only girl is twenty-six years old. Once Jay turned fifteen years old, he decided to stay in Los Angeles, with their father. Vince, being Jay’s shadow, decided to stay with them as well. Since they both decided to stay, Amelia was left alone with her mother, which wasn’t so horrible since she loved being around her mother.

But tragedy struck when Amelia turned fifteen years old, their father died in a car accident. It was a devastating time for the Leon siblings. Their mother was a wreck, but she stayed strong for her children. After burying their father, their mother immediately took over the company, but she decided to leave Amelia in Portugal, not wanting to force her to finish school in another country. Once Amelia graduated, she moved to London to attend college.

At that time of their father’s passing, Jay was twenty-three years old, Vince was twenty and Amelia was fifteen. It was a hard time for the three, losing their father, but they pulled through thanks to the Aveiro’s. The Aveiro’s became the Leon’s family, well more like the three Leon siblings leaned on the four Aveiro siblings, who was having turmoil at home as well.

This tragedy brought Cristiano and Amelia closer together. They didn’t live under the same roof, but right next to one another. The two have always had a relationship as friends, but after her father passing away they became much closer which eventually led to a relationship between the two.

“Vince, I don’t want to be an asshole and bring this up, but you were never there for Amelia before the accident. Hell, you closed all of us off.” Vince knows what Jay is saying is true. Before the accident, Vince was almost non-existent. Once their father was buried, he moved to Madrid to finish off his studies, for about four years Vince closed off his siblings, getting over their parents death in his own way.

The three siblings reunited for Vince’s graduation from a university. It was definitely a sweet, memorable moment. The Aveiro’s came out with Amelia and Jay, happy to finally see their brother. Vince was still a bit disconnected, but it was easy to reconnect with his family, to a certain extent. Two weeks after the reunion, Amelia’s car accident happened.

“I know and this is my redeeming moment. What I did before was unacceptable, we should have stuck together and I broke away.” Vince grimaces. “This is our second chance, I just want to make things right.”

“Closing Cristiano off isn’t making things right.” Jay tells him.

“Cristiano almost took her away from us, are you really going to forgive that douchebag?” Vince says in disdain.

“It’s not about forgiving, it’s about seeing that Cristiano is not at fault. He’s hurting too you know, he loves her, you know that.” Jay frowns. “It’s easy to be selfish about Amelia, I understand, but you should let Cristiano help out.”

“I’ll think about it.” And that’s the best answer Jay’s going to get from Vince so he’ll take it. It’s an improvement from the flat answer of no.



Cristiano follows Sergio to the gym in the hotel. As much as he would love to stay in Madrid to celebrate Katia’s birthday, he couldn’t. Duty calls and he’s currently in Turkey, preparing for the Champion’s League match against Galatasaray. He’ll just have to greet his sister through a phone call, which she should be used to by now. It’s not like he was avoiding his sister, but duty calls.

“So, did Katia have dinner with Vince?” Sergio questions as they make their way to the treadmill to get some cardio done.

“Not yet, I think she’s speaking to him after her birthday dinner.” Cristiano replies.

Both men turn on the treadmill, starting with a slow walk, eventually progressing to a run. For about twenty minutes, both men ran, thinking of the workload ahead of them. Once their cardio was done, they headed towards the weights where Iker was already doing his workout.

“Jay just called me, I thought you would be in Madrid for your sister’s birthday?” Iker questions

Iker is Amelia’s cousin. Fully aware of Vince’ animosity towards Cristiano, he is, in some ways, Cristiano’s go to guy when he wanted to know how Amelia was doing. Iker never blamed Cristiano for the accident. No one really did except Vince.

“Work is work,” Cristiano shrugs. “I’m sure Vincent is excited that I won’t be there for her birthday.” No matter how hard he tries to wrap his mind around the situation, nothing was making sense. Only Vince blamed him for the accident, yet no one is giving him shit for it. Jay never listens to Vince, he’s the eldest after all, why would you listen to your younger sibling? At times, he would get so frustrated trying to figure out what was going on in Vince’ mind, but he’s almost at his boiling point. He can just be so considerate for so long.

“Not necessarily. It’s your sister’s birthday, he’s not that big of a douche,” Iker replies. “But I know he’s not exactly fond of Amelia coming to see a football match.”

“Amelia is coming to see a game?” Sergio questions. “When did this come about?”

Iker shrugs. “Not sure, Jay told me about it now. It seems that she’s kept up with the games ever since her accident and she’s a big fan of Cristiano.” Iker chuckles. “I don’t exactly know why she would be, but apparently she’s a fan.”

Cristiano and Sergio laughs along with Iker, shaking their head at Amelia. It’s common knowledge that Amelia knows her facts about football, but she’s not a Real Madrid fan. Though Madrid is definitely Cristiano’s team, she’s always been a Manchester United fan ever since they were children. Besides the amazing opportunity United gave him when they offered him a contract, it was Amelia’s fondness towards United that made Cristiano love the club even more.

“I didn’t know she still follows the games,” Cristiano says. His sister would mention that Amelia watched football once in a while, but he didn’t know she watched often.

“When is she coming to see us?” Sergio questions.

“One of the upcoming games in Madrid, Jay’s not sure yet.” Iker answers.

“Can she get tickets still? Unless she’s sitting at one of the boxes,” Sergio turns to Cristiano.

“I’m giving him tickets,” Iker informs them.

“Make sense.” Sergio nods his head. “This is exciting, I haven’t seen her in months.”

“Months? Didn’t you just see her last week with Erica?” Iker questions.

Sergio laughs. “That’s right, but you know how it is when Erica comes along, she hogs Amelia all to herself.”

“Amelia is her best friend,” Iker points out.

“So? They spend enough time together when I’m not around.” Sergio argues.

It’s a bit unfair how his friends were able to talk to Amelia. Sergio talks to Amelia often on the phone, texting or calling, yet he never gets the chance to do so. He’s been tempted, but he wouldn’t know how to go about it. How can he introduce himself after being gone for so long?

“Is Vince coming?” Cristiano questions.

Iker shakes his head. “As far as I know, no, because this is the opportunity Jay is giving you.”

“What?”

“He’s tired of Vince’s immaturity, so he’s going to make it happen. He never agreed with this whole ordeal, so he’s going to find a way to get you two talking.”

As much as Cristiano appreciates Jay’s efforts, he felt that he could have done something much earlier. But at this point, he should just take whatever he can get.

“Why hasn’t he called me about it?”

“He will, he’s just trying to get the plan concrete before he tells you.” Iker chuckles. “Which reminds me, telling you might not have been a good idea.”

“It’s alright man, I won’t let him know that I know.” Cristiano chuckles along with him.

Cristiano’s cell phone begins to ring, catching Cristiano’s attention away from going Sergio and Iker. He answers it after seeing Katia’s name flashing on his screen.

“Baby brother!” Katia greets.

“A bit early for you to be up, isn’t it?” Cristiano teases him.

“Don’t make me smack your face the next time I see you. For your information, I’m always up early to work out.” Katia tells him.

“I’m sorry,” Cristiano chuckles. “What can I do for you?”

“Cristiano Ronaldo Aveiro. Are you serious right now? You’re not going to greet your older sister on the date of her birth?” He smiles, hearing the tone on her voice, knowing he’s slowly starting to irritate her.

“Happy Birthday to my lovely sister,” he greets her. “If you gave me time, I would have called you after I worked out and gave you a proper greeting.”

“Cristiano, I expected a text message at midnight, I think you are doing me an injustice.” She laughs.

“An injustice? I technically had until midnight to greet you.” Cristiano laughs. “Pampering yourself?”

“Something like that, I would like an iPad for my birthday, just a hint.”

“Sure, I’ll get you an iPad case for the iPad you’re going to buy for yourself.” He teases her.

“Where are Sergio and Iker? They’ll give me what I want.”

“I’m joking, I’ll get it for you. The guys say happy birthday.” He looks over at his two friends who have started working out. “How’s your day going?”

“Good, but I have some news for you, nothing for you to be alarmed about. Just letting you know.”

“What’s up? Is Amelia okay?”

“She’s fine, the news is definitely connected to her, but nothing happened to her.”

“What’s going on?” Cristiano fearing the worst that something must have happened to Amelia.

“Cristiano, Daniel is back in Madrid.”

And just like that his day went to shits. It’s always comforting to know that your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend is back into town.