Rain...
Rain was a really interesting thing. I didn't really know what caused it as I never paid attention when they taught about it in school but I did know that I liked it whenever it fell.
I was standing on the wet ground inside a playing pitch in one of the parks located in Twente, standing under an unrelenting downpour of rain. My clothes and hair were damp, but I didn't care. I actually couldn't care less about it.
There was a football in front of me, and a small distance away from the football, I could vaguely see a goalpost. A side effect of the rain that was currently falling, I really couldn't see well.
I sighed, then ran towards the ball, hitting it towards the goalpost. I watched the ball zip through the air, making a slight curve before dipping just over the goalpost.
"Looks like my finishing is still shit". I muttered under my breath as I walked to where the ball landed and picked it up.
I looked around the park, reveling in the odd aesthetic it held when it was currently raining cats and dogs. It was beautiful. The wet grass, the wet trees, the slightly grey skies going off into the distance. It was nice, perfect.
"I guess I'm really here, huh??" I muttered again, while smiling.
My name is Jerome Balogun, and up until six months ago, my career was doomed.
My family moved from Nigeria to Amsterdam when I was just six, and I went into football a year later. I came up the ranks at De Toekomst, Ajax's football academy, as a midfielder. Everything was going well until I reached the under sixteens level. That was where everything started falling apart.
I realized that I wasn't as fast and quick as the other players. At first it didn't matter, but as time progressed, it became evident that I wasn't as good as the others.
The only reason why Ajax offered me a contract with Jong Ajax was my deep understanding of the game. They could see that I was intelligent, but intelligence didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What was the use of being intelligent when you couldn't make use of it.
Six months earlier, on my eighteenth birthday, just when I thought everything was going to go to waste, a mysterious system awakened inside me. It felt like a dream. The system helped me improve various aspects of my game, shocking everyone in the process, my coaches, my teammates even scouts from other clubs keeping an eye on the academy.
I played so well that I managed to make my debut for Ajax before the end of the season. Unfortunately, the club seemed to be a little too stacked at the position I was playing so I was placed on the loan market and FC Twente, another club in the Eridivise signed me on loan.
It was now a few days to the beginning of the season. After impressing in pre season, I felt like I was going to play an important role in the team this season.
I sighed again after recalling my journey and what I went through to get to where I currently was. A smile appeared on my lips. "Yeah, I'm actually here".
After I picked up the ball, I immediately started walking back to my apartment that I had to rent when I moved to Enschede. The fact that I liked the rain didn't mean that I wanted to stay under it for too long and then get a cold.
Me missing the first game of the season for such a stupid reason after the pre season I had would annoy me to no end.
A couple of minutes later, I stepped into the building my apartment was located in and stepped inside. Asides from the fact that it was located inside of a tall building which housed a lot of other apartments, my apartment looked just like a home.
I walked in to the living room which was a bit large. There was a sofa in the center of the room which was facing a flat screen TV of medium length which was fixed on the wall.
The wall was painted with a while color which reflected the sunlight which came in from the balcony on normal days. Unfortunately, it was raining so I wasn't greeted with the sight.
There was a low glass table in front of the table that had a few sports magazines and a couple of romance novels neatly arranged atop it.
To the left of the living room, there was a small kitchen. it was open plan and was separated by a counter that could also be used by a dining spot. Inside of the kitchen, there was the basic cooking utensils like pots and all scattered about. I stared at them for a few seconds, debating whether or not to cook myself something.
In the end, I decided not to cook anything, I walked out of the kitchen and went into my room. I immediately stripped myself of the clothes that I was wearing. I was getting increasingly cold by the minute and wearing damp clothes wouldn't do anything to help my situation.
After taking off my clothes I took a very long shower inside a bathtub filled with warm water. I had unknowingly spent almost an hour relaxing, not even caring to get off when the water eventually got cold.
By the time I got off, I had wrinkles all over my arms, and my body was quite white. I didn't care though, I changed into my nightwear and walked to my bed. The new season was going to begin in a week and tomorrow, I would have to report for training. I wasn't naïve enough to think that my performance in pre season would guarantee me a spot in the starting eleven. Especially since I was still so young.
I had credit in the bank, but that didn't mean that I could squander it. The most sensible line of action would be to build on it and make sure that the coach truly doesn't have a reason to drop me.