757 My Son Is a Genius

Madrid might not be the city Matías Fernández was most familiar with in Spain, but he was definitely more familiar with Madrid as opposed to London. When he was still a player for Villarreal, he would go to Madrid at least three times in a single season to play away games at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Atlético Madrid's Estadio Vicente Calderón Stadium, and Getafe's Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez Stadium. It was possible that London would replace Madrid's position a season later because he had to go to London at least five times in a season.

Villarreal, or "The Yellow Submarine," was Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid's direct rival the past few seasons. Matías Fernández was used to hearing boos from the home fans every time they played an away game against those two aforementioned teams. However, ever since he came to England, he realized that the boos from the Spanish fans amounted to nothing. The craziest fans in the world were definitely from England.

Forest accepted the media's interview after getting off the plane. When Fernández was asked, "How do you feel to be back in Spain?" He smiled and replied, "I feel as though I've never left Spain all this while. It feels like I'm just going to play another away game."

The reporters would not ask him questions in English, which was a language he didn't understand. They would ask him questions in Spanish, which was a language he found familiar and friendly. He replied and chatted with the reporters in Spanish. His behavior was completely devoid of the primness that he displayed in England.

Twain noticed the change in Fernández. He hoped that his behavior would help in eliciting top-notch performances from him.

A reporter asked Fernández a question that clearly made him awkward. "You have not been able to perform well since you transferred to Nottingham Forest. There are some British media outlets that have called you a flop of the summer transfer window. What are your thoughts on this matter?"

The expression on Fernández's face froze. He went into a daze for a while before replying, "I am still trying my best to get used to the playing style of the Premier League…"

"Do you ever think that your transfer to Nottingham Forest was a mistake? The truth is, you can still be guaranteed a spot in the Champions League if you continued playing for Villarreal."

Fernández's final contribution for Villarreal before leaving the club was to provide an assist in the last match, which helped his team edge out Valencia and successfully qualify for the Champions League.

This time, Fernández did not show the reporter any courtesy. "I want to become champions. I believe that Nottingham Forest can accomplish that."

He lowered his head and quickly walked away from the circle of reporters as he finished his words and boarded the bus that had been waiting outside for quite a while.

The reporters turned to interview Twain, who was walking at the rear of the team. They wanted him to talk about his predictions for the match.

Twain did not treat them nicely. "What is there to predict? The match has not started. How would I know what the results would be? I might say that the team would win, and they end up losing. I also might say that they would lose, and they end up winning. I will never talk about results and tactics before the match. All of you are Spanish reporters. Don't you know that that is my rule?"

Besides his usual feelings of disgust toward the media, Twain also has to act cautiously now. They were about to play in an away game, and it was against a team they had never faced before. He had much less understanding of the team as compared to their bitter rivals in the same city.

He did not care about the looks of hostility from the Spanish reporters when he finished his words. He followed his team onto the bus. The door to the bus slowly closed before taking its leave.

※※※

The hotel the team checked into was situated in the southern part of Madrid. It was not too far away from the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium. They could see the calm Manzanares River from the upstairs window, and there were also low houses and narrow alleyways along both sides of the river.

This was an inner city of Madrid. It was largely inhabited by craftsmen, who practiced various crafts, and workers. The houses in this area appeared to be much older when compared to the houses in the northern part of Madrid, but they were not dilapidated.

Almost all the people living there were supporters of Atlético Madrid. The environment and the social class of the supporters contributed to the formation of a 'commoners' team like Atlético Madrid. As a result, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, which represented the powerful government, were sworn enemies.

Based on this point, Twain's Nottingham Forest might actually find Atlético Madrid to be rather affable. However, they were opponents right now, so he had to get rid of such useless sentiments.

Twain found a Chinese restaurant adjacent to the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium while the team did warm-up practices at the stadium to get used to the pitch. The restaurant had an interesting name, thus he specially brought Dunn over to give it a try.

The taste could not be regarded as authentic, but the prices were very cheap. The most important thing was that it had a very good name, Liang Shan Po [1]. Liang Shan Po and Robin Hood could be considered synonyms of each other. Twain felt that if such a Chinese restaurant were to be opened next to the City Ground stadium, he would definitely visit the restaurant often. The 108 Stars of Destiny [2] from England would cause havoc at the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium. It was a good omen.

※※※

While Tony Twain led his team in its training sessions at Madrid's Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium, van Nistelrooy, who had stayed behind in England, stood before the door to Gareth Bale's ward with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

He was not in a hurry to enter the room because he heard sounds of arguments coming from within. The Dutchman cleverly chose to get out of the way after making out that there was an argument going on between Bale and his short, fat father beyond the door. He turned around and went down the stairs. He only climbed back up when he saw Bale's father angrily storm out of the lift.

He knocked and opened the door to Bale's ward.

"Out of the entire team, only the two of us don't need to head over to Spain." Van Nistelrooy smiled as he handed the bouquet of flowers to Bale. "I made a trip to Wilford. The first team training ground is empty, so I came to visit you."

It was evident that Bale was in a terrible mood. One reason for his bad mood was because he just had an argument with his father earlier. As for the other, Bale had always been a player who cared a lot about his appearance. He was fine with not bringing anything in his bag to away games, but a comb and a mirror could never be missing. He would always fiddle with his hair since he hoped to use it to attract beautiful girls. However, the Bale right now had a beard around his mouth and chin, and his hair was disheveled. He looked terrible.

"You can join in the reserve team's training." Bale received the flowers. He might have just had an unpleasant fight with his father earlier, but he was still courteous to the senior whom he respected. "Thank you, Ruud."

"Ha, my injuries have not healed completely. I did some strength training at the gym and left." Van Nistelrooy laughed, trying his best to lighten the mood in the room after the confrontation that had just happened.

Bale averted his gaze onto van Nistelrooy's right knee. It was the same spot that he had sustained an injury. He felt it was odd. "Wasn't your operation a success? You were able to get on the pitch and play."

"It was a success, and I'm also able to play in games," Van Nistelrooy said with a smile. "But, I'm 34 after all. My body isn't like what it used to be. That injury is too serious for me at my age. I've also suffered a severe illness in the past as well."

The topic of conversation naturally shifted to van Nistelrooy's illness.

"I was only 24 years old back then. Everyone said that I was going to say goodbye to professional football, but I didn't believe in it. I insisted on returning to the pitch, and I succeeded. Thereafter, I joined Manchester United." Van Nistelrooy recounted his past to Bale with a smile on his face. "You are much younger than I was back then, 'Little Monkey.' You will definitely recover better than I did."

As van Nistelrooy said those words, Bale lowered his head and looked at his knee. "But, I suffered an injury without getting in a collision. I'm worried that my knee…"

"There's nothing to be worried about. It was just an accident." Van Nistelrooy reached out a hand and gently patted Bale's right knee. "You are to blame for the injury this time round. The blame is not on your body, but on your mentality. I noticed that you were a little distracted during the warm-up before the match. Did you get to know some pretty lady at the captain's party?"

Bale scratched his head. "No. All I was thinking about was the Champions League. We are always up against the same few faces in the league. I just couldn't get myself fired up."

"That's what made your warm-ups really poor in quality," van Nistelrooy said. "Your body hadn't been properly warmed up yet, but you performed such an intense cutting maneuver the moment you got on the pitch. It is only obvious that your knee would not be able to handle it. It is not some steel part that you can torment however you like. In actuality, that area of ours is very weak."

He retracted his hand and pressed down on his own ankle.

"As a professional footballer, you have to learn to cherish them," van Nistelrooy said. "If you don't cherish them, they will give you a hard time. Bale, your footballing career so far can be considered to be a successful one, which is why there are certain things that you don't know you should cherish. It has caused you to have a hard time now. It's not a good thing to get injured, but you have to look at the positives from it. This injury will allow you to understand a lot of things."

Bale nodded his head. He reckoned that he had come to understand certain things after their conversation.

"So, you can't get depressed over one serious injury," van Nistelrooy said. "Look at all the big superstar players. Which of them hasn't suffered from a serious injury before? But, why have they all succeeded in the end?"

"I think I got it. Thank you, Ruud." Bale lifted his head and thanked van Nistelrooy.

The first few days after he picked up an injury were the toughest for him. A lot of thoughts flashed through his chaotic mind. Some of the thoughts were positive while others were negative. He was in a state whereby he almost could not think about anything. His mood worsened dramatically as a result.

The reason for his fight with his father earlier was also because of that. His father had comforted him by telling him that his injury was nothing big. His reasoning was that his son was a genius. However, Bale responded with a glower and told his father that he had never experienced such a situation before, which is why he would not think that it was anything big. Someone who had never experienced what he was currently experiencing would never understand how he was feeling and did not have the right to preach to him. What good was there in being a genius? He had heard the same phrase over and over again ever since he was a kid. He had grown sick of it. No matter how much of a "genius" he might be, all he could do right now was lie on the bed like a wretch.

His father was so angry that his lips quivered. He did not know how to rebut Bale's words. All he could do was slam the door behind him as he left, leaving Bale to sulk alone on the bed.

To a person like Bale, who firmly believed that only someone who had experienced what he was experiencing could understand how he was feeling, van Nistelrooy came at just the right time. The few words from a person who had been in his shoes before were more influential than the hundreds of words said to him from others because of how they are able to strike a chord with him.

Van Nistelrooy initially wanted to say, "Don't thank me, thank the boss. It was him who got me to come and visit you." However, he remembered the argument he had overheard outside the door.

There was not a single person on the team who didn't know what sort of person Gareth Bale's father was. The most memorable part of him was undoubtedly his habit of bringing up the words, "My son is a genius," all the time. No one would mock him, however, because his son was indeed a genius.

As someone who had become a father, van Nistelrooy felt an obligation to help patch up the relationship between Bale and his father.

"Don't thank me," he said. "If you really want to thank someone, thank your father. He was the one who called me to come over here to speak to you. He knows I have a good relationship with you. However, he told me not to tell you. You know how fathers are. They care about their pride. But, I thought I should let you know. The only people who will truly treat you well in this world are your parents." He placed a finger by his lips as he said those words and winked. "Don't you betray me, 'Little Monkey.'"

Bale nodded his head forcefully. He suddenly felt ashamed for arguing with his father earlier.

"Focus on recuperating for now, and don't think about anything else. The boss will be very happy when you do come back." Van Nistelrooy was worried that Bale's father would return. If that were to happen, the lie that he had intricately fabricated would be exposed. Therefore, he patted Bale on the shoulder and said goodbye.

Before he left, he took notice of the look in Bale's eyes and realized that there was light in them. The mission that had been entrusted to him by the boss could be considered accomplished, and he had also done more than what was expected of him.

He chose to go down the stairs after he had exited the room. He was afraid to run into Bale's father in the lift. Sure enough, he saw the fat man, who was much shorter than others, waiting to enter the lift in a crowd of people after he had come down from the stairs. He was holding onto a takeaway box from a fast food restaurant located in the vicinity. It was clear that he had gone to buy food for his son.

Van Nistelrooy remembered how furious he looked like when he stormed out of the lift. He took a look at what Bale's father was holding in his hands now and shook his head.

Fathers…

Van Nistelrooy donned sunglasses and a cap and straightened the collar of his shirt. He scrunched his neck as he lowered himself and slipped away from the hospital. He had entered the hospital without worrying about anything. Now that he was leaving, he was worried about creating a commotion and attracting the attention of Bale's father.

※※※

Bale was fiddling with the flowers that he had received from van Nistelrooy when his father pushed open the door and entered the ward.

He saw the flowers in Bale's hands and went into a daze for a moment. "Who gave them to you?"

Bale noticed what was in his father's hands. He went into a daze for a moment. "Er… a friend." He couldn't betray his own teammate.

His father made his way over and placed the takeaway box on the bedside cabinet. He took the flowers from Bale. "I will put them in the vase for you."

Bale did not voice any disagreement. Things were still a little awkward between the two of them, but it was not as bad as how things had been earlier.

His father walked back to his side after putting the flowers in the vase. He looked at the item that he had placed on the table and did not know what to say.

Suddenly, Bale said, "I'm hungry, Dad."

"Ah, nice! I bought something for you to eat!" It was as though his father had just been relieved of a great burden. He peeled back the wrapping from the food. "Do you need me to feed you, Gareth?"

Bale pouted. "I injured my knee, not my hand, Dad. Besides, I'm not a 3-year-old kid. I don't need you to feed me."

"Heh heh!" His father was a little embarrassed as he passed the takeaway box to his son. He sat by the side and began peeling fruit with a knife.

"I have decided to go to America for my operation, Dad," Bale said.

"That's good!" His father was happy. "The earlier you go for your operation, the earlier you'll recover!"

"The earlier I'll recover? How can there be such a good thing in this world?" Bale asked.

His father replied, "My son is a genius after all!"

[1] Liang Shan Po is derived from the Chinese story, 'Water Margin.' The author uses the term to refer to the group of outlaws who have gathered at Mount Liang.

[2] 108 Stars of Destiny is another term used to describe the 108 outlaws who gathered at Mount Liang. They are all characters in the story "Water Margin."