Avalon had trouble digesting Neymar's words. What? By the Moon Goddesses... Carol's case. About to be closed?

"I don't understand," she said dumbfounded, giving words to her confusion. "Can they do even do that? Just like that?"

Neymar lifted a shoulder. "It's been a few months. They can't find any trace of her. She's just– gone. Disappeared from the face of the earth."

Of course, Avalon had already gotten the rough memo of Carolina's missing case from Nadine, Neymar's mother, before starting as Davi's nanny. And then, last night during their mega-talk, a few more details from Gil: One moment Carolina had been about to come pick up Davi from Neymar's home in Brazil. And then... poof. No clues (apart from the hundreds of fake social media posts), no suspects (no real ones that actually led to anything, that was), no witnesses (just a lot of people "wanting to help" the big star) and no evidence to her possible whereabouts. There'd been one poor girl resembling her and her image had been plastered over Brazilian tabloids for weeks before police had published a statement to the public to leave her be, she wasn't the one.

So police and special investigations kept looking for the true Carolina Dantas, feverishly. That had been in June. It was the middle of October now.

Avalon's throat tightened. They say if you can't find a breathing person for a long time in this world they either don't want to be found in it; or they can't be found in it anymore.

"It's been months," Neymar repeated, as if he needed to hear some sort of confirmation. As if he needed something that would tell him it was okay to let go of the grief and leave the pain behind. Maybe that's the first step to closure, Avalon pondered sadly. "They're not gonna find her if they haven't found her yet. So now it's officially a cold case." He straightened then, clearing his throat. He scratched the back of his neck, flustered. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't even burden you with all that. I guess I just had to tell it to someone."

"Don't worry about it." She grabbed his shoulder softly. "It's about Davi's mom. And in case you hadn't noticed, I love that boy to the moon and back, so... Seriously, if you ever wanna talk, just come find me. You already know where I live so that shouldn't be a problem," she added with a wink, trying to lighten to mood. Besides, now wasn't the time for a long heart-to-heart. Who knew how long they'd be alone in the tunnel?

It worked; Neymar's warm chuckle was a balm for her spirit. "I noticed," he said. "Thank you."

The tension slowly subsided within her; the brightening of his mood and the somewhat confession had cleansed his aura of the heaviness the topic had laden it with.

He didn't say anything else. Instead, he put a hand on top of hers that was resting on his shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. But the way their eyes met when he did that caused a completely different sort of tension. There was an intense look in his eyes–

Then it was gone, replaced by a mischievous sparkle. Its sudden appearance surprised Avalon, so she merely blinked stupidly when he stretched, thereby nonchalantly letting go of her hand – which lost its grip on his shoulder – and grinned widely at her. "I guess we better catch up to the others. Pretty sure they're not gonna wait for us with feeding the penguins. I like the penguins. Penguins are fun. And I wanna feed them too!"

The manager that had met them at the entrance of the aquarium – a guy clearly trying to make an impression on the football stars – had promised them that the kids could each throw a fish into the penguin room. Neymar clearly had remembered that.

Avalon laughed, glad to hear him being his old joking self again after the heavy yet short-lived heart-to-heart. "Who said anything about you getting to feed them?"

"Hey, I'm Neymar Junior! There should be some benefits to that, right?"

They walked through the tunnel, ignoring the water world and the sharks and the other fish surrounding them now that they had a new goal. He ran up to hold the door leading them out of the tunnel for her.

Avalon rolled her eyes at him, replying dryly, "I'm so glad you don't believe the world's spinning around you."

"Of course not," he retorted good-naturedly, winking at her when he continued with, "We're in Barcelona. It's spinning around Leo! Which is why we need to hurry. If he gets to throw a fish and I don't you're gonna have to listen to me complain about it."

Avalon feigned shock, opening her eyes wide. "Oh no! What are we waiting for? If we run we'll catch up with them before they're there! Come on!"

Her sprint toward the penguin room was underlined by Neymar's hearty laughter.

- - -

"Can I play something on your phone now? Please?"

As unbelievable as it was, the question – formed with a slightly annoyed undertone – hadn't come from Neymar. Who was still phoneless. Not that he had seemed to mind (at least, not all that much) all afternoon.

Avalon gave Davi's plate a scrutinising look. From the corner of her eye, she found Neymar doing the same; at last, the kid's version of a margarita pizza was half-gone at least. They exchanged a quick glance, then Neymar nodded in affirmation. She slid over her phone that had been lying next to her own plate. Which still had a tiny piece of pizza verdure waiting for her.

"Okay," she said with a smile, "Now you can play."

"But only until we pay and leave, all right?" Neymar added.

A groan was the boy's answer, followed by a quickly uttered "okay, okay, thank you, Áva" when his father gave him a stern look. Happy despite the limited timeframe, he unlocked it and swiped skillfully to the app he was looking for. Then the quieted down but still so familiar sound that was the background music to "Angry Birds" filled the air of the Italian restaurant.

Neymar pushed the cutlery around on his own plate – long devoid of the pizza he'd polished off in no time – and took a sip of his coke. Being a responsible driver, he'd stuck with nonalcoholic drinks during their albeit rather early but nevertheless desperately needed dinner.

Which was what they had been getting, the three of them. Just the three of them.

The aquarium adventure had taken them another hour or so, most of which had been spent feeding the penguins – much to Neymar's delight, he'd gotten to throw a fish with the kids. "Boys will be boys!" Antonella had commented when her husband had taken the chance as well, and Sofia had only shaken her head when hers hadn't been able to just idly stand by while his teammates had all the fun.

That event had definitely been the highlight of their impromptu excursion. If you asked the kids, that was. And the men, naturally. Also, there countless videos and photos proved that fact.

But for Avalon, unsurprisingly, the highlight of the day was this: sitting in a restaurant and enjoying a good meal with a wonderful boy and his amazing and unbelievably attractive father.

Who hadn't uttered a word about his girlfriend ever since they'd left home to pick up Davi from school earlier. That had been hours ago.

Avalon had, as she'd promised herself she would, examined Neymar's behaviour all afternoon. She'd watched his reaction when Sofia had inquired about his girlfriend ("She just moved here with you, didn't she? How is she doing?"), to which Neymar had simply said that yes, she did and she was fine. And then he'd promptly switched the subject to Benjamin's first day of training for the FC Barcelona kid's group (or something the like).

Naturally, none of the others had mentioned her after that curt answer. So she'd waited for another opportunity. Which came when she became aware that the love spell wouldn't trigger itself after a certain amount of time had passed. She'd mentioned casually that Gil had brought up that painting of Nina's to his room the other day. Which was now going to be his and Nina's room, actually, hm? How exciting to move in with your significant other, right?

He hadn't even pretended to care, and shrugging the issue off like it was nothing.

For all intents and purposes, Neymar didn't act like a guy who'd just brought his girlfriend to live with him in another country should act. Namely caring. But he didn't. At all.

A hand was suddenly waving right in front of her nose. She jumped in surprise, causing the hand's owner, Neymar, to pull it back while laughing at her expense. "I get that Davi's not getting anything around him right now but what got you so distracted?" he asked.

She blinked, astounded that she'd drifted off like that. She formed a smile to reassure him. "Oh, sorry. It's nothing," she said, shaking her head to clear her mind.

Besides, there would be enough time to brood later. Thank the Goddesses Zelo reminded me to spell the key to the bar. Without the obfuscation spell that made the door to her new witch kitchen blend with the wall – thus making the wandering eye unaware of its existence once locked – they'd be out of a place to "hide". Nina would've found out about it the moment she'd passed it in the hallway.

Magic really did come in handy when you had an evil witch to take care of. She frowned. I swear I can hear Zelo laughing in my head just now. And repeat 'I told you so'.

"There you go again. You sure it's nothing?" He watched her dubiously, almost worried now.

"Yes, it's really nothing to worry about. Just full, I guess," she said, making it a point to push the plate away from her. "Full stomachs make you wanna sleep for a week," she added jokingly.

Neymar chuckled. He swirled what was left of the coke in his glass when he answered her, "I would say I know what you mean but you ate a vegetable pizza and you haven't even finished it so you can't be that full."

She rolled her eyes. "Typical meat eater statement."

"Hey, I've seen you eat a burger, so you can't argue with that!"

"Doesn't mean I eat meat every chance I get like other people I know." She smirked, throwing him a knowing look. Brazilian eating habits strongly revolved around meat and since coming to know Neymar and Gil (and Marcella, the Brazilian cook), she'd also come to know how true that actually was.

"Besides," she went on, shrugging, "I like the veggie pizza. And vegetables are good for you." She emphasised the last sentence, eyeing Davi when saying it. His blond head was lowered over the phone's small display, his fingers pressing buttons or swiping over the screen non-stop.

Neymar cleared his throat. "Right, totally good for you," he repeated. After he'd taken the last sip of coke, he eyed the glass ruefully, a soft sigh escaping him. "And that's that..."

His tone implied he wasn't referring to his now empty drink. Only when he next eyed the menu lying haphazardly at the only free spot on their square table and asked if anyone wanted dessert did Avalon grasp the tone's meaning: he didn't want to leave.

But why? It couldn't be the spell having an effect on him at long last; he'd want to leave right now if that were the case. Was it because something inside of him tried to tell him to not go near Nina? To stay the hell away from her because as soon as she was there he'd be a lesser, much more susceptible version of himself?

Or was it because he honestly enjoyed spending time with her, Avalon, his son's nanny and someone he could joke around with and talk seriously to without having to fear to find his words published in some newspaper the next day?

One way to find out.

Avalon tilted her head and put her index finger to her lips. "Hm," she answered his enquiry about dessert, doing her best to sound intrigued but not fully convinced. "I think I saw an ice cream stand by the café down the street. I guess I could go for ice cream."

Neymar's smile was warm when she looked at him, their eyes meeting. "If the lady wants ice cream, we'll get her ice cream," he said cheekily.

Avalon's heart flustered at that. She gazed at the plate in front of her, her hand brushing a strand behind her ear. Biting the inside of her lips, she did her best not to smile like an idiot. Didn't help keep her mind in check, of course. Stop being so excited about this! He's just trying to delay going home...

"Ice cream" must have been the magic word for Davi. Because now he looked at his father with hopeful excitement, phone forgotten. "Can I have ice too?"

Neymar nodded and grinned happily while Avalon ruffled the boy's golden locks, adding, "We'll all get ice cream, güero!"  

- - -

Apart from the horrible Carol situation, we get a little family-ish dinner. Hope you liked this one :) How'd you like this scenery? Guys, what do you think of the Avalon-Neymar dynamic so far? Is their relationship developing okay or is it too familiar at this stage of the story?

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment or/and vote if you liked the part.

- - -

Published on: 26 September 2017