Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 43

2018

Of course, the calm didn't last for long. These pictures of Neymar consoling me in the ski lodge resulted in something I knew deep down was going to happen, sooner or later. Somebody managed to put two and two together and realized that Olivia Miller, the PSG player that Neymar Jr was consoling on a ski lodge in Switzerland was the same girl from four years ago, the one he was jumping on fountains with during scavenger hunts, the one who had also been part of the Brazilian NT's technical staff.

That person made a video that blew up online, blowing the cover I had tried so hard to keep. Soon, every photo Neymar had ever posted of me over the years, where my face couldn't be seen, was another piece of evidence to a witch hunt. The pictures of us on his yacht in São Paulo too, where we were kissing but thankfully those were too far away to be able to say it was definitely me. People online debated whether or not we had a fling back in 2014 and then luck reunited us at PSG now, or whether we'd been dating secretly the whole time, with him cheating on Bruna with me. The photos of us, wet in the fountain with our faces so close to each other, next to those of us hugging on the ski lodge were on every gossip magazine and blog.

And the final blow was a Brazilian newspaper that published an article where an 'insider' detailed how I had pressured Neymar to leave Barcelona and come to PSG and used his influence to climb the ranks. This was further supported by the fact that his dad became my agent and managed to negotiate an unprecedented contract for women's football, when I was still such a new player without a proven track record. And the article also spoke about Neymar paying for my brother's hospitalization and being an investor in 3P.

I didn't know how someone outside of my family and friends would know all that because I was sure none of the people close to me would have betrayed me. But the fallout was huge. I was attacked online, viciously. For taking advantage of Neymar, using him for his money and influence and celebrity. For not deserving what I got. There were people that supported me too and said that it wasn't fair to throw baseless accusations at me with nothing to back them up, but they seemed to me to be in the minority.

And we all had to stay silent and let it blow over. There was no point in trying to address anything, it just added more fuel to the fire. At PSG things were weird too. I knew the coaches and higher ups did not actually believe any of that influence crap of that article, but they didn't like this bad attention we were getting because of it. Coach Emery suspended the individual practices with Neymar temporarily and I learned that Neymar confronted him about it. This just made things worse, because it added credibility to that stupid theory of Neymar going out of his way to get me things.

To top it all off, Neymar Sr told me that the Goal people said we had the option to push the cover back, out of respect to the tragedy that had happened. To me it seemed like they just wanted to distance themselves from me and in an moment of anger I said there was no need. Between me telling them that and the magazine coming out I had managed to earn my first yellow and red card ever and be sent off for the first time.

"What the fuck was that about Liv?" David had asked me later that same day.

"She challenged me! You didn't hear what she said about me and Neymar!"

"I don't care what she said! You shoved her first! That was a stupid thing you did!" He told me. "You— I've never seen you play like that before! You were aggressive, you were committing fouls, you disrespected the referee!"

"So what? We won! It was funny! The people were entertained." I said referring to me doing an actual curtsy at the referee after he showed me the red card.

"Is that what you want them to know you for? A spoiled brat? Or the future of football?" He asked, pointing at the frame of the Goal cover he had given me for Christmas. I realized he had found it in the trash, where I had put it a few days before, when I saw that he had hanged it on a wall in the living room.