The Only Exception

Part One - Chapter Thirteen: Media Attention

Lionel groaned under his breath as he helped Lucia with her suitcase, they were due to fly back to Barcelona so that they could sort everything out and he had a new contract to sign for the club.

“I hate early mornings,” Lionel mumbled making Lucia smile at him, it was extremely early in the morning and the couple had a flight leaving for Barcelona at six o’clock and they couldn’t miss it.

The flight was fourteen hours and fifteen minutes long and Lionel knew that when they arrived that the media attention would be grate, everyone now knew that he had gotten married and they were all dying to see the footballer’s new wife; no one had known that he was even seeing someone after his break-up with Antonella the year before.

“I think everyone does,” Lucia mused as she collected her black crochet flap backpack, she knew that the sooner they were at the airport the better; she was a little surprised that in the week that they had been married that no one had managed to get a picture of her yet.

Lucia had been spending a lot of time with Lionel’s family and the footballer hadn’t truly left her side since they had married; they were still getting to know one another after being apart for so many years.

Lionel chuckled in agreement, he knew that there was a lot going to be happening for them when they arrived back in Barcelona; the blonde was going to have to adapt to being on the wife of a world famous footballer.

“Do you remember everything that Leslie told you?” Lionel asked as he watched his wife, she was wearing a cami in floral print and ripped skinny jeans paired with blue 420 trainers; he was still surprised about how little she owed and that was all going to change when they arrived in Barcelona.

Lucia nodded her head as she looked at Lionel, she had spent the day before with the lawyer learning a couple of things that would help her deal with the media attention and paparazzi that would now stalk her life.

***

“You ready?” Lionel said as he looked at his wife as they pulled up outside of the airport, one of his older brothers were dropping them off since he didn’t want to leave one of his cars in the car park.

Lucia nodded her head as she spotted several paparazzi hovering about the airport, she had a feeling that even more would be waiting for them when they arrived in Barcelona.

“Ready as I will ever be,” Lucia said as she nodded at Lionel before he climbed out of the car, she chewed on her nails nervously as she watched him.

She knew that he was nervously about showing her off, no one had known a thing about her until now and it was going to come back and haunt them at some point.

Lucia took one last deep breath before she climbed out of the car and moved to help Lionel and Rodrigo with the suitcases; she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide away from the paparazzi especially now that she was married.

“Look after him,” Rodrigo said as he moved to hug the blonde, he knew that Lionel couldn’t see that there was a real chance for him right now with Lucia; he was still blind for the feelings that the blonde had for him when they were younger and might have for him now.

Lucia nodded her head as she pulled back from her brother-in-law and smiled at him, she had always liked Rodrigo since he treated her like a sister when she had no siblings herself; he made her feel welcome now that she was married to his brother.

Lionel watched his wife with his brother, he had knew that his wife was close with his eldest brother and he was glad that she got along with his family now that they were married.

“And you look after her,” Rodrigo said to his brother as he approached him, he glanced at Lucia knowing that she was going to need Lionel more than anything else when the couple arrived in Barcelona.

“You know I will,” Lionel said as he looked at his wife, he didn’t know why his brother was being so protective; he would never hurt Lucia and she was his wife and he knew that she was going to always be there for him.

Rodrigo eyed his younger brother, he didn’t want to see either of them hurt and he knew that sometimes Lionel did things without thinking about the consequences and this was one of them; someone was going to get hurt and he had a feeling that it would be Lucia.

“Good… otherwise I’ll kick your ass,” Rodrigo warned as he nodded at his brother, he turned to smile at Lucia knowing that he didn’t want her getting hurt; she was the perfect woman for his brother even if Lionel couldn’t see it properly.

Lionel frowned at Rodrigo as Lucia moved passed him after she had shouldered her bag, she hadn’t seemed to notice the exchange and was now completely focused on her husband; it was like she only saw him.

“Shall we?” Lucia said knowing that they needed to get going, she collected her suitcase as Lionel glared at his brother for a moment before he moved to help his wife; he had to keep up his appearances in public so that no one discovered why he had really married the blonde.

Lionel nodded his head as he spotted several paps already snapping away happily at the couple as if they had no private life; he hated how they stalked him even though he knew that it was part of his job.

***

Lionel watched Lucia as she sat down next to him, they were in a small bistro inside of the airport as they waited for their flight to be called; his brown eyes couldn’t help but fill with curiosity.

Lucia was seemingly ignoring all of the looks that they were getting as she sipped on her coffee, she knew that this was going to happen and everyone was going to be watching her from now on especially since she was married to a nation treasure.

“Does it ever bother you?” Lucia asked as she looked at Lionel, he blinked as he tried to cover the fact that he had been staring at her; he messed with his own drink as she looked around as if he knew what she was talking about.

Lucia smiled to herself knowing that Lionel had been watching her, she just wasn’t going to point it out.

“Don’t you ever wish you could go somewhere and not get recognised?” Lucia said as she sipped on her drink, her blue eyes looked at Lionel as she waited for him to answer; his image was splashed across the news and every picture of him on holiday was online

. Lionel watched her for a moment, he was a little surprised that she had asked him that question; no one had ever asked him about anything like that, they all just assumed that he was okay with all of this.

“Sometimes,” Lionel admitted as he remembered that last holiday that he had taken and how it had ended, it had been with Antonella and his family to Disney World; they had been filmed while there, it had been the start of the fall through of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend.

Lucia seemed to sense that he didn’t like talking about the past, she knew that something had hurt him and she wondered if it had something to do with his break-up with Antonella; she didn’t know what had happened but it had clearly hurt him a lot.