Hours before the match
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Demien's Apartment, Bergamo
11:52 PM
The apartment was quiet except for the soft sound of Sophia's breathing from the bedroom, and Demien sat alone on the edge of the bed with a towel still draped around his neck while his damp hair dried slowly from the shower he'd taken fifteen minutes earlier.
His phone sat face-down on the nightstand where he'd left it after scrolling through the social media noise one final time—the gossip, the praise, the jokes about his life—and he'd seen enough to understand the narrative without needing to engage with it further.
The room was dark except for the faint glow from the street outside filtering through the curtains, and beside him Sophia slept curled comfortably beneath the blanket while completely unaware of the commentary still circulating online about Friday night's club photos.
