Gilberto Mora ⁹

Gilberto Mora was barely 17 years old and had already fulfilled several of his dreams. He was a soccer player for the Mexican National Team, had a promising career ahead of him, and, let's not deny it, he was one of those guys who had half the female population swooning over him.

And yes, she liked the attention.

Until he met Emily Rangel

Raúl Rangel's younger sister was 18 years old, just a year older than him. She had a strong character, the kind of person who doesn't hesitate to distance herself when someone lets her down, although when she really grew fond of someone, she could be a little more patient than usual. The first time Gilberto saw her was when she accompanied her brother to a training session.

She was wearing a gray sweatshirt that matched her pants, white sneakers, glasses on her head, and a silver necklace with a small "E," and that's when Gilberto was completely smitten.

Since then, the two developed a kind of friendship, or well... "friendship" in quotes.

Because Gilberto had quickly learned how to get under her skin. He loved teasing her just to see her hide a smile.

And Emily, however much she tried to appear indifferent, wasn't helping much either. Gilberto already knew all of her favorite reactions.

She knew when she was about to laugh, even if she tried to hold it back. She knew when she was pretending to be annoyed and when she really was.

And she loved discovering those little things about herself.

Over time, Raúl began taking Emily to training more and more often. Coincidence, right? What Emily didn't know was that most of the time it wasn't a coincidence.

It was Gilberto begging Raúl, insisting.

Almost begging him to take his sister, just to see her for a little while.

And as for Emily... she couldn't pretend for too long either. Because she thought about him more than she admitted and talked about him more than she acknowledged in front of her friends.

Because, to be honest, how could she not like it? It was super fun.