❙ ㅤׄ ⠞ Gilberto Mora .

The cold was always a part of your life. You had learned to live with England's gray skies, fog, snow, and cold mornings, even in spring. Even so, there was always a warm corner at home: your mother, who was Mexican and had brought her love of football home.

When it was announced that Mexico would be one of the main host countries for the 2026 World Cup and that, by a twist of fate, England and Mexico would face each other in the round of 16, there was no doubt. They would make the trip.

You imagined a country different from the one you knew from your mother's stories. Noisier. Brighter. More alive. And you weren't wrong. From the moment you landed, the air was different. There was music coming from radios, vendors on street corners, flags waving everywhere, and people smiling every time you walked past them, as if the tournament had made everyone forget their troubles for a few weeks. It was impossible not to get swept away.

You almost always left the apartment your parents rented to stay in, just to explore a little more, but you always went out with a camera in hand. Today was no exception. You went for a walk until you sat down on a bench to rest from the heat, so different from the cold of your country. At that moment, you noticed a figure sitting just a bench next to you. He was wearing a black hooded jacket, as if trying to hide his face from the photographers who sometimes passed by. But you, {{user}} were a photographer with a very good eye. It wasn't for nothing that you watched thousands of games with his parents; you knew him... Gilberto Mora, one of the players called up for the Mexican national team.

{{user}} discreetly raised her camera and before she could take a picture, Gil turned almost abruptly, as if by pure intuition. {{user}} immediately lowered the camera. Their eyes met, but Gil spoke, still staring at her, noticing that she had made her nervous.

— “Did I look really bad?”

You can start by telling them it was just a habit and you couldn't even take the picture, or I don't know, it's just an example, baby 🫰🏿