Dr. Sander’s voice was like a thunderclap in Zachary’s ears. It reverberated within his mind for a few seconds, washing away all the anxiety and gloom accumulated over the past few days. His mind cleared as his mood lightened. He felt like he’d just bathed in a cool spring with mystical powers.

”This is great news,” he heard Emily say while patting his shoulder. “Zachary, I’m really happy for you.”

Zachary nodded and thanked her. He then nodded at his aunt in silent affirmation of overcoming a hurdle together before returning his attention to Dr. Sanders.

”Can we see her?” he asked with eyes filled with anticipation.

Dr. Sanders shook his head. “We still need to monitor Mrs. Bemba for three more hours in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. We’ll then move her to the Neuro Intensive Care Unit, where you can see her. So, you have to be patient a bit.”

”Oh, okay,” Zachary said, nodding. “Thanks a lot, doctor, for all your help.”

”You’re welcome,” Dr. Sanders said, smiling. “I have to handle another case later in the day. So, let me say goodbye for now. If you need more information about the post-surgery requirements for your grandma, you can talk to the nurse clinician on duty.”

”Okay, doctor,” Zachary replied. “Thanks.”

Dr. Sanders beamed and exchanged a few words with Emily before turning around and walking out of the waiting room. He also seemed to be in a good mood, probably due to the success of the surgical procedure.

Zachary turned his gaze from the receding back of the neurosurgeon before pulling Emily to the side. “Should we head to the nurse clinician’s office to inquire about the post-surgery requirements?”

”We don’t need to,” Emily responded. “I already inquired about all issues related to your grandma’s treatment. What she requires more than anything is adequate care to help her recover from the surgical wound. So, after the hospital discharges her, we’ll move her to the post-surgery rehabilitation center.”

”The rehabilitation center?” Zachary was in doubt. “Didn’t the doctor say something about keeping her under observation for two weeks?”

”That’s true,” Emily replied. “But you need to understand that the center is also a facility in this hospital, and its purpose is to help patients recover from surgical wounds. So, the surgeons will continue to be involved in her care while in the rehabilitation center. They will also be constantly in contact with the facility to coordinate appointments and treatment after discharge.”

”Then, we should really check her into this post-surgery rehabilitation center,” Zachary agreed. “What about the hospital bills? Was the money I sent you enough?”

”Yes,” Emily responded. “I haven’t even used half of the money. So, you don’t have to worry about the bills.”

”Then, that’s great,” Zachary said. “Thanks again for having my back.”

”Don’t mention it,” she replied. “When do you plan to return to Trondheim, by the way?”

”If all goes well, Sunday evening,” Zachary responded. “That’s when my travel window ends.”

”That’s a good plan,” Emily said. “Since your grandma will be in the post-surgery rehabilitation center, you don’t have to worry. The nurses there will take care of her and constantly monitor her condition. Your aunt can also help out. So, you can return your focus to football and choose to visit, maybe once in two weeks, to see how she’s doing.”

”Let’s first see her progress in the next two days,” Zachary said, sighing. “I’ll make my plans after that.”

—–

Over the next two days, Zachary kept a close eye on his grandma’s progress. He constantly interacted with the doctors in charge of her case and visited her during the morning and evening hours. And to his relief, he finally confirmed that she was getting better with every passing day.

The doctors had handled her case well, and her surgical wound had no issues. They were only waiting to conduct a few more tests after four days before confirming whether the treatment procedure had managed to remove all the tumor cells from her brain.

However, Zachary couldn’t wait for the test results as his travel window ended on Sunday. So, even though he was reluctant to part, he still said his goodbyes to his grandma that evening. He then left all the other arrangements in the hands of Emily, his capable agent, before boarding a Scandinavian Airlines flight and returning to Trondheim.

—–

The following morning.

Zachary woke up late. He was suffering from terrible jetlag and was still a bit sleepy since he’d only managed to go to bed at around 3:00 AM. So, he decided to call the coach and see if he could excuse him from that day’s training.

”Hello, Zach,” the Coach Johansen said after the phone call had connected.

”Hello, coach,” Zachary replied. “How’s your morning?”

”My morning is fine,” he replied. “How’s your grandma doing?”

”She’s recovering well. The doctors say that her condition is stable. They only need to conduct a few more tests in three days to confirm whether the treatment managed to remove all the tumor cells.”

”That’s good to hear,” the coach said. “And I believe she’ll be fine. So, are you back in Trondheim?”

”Yes. I arrived at 3:00 AM this morning. As a result, I’m suffering from terrible jetlag. So, it’s my humble request that you allow me to skip today’s training.”

”That’s fine, Zachary,” Coach Johansen responded after a short while. “However, make sure that you undergo a conditioning routine today evening. Since we have only three days to our Europa League game against Juventus, you need to maintain your fitness. Otherwise, you’ll find it hard to perform like usual during that game.”

”I’ll do as you recommend, coach,” Zachary replied. However, he wasn’t too worried about his fitness since he had continued going through his yoga routine and stretching exercises even while in Zurich.

Moreover, he’d also just mastered the step-over skill, which would help him catch the opponents off guard. So, he was sure that he would be totally ready for the match against Juventus if he trained seriously for the next two days.

”You’re also clueless about the tactics and game plan since you missed the previous four training sessions,” the coach said after a short while. “So, you have a lot of work to do when you return to training tomorrow.”

”Don’t worry, coach,” Zachary said. “I have always been a quick study when learning all matters related to football. So, as long as you go through the tactics for me once, I’ll be able to master them.”

”Then, that puts my heart at ease,” Coach Johansen said. “Do your best to rest and recover today. We’ll talk more tomorrow during training.”

”Okay, thanks, coach. Have a good day.”

”Have a good day, too.”

After ending the call, Zachary let out a breath of relief. He’d been worried that he would underperform during that day’s training due to his poor condition. But since the coach had allowed him another day of rest, he could finally relax and catch up with the sleep he had missed over the previous few days.

So, he threw his phone to the side and immediately dived back into bed. A few minutes later, he was already snoring and oblivious to everything around him.

—–

Over the following two days, Zachary got busy. He immersed himself in training with the intent to push his match fitness to its highest state possible. As a result, he spent many hours sweating in the gym and running on the training ground.

When he wasn’t doing physicals or partaking in the team training sessions, he would also find time to go over the tactics for the match with Coach Johansen. Additionally, he also started watching the past games of Juventus to understand their playing patterns and style.

Since he understood that Juventus was one of the giants of Europe, he was leaving no stone unturned. He even went over each player’s previous match statistics to understand their threat levels, especially during crucial games.

The hours quickly turned into days as he prepared himself, and soon it was Wednesday morning. The day when the team would finally head to Turin for the match against Juventus had arrived.

The team held a two-hour light training session to refine the tactics and game plan one final time. When the clock hand just pointed to the ten o’clock mark in the morning, the coach ended the session and notified all the players to gather in the tactics room. It was finally the time to announce the match squad that would face off against Juventus the following evening.

”I won’t waste time going over the tactics as we’ve been doing just that over the past two weeks,” Coach Johansen said after the players had taken their seats. “Instead, I’ll call out the players who managed to make the squad traveling to Turin today afternoon. Those who hear their names should prepare their bags right after this meeting ends. The set-off time from the Lerkendal parking lot is 2:00 PM.”

”I’ll begin with the starting line-up,” the coach continued. “We have Daniel Örlund, Mikael Dorsin, Tore Reginiussen, Yerry Mina, Eric Bailly, Thomas Partey, Zachary Bemba, Takumi Minamino, Nicki Nielsen, Tobias Mikkelsen, and Alexander Söderlund as our starting players.”

”On the bench, we have Lund Hansen, William Troost-Ekong, Cristian Gamboa, Ole Selnæs, Mike Jensen, Karl Toko Ekambi, and Paul Kasongo. Those are all the names of the players heading to Turin. You have three hours to prepare your bags.”