Godfather Of Champions

 The first round of the three round of matches between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal had ended. Forest won by one solitary goal. Wenger was not unhappy at all, the whole Arsenal team’s mood wasn’t affected by this defeat, that was why Fàbregas had the mood to exchange jerseys with Wood after the end of the match.

Twain was in a good mood too. He did not care what kind of tactics Wenger had in mind; all he knew was getting the victory was safest. He never believed in words like, “What are we going to do in future”, “what are we going to do in the next round”.

He had to temporarily toss the UEFA Champions League out from his thoughts, the league was just as important.

From early April to 22nd May, these two months were the most crucial period of the season for Tony Twain. Whether they were able to get any returns for the season’s hard work depends on these two months’ results.

They could be the glorious “treble winners”, or they could crumble at the last step and get nothing.

These are the busiest days for managers in the whole season. They would be so busy that they would not be able to care about anything. Because of this, every time Twain returned to his big, pitch black house, he would feel exceptionally fatigued. A manager who was living separately with his wife for the long term, one could probably count the numbers of them in one hand.

Good news finally arrived.

After completing her work in America, Shania rejected an interview and a banquet and returned to England ahead of schedule.

At this moment, Twain was holding on to his coffee as he leant on the door frame, quietly looking at Shania getting busy in front of the washing machine.

Fans who loved Shania would probably find it hard to imagine such a scene. The supermodel who shone on the runway, the superstar who was a maverick in the eyes of the media, would be tidying up a messy room like a normal woman at home, bringing out piles and piles of dirty clothes before tossing them into the washing machine. She then put on an apron to do the dishes and cooked.

Twain had no intention of helping, instead, he was enjoying the view. Watching his wife getting busy at home gave him the feeling that this was family.

“Uncle Tony.”

“Hmm?”

“What are you looking at?”

“At you.”

“Am I that nice to look at?”, Shania said with a smile, “after so many years of marriage, haven’t you seen enough of me?”

“It’s been quite a while, I want to watch to my fill.”

” Shania went silent for a moment before asking, “Uncle Tony, how about I quit my modelling job?”

Apparently, she was mistaken about Twain’s meaning.

“Ay, what are you talking about? That was not what I meant. I don’t want to do anything else now, I just want to look at you, that’ll do for me. Don’t think too much about anything else.”, Twain said.

Twain put down his coffee mug and walked in to help.

“But it’s good now, I have nothing until the Summer, I can stay by your side all the time.”, Shania said very happily. She looked forward to days like this too. On normal days, she was an high-profile star, yet she was not interested in the happenings of the entertainment circle and she did not yearn media exposure. She also seldom visit luxury shops, her favorite way to spend her personal time was to stay with her husband, even staying on the sofa watching dvds was better than going out to get photographed by reporters.

That was why the media said she was a maverick in the modeling world and Hollywood.

Twain smiled after hearing her say that.

To him, the biggest advantage was that he could focus all his attention on football without any worries. But to Shania, she would receive a little less love. What to do, this was the sprint of the season. They would be like this every season — Shania would go back to take care of Twain and enjoy their time together while Twain had to split his attention. Half of it to his wife and half to football. Shania thought this was a little unfair…

Luckily for Twain, he had an understanding wife. Other than the occasional complaints and jealousy towards football, Shania were not dissatisfied at all.

Every time he thought about this, Twain felt like he should thank Shania. The reason why he could enjoy the success he had now, he could claim half the credit while his wife had half. It was not easy to have a star for a wife, let alone one with a personality. But when Shania was with him, she would sacrifice her personality to fulfill his needs. Feminists might feel that Twain was too chauvinistic, but this was what married life should be like. Someone had to sacrifice a part of his or her benefits, compromises had to be made.

What was in Twain’s mind then was that he did not want to stay in this business until he was 70 years old before retiring, like Ferguson. Because that would leave him with not much time to spend with his wife. When he retires, he would give everything he had to compensate his wife for all the love that he owed her.

A model’s career is short and Shania had no intentions of having any great achievements in the reel business. So when Twain retires, Shania should most likely not be a model anymore. When that time came, the two of them should have a lot of time to arrange for their own life. First, Twain wanted to travel the world with Shania. Go places where they had never went before, to all corners of the world. To an utopia where there was no media or any conflicts, as if they were the only two left in this world, enjoying each other’s company…

Twain was lost in thought as he kept scrubbing the plate in his hands, water flowing.

“What are you thinking about, Uncle Tony?”, Shania asked, aware of Twain’s abnormality.

“Ah…”, Twain muttered as he looked at the plate that was long cleaned. He put it at the side and turned off the tap, smiled at Shania and said, “I’m thinking about our lives after we retire.”

Shania was also interested as she put down what she was working on and asked, “What did you think of, is it interesting?”

“I thought about travelling the world with you. Where do you want to go?”, asked Twain.

“Hmm…”, Shania looked up as she thought, “There are too many places that I want to go…”

“That’s okay, we have lots of time.”, Twain replied.

“Have you already decided when to retire?”, Shania asked.

“Not yet, but I won’t wait till I’m 60 or 70 years old. I’ll be old then and I’ll only be able to sit in our backyard, get a suntan, that’ll be pointless then.”, Twain replied as he wiped his hands dry before going behind Shania and gently hugging her. “When the time comes, we’ll go to places we’ve never been to. You love ice-cream, don’t you? We’ll eat while we explore and I’ll let you taste all the ice-cream in the world.”

Shania could feel Twain’s breath on the nape of her neck and it ticklish, causing her to laugh as she replied, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat so much that I’ll become fat?”

“An old man and his fat wife, that’ll be even more compatible.”, Twain said as he nuzzled Shania’s ears and hair from behind. “We’re very compatible, Shania.”

Shania did not argue with Twain’s “old man” and “fat wife” as she laid in Twain’s wide chest, enjoying this warm moment. Twain might find it difficult to endure when he was alone in England, but was it not the same for Shania in America?

She yearned to smell the breath of her man, feel the warmth of his body. After a day out at work, entertaining and doing catwalks, all she wanted when she returned home was to lie in her husband’s embrace like this, throwing all her troubles away and enjoying their quiet time together.

She closed her eyes slightly and rested her head on her husband’s shoulder lazily, not wanting to move.

Twain greedily smelled the scent of her hair as he hugged Shania.

Then, both of them smelled something burning at the same time…

“Ah! The egg!”, Shania exclaimed as she jumped up, knocking into Twain’s nose as she did so. “Uncle Tony?”, she said as she turned back in a panic to see Twain holding on to his nose in pain while he held onto the table at the side for support, tears coming out from his eyes. Looks like it was quite a strong impact. “Uh… I’m really sorry Uncle Tony…”

Twain held on to his nose with his left hand and pointed behind Shania with his right, indicating for her to switch off the electricity first.

She panicked as she switched it off, then tossed the fried egg in the frying pan into the dustbin. After she was done with that, she turned back to check on her husband. Twain had already recovered. He rubbed his nose and muttered, “I hate big noses…”

Looking at his moment of weakness, Shania could not help herself but to laugh.

“You’re the culprit and you’re still laughing!”, Twain said as he gave her a stare, wiping a tear off the corner of his eye as he gave her a fierce look. “Isn’t your head in pain?”

Shania continued laughing as she shook her head.

“The eggs are burnt, right?”, Twain asked.

“Mm, burnt.”, Shania replied as she glanced at the dustbin by her feet. The pitch-black fried egg was quietly lying there and she started to laugh even more.

“Let me do it.”, Twain said as he prepared to do it himself. Shania stopped him.

“Let me do it Uncle Tony. But this time, you must behave yourself.”, she said.

Twain shrugged innocently and said, “I was only hugging you.”

Shania gave a stern look and pointed at the dining table saying, “Now, sit and prepare to eat!”

Twain sat in front of the table like a good boy with a knife in one hand, a fork in another as he waited for his meal.

Only then did Shania smile and turn back to continue making her fried egg.

Both of them enjoyed a night like this.

With Shania back in England taking care of Twain, when he went to the training grounds the next day, Twain had a smile on his face and greeted every reporter that he met. Everyone felt that something was strange. The team was going to visit the Emirates Stadium soon. Was he putting on a show to show Arsenal that he was full of confidence?

Or maybe he really had a way to ensure victory?

The reporters would probably puke blood if they knew the truth.

Pierce Brosnan understood Twain the most after all. He specially researched the love story between Twain and Shania when he was writing Twain’s biography, that was why he knew the reason. He asked Twain when he greeted him, “Your wife’s back?”

Twain nodded and took his leave with a smile.

Pierce Brosnan stroked his chin and thought for a while. The people around him asked him what was he thinking of, and he replied, “I’m thinking that the element of uncertainty for Forest has been solved, Arsenal might need to take care at their home ground…”

The people around him could not understand what he was saying. Brosnan did not explain either, they would know during the weekends anyway.

The next day, an entertainment magazine from London, England, took a picture of Shania shopping outside. Shania was dressed rather normally in the picture, without the model’s disposition on the runway at all, and her clothes were not very fashionable either.

The editor of the magazine even mocked her saying,”…Shania was dressed like an old lady from the countryside. This would have displeased the various fashion sponsors she has as it was as if she was dressed in cheap clothes bought from the market in public. Those fans who loves her would be very disappointed to see these pictures. The superstar in their eyes did not have any branded clothes in her hands, instead, she had bread, cheese and egg. She’s just like a housewife…”

In the pictures, other than a pair of sunglasses, Shania did not try to hide her identity at all. And it seemed like she did not know she was targeted by paparazzi. She drove to the supermarket and came out with bags full of food and necessities. Later, she called someone and the magazine editor gave her the lines, “Tony, what do you want for dinner?”

They were actually quite accurate. Shania was indeed giving Twain and call and she did ask this question indeed… Twain was thinking about the Arsenal match then and was a little absent-hearted in his reply, “Don’t burn the eggs again.” This made him apologize to Shania for a very long time before he could eat dinner.

As everyone can see, just like how Tony Twain had not many friends in the media, as his wife, it was natural that she would be mocked by the others.

Later, when Twain brought the team to north London and prepared for the match with Arsenal, he found a few reporters for entertainment papers in the crowd.

The questions posed to him were naturally related to Shania. Twain felt weird that the media would suddenly ask about Shania.

“This has nothing to do with this match, right?”, Twain said. He was unwilling to answer personal questions during work.

“Will she come watch the match?” A reporter asked a question which he thought was relevant to the match.

“Is it any business of yours whether she comes?”, Twain said with an unfriendly expression, unwilling to cooperate.

In fact, Shania would come watch the match. Ever since Twain had a heart ailment, Shania would come watch the match whenever she had the chance. That way, she could be closer to Tony and had a better sense of security.

Wenger had to come cool the situation down, “Please do not ask any questions that are not related to the match, we have limited time.”

Without asking these gossip questions, they could only ask some very boring questions. For example, “How confident are you of beating Nottingham Forest at home?”, “Would Van Persie’s injury be a great blow to the team?”, “Would two away games in a row make you feel that the match is difficult?”, “Is there really no issues with the team’s physicality?”

There was no conflict during this press conference. Twain behaved properly.

The media left unhappily.

After the end of the press conference, Twain specially thanked Wenger for helping him out earlier.

The cordial atmosphere between the two made it difficult to tell that they were going to be engaged in a battle to the death here soon.

Wenger smiled and said, “I don’t want them to anger you. Who knows what you’ll do when you’re angry.” He put out his hand, “I hope you’ll be in the mood for a drink after the match.”

Twain took his hand and said, “I don’t drink, Arsene.”

“Juice would do too, as long as you are in the mood.”

“Why not?”

After saying goodbye to Wenger, Twain received a call from Brosnan. The mysterious tone that the reporter used on the phone made Twain think that he was very annoying.

“Hey, Tony. Um… Is Jordana’s return beneficial to your final sprint?”, he asked.

“Is this an interview?”

“Oh no, this is definitely not an interview, nor would it be publicly posted. I’m just a little bit curious…”

“Since when did you become so interested in gossips, just like those entertainment reporters, Mister 007?”

“He he…”, Brosnan could only give a wry laughter.

Twain sighed, it was not a big secret anyway, “Yes, are you happy now Mister 007?”

“Ah…Thank you! I understand now!” Brosnan hung up excitedly.

Twain shrugged as he looked at his phone.

Even though Shania was not technically a “good wife”, he still needed his wife to give him a push at the back during the sprint…

At home, Shania always liked to lie down in his arms, but during the sprint to become champions, he felt a gentle but firm person behind him. As long as that person was there, he felt like the road filled with thorns was flat and smooth and there was good weather ahead.