2026-10-18, 11:01 AM - Word count:
The room was painfully bright to Joe’s eyes when he awoke. Must’ve been too tired the after returning from Bangkok. Neither blinds nor curtains covered the windows, so the sun was burning at peak power. He threw the thin duvet over his face in a manner reminiscent of a vampire in an old black-and-white film. Only the hissing was missing. Still covered by the duvet, he rolled to the edge of the bed and stuck out an arm, reaching for the string to pull down the blinds as a first effort at saving his continued sleep. Next, he rose to close the curtains. Now, only the light of the cellphone remained. It had just vibrated, sleep mode evidently also forgotten. Really must have just have fallen asleep out of nowhere last night. He couldn’t even remember getting into bed. Grabbing the phone to turn on sleep mode, Joe saw that he’d gotten a message on Line from someone called Jiraporn. No Jiraporns in Joe’s life. Whatever, sleep still beckoned. Phone to the side of his pillow, Joe dozed back off.
The screen read 11:14. The dark room had revealed little about the time, with only a few small rays of light protruding from the bottom of the curtains. Oh well, not like there were any tasks for the day. The last match of the season had been played already, and the only remaining duties for the season were still a couple of days off. The staff were well aware that the players would be in need of rest following a long season. Opening the curtains, Joe turned off sleep mode. Right, there was that one message from earlier. From around 6:30, it seemed. After clicking the message, Line opened up and revealed its full contents: “Hi, are you back from Bangkok already?” In Thai. Who knew about him being in Bangkok? Above the message was a sticker Joe had sent about a week earlier. Right. The woman he kept running into here in Budapest. He was about to send a message simply confirming that he was back, but erased it and instead sent one saying “What, miss me that much?”
Looking around the room, Joe’s eyes were caught by his suitcase. It was full of random snacks and food ingredients that Tok and Pim had insisted he bring, even if he tried to explain that he didn’t even have a kitchen – not to mention that he intended to return to Bangkok before long.
Breaking with his usual habits, Joe had breakfast in the hotel. The energy to go out was absent. He’d been sleeping for too long, and his stomach felt entirely empty. Even though he was late for the hotel’s morning buffet, it wasn’t as though they magically ran out of food at a certain hour. Granted, the kitchen was technically closed, but things like yoghurt, bread, fruit and coffee were always available upon request. When Joe was more or less through the meal, Jiraporn responded. “Never. Anyway, wanna go for a walk later?”
Joe realised that he might as well offload some of the foodstuff on her. Better that than waste it, and it seemed unlikely that any of his teammates or the hotel staff would want any of it, other perhaps than to try it out as some sort of experiment. Not that MAMA noodles, fish sauce, or shrimp paste were all that interesting, really.
“Sure, when and where?”
A few minutes passed.
“I was thinking we could meet at Alexanderplatz in ten minutes. What do you say?”
Before opening the message itself, Joe read it off the front screen of his phone and googled Alexanderplatz.
“Somewhere in Budapest, please.”
“Got it. How about we meet at the bench we met at last at 2?”
As Joe approached the bench, the outline of a woman reading a book began to take shape. He thought for a second about sneaking up on her to give her a shock, but such behaviour would likely only meet ridicule from this woman. When he got close, she slowly inserted a bookmark and closed the book in a smooth set of movements. “What’s with the bag? Did you bring food for the ducks?”
“Right on the money,” Joe answered. “Here, Miss Duck.” He handed her the bag.
Jiraporn gave Joe a puzzled look as she accepted the bag, and waited a moment before opening it.
“My dad made me bring a ton of stuff, and I don’t know anyone else who might want it, so…” Joe said.
“Because you don’t know anyone else in Hungary?” she teased him. “But thanks. I’ve been missing homemade Thai food.”
They chatted away about the summer for a little while. Apparently, Jiraporn would be going to travel around Europe. “Gotta seize the opportunity while it’s there,” she said. Quite the recognisable slogan to a footballer, so Joe naturally agreed. He said that he would have to consider doing the same next year, refraining from informing her that he frequently travelled around the world.
Following the sponsor duties, Joe and the other young players went to one of the local parks together to hang out one last time before they split across the world for the holidays. Some would be going home like Joe. Others would be going out to see the world, or to just hang out somewhere with a nice climate. Resorts and the like. Spikeball was the theme of the day, with most of the guys being first time players, getting varying degrees of competitive.
“Next time we all get together, it won’t be as confused lambs, but as proud.. sheep?” someone remarked, catching themselves before finishing the sentence anyway. “Wolves?” they tried to save their statement.
“As sheep,” they all concluded.
And thus, Joe’s first season as a professional footballer was concluded.
The screen read 11:14. The dark room had revealed little about the time, with only a few small rays of light protruding from the bottom of the curtains. Oh well, not like there were any tasks for the day. The last match of the season had been played already, and the only remaining duties for the season were still a couple of days off. The staff were well aware that the players would be in need of rest following a long season. Opening the curtains, Joe turned off sleep mode. Right, there was that one message from earlier. From around 6:30, it seemed. After clicking the message, Line opened up and revealed its full contents: “Hi, are you back from Bangkok already?” In Thai. Who knew about him being in Bangkok? Above the message was a sticker Joe had sent about a week earlier. Right. The woman he kept running into here in Budapest. He was about to send a message simply confirming that he was back, but erased it and instead sent one saying “What, miss me that much?”
Looking around the room, Joe’s eyes were caught by his suitcase. It was full of random snacks and food ingredients that Tok and Pim had insisted he bring, even if he tried to explain that he didn’t even have a kitchen – not to mention that he intended to return to Bangkok before long.
Breaking with his usual habits, Joe had breakfast in the hotel. The energy to go out was absent. He’d been sleeping for too long, and his stomach felt entirely empty. Even though he was late for the hotel’s morning buffet, it wasn’t as though they magically ran out of food at a certain hour. Granted, the kitchen was technically closed, but things like yoghurt, bread, fruit and coffee were always available upon request. When Joe was more or less through the meal, Jiraporn responded. “Never. Anyway, wanna go for a walk later?”
Joe realised that he might as well offload some of the foodstuff on her. Better that than waste it, and it seemed unlikely that any of his teammates or the hotel staff would want any of it, other perhaps than to try it out as some sort of experiment. Not that MAMA noodles, fish sauce, or shrimp paste were all that interesting, really.
“Sure, when and where?”
A few minutes passed.
“I was thinking we could meet at Alexanderplatz in ten minutes. What do you say?”
Before opening the message itself, Joe read it off the front screen of his phone and googled Alexanderplatz.
“Somewhere in Budapest, please.”
“Got it. How about we meet at the bench we met at last at 2?”
As Joe approached the bench, the outline of a woman reading a book began to take shape. He thought for a second about sneaking up on her to give her a shock, but such behaviour would likely only meet ridicule from this woman. When he got close, she slowly inserted a bookmark and closed the book in a smooth set of movements. “What’s with the bag? Did you bring food for the ducks?”
“Right on the money,” Joe answered. “Here, Miss Duck.” He handed her the bag.
Jiraporn gave Joe a puzzled look as she accepted the bag, and waited a moment before opening it.
“My dad made me bring a ton of stuff, and I don’t know anyone else who might want it, so…” Joe said.
“Because you don’t know anyone else in Hungary?” she teased him. “But thanks. I’ve been missing homemade Thai food.”
They chatted away about the summer for a little while. Apparently, Jiraporn would be going to travel around Europe. “Gotta seize the opportunity while it’s there,” she said. Quite the recognisable slogan to a footballer, so Joe naturally agreed. He said that he would have to consider doing the same next year, refraining from informing her that he frequently travelled around the world.
Following the sponsor duties, Joe and the other young players went to one of the local parks together to hang out one last time before they split across the world for the holidays. Some would be going home like Joe. Others would be going out to see the world, or to just hang out somewhere with a nice climate. Resorts and the like. Spikeball was the theme of the day, with most of the guys being first time players, getting varying degrees of competitive.
“Next time we all get together, it won’t be as confused lambs, but as proud.. sheep?” someone remarked, catching themselves before finishing the sentence anyway. “Wolves?” they tried to save their statement.
“As sheep,” they all concluded.
And thus, Joe’s first season as a professional footballer was concluded.
