.acht.
Marco left Jude and Grace's house during the early hours of the morning, to avoid anyone from seeing him. The last thing he wanted was for the press to spread some rumors about him. What he didn't know was that it was already happening in the news papers and in gossip magazines all over Dortmund. But Marco wasn't the type who read too much gossip anyway, and it would be a while before he would see any of it.
At five in the morning, the streets of Dortmund were nearly empty. Most people were still asleep, and the only people awake were too busy rushing off to work to notice him sneaking into his car that was parked in front of Jude's house.
He made it to his home within a half hour and got into his bed. The couch at Jude's house had been comfortable enough, and he loved keeping her company, but it wasn't nearly as good as his bed. The Borussia Dortmund footballer quickly stripped down to his boxers, jumped into his bed, and resumed sleeping. He wouldn't be waking up for another four hours.
His alarm rang at nine in the morning. Marco got out of bed and got in the shower to start off his day. He would be going into his therapy later for a final evaluation, in which they would inform him if he was ready to return to training with the other footballers. Marco was very excited for it. He couldn't want to get back to playing because he wanted to invite Jude to the stadium. He wanted to have her cheering him on, and wearing a jersey with his name on the back.
Most of his friends from the national team had already returned from their vacation and he hoped to be seeing them soon. Though he still felt a bit bad about not being able to go, he was happy for them. He knew they deserved the win, and he felt it was his as well. Mario had dedicated it to him.
He raced off to the Borussia Dortmund training ground and wait straight to the medical offices.
There he waited for a couple of minutes until one of the doctors went to see him. He had Marco do a few warm up exercises, and gave his evaluation that Marco was ready to return to Borussia Dortmund training, as well as DFB training, should he be called in the future. Then they filled out some forms and Marco was officially declared in shape to resume his training. He would need to report the next morning, in order to re-integrate himself with the rest of the team.
Marco left the training ground with a wide grin on his face. The only thing that lessened his happiness was that he wouldn't be able to volunteer at the bakery anymore, but he knew Jude would understand.
He drove directly to the bakery instead of going home first, he wanted to give Jude the good news.
But when he parked his car out front, and got out to walk up to the front door, he noticed the sign that read: Sorry, We're Closed.
Marco's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
The bakery was normally open at this time. But he figured it was probably because Jude was still sick and Grace was probably at home taking care of her.
He got back into his car and drove to Jude's home. He rang her doorbell, since he didn't have keys to open, and Jude finally came after a few minutes. Marco was smiling, but his smile dropped when he noticed she wasn't at all happy to see him. She stood at the doorway, bundled up in a thick sweater, her hair was in a mess, and there were dark circles under her eyes. And what was worse for Marco was that she looked like she wanted to tear his head off.
"What's wrong, liebe?" He asked her.
With her hands on her hips, she scolded him, "What did your friend do to my mum? She's all depressed and won't get out of bed, and I don't know why. She won't talk to me. He must have said or done something because she was fine before she left with him."
