GEM TALENT

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When William finally came to a complete stop perfectly in front of his quiet apartment building, he was so deeply worried about his entire future.

The heavy, crushing weight of his highly confusing and terribly boring morning at the large university was pressing down very hard on his tired shoulders, making him completely ignore the busy people and the loudly honking cars passing by his street, because his mind was totally trapped in a dark, spinning cloud of heavy doubts.

He walked slowly up the small concrete steps of his building, and he unlocked his front door with completely shaking hands, and he entered the quiet room straight away without even bothering to take off his light jacket or his heavy outdoor shoes.

He completely bypassed the small kitchen where he usually stopped to drink a cold, refreshing glass of water after a very long trip, and he walked slowly and heavily with his head looking down sadly at the floor until he reached his lonely bedroom.

He sat directly on the soft edge of his bed, letting his heavy school backpack drop loudly onto the wooden floor with a big thud, because he simply did not have any physical energy left in his tired body to even unpack his blank notebooks.

As the complete and absolute silence of the empty apartment surrounded him like a thick, heavy blanket, he took a very deep breath, and he knew deeply in his heart that right now this is the exact, crucial time for some serious rethinking, because he had to finally make a permanent, life-changing choice between football or science.

He stared blankly at the plain white wall directly in front of him, feeling completely lost and trapped in the middle of a giant crossroads, and he knew that he could absolutely no longer keep running away from the painful truth that was staring him right in the face today.

He closed his tired eyes for a brief, quiet moment and started to carefully analyze his past choices, clearly reminding himself that pure science is exactly what he learnt in high school and strongly believed that if football doesn't go well, he would easily fall back on it.

He always told his own mind that if his bright football career seems not to be his true way in life, he would quickly go for science, using his sharp brain to build a very stable and highly respected career that no cruel club manager could ever destroy or take away from him.

He vividly remembered studying long hours in his school library, carefully memorizing all the complicated elements and formulas, because he always wanted to have a safe and powerful backup plan just in case his fragile legs ever got terribly injured on the rough pitch.

However, as he sat there alone on his quiet bed, his beating heart loudly argued against his logical brain, loudly reminding him that while science was just a safe backup plan, beautiful football was what he actually had a massive passion for and truly loved doing with all of his soul.

He thought deeply about the pure, unmatched joy he always felt whenever his football boots touched the soft green grass, beautifully realizing that kicking the round leather ball brought him ultimate happiness even when he is completely sad or heavily stressed about other major problems in his life.

The magical, thrilling feeling of scoring a wonderful goal, or giving a perfect, splitting through pass to a fast-running teammate, or beautifully trapping a long ball with his chest, was a special kind of medicine that instantly cured all of his hidden pains.

This deep realization made him deeply question his recent, hasty decision to quit the beloved sport, and he opened his eyes, let out a very long, frustrated sigh, and gently rubbed his aching forehead with both of his hands, quietly whispering to the empty room as he asked himself,

"Hope I am really not going the completely wrong direction?" He continued to think very deeply about this heavy question, terrified that he was purposely walking away from his true, God-given destiny just because he was deeply angry and highly offended by the unfair way the rich football club had treated him recently.

He tried his absolute best to force himself to be completely honest about his new university journey, and the painful truth hit him very hard like a heavy brick, because he absolutely doesn't understand anything so far in all of his advanced Chemistry classes.

He remembered sitting in the massive lecture hall just a few hours ago, completely lost and totally confused while the fast-talking professor wrote impossible mathematical formulas on the dusty chalkboard, and he knew deeply that he did not want to deceive himself again by pretending that everything was perfectly fine when it was actually a total disaster.

He realized clearly that trying to forcefully push himself into becoming a legendary chemist without having any natural passion or basic understanding for the subject was a terrible mistake, because true greatness only comes when your heart is fully connected to the hard work you are actually doing every single day.

But also, a very complicated and highly frustrating problem quickly popped up in his busy mind to make his current decision even harder, because he suddenly remembered that he still has a fully active contract with Chelsea Football Club locked safely away in his desk drawer.

Even though he had boldly sent a brave text message to his manager saying he was quitting the game forever, legally and officially he was still totally active with them, meaning he could not just magically join another team of his choice without their strict permission and signed approval.

He frowned deeply as he thought about the cold, harsh business side of the sport, knowing perfectly well that the arrogant Chelsea directors did not truly need him for their main squad, and they were definitely not planning to give him any fair playing time on the big pitch.

Instead of allowing him to shine brightly in his natural position and build his confidence, they will surely just transfer him away or quickly ship him off on a cheap loan to another random team that he doesn't even know, treating him exactly like a totally worthless piece of property instead of a highly talented human being.

This dark, ugly reality of the football business made him feel completely stuck and highly suffocated, because he deeply wanted to play the beautiful game he truly loved, but he absolutely hated the toxic, unfair system that was currently controlling his entire young life and blocking his path to freedom.

While he was still thinking so deeply about that massive, heavy problem and staring completely blankly at his wooden bedroom floor, the sudden, incredibly loud ringing of his mobile phone sharply pierced through the total silence of the room, making his entire body jump up in total surprise.

He slowly reached into his deep jacket pocket with completely shaking fingers, pulled out the glowing device, and looked down closely at the bright screen, and his tired eyes immediately widened in absolute shock when he saw the caller ID flashing brightly back at his face.

It was Coach Lincoln calling his personal number, and this completely unexpected moment made William's heart start beating extremely fast inside his chest like a loud, rapid drum, because this was something he had truly not expected to happen at all today.

This was incredibly shocking to his mind because for the very first time ever since William had officially decided to quit the sport and boldly walked away from the famous new promotd club, the highly respected coach had finally called him directly to speak.

William just sat there frozen on the edge of his bed, totally unable to move a single muscle, and staring intensely at the loudly vibrating phone in his palm, while a massive wave of hot, heavy tension arises quickly in the quiet room, filling the invisible air with thick, unbreakable suspense.

His mind started racing at full speed, wildly wondering why the busy manager would suddenly reach out to him after completely ignoring his departure for the past several days, and he was terrified of what might happen if he actually swiped the screen and answered the call.

He desperately wondered what does he really want to say to a young boy who just abandoned the football team, and will this totally unexpected phone call officially end his football career forever, or will it magically pull him right back into the beautiful, grassy pitch?

The loud ringing continued to echo loudly in the small room, demanding a quick answer, and William was left staring deeply at the screen, totally trapped in a state of deep suspense as the burning question completely took over his confused mind. He picked the call and the first word was,

" William, how are you, and how is your new career going?. William was so shocked to hear that from the coach, how did he know?