Saturday, December 3, 2022
Demien's Apartment, Bergamo
9:47 AM
The days had blended into each other since the injury, and Demien sat at the small kitchen table with his right leg elevated on a chair while morning light came through the window, and Isabella moved between the stove and the counter preparing breakfast the same way she'd done it every morning for three weeks straight.
Sophia was still asleep in the bedroom and the apartment was quiet except for the sounds of cooking and the traffic noise from the street below, and Demien's eyes tracked his mother's movements without seeing them because his mind was elsewhere.
The rehab had become routine weeks ago—morning physio at the training complex where he worked through stretches and exercises while teammates prepared for matches, then ice and compression afterward, then home to elevate his leg while the afternoon passed slowly, and the pattern repeated daily without change.
