THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

After spending two days in Zurich with his recovering grandma, Zachary returned to Trondheim. His plane touched down on the runway of Værnes Airport at noon, and he quickly went through the arrival procedures before picking up his luggage and exiting the airport.

Most of the people he bypassed couldn't recognize him, especially since he'd donned a big cap that concealed a large part of his face. He walked quickly with his suitcase in tow, and before long, he made it to one of the airport's parking spaces. He was there to board a taxi cab back to his apartment.

"Good afternoon," he said to the middle-aged driver after jumping into the back seat of a random taxi cab. "Take me to Stjørdalsveien."

"That will be 580 NOK," the middle-aged driver replied while turning and shifting slightly in the driver's seat to face Zachary. Then, he seemed to do a double-take as his eyes widened. "Wait! You're Zachary Bemba. Aren't you?"

Zachary smiled ruefully, eyeing the driver. He was a chubby man with round cheeks and broad shoulders. "How did you recognize me with this huge cap covering a large part of my face?" He asked.

The driver chuckled, stroking his bearded chin. "A few things gave you away. For one, your voice and your exotic accent when speaking Norwegian. There's also your tall build and that unique afro of yours spreading out from under the cap."

"You can even recognize my voice?"

The driver grinned, patting his chest exaggeratedly. "I'm a staunch supporter of Rosenborg and a huge fan of yours. I have heard your voice many times during interviews with the press. I can recognize it immediately as long as you speak."

"Really?" Zachary was skeptical.

Zachary was a fan of the two greats - Ronaldinho and Zinedine, and occasionally watched their interviews for motivation. But he was sure that he wouldn't recognize the two players just from their voices. So, the driver before him must have a strong memory, or he should be just speaking nonsense.

"To be honest, I wasn't certain when I heard your voice," the driver finally admitted. "But when I assessed you closely and noticed the tracksuit beneath your jacket, I knew it was you. Man! You don't know how glad I'm to have you in my cab. My colleagues will be super jealous when I tell them that I drove the one and only Zachary Bemba today afternoon. Is it possible to sign an autograph for me?"

"No problem. I'll sign for you." Zachary replied, nodding.

"Great." The driver immediately fished a marker and a white Rosenborg jersey from his glove compartment. Moreover, it was Zachary's new number-8 jersey. "Can you please make the autograph as big as possible?" He asked almost with puppy eyes.

"No problem." Zachary smiled and received the jersey. He immediately signed his name on the back of the jersey using big letters. He then returned it to the driver.

"Thanks a lot," the driver said, grinning from ear to ear. He received that shirt and looked at the autograph in black ink as if it was the most valuable treasure in the world. "I'm so happy. I won't charge you for this trip as you have done me a great favor. Fasten your seatbelt, and I will drive you to Stjørdalsveien right away."

Zachary shook his head. "Seriously! You don't have to waive the taxi cab fee due to the autograph..."

"But, I insist," the driver said, starting the car. "My colleagues and even bosses would be on my case if they knew that I charged the one and only Zachary Bemba for a thirty-two-kilometer trip. Please sit back and enjoy the ride. Don't stress about the fee."

Zachary could only smile helplessly and shake his head when he noticed the car moving. He left the driver to his own devices and leaned back into his seat before fastening his seat belt.

Soon, they were already on the highway, and the driver started speaking again. "So, Zachary! Do you think we can win against Lyon and qualify for the semi-finals of the Europa League?"

"I believe we can, and we will," Zachary replied. "Remember that we just overcame Juventus. The confidence among the players is overflowing. We'll therefore go into the match looking only for a win."

"I'm also confident that you can win if you play at your best," the driver replied as he steered the car around a corner. "Lyon has been performing poorly over the past few months and is just fifth on the League One table. But you have to be wary of their two strikers - Alexandre Lacazette and Bafétimbi Gomis. The two have each already scored more than fifteen goals this season. There's also that tough defender of theirs called Samuel Umtiti."

"Don't worry," Zachary said, smiling. "I'm sure that the coach is already considering all those factors. By the way, I'm surprised that you know a lot about Lyon. Do you also follow the League One?"

The driver chuckled without taking his eyes off the road. "That's not the case," he said. "Aside from driving the taxi cab, I'm also a YouTuber during my free time. So, I'm always aware of the info of most top teams around the world."

"I see," Zachary said, nodding.

"You should check out my channel if you get some time," the driver continued. "It's entirely about football."

"What's the name of your channel?" Zachary asked, glancing out of the car window.

"True Ball Magnet," the driver hastily replied. "There's a dash between true and ball, and there's no space between ball and magnet. Also, the first letter of each word is capitalized. That's the name of the channel."

"True-BallMagnet," Zachary confirmed. "I got it. Don't worry. I'll check it out. If I find the content appropriate, I'll post the link to your channel on my Twitter. But to be on the safer side, it's better that you write your channel's name down for me. That will ensure that I don't forget about it when I reach home."

"Great," the driver replied excitedly. "I'll write the channel's name down when we get to our destination. Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Zachary said.

Just then, he felt his phone vibrating within his pocket. He hurriedly fished it out before unlocking it and glancing at the screen. His heartbeat quickened when he noticed that he'd just received a notification from his bank.

-----

DNB

Dear Customer, Your account ending 4567 has been credited with NOK 4,788,000. Your new available balance is NOK 14,279,357.

-----

Zachary felt a surge of excitement swell through him after skimming through the notification. The money from the Nike endorsement deal had finally arrived in his account after some delays caused by Norway's strict verification and taxation process. With the money, he could finally set his investment plans in motion.

Over the past year, he'd mostly been living off his match bonuses. He'd managed to save more than 9 million Norwegian Kroner from his club salary and the income from the Audi endorsement deal. After receiving the 4.8 Million NOK from Nike, he finally had a more than 14 million NOK bank balance.

If he deducted Emily's share, which was only ten percent of the funds from Nike, and some more emergency money to take care of his grandma, he would still remain with roughly 13 million NOK in his account. The amount was approximately equal to 1.5 million Euros, which was enough starting capital for him to invest.

Since he was sure of the future, he planned to buy shares in Tesla Inc. with the whole amount of 1.5 million Euros as soon as possible. He would then wait for seven years before selling and gaining slightly more than 36 million Euros from the investment. That was easy money as far as he was concerned.

Just then, the driver's voice interrupted Zachary's thought process. "Where exactly in Stjørdalsveien are you going?"

Zachary quickly gave him directions — and before long, they arrived at his apartment building.

The driver wrote down his YouTube channel name and contact information on a piece of paper before handing it to Zachary.

Zachary received it and shoved it in his pocket. He then said his goodbyes to the driver before carrying his luggage and ascending the stairs to his apartment. Since the traveling had worn him out, he was looking forward to taking a warm shower before diving into his bed for a long sleep.

-----

The following morning, Zachary headed to Lerkendal to attend the team training. As usual, he was early and the first on the pitch. He immediately decided to put in a few minutes of agility and dribbling drills before the coaches arrived.

After setting up the cones, he worked tirelessly with the ball without caring about anything else. Step-overs, shuttle runs, etcetera — he carefully performed the exercises, trying his best to go a step further at honing his skills. He couldn't relax as he was still attempting to merge his skills into a single style by starting from the basics. So, he didn't stop even when his teammates began arriving on the training ground.

*FWEEEEEEE*

Just as he'd stepped up the pace, the sound of a whistle broke his concentration. He stopped his training and glanced around. He immediately realized that the coaches had already arrived, and they seemed to be signaling all the players to move to the tactics room right away.

After a few inquiries, he learned that there was a pre-training meeting that morning. So, he concluded his session before following the rest of his teammates to the tactics room.