Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
”Tony Twain has announced his retirement!”
“This time, it’s goodbye for real!”
“Unbelievable, he actually chose to leave at the peak of his career…”
“His retirement is a massive loss to English Football!”
Even those media bodies who were put into Twain’s blacklist after the final felt that it was a pity that he left. Although it was not news that Twain was going to resign from his post as England’s manager after the World Cup, nobody expected him to choose to leave completely——To retire.
England’s triumph in the World Cup dominated the headlines of the newspapers for two days before it got replaced by Twain’s decision.
For a moment, there were many rumors about his reasons for retirement, but none of them was trustable. That was because Twain did not explain why he was going to retire instead of just resigning.
※※※
“You actually resigned?” Shania’s beautiful eyes widened as she looked at Twain opposite her.
Twain smiled as he enjoyed the expression on his wife’s face. She looked beautiful even when she was surprised.
“That’s right, I quit! Aren’t you happy? I only see surprise in your expression.”
“Er…” Shania did not know whether she was happy with the news. She did not even know if she should be happy.
The two of them were in France, Paris, not in England at that time. Shania had a show to attend there and Twain was accompanying her.
“I wanted to give you a surprise, do you like it?”
Twain spread his arms out and waited for his wife to jump into his embrace.
However, Shania did not do that. She merely cocked her head as she examined her husband, “I’m just thinking about the number of days that you can keep it up this time…”
Twain blushed in embarrassment at this comment. The last time Twain said that he would quit, not go back into management and focus on accompanying Shania, he went back on his words within the month after his heart got restless after a call from London.
“I’m retiring this time!” Twain raised his right hand and swore, “I’m going to have absolutely nothing to do with football now.”
Shania merely gave him a smile. She was not a silly girl who would believe everything a man said.
Twain could tell that she did not believe her, and he had no choice but to mutter, “Let time prove everything then.”
Shania only leant onto him after seeing that he was feeling down, “What will George say about you quitting again?” The last time he left his job as Nottingham Forest’s manager, Wood got into a cold war with him for a very long time. Shania knew all about that incident.
“You don’t have to worry about it this time,” Twain patted Shania on her back gently, “I’ve already talked to him about it.”
※※※
George Wood received a call from Pierce Brosnan, asking him about “insider information” regarding Twain’s retirement.
“He said he wanted to take a break, “George’s answer was as succinct as ever.
“That’s it?” Brosnan could hardly believe what he was hearing. How could something so grave be decided so easily?
“Yes.”
“How could that…wait!” Brosnan finally reacted to it, “You didn’t try to stop him when he told you?”
“I did, but it didn’t work,” Wood was honest and did not lie.
Brosnan stayed silent for a while before asking, “George, can you tell me the details of the events at that time?”
“Um…” Wood became hesitant as he did not know what he should or should not tell the media. Twain did not agree to it, nor did he disagree.
Brosnan decided to use the door-in-the-face technique, “It’s fine if he forbade you from talking about it. I won’t make things difficult for you, George.”
“No, he did not say that…” Wood shook his head.
He thought back to a month ago, the night before England was due to play Australia. Twain suddenly asked Wood to go to his room as he had something important to talk to him about.
“Actually, this is not something that I should be telling you before such an important match. However, I trust that you have the mental strength to cope with it, and if I talk to you about this when it happens, there will be many disruptions which will make it difficult for us to have a sit and talk properly,” Twain was very direct at what he wanted to say, “My contract will be up after the World Cup and I don’t intend to extend it. You know about it, don’t you?”
Wood nodded his head. Not only him, the whole England knew about it. After the FIFA Confederations Cup, England returned in glory and the media guessed that the Football Association should have given Twain a new contract. After all, it was only a year till the World Cup. However, the Football Association did not do that then, choosing to wait till after the World Cup before deciding if they wanted to extend Twain’s contract based on the results. It sounded like they did not trust Twain.
Even though Twain did not openly lose his temper, he lost his faith in the Football Association because of that. He could not feel the cooperation between him and the Football Association anymore. The only thing left was for them to make use of each other. Harvey was merely using him to solidify his position as he led the England team to a series of good results, yet he was unwilling to take responsibility for any possible future failures. Twain, on the other hand, was just doing it for the 14 million pounds annual salary.
Since that was the case, then it was better to end this earlier. So, after leading England to the final round, Twain released an announcement to say that he would not be extending his contract with the Football Association. Regardless of the results in the World Cup, he would be leaving his position after the competition.
At that time, England barely made it out of the group stages and the public did not think that England would be able to achieve any good results in the World Cup, that was why they did not protest against Twain’s announcement. In their views, Twain was giving himself an out first, in case England performed badly in the knockout stages——This was still a very big possibility to them——This way, he could leave with his dignity intact as he would have left on his own accord, instead of being forced out…
As he looked at Wood nodding his head, Twain continued saying, “However, this time it’s not as simple as just stepping down as England manager. It’s leaving the game altogether. It’s retirement. I’ve decided to retire.”
Wood looked up at the man in front of him in astonishment.
“I’m not joking or anything, George. I’m telling you because I don’t want to hurt you again,” Twain was referring to the time he left without a word.
“Why retire?” Wood asked.
“So that I can give more of my time to my wife. For the past few years, I’ve been too busy and too tired to take care of Shania.” The manager of England was probably the busiest manager in the world. And in a country where paparazzi was so rampant such as England, there was almost no private life at all. Twain was not being spoiled or exaggerating when he said that. “I’ll be fifty in September next year. How much more time can I have by her side?” Wood had a special relationship with him, that was why Twain could tell him heartfelt words like this. Otherwise, for someone who needed to maintain his image in front of others, he would never had revealed his inner feelings.
This made Wood fall into deep thought. He was facing the same problem as Twain. His mother’s health had been getting worse, which is why he had not been looking for a girlfriend. That was because to him, there might not be much time for him to stay by his mother’s side anymore.
As they had similar feelings, Wood had no rights to stop him at all.
“So, it’s because of this…” Brosnan muttered to himself after hearing the narration by Wood.
Tony Twain was the man of the moment after all. Even if he led England to the World Cup triumph, his popularity was off the charts for now and his retirement led to a great discussion. Not every fan understood his decision. If this was the reason, then there would probably be no one who would complain about it.
“I understand now George. Thank you.”
Brosnan hung up after thanking Wood. Wood did not know if he did the right thing by telling this to a reporter.
But he shook his head very soon and shook this thought away. If there was a problem, Twain should be the one troubled by it, not him. It was his fault for leaving him again anyway.
※※※
“What other plans do you have after the show in Paris?” Twain asked his wife who was cuddling in his embrace.
“I have some time off,” Shania understood the meaning behind Twain’s question, “Do you have something planned Uncle Tony?”
Twain went silent for a while, as if he was making a very important decision. He looked at Shania again and said, “Let’s adopt a child from China.”
This was a decision that Shania did not expect. She escaped her husband’s embrace and looked at him in shock, as if she heard wrongly.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t make you pregnant…” Twain sounded apologetic and remorseful. His life since the transformation had been very successful. He enjoyed great success in his career, he married a supermodel wife who was 21 years his junior, but this was the only thing that troubled him. He did not know whether it was a residual effect from the transformation, or maybe it was God’s punishment for having the best of his career and love lives, or maybe it was retribution for having too many enemies… He seemed to have become impotent.
Shania shut Twain up with her hand, preventing him from continuing to blame himself, “The person I fell in love with is Uncle Tony, not some kind of stallion. It doesn’t matter if we have no children, I love you Uncle Tony.” She was a little worried that Twain would think there was some cracks in their relationship because of his biological flaw. She had to ease Twain’s mind.
Twain could not say anything after Shania covered his mouth. He could only stare at his wife’s eyes and Shania similar stared at him. They did not say anything but they both understood each other perfectly.
Twain opened his mouth and gently bit on Shania’s hand. Shania frowned and lightly gave Twain a slap and took her hand back.
“Let’s adopt a child from China,” Twain repeated his plan.
Shania did not object to it. Since her husband wanted a child so badly, how could she possibly object? Even though she did not know why her husband wanted to adopt a child from China.
It was natural for her to not know that Twain wanted to make up for his own regret——He could not be a Chinese anymore in this life, the next best thing was to have a Chinese child.
“When are we setting off? I’m free from the day after tomorrow. What kind of procedures do we have to go through to adopt a child from China?”
Twain shook his head, “I don’t know, let’s go check it out. If there is none who is suitable, then we won’t adopt one first,” Twain was very cautious about picking a child.
Shania looked at Twain’s eyes as they moved in their sockets. If Twain had decided to adopt a child, then do they have to continue to make love so frequently? Making love is part of being in love and to be honest, Shania loved the tussles she had with Uncle Tony on the bed. Even though Uncle Tony was almost fifty, he did not feel like he was old at all in the bedroom.
Twain seemed to know what she was thinking and carried her all of a sudden before tossing her onto the bed next to them. Shania exclaimed in shock but very soon, her lips were sealed…
※※※
Tang Jing was still in a shock when she received the call from Twain as Twain rarely called her. If he had something to discuss, he would call Tang, not her.
When Twain told her to find out about the materials that he had to prepare and the certifications that the adopter had to have to adopt a child in China, she was even more shocked.
Even though she agreed immediately, she did not recover from the shock until she hung up the phone. There were rumors that Twain was impotent as he and Shania did not have any child between them after so many years of marriage. So, Tang Jing was not shocked about that. What shocked her was that they actually thought of adopting a child from China.
Tang noticed that his wife was a little restless after receiving the call and he asked with concern. He did not expect it to be related to Twain. His wife did not understand why Twain wanted to adopt an orphan from China, but Tang knew the reason. It was too bad that this was a reason that he could not tell Tang Jing. He could not possibly tell his wife, “Your husband and Twain exchanged their souls and Twain is actually a Chinese. That’s why he wanted to adopt a Chinese child.”
At that moment, he merely said, “Twain loves China, doesn’t he? Maybe he loved the children from China too?”
That was a valid explanation too. Besides, how could anyone understand the likes and dislikes of someone else perfectly?
Tang Jing felt that something was off, but she did not take it to mind. Instead, she was very active in making calls back to China to enquire about the relevant information for Twain.
※※※
After two days, Twain and Shania returned to England. They looked for the relevant authorities in England to certify their age, occupation, marriage, health, wealth and whether they had any criminal records. They also contacted the English embassy and Chinese embassy to make some preliminary preparations for adoption.
In England, where the media were highly trained, how could their actions escape the attention of the paparazzi?
The media inferred that Twain was planning to adopt a child from the information that Twain was preparing for. There had always been rumors floating about regarding the lack of a child between Twain and Shania’s marriage after so many years so this news was not that surprising.
In China, it might be an embarrassing thing for a man to be impotent, but not so much in England. It was very common for couples to adopt an orphan when they were unable to conceive themselves. Even if they were able to conceive, families would also adopt children from other countries too.
There were reporters who stopped Twain outside the Chinese embassy, but they did not ask him about the adoption, instead, they asked, “What made you decide to pack up and leave at the peak of your career?”
Twain was not angry that he was stopped by reporters, instead, he waved the Chinese visa in his hands excitedly and said, “I’m working hard with my wife to build a new family. This is what I intend to do now and in the future!”
