62. Sealing the Deal

DISCLAIMER:

If you are one of my friends or family reading this latest instalment of the Ultimate World FM Game, please note that the story surrounding it is a pure work of fiction and are not based on real life events. I have never been remotely near Cambodia, only through a laptop screen on Football Manager 2021 and Google Earth for research purposes. I am still living in Leeds, UK, with my wife and son. If your name happens to also be Charlotte Lay, then once again, she is a pure work of fiction invented for the purposes of this ficticious story. Lastly, this made up story is not reflective of the real Electricite Du Cambodge FC, or any of the personel associated with the club. Enjoy reading!

The post match routine couldn't end quickly enough. I did the team talk and gave the players a big well done for a good performance after holding the Champions to a one all draw. I then did the press, BTV for Cambodian Match of The Day various radio stations, plus the post match press conference, which always accompanies the big C-League games. Once that was all over I said my goodbyes to the backroom staff, plus those from the opposition and dashed home to get ready to meet Charlotte. 

I showered, ironed my best shirt and trousers, had a shave and splashed on my best aftershave. Football had consumed my thoughts during the past couple of days, with it being a big game, but now I could focus solely on off the pitch things and find out what it was Charlotte wished to tell me.

I rang a taxi and away I went to Siswoth Quay, a popular tourist area with bars and restaurants, near the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh. We had agreed to meet at 8pm and find a quiet bar so we could talk things through. The texting had been annoyingly sporadic since Mad Thursday, and there was a distinct lack of xxs at the end of her messages which had disturbed me a little. I was too old for this flaming modern dating lark..

Meanwhile...........

Charlotte had enjoyed the match and headed home to get ready for meeting the manager of the team she had just watched. She decided that during a match it would be best to keep a low profile, so she was not a distraction to him or the players, as he tried to manage the team to victory. There was two hours to go and so she began to get ready. After showering, Charlotte started to put on a beautiful red dress that she had ironed and hung up in her wardrobe. She looked herself long and hard in the mirror, rehearsing what she had to say to him. Suddenly an idea came into her head... He was going to see a different Charlotte tonight.....  .

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A little later on...

The meeting place: Siswoth Quay Phnom Penh   Picture credit: Christophe95

I got to our meeting point at Sisowath Quay and waited in a seated area, surrounded by tall trees, overlooking the river. It was ten to eight. Ten minutes to go... I had butterflies and felt more nervous and excited than I had been for today's match.

The clock ticked to 8pm, a slight refreshing cool breeze blew in off the Tonle Sap river, but it was still another warm, tropical evening in Cambodia's capital. I waited. Five past eight.. OK, there could be a good reason. I checked my phone, but there was nothing. I refreshed my phone to free the non-existent message that was stuck in the imaginary space between mine and Charlotte's phones, wherever she was... 

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As planned Charlotte was slightly late. She stood from afar and watched as the manager of her favourite football team waited for her impatiently. Her tactics for tonight were indeed risky, a bit like playing an experimental sweeper system, but she knew in the long run it could prove to be a masterstroke... He looks so concerned I'm going to stand him up, bless him she thought to herself. Don't worry I'll put him out of his misery soon....

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Where was she? It was now quarter past. Was this payback for me not being at my apartment the other night when she wanted to see me and I was on my way back from Malaysia? Was she still angry after our phone conversation? Was Nen Borey right all along and she will break my heart? Had I been too harsh with her in that phone conversation?...... I paced up and down as I waited..... Beep Beep! Finally I got a text... 

Sorry running late I'll be there in 5 Charlotte 

Still no kiss, she was late... I had a bad feeling about this. At least she was coming and hadn't stood me up or cancelled.

Finally she turned up. She walked towards me but as she got nearer and smiled that sweet smile..  there was something which made my heart sink immediately.... 

Charlotte Lay had not dressed up for the occasion. Now I'm no expert in lady's styling, but I do know that if you are going out for the evening on a date, you wear more than just the T-Shirt and tracksuit bottoms that he gave you to help you get home the other morning when you had nothing else to wear except a slightly torn  dress. Neither did she have any make up on and gone were them lovely locks of dark hair, which was torturously tied up in a tight bun. Don't get me wrong, to my eyes she still looked amazing, but she could not have looked more understated if she tried. That is how a Northern lass from Barnsley may look for a date.. but not the exotic beauty,  Charlotte Lay, thousands of miles away in Cambodia... What was going on?

A thousand things flashed through my head. Maybe it was because she had just been to football and didn't have enough time to get changed? The match had finished over 3 hours ago though for the fans, so plenty enough time for her to go home, get changed and meet me for 8 o clock? Maybe it was because of what happened to her the other night and she felt insecure about wearing attractive clothing? Maybe it was because in Cambodia, it was not the done thing to dress up in such a way too often in public, even though Charlotte had flouted that convention before? But what concerned me the most was the fact she had made no effort for our date. I had a sinking feeling that this meant it was the end.... Was this the "I really like you but.." moment? Had I been relegated into the 'friends division?.' (Now there's a league that is notoriously difficult to get out of) Perhaps she was still angry with me over that wretched trip to Melaka? Was this punishment for me being too harsh with her over past relations? This feeling was similar to the one where you are 3-0 down in the 85th minute and know that you are almost certain to lose the game no matter what you do..

I greeted her with a smile but this seemed ominous. I felt deflated as we made small talk, mainly about the game and young Samnang Nhem's excellent performance. We found the quietest bar we could find on the strip to talk. 

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I can tell that he is a little underwhelmed and puzzled Charlotte thought. Does he only love me when I wear an attractive dress and put make up on?  Look at his cute face trying to work it out, while still being a complete gentleman about it. How very English! He was expecting sexy Charlotte tonight, but he has got underdressed tramp Charlotte instead. Tonight it's all about honesty though and if he doesn't like it, plus the attire I am wearing then he is not worth it... This is all for a reason and the jury is out. Will I manage to get the right result? I have done this for a reason though and he is about to find out why. 

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I was now dreading what she had to say, certainly in regards to her relations with Hem Vutha, but I was steeling myself for rejection. Well it was fun while it lasted I consoled myself.. 

We sat down with our drinks. I had that feeling of foreboding that all this was going to come crashing down around me.   

I was waiting for the 'Your a really nice guy, but I only see you as a friend' line.

She began:

"So, there are some things that I need to tell you about me and my life. I don't want you to judge, just listen to what I have to say. Firstly I want to say that I really like you..."

(here comes the but...) 

"And I really want things to work out between us, but"

(Here it comes.  I only see you as a friend)

But.......

"There's a few things I need to tell you about my life first before we take things any further. "

(well the f word was not used so that's good)

"OK fire away... Miss Lay." was the best I could come up with in response... oh god that was terrible.. 

"So, firstly I was not born in Cambodia, but actually in the Phillipines. My father fled Cambodia in the late 70s from the Khmer Rouge regime, to Manilla. Ten years later he met my mother and they married and had me in 1992. We moved to Cambodia when I was eight, in 2000 and I spent my teenage years growing up in Phnom Penh. On my mother's side I have American ancestry, through my great grandfather, who was a G.I from Charlotte in North Carolina. That's what I am named after! This is why I have an American/ Western forename and a Cambodian surname. 

Just two years after we came back to Cambodia, my father died and so my mother brought me up on her own and in poverty. As I progressed through my teens my looks blossomed. I started working at the Nagaworld complex when I was 17 as a trainee croupier. It was here that I caught the eye of some of the very rich businessmen who frequented the casino and complex. One of them was Hem Vutha, who took a shine to me the most. I was very beautiful, but very young and naive too. Hem started buying me gifts, jewellery at first, nice dresses and various other things. He looked after me and was very kind, but then came the payback. I started accompanying him on business trips and even went to London once. It was so cold! I was his escort girl. I had to laugh at his jokes, smile and look pretty in front of his associates to impress them. Eventually though he wanted sex too.. I did what he wanted.. At the start I enjoyed the attention, the money, the nice clothes and jewellery, so I did not think anything of it. Hem always treated me well and made sure my mother and I stayed out of poverty. He was paying me for my services through gifts and kindness and the sex in return was consensual, it was never forced. I was very young and naive and he made me feel obliged to give him what he wanted." 

I was shocked by her revelations. I hated my chairman even more. Perhaps I should resign? How can I work with him as my boss after what Charlotte had just told me!

There was a burning question that I needed to ask immediately..

"Why do you support EDC then..? Why do you turn up every week and put money in his pocket?" You must see him around at games."

"Because I love football and they are my team.  Hem Vutha is not a bad person. We are still friends to this day and he is married now.

He was kind to me, he never mistreated me, but he got what he wanted out of me subtly, without force or coercion. He didn't commit any crimes, but I only realised when I got a bit older that I was in an arrangement that I did not want to be in any more. I wanted normal. I wanted a man who would not see me as a sex object, or a business transaction. I wanted a relationship built on true love, not money. One day I told him that I wanted to break out of this situation. To be fair, he let me go on my own free will and we parted on good terms. Perhaps though it is because of this experience, why relationships never work out for me. I then trained as a nurse and led a relatively normal life, but managed to save and earn enough to stay out of poverty.

 I was there when EDC was formed in 2015.. We struggled at first, until you came along in 2020 and made us an established C-League team and won the Hun Sen Cup.  I tried to find love unsuccessfully with some of the footballers I talked to you about before, but as you know for one reason or another they did not work out. Then there was Nhem Ravy, but he cheated on me and did not always treat me well. Then my mother died and I was lonely, in a bad place for a while and sought the company of men. It helped to ease the pain of her death, but in the end it only made me feel worse.

She smiled at me.

Now I have found you Mr Football Manager, maybe my search for true love has ended...

This was totally not what I was expecting...

I hope in the name of the Almighty that you are not put off by my previous life and relationships. I would fully understand if you were. 

I shook my head. "I could never let that get in the way of us two." I replied squeezing her hand underneath the table.

"I bet you want to know why I am dressed this way."

"This is why I am dressed like a tramp tonight. I wanted you to see past the obvious, how I look and concentrate on the hidden things like honesty, trust and my personality. Sometimes I am tired of being beautiful, being stared at, with every man I meet wanting to f**k me. I am a person, not a sex object. 

I wanted to know whether you are the real deal. I dressed like this for a reason, to gauge a reaction from you, to see me without make up and a nice dress. I want to make you realise that I am human, I am not just some sexy goddess, way out of your league, but someone who is normal and has many flaws too. If me and you are to build a relationship, then we have to get to know eachother, warts and all and realise that we are not perfect, no matter how we look on the outside. It is what is on the inside that counts. Think of it like your football team. When EDC score a goal, that is the sex, the ecstasy, the joy but there is so much more to winning a game of football than scoring goals, the tactical battle, the hard working midfielder who breaks up play, the full back who marks a tricky winger out of the game, the goalkeeper who saves the ball to stop the other team from scoring. These things are unseen and go on unnoticed, like honesty, integrity and trust in a relationship."

 I'd never really thought of it like that before. She had brains as well as beauty. Charlotte had dressed down on purpose, not to dump me, but to make a point and lay the foundations of something far more long term.

"Charlotte, I could never be put off by you by what you are wearing. (I left out the comparison I'd made earlier in my head to a Northern lass from the Barnsley. She wouldn't have understood anyway) One of the best things about you is your quirky little personality, which is more important and your honesty from what you have just told me. You make me laugh, which is a great attribute. Nobody mimics a Yorkshire accent better than you.

"Aye proper brew... " She grinned.

"And I don't care what you wear, because you would still look beautiful dressed in a bin bag."

"Why thankyou Mr Football Manager.."

"When I saw what you were wearing, with no make up and your hair in a tight bun, I feared that you were going to break it off and just wanted us to be friends. I feared that because I would have been devastated if that had been the case"

As for your past, well that was more than 10 years ago and I am glad you have told me about your relations with Hem Vutha. You are a more mature, intelligent woman now and I want to be the person to give you all the happiness in the world that you crave and deserve as well.. be Mr Normal I suppose, as normal as it can be being with the manager of a top flight football team."

She gave me the biggest smile I have ever seen and unleashed her hair from its tight bun, so it flowed elegantly down past her shoulders. I think that was a sign all was well. She took my hand under the table and we whispered discreetly to eachother. (In Cambodia, public displays of affection are not encouraged, although maybe we had flouted this convention a little)

"I love you"

"I love you too Mr Football Manager."

After a rollercoaster week we had finally sealed the deal.. 

We spent the rest of the evening touring a few bars around the Sisowath Quay area of Phnom Penh. In the sports bar we were in, they were showing Cambodian Match of The Day and at one point my face appeared on every screen in the building when they showed my post match interview, which was quite a surreal moment. Some of the other punters in the bar looked at the screen and then over at us, much to the amusement of Charlotte. She would have to get used to this.........

Happy Valentines Day everybody!

If it's been getting a bit too "Love Actually" for you of late, then don't worry, we will be returning to the bread and butter of the Cambodian C-League campaign from the next one. Can the manager's success off the field propel him and his team to success on the field? Find out next time on The Ultimate World Football Manager Game! 

The Ultimate World FM Game turns 2!