Karim's lips quirked into a half-smile when he heard her call him 'Karim parim'. That had to mean, she wasn't that angry, right?

"I have missed you so much," he finally breathed out, reaching towards her for a hug.

She pushed him back slowly, "I'm still angry with you. Karim parim just came out. So, no we don't hug."

He nodded, looking at his feet, "Uh, yeah, you're right. I deserve it."

She bit her lip, shaking her head, "No, you don't get to look all sad and shit when I am the victim here. You stood me up! What do you expect me to do? Be all friendly with you? What are you even doing here anyway?"

"I came for you," he said. "I mean, to tell you I am sorry. So, um, I'm sorry, Shaheen."

"Great," she replied. "Now that that's done, go home, Karim." She began to walk away.

"No, no, please," he grabbed her wrist. "I can explain. Kind of."

She glared at his hand around her wrist and then at him and he immediately let her go.

"Sorry," he gulped. "But truly I can explain and I think you deserve an explanation. Five minutes, promise."

"You're not going to go away, are you?"

He ran a hand over his hair, "Unless you want me too but I would advise you to just give me five minutes. If you feel like I've wasted your time, you can...you can go tell everyone I'm not the bride's younger brother and I'm sure they'll handle me for you."

Shaheen looked at him. I hate him. He's just so cute, standing here all flustered and asking me for five minutes. I hate him. Wait, did he say--?

"You've told people you're Jamila's younger brother?" she screamed.

"Shush, they'll kill me if they find out. Everyone's been treating me so nicely."

She glanced around to see if anyone could hear them and the dragged him to the side, "You do know Jamila is marrying my step-brother, right?"

"Yeah, Raphael told me," he smiled.

Her mouth dropped open, "Rapha—How does Raphael know about this? And what is he doing here? And Jese and Isco? How many of you are here? Like I don't really mind you guys coming over. I am a huge fan after all and I love you guys but my whole family is here. You have to give me a heads-up before pulling off such stuff. What do you think is going to happen if people find out you have been lying? Most people at this wedding aren't even football fans. Your--?"

"Shaheen, Shaheen, its okay," he calmed her down. "I don't care what happens to me as long as I get to tell you that I lo—that I am sorry."

"Fine, just get over with it," she huffed, trying not to let it show that right now, she was steps away from bawling her eyes out. Fun and games apart, he had hurt her and him just being here made it all so much more confusing but also, renewed the hurt. What can he possibly say to justify what he did? To justify treating me like dirt?

"There is nothing more I wanted than to meet you," he started.

She scoffed.

"Seriously. Its true. It was as simple as that. I'm not very good at showing my emotions and usually when I talk, people either don't understand or just get bored. No one has ever liked me for me. Sure, I have fans but that's my football talking, right? And then you come along one fine day. Snapchat of all places and you seem to like talking to me. No catches, no reason, nothing."

"I was a fan too, just so you know," she added, begrudgingly.

He let out a laugh, "Well, in all fairness, your favourite is Raphael."

"Yeah, but I like the whole team."

"And you liked talking to me of all people!" he stressed. "You don't get it, do you? People like you. You're fun. You're interesting. When you talk, people hang on to your words. I'm not like that. I stay quiet. And that's it. That should have been it but then you become a friend in the strangest way. You just became so special. It was exhilarating and scary. You think its easy understanding someone through snapchat?"

"You think it was easy understanding you through snapchat?" she asked. "You sound like you hate me first time we talk even though you were the one who snapchatted me. Then, it seems like we're friends and you actually care. Then, you say you want to meet up and you know, I actually did too. I really liked you. I thought you liked me too and then you never turned up. Do you want to know how long I stood waiting for you there? My sister was there too. My father knew we were meeting. I was that serious about meeting you and I was hella embarrassed and really hurt."

"I did come, okay?" he finally confessed. "I did. I came all the way. I saw you in the food court and I was right across."

"You're lying," she blinked back a tear. "You didn't come."

"I came but I left. You were with your sister. Both of you were wearing Madrid tees. You looked beautiful and you were laughing while your sister was snatching away your fries. You were checking your phone every second and I was a fool."

She gasped, "How—if you came, why didn't you meet me?"

"Because Raphael came with me!" he admitted aloud.

Then the whole story came out. Everything, just about everything Karim had thought and why he had messed up.

If he had thought Shaheen would be pacified, even forgive him after hearing him out, he was wrong.

She was livid, "So, you didn't meet me because you thought I would ignore you for Raphael? What kind of a sorry excuse is that? Are you kidding me?"

"Haven't you been listening to anything I have said?" he questioned, irritated. "Besides, it's not all my fault, okay? Maybe I wouldn't have bolted if you hadn't decided to wear your Varane tee. What sort of girl does that? Meeting me and wearing my best friend's jersey? I know you're his fan but don't I matter to you?"

She frowned, "You are an idiot." She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the gallery before showing him a picture. It was from that night, at the food court itself. He could picture her there, as clear as the memory he had in his mind. What was she even trying to prove by showing him a photo of herself from that night? His eyes ran across the picture and his heart sank.

The jersey. She was posing with half-tilting towards the camera but the large number 9 and the words above it were clear. She had been wearing his jersey.

"Got it?" she asked, taking back her phone. "Maybe I should have worn Raphael's after all. I should have never got involved with you. That's my only fault."

"Oh my God, Shaheen, shit, shit, shit."

"And before you begin to blame me for blocking you. I did that only after worrying myself sick about you, whether you were fine or not as you ignored my calls, messages, everything. You had your chance and you fucking blew it."

"Shaheen? Where are you?" someone called.

Shaheen began to walk away, replying, "I'm coming. Wait a sec."

Karim ran after her, "Please, please, don't walk away. I-I-I don't blame you for anything. I shouldn't have said what I said about the jersey. I didn't know and even if you had worn Raphael's jersey, I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry."

"Me too," she muttered, moving on.

He stopped in front of her, "I love you."

She stopped, taken aback, staring back into his eyes to discern his words.

He bent forward slightly, brushing his lips to her cheek for the merest of seconds in a kiss.

"Shaheen! Everyone's looking for you. Where are you?" the voice was closer this time.

Karim moved out of Shaheen's way, "I know you don't and I didn't say that for a response. It's the truth and I just wanted to let you know."

She opened her mouth to say something but at the moment, her ex-Mum appeared, "There you are. You're going to miss the rasam. They're calling for the bride-groom's sisters. Let's go."

As she was dragged away, her mother whispered, "What were you doing with that man? Isn't he Jamila's younger brother? Let me tell you something about him. Jamila's family never even told us about him. Rumour is it they hid him from us because he's a bit crazy."

[ KARIM JUST PLEASE REHEARSE YOUR SPEECHES WITH ISCO, OKAY?

Real Madrid group-video chat and other awesome stuff coming up in the next chapter. Maybe Cristiano could help by giving some pointers to Benzo? ;) 

BTW IT'S KARIM'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARIM PARIM. WE LOVE YOU, YOU BALD FUCKER <3

Don't forget to VOTE AND COMMENT, guys xx ]