"Yo, coach, see we came back on time," Jese flashed a grin at Zidane.

"Jese, nice to see you. Hope you've been practicing your backfoot. Rafa, I have missed you so much in defence and Karim, my boy, I know it must have been tough so I'm truly grateful you came right away," Zidane smiled at the three of them and then, as if counting over in his head. "Um, where is Isco?"

"Yeah, about that," Raphael began.

"He did come back, right?"

Karim still looked downcast as he answered, "He said that he won't leave India until he finds his own love story."

Zidane's eyes widened as he spluttered in shock, "What do you mean he won't leave until he finds his own fucking love story!? What if he never finds it or—or it takes him forever? Who does he think is going to play on the field if he is off stalking cupid?" He nearly shouted at Karim, "You should have brought him back!"

"I already had my heart trampled over because of you, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DRAG ISCO'S ASS BACK HERE? I-I-why is it always me? Madrid loses a match, blame Benzema. Isco isn't coming back, blame Benzema. I have to go back and leave Shaheen without any explanation, blame Benzema! Even though it's not as if I'm just messing up things on purpose. You know what, I'm sick of being blamed. I'm sick of-of being the punching bag of everyone in the whole wide world. So, let me just practice because that's what you called me back for."

Zidane was speechless, stunned by how Karim had addressed him. This wasn't the Karim he had known up till now. The shy, respectful man who nodded along to anything he said...he had had no idea, Karim felt he was blamed for everything. It was true, the No. 9 was often treated as scapegoat by crass fans on suffering a defeat but he had no idea it affected him that much. He watched with dread and dismay as he watched his star striker pull over a practice jersey and begin the warm-up. He looked at Raphael and Jese for some sort of explanation...something, anything but Raphael literally ran away muttering, "Oh I forgot to wear my socks."

That left Jese who wasn't quick enough to think of an excuse. The coach turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. Jese turned red, "Isco said Zizou bear will understand."

"So...I take it Karim still doesn't have a girlfriend after the trip. What happened?"

"Being gossipy, Zizou bear?" Jese winked.

Zidane looked exasperated, "I am worried for him."

"Oh, of course, of course, coach. Yeah, Shaheen was kind of upset that Karim didn't tell her he was leaving until the last minute which was also right after they kissed so you can imagine it wasn't pretty. And by kind of upset I mean a lot upset. And you know our Karim. He just left. No attempts at reconciliation or even goodbyes. He just fell into a pit of dejection and foul temper. All he has done since then is mope over Shaheen's YouTube videos."

The older man nodded thoughtfully, "And all this happened in the space of twenty-four hours and now here you all are."

Jese sighed, "'Tis the way of the world. 'Tis a sad and dreary place, our world."

"O-kay, are you feeling alright, Jese?"

"Yes, yes, just philosophizing a bit."

"I still don't get why Isco hasn't come back."

"He needs therapy after his #Sharim ship sunk and his therapy is a love story like #Zariano's starring himself and the girl of his dreams whom he has yet to meet."

"And is he going to just stay in hotels until this girl turns up? How is he going to survive in a foreign land without any friends?"

"Oh don't worry about that. Chand is staying in India for another month. She can take care of him. It's her summer break from college so it's cool."

"Who is Chand now?"

"Shaheen's sister. Isco and her are kind of best friends these days. Don't tell Morata, he'll get jealous."

"Wow, will you guys ever cease to amaze me?"

"Hee-hee."

***

"What the hell was that, Karim?" Sergio cornered Karim in the lockers later that day.

Marcelo stood beside them wearing his most serious look.

"What was what? Have I messed up something yet again?" Karim scowled. He had been his best in training today. He had had a fantastic practice session. What were they talking about?

"Look, normally we wouldn't interfere. Everyone has some steam to blow off now and then but we're also your Captain and Vice-Captain and we can't have you disrespecting Mister like that," Marcelo said, clearly not enjoying this role of responsibility given to him.

"C'mon, Zizou has enough pressure on himself as it is. He is just doing his job," Sergio said.

"Is everything okay?" Cristiano looked in to find three very serious people huddled in a corner.

"Yes, in your life," Karim said bitterly.

Cristiano looked at the other two with a what-did-I-do look.

Karim's eyes widened as he realized what he had said, "Shit, Cris, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

Cristiano smiled, "Hey, its okay. Having a bit of an issue?"

Karim sat down and sighed, his face in his hands, mumbling something.

Marcelo and Sergio gave each other a look. They had no idea how to deal with a situation like this. Even now, the first thing that cropped up in Marcelo's mind was, So did you ask Shaheen's hot sister for her number? Which was not very nice, seeing the current situation.

Cris sat down beside Karim, "How can we help?"

"Turn back time, don't let Zidane call me back or better still turn right back and tell me never to download Snapchat because that app destroyed my life. I was okay, you know, with my single, uneventful life and then I had to go and snapchat the wrong person and just ugh, I'm so stupiiiid."

Raphael heard whispers of the conversation from outside the room and dialled a number. His friend was an amazing person with just one fault—he gave up too soon.

"Yo, Isco, what's up, man?"

"Hey, bro. I'm alright here. Having fun. What did coach say?"

"He's...you could say he is dealing with it."

"Oh, well, can't help it. Heart's gotta do what a heart's gotta do."

"And the wedding went well, I suppose? I'm bummed we had to miss it," he couldn't believe he was making small talk.

"Duuude, I so want an Indian wedding. It rocks. Don't worry, I've taken pics for you, guys. I'll send it on whatsapp."

Raphael thought over something in mind, "And your ship? Is that the right word?"

Isco's voice saddened, "Man...I still haven't given up on it. No matter how hopeless it seems. I wish I could do something but Shaheen left in the morning with Irfan Uncle for Dubai. They must be reaching now"

"So soon?"

"Yeah, she just said goodbye. Chand told me her sister is upset and being around their estranged mother was worsening things up."

"Matters here aren't that great too," the Frenchman whispered.

"Karim not taking it well?"

"Karim's kind of gone wild. That man is picking a fight with everyone he sees."

"Oh shit, I missed it!"

"Isco...!"

"Sorry, sorry. Mind on serious matters, I get it."

"Try asking Chand how Shaheen is doing. Maybe we can get them to talk over this...talk out of this."

"Man, Chand doesn't share much about Shaheen to me. Sisterhood and privacy and stuff."

"Well, then, I hope someone up there is watching over your ship out of this storm."

"I hope so too."

***

Karim was miserable and angry as he turned around the corner, the steering wheel clutched tight with white knuckles.

His friends were giving pep talks that didn't help at all. He knew he was being difficult but he felt hopeless and in a cathartic way, he was okay with it. He wanted to be miserable and angry until he could somehow stop being miserable and angry. Pep talks and comfort, while it was meant well, felt superficial to him.

And this bloody rain. He could hardly see through the windshield, there were so many drops. He would get drenched getting out and opening the gate to his house. He should have waited when the first drops had begun to fall. Yeah, that was his fault too.

His car screeched to a halt when he saw a figure with an umbrella standing outside his gate, their back to the wall.

He frowned, the wipers clearing the windshield for mere seconds but that was enough, enough for his heartbeat to spike. And suddenly getting drenched in the rain didn't make him irritable. He nearly ran out of the car, stopping only to close his eyes and open them, checking that she was real, that she was really there.

He nearly choked out, "What are you doing here?"

"You idiot, why is your phone switched off?"

He faltered, caught off guard, "Um, uh, I didn't want to hear it ringing—not because of you, of course. Raphael was calling and so was Jese. It was getting unbearable. If I had known you would call...shit, I didn't even think you would. I feel so--"

She stepped forward holding the umbrella over the both of them so that he now had some protection against the rain. "Karim, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"I should have never pushed you away. I promise that in the future, if you can think of us with a future, it will never happen again. I know you must be upset and I hated it when you left without a word. I tried calling you back. You-you should really not switch off your phone. Promise me this one thing, please. I couldn't leave before the wedding was over. I came as soon as I could. It felt so stupidly spontaneous and I know it must appear so weird to you right now--"

He leant forward and kissed her cheek.

She blushed deeply, stopping mid-sentence.

"What?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head shyly.

"What?"

"I just think it's cute you think it appears weird to me that you are here. I mean, are you kidding me? You, here, is the best thing that could ever happen to me."

She blinked, "So you're not upset?"

"Oh I was, at everything in the world and even myself but you, never at you. It'll take more than an argument to make me not love you."

"Shit, I didn't plan ahead of my apology."

"Yeah," he smiled, "that happens."

"I hope you didn't get in trouble with Zi—"

He laughed and leaned, hands tilting her chin towards himself, and kissed this remarkable woman he loved with every fibre of his being. She was the surprised one now and it took her a moment before she could respond but then she smiled against his lips and kissed him back, pulling him towards her body. The umbrella loosened out of her grasp and immediately the rain took them over, the cold drops kissing their hot bodies.

When they broke apart, Karim winked, "C'mon you got to give me points for the whole kissing in the rain thing."

"Very romantic," she giggled. "You called up the rain, right?"

"Don't be sarcastic. You just came," he whined, still smiling broadly. "Want to come inside?"

"No, I'd rather prefer to freeze to death in the rain. Of course, I want to, you bald fucker."

[ ASDFGHJKLSJIHFJSND WHY IS #SHARIM SO CUTE?! Like dayum, this ship is magical. Do tell us your views about all that has happened in this new update. We love to hear from you all!

And we are so sorry for taking ages to update. College is hectic :/ But hope the long eventful chapter made up for it lol

Also Karim Parim totally slayed in today's match against Eibar yasss and for the WIN we can BLAME BENZEMA because he the man, he the man *_*

{Plus, thank you so so much for the birthday wishes, you guys. It was such a lovely surprise and it meant so much to me. You are baes, totally--Zaara}

Don't forget to VOTE AND COMMENT. Love you guys xx]