"Did you talk to Ali?" Declan asked Mason as they practiced some shooting drills on the training pitch.
"No," Mason said bluntly.
"Are you really that stubborn?" Declan rolled his eyes
"Can you just shut up?" Mason said before shooting the ball into the net aggressively
"Alright boys, take a 5-minute break," Southgate said after the whistle.
Mason went to grab a water bottle while cooling down near the fan. Declan followed along. "Just talk to her,"
"It's not that, just stop involving yourself," Mason said annoyed
"What's the problem then?" Declan asked, looking at him confused.
"She didn't wear her promise ring, that's the problem," Mason looked at him. He walked away back to the pitch, continuing with the drills without saying another word.
Declan looked at Mason as he had walked away, understanding now what was bothering him so much. He decided to just let him be for now, not making things worse.
Meanwhile, back in London, Alina was trying to reach out to Mason since she woke up. She had woken up with a headache, remembering the phone call she had with him the night before and that she acted a bit immature by hanging up.
Mason was of course not picking up because he was at training, but even after training, he had seen the missed phone calls but didn't bother calling back.
There are 2 days left before the Iran game, and Alina is packing her bags now because she won't have time tomorrow. There's a last-minute photoshoot with another singer at their house, so she needs to have a free day tomorrow and not stress.
"Ouch," she held the hand that she burned yesterday. She looked at it, her hand had gone red with a few burn marks on it. She hasn't noticed until now and felt disgusted looking at it.
She went to the bathroom quickly to put on some cream and put a bandage over it so she wouldn't scratch or itch it more.
———
As it got darker in Qatar, Mason was called up to do the lions' den interview with Josh. He had still not called Alina back—not that he's planning on ignoring her forever, but he wants to finish the interview before then.
Alina had gotten a notification on YouTube, knowing Mason was doing the interview. All day she had been worried about him and seeing him do the interview with a smile on his face made her confused as to why he was ignoring her.
"Alright, Mase, we have Olivia on the line. You know Olivia, don't you?"
"I know, Liv," Mason smiled. "Alright, let's take a look at the screen," Josh pointed.
Olivia introduced herself and the kids to Mason's old coach, had a little conversation with them, and answered a few of their questions.
It then ended with him doing the darts challenge. Alina watched the entire thing with a smile on her face; just seeing him enjoy his time and be happy made her happy.
When the live call had ended, she wanted to call him again but stopped herself, thinking that it might be best to just wait for him. She knows that he knows that she's called him, and she knows he won't ignore her forever.
Alina went back to prepare her cameras and pack them down in the bags for tomorrow's shoot, and she planned on making dinner right after.
———
"Did you finish the game?" Declan asked as Mason came to sit with the boys outside.
"Yeah, I hit 66 points too," Mason laughed.
