The Referee Problem

Chapter 8

The car stopped and Bellingham looked out of the window to see the FIFA headquarters across the road. He sighed, he hadn't told the others about the decision he'd made.

Mbappé, Vinícius, and Haaland all left the car, and Haaland was the first one to glance back. "C'mon, Jude! We have to go over to FIFA and confront them." Haaland told him.

I guess I'll just inform them about something before I leave... Bellingham thought as he got out of the car and walked over to the headquarters, with the others to his side. Once they crossed the road, Bellingham stopped to tell them about something.

"Hold on guys!" He said. The others stopped to turn at him, Mbappé stared at him impatiently. "What is it?" Vinícius asked, turning around to face Bellingham. "I just have something to say," He glanced at all three of them. "Before you three go in, I know something you might not. It's that FIFA has already been inspecting what we've been doing. They know we're here to confront them. So, they've prepared something for all of you three. Be careful." Bellingham explained.

Haaland slowly nodded, "Alright, we should get going now, c'mon Jude." Haaland turned around. "No, wait, just one more thing." Bellingham stopped him from walking off. Haaland turned around again. And once more, all three of their eyes were on Bellingham.

"I've decided to leave you guys. This wasn't my mission in the first place, I wasn't even invited. I just wanted to come. So, I'll be leaving now, back to Madrid. Bye, for now." Bellingham could see each of their reactions. Mbappé had a slight smirk on his face, probably trying to hide it, but couldn't. Vinícius was nodding, maybe understanding Bellingham's decision. And Haaland looked sorrowful.

"Alright...it's your choice anyways. So, I guess you could go back now. Bye, Jude." Haaland smiled. "Bye, Haaland." Bellingham turned around and walked back and a taxi was there, waiting for him. He got inside and the car started, and they headed back to the train station.

•••

The next day came and Bellingham arrived back at Real Madrid's palace. He got the keys and opened the door. When he entered, he heard no noise. Which seemed a bit weird, since there was always some type of noise off in the distance. It seemed a bit eerie.

Bellingham didn't try to have it get the best of him and walked up the stairs to put his stuff away in his own room.

But after that, he came back downstairs to be greeted by silence one more time.

I guess I'll just try to find one of my teammates. Maybe they'll tell me why it's awfully quiet in here... Bellingham thought, walking to a random room.

He walked through a couple of rooms and didn't see anyone, until he saw Modrić. He was sitting down eating a sandwich. Other teammates like Camavinga and Valverde were there, but he walked over to Modrić.

"Hi, Modrić." He said, sitting next to the legend. "Hi, Jude. Back soon?" Modrić asked, not looking at him. "Well, I left early because I wanted the other three to do the last part of their mission on their own. But I just had a question. Why is everyone so silent?" Bellingham's tone was filled with confusion.

Modrić put his sandwich down and sighed, before turning his head over to look at Bellingham. "It's because, for the past two days, Rodrygo has gone missing." He revealed. Bellingham gasped a bit.

What happened to him? Did Manchester City secretly sign him and now he's one of their ten thousand replacements? Or did he just get lost in this big house? I mean, who wouldn't, the place is huge... Bellingham thought.

"Do you have any idea on why?" Bellingham asked. Modrić shook his head. "We were training two days ago and found out that Rodrygo wasn't there. We figured that he might've gone out to see you two, but judging by your reaction, I'm sure he didn't. But after we noticed he was gone, we went out to search for him. Unfortunately, no one could find him." Modrić shook his head slowly.

Bellingham sighed, wondering why Rodrygo had suddenly gone missing. "Are you guys still searching?" He asked. "No, after yesterday, we stopped. The whole squad searched for a whole two days, and nothing was found. We even asked some of the Barcelona player's if he was just playing some prank and staying with them, but he wasn't. He's nowhere. Gone." Modrić said.

Oh my...Rodrygo, where are you? Bellingham thought, almost like pleading for Rodrygo to respond to his thoughts.