The Referee Problem

Chapter 12

Haaland got inside of the car. Mbappé sat to the left of him, in the driver's seat. And Vinícius sat in the back, behind Mbappé.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Vinícius asked Mbappé. Haaland looked over to Mbappé, his face clearly filled with his usual irritation. "Yes."

Haaland and Vinícius shared a glance with each other. Then, Mbappé turned on the car and started to drive throughout Paris.

"Maybe they'd keep him in the Eiffel Tower? Or how about all the way in the outskirts, where they dropped us off?" Haaland suggested. Haaland thought that with his suggestions, he'd give the other two a good idea on where Hakimi was. "Haaland, can you just...be quiet? I'm trying to drive, and it's not like these drivers around me are any good." Mbappé complained. Haaland blinked at Mbappé, wondering why he was so mad. "Or maybe you're the bad driver-" Vinícius was cut off as Mbappé shushed him.

But even after, Vinícius' chuckling was clear. Even Haaland chuckled along with him. Mbappé then slammed the brakes, catching Vinícius and Haaland off guard. They both fell silent. Haaland looked at Mbappé, like he was crazy. Which was how he was...all the time. But Mbappé didn't even glance at him at all, and kept on driving like nothing had happened.

It was probably his way of giving us a warning... Haaland thought, as he looked forward.

Haaland then saw the big stadium that they were pulling up to, Princes Park. He continued to look in awe as Mbappé parked the car, across from the stadium. "Hurry up." He exited the car, headed over to the front doors. Haaland got out of the car, going over to follow Mbappé. Vinícius was quick enough to already be by Mbappé's side after only a few seconds.

Haaland watched as Mbappé took out key's and unlocked the doors. He went inside, not bothering to leave the door open for Haaland and Vinícius. But Haaland grabbed the door and held it open for Vinícius. Once Vinícius was inside, Haaland closed the door behind them.

Mbappé was already well in front of the two. He looked around, searching. Haaland knew he thought Hakimi was here. Maybe he was right. But maybe it wasn't the spot, since it would be too easy to predict. Haaland, Vinícius, and Mbappé spread out throughout the stadium, searching for any possible places for where Hakimi could be.

Haaland went down the stands and was at the edge, the row right in front of the pitch. Well, not really right in front of the pitch. Haaland looked over to see a little drop he had to do in order to get down there. He took a deep breath and tossed himself over. He landed a bit unsteadily on his feet, but then balanced himself out. Haaland looked to the exit to this little booth he was in, and now he was on the pitch. He walked around the pitch to get to the tunnel.

It was pretty colorful inside, but he went inside of the locker rooms. No one. But he was eager to look around, he had a gut feeling too. So, Haaland closed the door behind him and looked around. There was no noise, other than Haaland's shoes hitting the ground. Haaland sighed as he saw that no one was inside. He went back over to the door and tried to open it, but couldn't.

Did the door lock on me? I swear, I didn't lock it before. Haaland thought, tugging on the door knob. But then, he gave up as the door didn't budge. He took a step back and the room grew dark. Curiously, Haaland looked around. He found the light switch and turned it on.

He looked on in awe as he saw a new door black door in the back of the locker rooms, it had just appeared. Haaland went over to the door and opened it. It was dark there. But Haaland didn't care as he went inside and saw that there were dim lights on either side of this mysterious room.

Haaland continued to explore it. It was like a tunnel, probably not the best spot for people who were claustrophobic. Then, he saw frames on both sides of the wall. He looked at a few of them.

PSG'S NEW SIGNING: LIONEL MESSI.

WILL HE BE WORTH ALL OF THE MONEY? OR WILL HE JUST BE ANOTHER FLOP, LIKE ###### ######?

Haaland looked in a bit of confusion. The name was blocked out. Someone had probably grabbed a marker and blurred his name out. And someone came in and underlined the word "flop", along with writing the same word over and over on top of it. Haaland shrugged, looking at another one. It was a bit older.

ZLATAN OFF TO MANCHESTER UNITED.

NOT ALL FANS HAVE THE SAME THOUGHTS. SOME THINK THAT HE'S DONE ENOUGH FOR PSG. WHILE OTHERS THINK THAT HE SHOULD'VE STAYED FOR LONGER, NOT HAVING DONE ENOUGH FOR PSG.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

"Obviously he's done enough for Paris, who thinks otherwise?" Haaland said to himself. He walked over to the next frame.

PSG HAS THE NEXT UNBEATABLE TRIO!

#####, ######, AND MBAPPE. WILL THEY BE A GREAT TRIO IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE? COULD THEY BE AS GREAT AS ###? OR WILL THIS TRIO JUST BE OVERRATED, AND BE IN SHAMBLES SOON?

There it is again...who keeps blurring out these names? Haaland thought, looking in a bit of frustration. He wanted to know who this trio was, but couldn't. These newspaper's were inside of the frame, so he wouldn't want to take them out of the frame. Right?

Haaland was eager too, but didn't. He looked more into the newspaper. On the bottom, it showed three players. One was Mbappe, and the other two were blurred out. One seemed to have his arm over Mbappé's shoulder, the other looking on from close.

Mbappé looked pretty happy, which surprised Haaland. He was so used to seeing Mbappé grumpy and angry, that it was shocking to see him express any other emotion.

Haaland was still eager to see the names that were blurred out. So, he looked both ways, to make sure that no one was there. He took the frame, but it was stuck onto the wall.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from where Haaland walked through. He heard noises from below him. Haaland looked down to see a ball come out of the wall. It said, "EMERGENCY BALL" on it.

Panicked, Haaland shot the ball with full force, hitting whoever was heading over to him. He went over to who he hit. He's seen this person before...it was one of the guards! They dressed in a similar attire to the ones that had shoved Vinícius and Mbappé into the office when he was talking with Gianno.

Haaland then decided to continue. He walked past the frames and then tripped on something on the floor. He tried to catch himself, shoving himself to the wall. But he seemed to have broken the wall, as he fell right through it.

He tumbled down a few steps and then landed on a wooden floor. Haaland shook his head as he sat up. The light was very dim here. Haaland slowly got up and brushed himself off.

It was very eerie. There was no one inside. And there was no noise either. Haaland walked through the room and saw someone sitting down on the floor. They locked eyes.

Hakimi.