Snapchat | Karim Benzema

26. Chichore

(A/N: The Translations for all the Hindi/Urdu phrases are at the end of the chapter)

Isco stepped out of the airport, taking in a deep breath of air, "Ah India, the land of love." He coughed at the sudden intake of smog, "What is that?"

Jese picked up a newspaper from the bookstall before stepping out, "Smog hits Delhi post-Diwali. Its after-effects of firecrackers that you're inhaling, my friend."

"Minor inconvenience," Isco pushed it aside and looked at the foggy night sky. "Barring this, I can definitely hear love calling out to my ship. Hashtag Sharim is going to sail. I can feel it in my bones."

"This is a bad idea," Karim groaned, finally catching up in a slow tread with his teammates.

Jese looked at his friend with pity, "Its going to be fine."

An hour later they were at the train station being told by the man behind the ticket counter that all trains were booked and no tickets were available for the next few days.

"Man, we should have thought this through," Jese said, becoming depressed.

Karim mumbled, "We should have bought the plane tickets, Isco."

"We could go back to the airport and buy them," Isco offered, wiping sweat of his forehead. "Man, matchmaking is tough. I'm so tired already."

Karim paced around, "But I am not going to give up now. I mean, we are here. In Shaheen's country. She's just a few miles away from me."

"A lot of kilometres away, actually, bro," Jese tried to correct his friend.

He was ignored. "I can't do the same act I did last time we could have met," Karim continued. "This time I am going to meet her. Nobody, absolutely nobody can stop me. I'll cycle to Patna if I have to but I will meet her and I will tell her how I feel. I have to try once before she gets married to someone else. I have to! AND NOBODY CAN STOP ME!"

Isco was just about to applaud his friend's new found courage when he saw someone walking up to Karim, someone who looked remarkably like...no, no way, that is not possible.

"Hey, guys, what took you so long? I have been waiting on platform eight since forever."

Karim's eyes widened as he recognised the voice. He turned to face Raphael.

"What the fuck are you doing here, man?" Isco jumped up.

"Raphael? How did you-?"

"Reach before you guys? I don't know. Faster plane, faster taxi, I guess, but what are you three waiting here for? Patna Shatabdi Express is going to arrive any moment now on platform eight. It's a good thing I decided to check the ticket counter since none of you were picking my calls, otherwise you could have missed the train."

"If you think for one little moment we are taking you along with us-" Isco started getting panicky that his ship was about to hit another big iceberg in the form of Raphael.

Jese came between them, "Isco, calm down. You're getting way too obsessed at this. And Raphael, nice to meet you here."

Karim sighed, "Raphael, they don't have anymore tickets so even if we miss the train, its okay."

Raphael frowned, "What do you mean we don't have tickets?" He held up four slips of printed paper. "I booked them online."

Isco opened his mouth and shut it.

Karim stared before hugging his best friend, "I love you, Raphael, I love you, okay? I will forever be grateful for this. How did you manage to do this? You're just...fantastic. Now, c'mon we need to catch a train. Let's go!"