Ruben Dias - One Shots

Set Me Free Part 9

Ruben and Carla have grown apart. With Rubens career taking off he leaves Portugal to live the life of his dreams, breaking Carla's heart doing so. Years later, upon his return home, Ruben learns that Carla has moved on, happily engaged to another man, but not any man, Ruben's childhood bully João Mendes.

Enjoy!

The wedding was back on. Or at least Carla's mother thought it was. She even went as far as to book a dress fitting. Carla only went along knowing how happy it made her mother. She could always keep the dress for the right moment. Or better yet, the right man.

Nevertheless, Carla and João agreed to take things slow, without any pressure to rekindle their relationship, and for that Carla was thankful. She was happy to stay with her mother whilst João stayed with his parents. They agreed to meet up for lunch a couple of times a week, which was great, however that one time they ran into Ruben was more than awkward for Carla. He came jogging down the street whilst they were walking hand in hand. Ruben looked to be in full beast mode as he was focused on his workout, ear pods in his ears. Not to mention the sweat dripping from the split ends of his hair. Carla did her best not to stare. Ruben's steps had altered at the sight of them, Carla and João, reunited, holding hands. Carla convinced herself that she only let go out of sheer surprise of seeing Ruben. João, on the other hand, wasn't as convinced.

"Ah, Ruben Dias." He sighed, but by then Ruben had backed off, rushing to cross the street once the roads were clear. "He's never been very articulate, that guy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Carla muttered, her hands now stuffed in her pockets.

"It doesn't matter." João chuckled. "To be honest, I thought your reason for coming back here was to see him."

"Who, Ruben?"

"Yeah. I mean with him being back to train with the national team and all. It made sense that you'd be running back to him."

"To you." Carla frowned. "It made sense to you. I came here to see my mother and you know that, João."

"I know, I know." He said, quick to grab Carla's hand by pulling it out of her pocket. He kissed the back of it. "Let's not fight, okay?"

She nodded, ignoring her rising temper that often came with João's sly comments, especially the ones he'd make about Ruben, long after Carla considered herself over him. "Okay." She said, happy to move on from the conversation.

Another thing Carla found annoying about João was his inability to use his phone for what it was originally intended for. A simple call to cancel their latest lunch plans could have prevented Carla from hitting the road during a full blown rainstorm. Carla discovered João's text message when she got stuck at a stop light.

"Great." She sighed and made the attempt to make a U-turn. It was only possible since it appeared that Carla was the only person stupid enough to be out driving in the rain.

She got as far as to the next intersection, but unfortunately it was flooded with water and mud, making it impossible for her mother's Nissan to come through.

"Fuck!" Carla slapped her hands on the steering wheel. She was stuck.

The winds howled and the rain lashed down, making it difficult for her to see more than a few feet in front of her. Carla got impatient and made the mistake of getting out of her car. She got back in as quickly as she had stepped out. She sat there, shivering and soaked to the bone, with no idea of what to do. Then came a figure approaching through the rain.

"It can't be."

"Mrs Fernandes?"

He knocked on the window.