Beginning of The End

VIII

The next day the team was going down for lunch when they heard a strangely familiar voice ringing through the lobby and paused, "Woh rehne do na."

They turned to see who it was and saw the back of a woman, clad in an oversized grey jumper, facing them as she spoke to someone near the reception. She was gripping the edge of the wall tightly as she craned her neck to look at the person.

"Haa, jaise mujhe bada shauk hai na bhaiya se maar khane ka." The man scoffed as he walked towards her, dragging a black suitcase behind him and a blue duffle bag carried on his back.

The team was shocked at how he spoke to her sounding almost rude, but their shock increased tenfold when they saw that the man was, in fact, Dev. The woman swatted his forearm sharply and laughed at him.

"He spends more time in the gym than he does with me. Couldn't he carry these bags instead of sending you?" She demanded sarcastically, and Dev let out a snort of laughter.

Brown hair that flew down her back, and brown eyes that remained unaware of their presence as they laughed at Dev.

And when she turned around, the team instantly knew why she seemed so familiar to them. Her voice had become slightly different, a little hoarse than what they remembered but, there was no doubt on who she was.

"Aram se bhabhi," Dev muttered as he led her towards the lift. The boys watched with their mouths hung open as she held on to his bicep tightly while he motioned one of the bellboys to get the suitcase. Neither of them noticed the boys standing in front of the lift until they were right beside them.

"Hey, guys." She waved at the boys who were gaping at her, using a friendly tone to greet them. "Best of luck with your match!" She said with a small smile before stepping inside the lift. But Dev didn't look up at them as he walked inside after her and pressed a button on the wall, instantly shutting the doors.

"Was that Anushka?" Rohit asked in disbelief, his eyes still stuck on the lift's doors, and the rest of the team nodded their heads mutely.

Anushka was there.

In the same hotel as the team.

With Dev.

They should have been relieved that she had talked to them like nothing was wrong. But somehow, in this situation, Anushka being normal did not seem normal.

"Guys, team meeting in my room after lunch." Jinx reminded them as he breezed past them towards the dining area, snapping them all out of their dazed state.

They quickly had their lunch before piling up in his room, where Virat was already seated in the bean bag at the behind corner of the room. All of them sat around the room, not saying anything as Rohit discussed the order for the game the next day with Ravi bhai.

Since Virat was back in the squad now, there was no question of not playing him. Ravi bhai had dismissed the idea before it even formed in anyone's mind. The only changes they had to make were in the top batting order.

Since they had decided to rest Rahul for the first match already, playing with Mayank and Rohit as the openers, the rest of it was fairly simple. Virat would bat one down and Dev, the debutant at number four.

The entire affair felt a little weird because Virat was there now. And he wasn't saying anything at all. 

It was like he wasn't there at all, which in itself was a very weird thing for them, especially the senior players of the team because they had been with him since his initial days.