Beginning of The End

XXIII

"Who the fuck gave him the password?"

Everyone standing in the room flinched at the roar and lowered their eyes when he slammed his fists against the table, for they had never seen the Mumbaikar getting this charged. He was one of the few people who could manage to keep calm even in the toughest of situations, something which had made him who he was today.

But today, he seemed like a different person, his hair looked unkempt, and the way his eyes were glaring coals at every person in the room, it was a surprise that they hadn't all turned into ashes.

"Just tell me who it was, alright?" He let out a frustrated breath when he saw the terrorized expressions surrounding him and shook his head.

He placed his palms flat against the table and bent his head for a second, trying to get rid of the words that were still echoing in his mind.

"Bataya kyu nahi yaar?"

He squeezed his eyes shut as the hollow chuckle rang in his ears, the detached voice and the choked sobs that had followed.

"Sabko yahi chahiye tha na? Lekin usse kyu? Mujhe ho jata na jo hona tha."

Over their decade-long friendship, Virat had said over a thousand things that had been too passionate to be termed polite. Their fights had ranged from childish tantrums to disagreements that had to be settled by a third party.

But he doubted if any of those fights made him feel this helpless. He almost wished Virat had shouted at him instead. Maybe those curses wouldn't have pierced his heart as these words had.

The first time he had seen Virat, the boy had been all about the wide smiles and twinkling eyes, the mischief lurking behind the charming Delhi persona.

But there had been an overwhelming amount of strength along with everything else in the charismatic Delhiite that had held Bunty in awe since the first day.

Bunty had been with him since he was an impulsive lad in his late teens to the man he was now, and one could only imagine what lows they had seen together. But through all those times, even when it seemed like his entire life was turned upside down, that strength had never faltered once.

But as people say, there's a first for everything.

And when Bunty picked up his best friend's call from Australia, he didn't know that this would be the first time he would see that strong façade crumbling down to pieces.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't know we weren't supposed to, I thought he would have known. I'm sorry, sir." Bunty looked up at the hesitant voice and saw the new girl who had joined their team only a few days ago.

He had already opened his mouth, ready to unleash his wrath when the girl started speaking again. "He said he had checked on some dates and had to post a tweet. I didn't know we weren't supposed to give him his password."

Bunty resisted the urge to pour his rage at her and looked away in frustration. What could he even blame her for? For telling Virat the password to his social handles?

They had never had any situation as such before, and he had not given any precise instructions to them regarding how to deal with it. But there had been an unspoken rule built in the past few weeks when Bunty had changed the password to his social media handles without telling him.

Virat liked to keep his distance from the media during series at most times, knowing it would be just another knock to his mental health. And Bunty had assumed that he would have done the same this time too.