"No, mahi bhai," Virat sighed. "It won't EVER be the same."
"Cheeku, you atleast could've discussed, baccha." Mahi bhai tried to handle him, though he himself was going insane at the happenings.
"I'll add..... Rohit?" MS offered, placatingly.
"Do it bhai," Virat said. "Do it."
A while later, when Rohit was on call, everyone did wonder where do they start the conversation from. They were too dumbfounded, too confused to start any conversation; ANY. And that, they had thought, would never be the case; THE ICT not being able to start a conversation...... It felt horrible.
"Rohit." Virat sighed.
"IDIOT." Rohit yelled from the other side. And even in that situation, it didn't fail to draw a faint smile across Virat's face.
"I know I should've told you both," Virat said, "but trust me bhai, I didn't act on impulse."
"Oh, cheeks," Bhai couldn't make himself scold his kiddo for not telling him; rather all he wanted at the moment was to pull HIS CHEEKU, HIS KIDDO, in a warm, huge bear hug.
"And what about me?" Rohit sounded annoyed, "you could've told me atleast, vee."
"I'm sorry." Virat apologized; and Rohit couldn't help but to wonder on how did they reach such a level of formalities. "I'm sorry, Rohit. But trust me, it all just... Was just getting on my nerves."
"Don't tell me-" Rohit said; and immediately regretted forgetting they had bhai on call.
"What is it?" Mahi bhai asked, and virat couldn't help but give him a mini flashback of all the happenings a while before since he left the T20 captaincy.
"After the loss, bhai, " Virat told them, "the selectors, and the BCCI authorities and I had some phone calls, and you know what happened then."
"I know," Ms sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to calm down his headache. "I very well know."
"And so this bastard," Rohit accused, "threw me in a mess."
"I'm sorry, Rohit" Virat laughed, after a long, long time- and it felt good. "I didn't want you to push you in this hell hole, but this thing was getting nastier day by day."
As Rohit and Virat chattered along, MS couldn't help but think about how things have changed.
How Dada has changed.
How his 'once-upon-a-time' best friends, yuvi and bhajji have changed.
How things have constantly been against virat.
How VIRAT himself has changed.
And then he realized, nothing was the same.
The team had changed.
The people had changed.
The relations...
The relations.
And then it hit him like a tide. The Relations haven't changed.
"I mean, not all," He thought.
His cheeku would still call him whenever he felt low.
His cheeku would still visit ranchi occasionally, just to lay calmly on his lap and rant.
His Rohit and his Cheeku still shared the same bond.
The two kids would still fight over trivial matters and come up to him for solving them out.
Virat's kids still loved him. Rahul, Jassi, kuliya would forever be by his side.
They will be. They will, right?
THEY WILL. He knew.
"I miss you so much, bhai," He heard Virat sigh. "I miss you so, so much. It's not the same without you."
"You have a home here too, you know." MS smiled.
"You know, bhai!" Virat suddenly exclaimed, "Rohit used to warn me about not losing my cool in the selector meetings. Now we'll see how he controls his temper at those stupid retards."
"Oii!!!" Rohit snapped, "I DO have better anger management than you do, okay?"
"Of course, of course!!" Virat laughed.
"Virat," The line suddenly went silent as Rohit spoke in a voice barely a whisper. "You ARE fine. Right?"
"Yes, Rohit" And MS could picture virat smiling at his concern. "I am."
"Good. Or else, I'd have smacked you straight with my bat." Rohit said.
"And moreover, I can focus on my batting now," Virat told them, "without any crappy pressure about what the fuck says who."
"I miss you." Rohit accepted for the first time in a while. "I miss you a lot, vee."
"I miss you too." And virat's voice sounded quieter than it had ever been.
MS left the call, leaving both of them to talk; he knew, talking to Rohit would lower his stress quite a lot.
And again, he knew. No matter how many things changed, virat would have HIM by his side. And Rohit.
That's all that mattered. Didn't it? After all, it's everything bout the people that care.
________________________
I don't know. I don't know how this turned out. I don't know how good is it. I don't know whether this even makes any sense, lekin sach bataun? I wrote this for myself.
I mean just look at how the tables have turned. I didn't expect anything of this sort!!!!!
Anyway. I just... Just know, or say my gut feeling; some relations won't change. Mahi and Cheeku, Cheeku and mahi won't change.
Bohot hogya rona dhona? On the positive side, Virat gets to focus on his batting.
This was more of a rant, but trust me, it helped. Sorry if you're annoyed at me for typing crap :P
