A Flight of Love

Chapter 20 - Batter Up

Mahima and Nishtha walked onto the pitch whilst Akshara and the rest of the girls watched from afar. The plan was quite simple really. The older women will try their best to hit the ball and just make a run for it to the non-strikers end so the younger girls could take the strike. And hopefully try their best to not get out whilst doing so. It wasn't exactly a foolproof plan but that was the best they could do with the limited resources they had.

Nishtha was on strike first. Vansh ran up to the pitch and swung the ball at Nishtha's bat. Somehow Nishtha managed to hit the ball and yelled at her mother to follow through for a single. Mahima nodded at her daughter and began jogging towards the strikers end for her single when she found herself suddenly short of breath.

She crossed over to the strikers end and held her hand to her chest, breathing heavily, gasping for air. "Humse yeh cricket wicket khelna nahi hoga. I can't run like you kids. I quit." She announced between laboured short breaths.

"Maa. Please?! Try to karo aap." Nishtha begged, trying to reason with her staunch mother.

"No Nishtha I can't. Kehdiya, bas keh diya." Mahima announced loudly with a screeching voice, leaving no room for argument.

Akshara watched as Nishtha's face sank at her mothers abruptness. "Okay, okay. Aap maat kehlo Aunty." Akshara ran up to the pitch and caressed Nishtha's shoulder in support while Mahima walked off. "Reem, you're up next." She announced over her shoulder.

"It's okay, Nishtha. Just focus on your batting okay?" Nishtha nodded her head. "Girl power." Akshara said, bringing her fist out.

"Girl power." Nishtha fist pumped her back, giving Akshara a soft smile.

Abhimanyu watched as Akshara dealt with his younger cousin and his Tayiji's tantrums with patience and problem solving skills like no other. She was smart and she was also all heart. He smiled to himself, trying his best to not free-fall harder into the deep end than he already was, as his eyes followed Akshara walk off the ground.

Akshara felt someone's eyes tracing her every move as she walked back to the sidelines. Her footsteps came to a halt as her heartbeat picked up speed, beating louder. It felt as if time had stopped and everything was beginning to move in slow motion —the type she used to only watch in movies —and then make fun of the cringe-worthiness that ensued, afterwards.

Look up, the voice in the back of her head whispered.

Akshara looked up to see Abhimanyu staring at her, his eyes glistening with a broad smile of understanding, pride, and mischief. His eyes then shifted and Akshara followed his line of sight over her shoulder to look at Nishtha before glancing over quickly at Mahima.

Akshara's cheeks reddened at Abhimanyu's raised eyebrows. She knew he had noticed her playing mediator between the mother and daughter. And she knew he had something to say.

"What?" She asked, folding her arms against her chest.

Abhimanyu just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing."

Akshara scoffed and began to walk away when she heard his voice.

"But how does it feel?"

She turned around with the whip of her ponytail. "Excuse me?"

"Excused." Abhimanyu retorted, cheekily, slipping his hands into his sweatpants. "But how does it feel that you're already down one player and it's not even even been the first ball yet?"

"Oh please. If you think you can get into our heads like this, you're wrong. We'll win."

"For sure you'll win with your playing 11. Oops. I meant playing 10." Abhimanyu put his hand to his mouth sarcastically in an exaggerated motion.