Little Book Of Red Lies | Shubman Gill ✓

1. Comments and connections

Theme song - Mann Basiyo Sawariyo

"Ummmm, Kavyaaaa...." Sara draws my attention by streching the syllables. I tear my eyes away from Mumbai's skyline to give my attention to her. 

"Kya hua, Sara?" 

"Do you remember the graduation post that I had put up on Instagram, a few days ago?"

"Of course I do! After all main bhi toh thi usme!" 

Her question has piqued my curiosity. The picture was our mutual favourite. It not only captured her surreal feeling of graduating in a subject she loved but was a reminder that we would be there for the other throughout life. Pure joy was radiating on her face. After all, she had been under the impression that I was not going to be present. But Kaka and Kaku, had helped me to surprise her. I was extremely proud of her, that day. 

And that is why I am so surprised when she asks me if I remember the picture. Of course I do!

"Do you know who commented on it?" 

"No....who did? Some famous hot celebrity, I hope." 

The redness that colours her cheeks is the proof that I had successfully made a correct assumption. 

"Oh my god!! Who is he? Are you looking at the post right now? Can I have a look?" I ask her when I notice that Instagram is open on her phone. 

"Well, it's not that big of a deal." 

"Hah, look at you. It's not that big of deal. Girl your face says a completely different story. So stop beating around the bush and let me see who he is!" 

She looks away as she hands the phone to me, as if afraid to see my reaction. I chuckle at her antics. 

Congratulations ❤️✨

A message from the emerging cricketer, Shubman Gill stares at me from the basket of her phone's unicorn cover. 

"Oh my God, Sara! This is huge. The highest scorer for the Indian U-19 team during the 2018 world cup and IPL's Emerging player from last season, left you a message. That's sweet of him!" 

Sara rolls her eyes. "Sometimes I forget how big of a cricket buff you are." 

Well here's the thing, I am not that big a fan of cricket. But I really adore Sachin Kaka. Not because of his cricket, but because of what he did for me. When my parents died, I was twelve. It was difficult for me to hold a conversation with anyone. I pushed all the four Tendulkars away. But Sachin Kaka tried his hardest. I was pretending to watch the 2013 champions trophy's highlights with him. His passion and observations made me quit pretending and focus on it. Soon, I found myself cheering for the team with him. Nothing much changed between us after that. I was still reluctant to speak. But cricket became our medium of expression. Sometimes I would slip in my feelings between our commentary by comparing a batsman's defence with my go to behaviour then. 

Since then, I like keeping track of the tournaments , just so that Kaka and I can bond over it. 

"Let me see what you said!" I scroll to find her message out of the 519 messages that had already started shipping them - 

Thank you! 🖤

"BLACK HEART, SARA, SERIOUSLY?! Take it slow girl. Don't let him know that black is your favourite colour and that he is really lucky to receive a black heart from you in the first message itself!" 

"Umm...well I had spoken to him a little before I replied to his comment." 

"Okay, what are you hiding? Tell me everything in order."

She shifts her legs to a comfortable position before beginning. 

"So after I read the comment I decided to DM him saying that it was sweet of him to congratulate me. And he happened to be active. So we chatted a little about how things were going for him and how they were going for me. You know, the usual, small talk. Then yesterday, after a week, I received a text from him at 2 am in the night. He wanted to know how I was doing. It was so surprising, but pleasant at the same time. We ended up chatting for an hour until he said he had to go get some sleep." 

"Oh my god that's amazing!" 

"I know right. It's been what...a week, yet I feel as if I like him." 

"Of course you do, Sara! It's written all over your face." I laugh. Sara has the tendency to fall for guys in a heartbeat, this is nothing new. It is me who has always been the rational one. How? Every guy that she has liked has gone through the Kavya screen test. When we were in school, I would assess his behaviour around her and in general to see if he was only nice to her or to everyone. After we grew up a little, I would talk to the guys and ask them what they liked about her. Most of them were caught in the act and would admit they were talking to her only because she was Sachin Tendulkar's daughter. 

And now, Shubman Gill seems like the one who will go through the test soon.