A love lost, A life gained

Blink of an Eye

AN: I have said fuck it to all timelines. I am gonna stay true to only matches other things are mine to control lol. Also nobody should ever ever pick physics, incase any of you are trying to select majors. Fuck physics

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mahi got to meet Pri on the last day of their series with Pakistan in Delhi. He had done a good job, and he had to admit after all his turmoil, seeing her smile proudly was one of his greatest achievements.

"Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Star of the nation huh?" she laughed that loud laugh of hers.

He shrugged acting nonchalant, "So I have heard?"

She laughed harder, "Stop that, you are a bad actor,".

"I am a very good actor," he disagreed, "Did you come to see the match today?"

"Why? Would you have searched for me if I was?"

"No I am just trying to figure out if you are an unlucky charm or not, I got out at 24 only,".

She whacked his shoulder though they both dissolved into giggles. A comfortable silence took over them as they gazed at the night sky together. She had guided them to one of her university days hangout spots where there weren't many people around to recognize him. He had tried telling her he wasn't popular enough to need that but she talked him into it saying it was just practice for his upcoming celebrity status. It was little things she did, little words she said that spun a golden world for him.

"Priyanka?"

"Hmm" she looked over at him, the amused "I know you" look on her face. Somehow he could never get enough of that look.

"I will make it up to you someday,".

"For what?"

He gestured at them, "For this,".

She closed her eyes and turned back to the night sky with a peaceful smile on her face.

"You have nothing to make up for MS Dhoni, you don't need to give me something I didn't ask for,".

"You want to though,".

"A person should only ask from another within the limits of what the other can afford," she turned to look at him, "You can't afford me right now, Mahi. I don't want to ask anything from you,".

He smiled, "And if I can someday?"

"I won't need to ask,".

There were no words that can ever capture how much fondness he felt every second he spent with her. Time seemed to stop when he was with her, their own bubble of existence.

"Did you just call me poor though?"

She shoved him away laughing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time; its a funny thing. It had its own agenda, it is supposed to be linear yet nothing about it was straight. A day could feel like a week, a week seemed to last a year but years could have gone by in the blink of an eye and humans; funny creatures; would only notice when those years were gone. Time can never be enough for humans, yet time was the only thing that gave their lives a meaning. Funny master, funny slaves.

He collapsed in the middle of the road, the daze that had covered his mind lifting for only one fact that was sinking in. She was gone. He had arrived barely a few days ago. He had kept calling her now free to talk to her whenever he pleased. She was not him, to miss calls, forget to check the phone, forget the phone altogether at times. He had always teased her saying she lives inside that mobile of hers. Five days since that night they had shared under the night sky, the slow conversations, the peaceful silences, the ease of each other's company. Three days since he lost her without even knowing. Three whole days.

He didn't realize when he started crying. He had made his friends leave in the other car. There were too many voices and his mind was overloading, he told them he had some urgent business. And then as they went out of sight. He collapsed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jogi was used to long periods of inactivity in his little tea stall. In the sweltering heat, business tended to be very slow. Night time however was full of bussling young boys out for chai on their motorbikes. Ah the buzz of youth, the excitement of living. It is something else. Jogi could barely remember it. All his days had blurred into these long days in his little tea stall. With little else to do, he had made a hobby of watching cars whiz by. Sometimes they would stop and he would get a sale. Sometimes a car would break down and he would get some business. Most times they just sped past him, like blurs of color, just like life passing by. It was another such day he thought, but a car did stop. Quickly he hopped of his stool and turned to take out his milk form his tiny ice box. He turned back to count the number of people he needed to serve.

This was strange. A young man, with long hair Jogi's mother would have turned her nose at, had gotten down and just stood there back turned to the stall. He watched the boy intrigued wondering what job he had here. A few moments passed and the boy was just standing there. Then he walked into the middle of the road and back again then back to the middle. Jogi was now feeling a little alarmed, one never knew with the youth of today. Another minute passed. Not many cars passed this road after the construction of the new one. It had killed Jogi's business for most part. He had always cursed the empty road. The boy collapsed onto his knees. Jogi cursed and rushed out of his stall for once grateful for the lack of traffic.

The boy was still sitting hunched over when Jogi reached.

"Sahb?" he shook the boy lightly but it was of no use so he shook harder. To his absolute horror, the boy just collapsed further onto the road. Jogi was very worried now. He couldn't call the hospital, the phone was at his tea stall and he didn't want the boy to get run over. So Jogi decided to carry the boy however he could back to the stall. Thankfully, he had not fainted and wasn't dead weight. With Jogi's support, the boy stumbled to the bench beside the tea stall. It was then that he saw that the boy wasn't having a fit but was crying soundlessly, breathing uneven and his eyes trained on something a thousand yard away.

Jogi was just a tea seller, he had seen a lot of sad souls find solace in the warmth of his chai at night. Granted this was the first he had seen collapsed in the middle of the road, but his chai could fix the boy. He kept up a one sided conversation, trying to reassure him that everything was going to be fine in mere minutes all the while. There was no response. Jogi handed him the chai but the boy just kept staring off into the distance, tears streaking down his face. He was wondering if he should call the mental hospital if nothing else when the lax grip on the cup made the tea fall, right onto his legs. The pain seemed to shock the boy into the land of the living.

He brushed his scattered long hair out of his face, taking in his surroundings before focusing on Jogi blearily. 

"Where?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

Jogi went off in a mile per minute explanation of what happened, it wasn't everyday his life got this exciting after all. The boy nodded along slowly. For hours the boy kept sitting there. It was only when the nighttime business started that he got up and silently handed Jogi a five hundred and drove off before he could protest. A blessing, a blessing from god himself had stopped infront of his tea stall today to help him get his mother to a doctor, god had acknowledged his endless days finally. Time might have gifted her a few more days.