A love lost, A life gained

Silence Speaks

I just realized due to faulty memory that the triseries with Sri Lanka and West Indies in Sri Lanka, the one I was using as backdrop for this story, happened for July end to August mid not June end to August mid. So I am just going to keep going with June to August fake dateline since my mind threw me a curve ball outta nowhere and most of you probably don't even remember that series, it was not very special in anyway. Just go along with whatever the hell I churn out I guess.

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Mahi did not bother to pretend to be normal the next day. He was too numbed out after yesterday to spend more energy maintaining a mask. Besides he was prepping himself for the upcoming match, he was inevitably going to have to give his all, one good innings may have ensured him a bunch of matches but if he didn't perform he would be dropped. And for that he decided he would rather preserve his mental energy for tomorrow. It wasn't like he was thinking anything, his mind was like a static TV, no noise just a buzz. Nobody woke him up for practice but he was pretty good at getting up at the time he wanted to, though he doubted Dada could have allowed him to skip practice a day before they played.

Sourav frowned when Mahi walked in for breakfast. He had thought he would give him some more time to sleep, Mahi didn't take much time to get ready. He seemed to be functioning on autopilot, walking in, taking his corner seat, not even pretending to be okay when Yuvi immediately tried to engage him in a conversation. He was shrugging if Yuvi tried harder to get some answers from him or nodding when needed. Yuvi worriedly turned to Sourav, looking for answers Sourav couldn't give. He smiled reassuringly back at him.

"Go join them then, stop frowning so much, you are not getting any younger, your wrinkles will look bad for us," Jammy said.

"I thought you were reading? What is this, a lapse of concentration in the great Rahul Dravid,".

"I am reading. I can't help it if you scowl so hard I can feel it from behind the pages," Jammy sniffed haughtily, bringing his book higher up to block out his friend's face.

"Yeah right,". He did pick up his plate though and walked up to Mahi's end. Yuvi shifted aside to let him sit between them. Mahi didn't notice, he was absent mindedly mixing his bowl of cereal. It looked barely touched and was turning into a mush. 

"I don't think anyone can eat that kid," he remarked nudging his shoulder to get his attention.

Mahi shrugged and took a bite in response.

"Dada what did you do last night?" Yuvi asked accusingly.

He turned exasperatedly, "Why would I do anything?".

"You were going to talk to him and now you broke him," Yuvi continued miffed.

He sighed, putting an arm around Yuvi. The boy was worried and was trying to cover it up, very obviously.

"He is going to be fine. Don't worry."

"Whatever," Yuvi huffed though he sank into the one arm hug.

They turned to Mahi who was eating the awful mush he had turned his cereal into, slowly. He was not really listening to anything. Sourav sighed again. He beckoned a waiter over.

"Please get him another bowl, put some fruits or something in it. Take this one away" he told the guy. Mahi didn't seem to care but that bowl had been irking the hell out of Sourav. The waiter came back with a fresher bowl in a minute. Sourav took it away from Mahi before he could turn this one into a hot mess too, feeding him himself instead. If everything had been normal, Mahi would have been embarrassed. Everyone knew that. It wasn't very hard to make him blush. But Mahi was not feeling very normal. Everything was muted for him. He just accepted the bites not complaining but not paying attention to it either. He could have been fed a spoon of salt and wouldn't have noticed. Sourav frowned harder, the complete lack of response was bothering him.