Playful Love

33

Evander~

"Lucas!? " I said surprised and shocked to see, my friend and cricket teammate Lucas after two years.

"Evander, Gosh! man, finally got to see you after two years." He shouted in joy and pulled me into a man hug that almost broke my bones and I am glad that I gave Archie for Violet to hold.

"Lucas, even I am happy to see you after so many days." I said patting his back.

"You must meet our friends, Captain." Lucas said and whistled loudly attracting everyone's and our friends attention.

"Guys, look, whom I found, our Captain! " Lucas shouted and all our friends and Cricket teammates came running towards us.

Soon I was flooded with hugs and bumps from my friends.

"Guys, I am so happy to meet you all again." I said once I got on my feet. "How come you are all here, in Paris?" I asked surprised.

"Evander, buddy, this party is being hosted by Mr. Raymond, who is Lucas' uncle. So, he invited us all since we were all in London celebrating Lucas' bachelor's party." Ron said smiling.

"Wow! Lucas' you are getting married. Congratulations buddy." I said giving Lucas a man hug.

"Thank you, Evan. We all missed our captain." He said with a sad look.

"Yes, man. But we are happy now after seeing you happy and back to normal." Jason said patting my back.

"Yes, indeed Evander's looking more contended and cheerful than before. What's the matter, Evan?" Ron asked raising his brow.

"Guys, I want you all to meet the two most important people in my life." I said smiling as I saw Violet standing confused a few feet away from us, "Meet Violet, the love of my life," I said pulling Violet to my side holding her waist. "And Archie, our son." I said proudly.

"Wow!! "

"What!? "

"OMG."

The faces of my friends was worth watching as their shocked faces turned to surprise and then to happiness. Soon they pulled me into a group hug, fisting me in the stomach.

"Nice to meet you, Violet." Lucas said warmly, "We didn't get a chance to meet you earlier but I remember you from our college days." He said and a sad expression crossed Violet's face which she soon masked with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too." She said faking a smile as she moved away from me.

"Come on, guys. Let's sit down and catch up." Justin said guiding us towards the table that is located in a corner of the party area.

Once we all settled down, everyone had their turns to meet and greet Archie, who was cheerfully smiling and babbling baby words, making everyone laugh.

"I still couldn't believe, our captain is a father!" Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, me too." Justin added, "Remember, what he used to say when we all were sneaking out and having fun with girls and life." He said making Violet feel awkward.

"Guys, don't." I said trying to avoid the topic which is making Violet feel uncomfortable.

"What? Let us remember your great dialogue bro." Ron said mocking me.

"Yeah, again what was that dialogue?" Justin said.

"I will wait till my marriage to loose my virginity to my wife." Lucas said imitating  me. "And now look, he's the first one to father a child in our team." He laughed.

I can feel my face turning warm as I tried to control my blush and from the side of my eye, I can see Violet looking at me shocked.

"Guys, that's enough." I said trying to sound stern but the idiots have the nerve to laugh at me.

Archie cried in the arms of Ron putting a halt to our discussion, thankfully.

"I think he needs a diaper change. I will go get it done." Violet said trying to take Archie from Ron.

"No, you stay here, I will change him." I said taking Archie and moving towards the washrooms.

Violet~

I was sipping on my orange juice silently when Evander's friends tried to strike a conversation with me.

"Ermm... Violet." Lucas said awkwardly.

"Yes." I smiled.

"Well, I am sorry for whatever happened in past. Whatever had happened it's because of my foolishness and immaturity." Lucas apologized and I gave him a confused look.

"Yes, Violet." Justin started, "that day even though Evan accepted that dare to make you fall in love with him because of Lucas, later on the day of finals, he told us that he accepts his defeat to Lucas and gave up his Captaincy, saying that he had fallen in love with you and doesn't want to break your heart for a stupid dare."

"Yes, it was the first time in his life that Evander accepted his defeat and gave up his Captaincy, which he got after a hard work of years." Ron added.

"After, you left he was heartbroken and isolated himself from everyone. He never spoke or contacted us. He became a different person." Justin said with a sad look.

"But thank god, everything's fine between you two now and our captain is back to normal." Lucas smiled.

So many things began to unfold in a single day that it was hard for me to register everything all at once. Evan loved me so much that he gave up his captaincy, He distanced himself from everyone blaming himself for what all happened.

I wasn't the only one who suffered but Evander also suffered equally. May be if I had confronted and gave a chance for Evander to explain, we might have sorted out our differences two years back. I was so blinded up with the fury that I never acknowledge that Evan is also getting hurt in our relationship.

"Sorry guys for making you all wait." Evander said walking towards us with Archie.

"So Captain, from changing field order to changing diapers, huh." Lucas teased.

"Yes, all these things comes along with parenthood and I am cherishing every moment of it with happiness." Evander said proudly making my heart warm.

Later, Evander spoke with his friends and all the while carrying Archie with him around the party, making him eat and cleaning the mess he created without shying away, saying that he is his father and why to shy away to feed or take care of his son in public.

We bid bye to Evander's friends, promising to keep in touch with them. They loved Archie very much, gushing that he's a smaller version of Evander.

We returned to Evan's penthouse with Archie fast asleep in his father's arms.