Homecoming

Chapter 3: Decisions

Thousands of kilometers away, in a hospital room that currently had more security officers than doctors, two exhausted people were trying to moonlight as PR specialists, trying to cover as much damage as they could.

Virat and Rohit, or Virat bhai and Rohit bhai, as they were known to the team, or Ambulance #1 and Ambulance #2 (the ranks kept changing based on situations), as they were secretly known in the BCCI internal meetings, were currently aware of three things:

The cricket team did not need a repeat of the Rishabh fiasco.

They should not be looking at, or talking to, any member of their team, lest they break down into ugly sobs (a tried and tested experiment by Ambulance #1 and Ambulance #2).

Their collective BP was surely crossing 200 at this rate.

After what happened with Rishabh, the team had been extra careful, extra sensitive, extra affectionate, even. Rohit knew this, and saw it in the way everyone checked up on their teammates after the end of every series, with a litany of "Kaha pahuche, Miyan?" and "See you Motherfathers" in the WhatsApp groups. Virat experienced it, more than saw it, the change that had occurred inside him, the paternal urge to shield his team from every danger, every accident.....every heartbreak.

This, though, he thought, is something even he cannot heal.

He was just about to walk out of the room and talk to the attending doctor, when his phone rang. He was in no mood or mind to talk to anyone about what had happened, but even he stopped for a second when he saw the name on the screen.

Shubi.

Virat was sure that more than his own kids, these brats were turning his hair grey. He looked at Rohit, who looked just as resigned as he felt.

Shubi, Virat mouthed.

Rohit was instantly on guard. Virat knew what must be going on in his mind, having witnessed the same thing he had.

Making up his mind, Virat took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

"Virat bhai.."

Grey hair, Virat thought, as he heard the anguish on the other end of the phone, tears coming to his eyes, unbidden. (Damn you, rule #2)

He hated it, sometimes, being the bearer of bad news, the shoulder to cry on, the voice to look up to, but heavy was the head that wore the crown, and he would never leave Rohit to deal with it alone.

Besides, Shubi was sure to reach out to him, their legacies bringing them closer.

Still, he could not help but look up, wondering what the almighty had in store for this brat.

He cleared his throat, and before Shubi could break down any further, said,

"He's alive."

The shuddering gasps and sobs he heard on the other side brought a fresh batch of tears to his eyes, but he carried on, for the sake of everyone in the room and the idiot far, far away.

"He's alive, but it's not looking good, okay? I need you to be calm right, can you do that? We are getting Ishan the best care possible; Rohit is here, and Ishan's parents will be here soon. I need you to calm down, because we have braved so much more before, but we are stronger together, arent we, brat?"

Virat could not hear anything other than jumbled words and choked sobs, but Virat was nothing if not patient.

Eventually, he could hear Shubman's sobs subside.

"I'll be there on the —"

"No."

" — next flight. What?"

"I said no."

"I need to see him, I am coming down there and nothing you can say will stop me. Virat bhai —"

"Would he want to see you?"

Virat knew he had hurt Shubman the second he said it, but after what he had witnessed, he knew they all had to tread carefully.

The silence on the other end spoke volumes, but Virat was Shubi's go-to person for a reason. He knew the road ahead was going to be difficult, but he also knew Shubman now had a chance to prove Virat wrong, to show him that the brat had indeed grown up.

He took a deep breath, and spoke with a deadly calmness.

"Hurry here, but I will be the first person you see."

And now, Virat waited.