Beyond the Meadows (A HulRat Fanfiction)

Chapter 10

Rahul and Shreyas got a huge cheer from the flightier ones of their team when they stepped into the field for the first practice session before the match against Pakistan. The sensible ones couldn't help but join in, too.

Shreyas was, of course, enjoying himself enormously; he held up his hands to accept the applause the way political leaders did. In stark contrast, Rahul, who hated to be the centre of attention, only had an embarrassed sort of smile on his face.

Eventually Rohit managed to calm everyone down and they fell to the usual routines. Jassi and Hardik had a quick fight about who would bowl to Rahul first; Rahul chose Jassi, which earned both of them a whack on the head from Hardik.

"Hardik, enough!" Rohit called from the adjacent nets firmly. "You come and bowl to me."

Virat took his stance to practice spin against Kuldeep. His gaze kept straying to Rahul and Jassi, however. He hadn't grasped how happy he was to see Rahul playing till now, when he saw him padded up and taking guard.

In the very first delivery, Jassi missed his mark and Rahul stepped out and cleared the ball for a six.

Maybe because he was the only one watching Rahul that closely, or maybe because no one was as good as reading Rahul's face as him, Virat knew immediately something wasn't right even as Hardik cheered and high-fived Rahul and Jassi made a face and returned to take his run up.

Virat gestured at Kuldeep to pause; before he could make his way to the nets Rahul and Jassi were playing in, Rahul played another shot, an on-drive.

There it was again: a hint of almost-indiscernible discomfort flitting across his face.

"What's wrong?" Virat asked. "Did you hurt yourself?" 

Rahul looked around at Virat a bit too quickly.

"No, no," he said.

"What happened, Virat bhaiya?" Jassi called from the other end.

"Wait a minute, Jass--" Virat called back, then spoke in a low voice, because Hardik was trying to listen in. "If there's any discomfort, don't play now, go and talk to Dravid sir."

"It's nothing, Virat, I'm perfectly all right..."

Normally Virat could tell when Rahul lied: he'd blink too many times. 

He wasn't blinking now.

"Well, okay then..." 

Virat exchanged a fist bump with him and returned to his place.

_________________

When Rohit emerged from the shower after the practice session, a timid knock sounded at his door.

"Come in--"

To his surprise, Rahul slouched in.

"Why on earth are you knocking?' demanded Rohit.

"Because I have bad news and I feel lousy," said Rahul. "I think I got a niggle in my hamstring again."

Rohit thought he could do very well without unpleasant shocks of this kind early in the evening. He tried to keep his emotions out of his face, though, as he got Rahul to sit down.

"Right, since when?"

"When I started batting, I guess..."

"You should've said earlier," said Rohit crossly. "Have you spoken to Nitin sir?"

Rahul shook his head.

"Well...come on, then, let's see what he says..."

Rohit tried to pull him up again. Rahul resisted for a beat before getting up.

He didn't look very miserable, but the fact that he even looked a little upset was a huge deal since it was Rahul, who could mask his face better than anyone in the world, probably.

Rohit put an arm around him as they walked down the corridor.

"Don't start worrying just yet." Rohit tried to sound assuring both for Rahul's and his own sake. "It might be nothing."

"Suppose it is?" said Rahul, sounding pretty gloomy. "Do you have a backup plan yet?"

"You would shut up right now if you know what's good for you," threatened Rohit.

Rahul's smile didn't reach his eyes, and he hesitated in front of Nitin sir's room, too, before Rohit tightened his arm around him and dragged him in.

_________________

An hour later, Rohit stormed into Virat's room and flopped down on the bed, burying his face in his hands. He'd pretended to be stable for as long as he could--as long as Rahul had needed him to be--and now he needed to be real for a while, or he'd suffocate and die.  

"Why do you think nothing ever works out for us?"

"Yeah?" asked Virat, baffled.

"Just when I thought we'd chalked down our squad for the World Cup, the best one the country can produce--stupid--injuries won't--leave us alone. Who do you think we play at Number 5? I actually don't have a backup plan."

"What happened to him?"

"Niggle in his hamstring again. Nitin sir said he probably can't play for a week or more. The best hope is he comes back before the Super 4. As if we care about the Super 4--but what if he isn't fully fit yet and has a relapse again? What are we going to do in the World Cup without him?"

Rohit felt pretty close to tearing his hair out.

"The first time in a decade we get a perfect middle order and just before the World Cup--"

Then Rohit looked up, realizing Virat had been completely silent.

"What--?"

Virat looked so hurt that Rohit almost felt scared.

"What happened, Vi?"

Virat was about to choke out a 'Nothing,' but would he be any better than Rahul if he lied to the face of someone who cared about him?

"I saw something was wrong when he was batting today. And he told me it was nothing. He told me--he lied to me--about an injury...can you...imagine his..."

Virat turned away; his eyes had started to prickle.

Rohit sounded distressed. "Oh, he probably said it to see the practice session through--and see how he felt afterwards--you know how he gets--"

"NO, I DON'T KNOW HOW HE GETS ANYMORE."

"Virat--"

"HE CAN'T EVEN TELL ME ABOUT AN INJURY. I AM NOT ASKING HIM TO TELL ME ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE OF IMPORTANCE, BUT AN INJURY--"

"It's not like that--it's not even a serious injury, just a--"

"BUT HE STILL WENT TO TELL YOU, DIDN'T HE? HE STILL DIDN'T TELL ME, DID HE?"

Just as Rohit reached over to get Virat face him, Virat clutched his head and flung himself down on the bed and broke down completely.