Homecoming

Chapter 22: Welcome

ICT won the series in Wankhede, and a lot of players came to visit Ishan and celebrate their victory, but something seemed amiss. Maybe it was the somber atmosphere after seeing their second teammate down with injuries, or maybe it was the usual hullaballu missing from the young patakha.

For his part, Ishan did try to cause mayhem with his antics from the confines of his bed, but it did not feel the same. He chalked it down to exhaustion, but when his eyes strayed to the door for the fourth time when Tilak and Shreya bhai came to visit, he knew ki daal me kuch kaala hai. It didn't help that every time he glanced at his phone or the door, Virat and Rohit wore matching smirks on their face, as if they knew something he didn't. He scowled at them, but only received hair ruffling in response.

Everyone spent time with Ishan, exchanged jokes and stories, and even smuggled fast food under the watchful eyes of the hospital.

Well, almost everyone.

He had not come - not alone, not with the team.

He had not even called, and even Ishan's parents had not asked about his whereabouts.

Not that Ishan missed him - no sir, nuh uh, not at all.

But it was just so unlike him that Ishan suspected some antics on his part - maybe he is just waiting behind the closed door to jumpscare me, he thought, but no such thing happened.

It's good that he left, Ishan thinks one day (rather savagely, if the tissues he's shredding have anything to go by), atleast I won't expect anything from him or have to suffer through watching his face.

He was set to be released today, and his parents were leaving after getting him settled in. He knew arrangements had been made for his care, but he did not want to risk asking if he would be a part of it, lest it looked like Ishan cared.

He was glad to be finally out of the hospital after so long, to finally start his long road to recovery. Ishan's parents had made all the arrangement to transport him to his house, and he spent a blissful hour just whizzing past the city, drinking in the sights of the ordinary world.

He was almost sad the journey had ended, but equally glad to be home. He got down from the vehicle, and was wheeled by his dad, when his mom stopped him at the door.

"Aarati utaarni hai teri."

He readied himself to be smeared with vermillion and a million other things, but even in a million years he would never have expected Shubman to open the door, dimple on display, with a thaali in his hands.

Shubman bent down, applied a teeka on his forehead, and gleefully suggested,

"Muh toh band karo uncle."

Ishan promptly snapped his hanging jaw shut.