In This Together

The lord and the devotee

Bhuvi arrived at the barnhouse with the help of Shikhar's continuous instructions over the phone, getting more and more stunned about how on earth had Jaddu and Shikhar managed to corner Rawal in a remote place like this?

By the time he arrived, it was already mid-morning.

"Why are you so late?" demanded Shikhar.

Bhuvi was scrutinizing Robin Rawal, who was crouched on the ground, muttering something.

"The bus broke down half-way," sighed Bhuvi, and Robin looked up so fast that his neck might have snapped.

"God!" he whispered, his eyes wide and completely wild.

Bhuvi stepped back slightly, alarmed, and then Robin threw himself at Bhuvi's feet, sobbing in disbelief and ecstasy, and poor Bhuvi jumped back in horror till his back touched the door.

Having nowhere to escape to, he tried to pull up Robin, who was drivelling at his feet.

A sound from his friends made him look at them, and he found Jaddu and Shikhar shaking with laughter. Bhuvi spared them a look before saying, "Robin, listen--how did you frame Virat for match-fixing?"

Robin knelt at his feet and said, "I did it all for you, my lord."

Shikhar thought he saw a shadow pass over Bhuvi's face.

The next moment, however, Bhuvi was saying, "That's--that's great...and don't call me 'lord'," he added as an afterthought.

And then of course, with Jaddu standing as guard with his sword upright and Bhuvi and Shikhar sitting across from Robin, the latter poured out the entire story, his eyes shining with pride and devotion.

"I could see right away that you weren't really badly injured in your 3rd over during the match against Pakistan. But I saw the ****** captain making you sit out for three matches! I made up my mind right then that I'll avenge you, God."

He looked up at Bhuvi expectantly.

Bhuvi blinked and tried to smile, which looked more like a grimace.

"So I contacted..." And Robin proceeded to name a list of hackers, mediapersons and bookies, all involved in the awful business, and the three of them felt thankful of Shikhar's phone taking the video recording of the scene from the window, because the names passed straight over his heads.

"Have I served thee well, my lord?" asked Robin humbly, getting carried away by the moment, and Bhuvi glared disapprovingly at his two friends who couldn't stifle their laughter anymore and were roaring. In fact, Jaddu had dropped his sword and was literally rolling on the ground.

"Yes, you really have," said Bhuvi gratefully, and Shikhar banged him on the back.

"And we have succeeded," said Robin. "The captain is going to call it quits from the sport today."

Shikhar and Jaddu abruptly stopped laughing as Bhuvi asked, frowning, "What do you mean?"

"He has called a conference in Mohali today, my helpers in the media informed me," said Robin, and Jaddu had already taken up his phone to call Virat.

"Are you sure, Robin?" asked Bhuvi in a deadly calm voice.

"I am. We have succeeded!" He bent down at Bhuvi's feet again.

Bhuvi stumblingly stood up and snatched the phone set on the window. "This video needs to be developed properly at once. And we need to make a list of all the accused people--and--"

"His phone is unreachable," said Jaddu in frustration.

"What if he really announces his retirement?" cried Bhuvi, panicking.