We enter a big fancy sports gym with people walking around in sports outfits.
"Are you sure we don't need to pay? This looks very expensive." Hera asked Krish a little bit worried.
"I have a membership here. It wouldn't be problem."
"For you, probably." I say real worried about the bill we might end up getting after all this.
"Come on, Layla must be waiting."
He hurried us through the tiled sidewalks to the basketball area. The gym is very big, with five to six courts for each sport, cafeteria and resting places, swimming and shower areas for after sport bath, and many more things that very rich people use.
Layla is Krish's friend who I met the other day at the temple. She's cool and easy to get along with. She's the only one who managed to make it today, his other friends have plans. As to my friends, we have Hera, Ryan, Ridha, Czes and Laura today.
We pass the golf area with all our eyes fixed on the guys with the sticks. The cool early morning breeze is really refreshing, with the green grass and all the hot guys making it an exceptional sight. I'm loving this.
"Stop gawking, Tara." Laura said joking.
"It's very eye catchy." Ridha said laughing with me.
We stop outside the basketball area to join the gorgeously beautiful-even-in-a-jersey Layla. She comes in close for a side hug with Krish and later me. Others only get to hear her name and a brief handshake.
"We have open and closed courts. Who wants play in the open court." Krish asked excitedly.
I raise my hand high, leaving me to be the only one with a raised hand. No, I don't want to play in a closed one.
"So, open it is." He said smiling at me, as he walked over to the open area leaving the indoor stadiums behind. Aw, Krish.
'But we are only seven people- Where's Neil? I thought he agreed to come." I say checking the numbers of our little group.
"He must be sleeping."
"Don't worry, there'll be other people here on the court. We can join them." Krish says as we follow him through a turn of road.
"Huh?"
"I usually come here alone, there'll be guys playing and I'll join in for the game. I guess everyone does the same here."
"Oh, like that. Playing with strangers, huh? Looks like fun." I say more excited.
"Whatever guys, I'm audience for today." Czes says rubbing his eyes. Laura helps him with the cheesy dust-removal procedure.
Czes is definitely not a sports person, he came wearing a normal t-shirt and tracks, while all of us others came prepared in our jersey and shorts, extra hairs tied up and our body's hydrated for the heavy sport. Hera is an exception, she wore the jerseys and shorts just to look sexy but will be spending the event on the benches.
We walk over to the outdoor court to see three guys in sleeveless black jerseys. One of them, jersey number eleven shoots the ball from the center of the court. It falls down the basket after teasing the rim of it. Woah, skilled players. I can't wait to play with them, I'm also a little nervous since I haven't played in months.
We're five and they are three, so a team of four. Works for me. We walk to the court from behind the guys. We stand in a small circle, drinking some water and handing over our watches and things to Hera and Czes. They head to the side seats talking.
"You know any of them?" I ask Krish tying my hair more tighter and keeping the small hair strands back in place.
"I think you might know one of them." He says looking sideways. I follow his eyes to check what he's talking about.
There stands Shaurya in a sleeveless black jersey, showing off his gym muscles, drops of sweat covering his body from all places. This picture is more hot than what I saw at the golf place while coming. His jersey number reads eleven. Oh, no.
I might win an award for running into Shaurya Harshenn the most. He hasn't seen me yet, so I tell Krish we should go to the indoor court instead.
"Sure." He says walking back to our small group to tell them.
"Hey, Shaurya." He calls out loudly. My eyes goes wide at him. He's unbelievably immature, playing with my emotions like that. I look at him hopelessly.
Everyone's eyes go to the center of the court where he's standing and we walk towards each other. Me? I am walking behind everyone trying to- I don't know anymore. Why should I act like this? I'm not at fault here, am I?
I can't believe I'm stuck with this guy today. I was really looking forward to playing today with everyone that I totally forgot to count the chances of having to play with or against him. The world is too small for me now.
I keep a low profile by not getting deeper in their conversations rather than just hearing them talk about splitting the teams. The other two guys are okay with playing with us, he says to Krish but his eyes are speaking to me. I turn around to look at the scenery around the court to keep me busy. Three big trees, lots of grass, a few clouds, one big sun...
"Tara, she's with me." Krish says pulling me close to him.
I smile at him. At least now he has some conscience. I thought he'll force me into the other team to make me play with Shaurya.
"Thanks." I say to him in a whisper with gratitude.
"Oh, no. Don't get me wrong. I just want to see the tension." He says playfully.
I am being fooled here. Why does everyone like to play around with me?
"Shut up. You're loud." I say walking away from him to evaporate off his comment.
My team consists of a good cast with me, Krish, Laura and the guy in jersey number three. He looks british and I have no idea what his name or profile is.
We go for a run around the court for warming up. All the while, I'm trying to concentrate on the track, but each time jersey number eleven drops the ball through the basket, my heart just makes a weird feeling.
I concentrate on my team mates, passing to them and taking the ball to the other side of the court to our basket. I make little to no efforts to play defense which kind of requires being involved with the other team which I don't prefer, so.
The ball is in my hands this time, and I dribble halfway through the court and stop to pass. That's when I meet the pair of deep brown eyes that's staring at me. My hands go melting and weak at the warmth of his look, as well as the events from day before yesterday comes crashing to me.
One of the most important rules of basketball is that we cannot hold the ball for more than five seconds. This game is more of a gully but I like to play by the rules. But his eyes and the memories freezes my mind as I go through a panicked state trying to find a team member to pass to.
"Tara, pass to me. Fast." Ryan urged as he ran in front of me.
Ryan is here. I'll just pass to him and get the ball over with. Only two more seconds I guess. I throw the ball to him and instantly regret it. Ryan is not in my team. What the hell am I doing? I hate this. I hate this. I've never been so stupid while playing. What's happening to me?
"Ryan. That's not fair." I shout out to him, as he ran with a laughing face to pass it to his mighty team mate. Shaurya after catching the ball completed a bank shot successfully. Their team is in the lead now. He too joined in with Ryan and Ridha to continue laughing.
"Don't you laugh. It's because of you." I say angrily stepping towards Shaurya.
"Me?" He asked stepping towards me at the same time with one of his hand over his chest, acting innocent.
"Yes you" I say pointing at him "Stop staring at me like that." I say defensively. Or I shouldn't have because now he's smiling. Everyone's faces went flabbergast.
"You see me staring at you because you're doing the same, Tara." He commented sarcastically. How could he- I- Fuck. I cannot believe this. Everyone heard it, right? I'm a goner.
I walk back towards the other side. Standing up close to him, all sweaty and hot, is one thing. Hearing something like that- No.
"Alright, resume." The guy in jersey number twenty seven from the other team shouted. Thanks for that, stranger.
We resumed playing, but this time I didn't hold back. I played with my usual self, scored a couple baskets after failing five shots, tried around to snatch ball from Ryan a lot. Krish worked close with me since we strategized on distracting and scoring techniques. Well, I end up being the one to distract Shaurya Harshenn and looks like I'm doing it well until now, cause he haven't scored any after I was appointed for this job. Once he gets near the basket with the ball, I go near him trying to take the ball from him which I'm genuinely doing, the ball either ends up in my hands or if he shoots ends up missing the basket by a small variance. Our team leads by two points, thanks to my distractions, once I get the ball I pass it to my team mates and they give it to the ready-in-position Krish and he scores just perfectly.
This time, when I am ready to ambush my opponent, jersey number twenty seven comes along as well. Oh, they've caught up with our plan, huh? We might as well start implementing our next strategy. But this time I go with the previous one, since it's too late for the new one.
Shaurya is moving forward with the ball to the basket and stops to aim.
"Don't you think you're cheating?" I ask standing opposite him waiting for his reply. If he replies, then he won't be able to complete his attack. I'm sure.
"Why would you think I'm cheating?"
He asks worried about my assumption.
"Well, you've got those nice gym arms." I say winking.
But looks like he's caught on to my level of play because he's brimming with confidence.
"I know you secretly adore those gym arms." My mouth opens and closes. What do I say to that?
I jump up high to reach the ball in Shaurya's hands while he takes a leap, but something hits me hard from the back that I go off balance in mid air during the jump. I'm falling down, everyone. I land pretty rash on the court and fall on my elbows.
"Ouch." I say.
It hurts a little. Is it broken? I move my hand a little to check if it is. Thankfully, I can move my hands pretty well so it's not broken. It's not bruised either. I'm alright. But soon people gather around asking me if I'm fine. Well, I'm a little graceless and end up being the victim in falls so.
"Tara, you okay?" And few other does it hurt and other concerns add up. Ryan picks me up from the floor as Krish twists and turns my hand really hard to check if it's really working.
"Ow, ow, ow. Stop Krish, it hurts."
In between, I look at Shaurya who for some reason looks really mad. His ears are turning red, veins are popping from his forehead, and his right hand is forming a fist-
He soon lands a blow against the flesh in the face of jersey number twenty seven. What's happening? The boys rush to them, I see Czes running from his seat towards the court. Before any one manages to grab a hold of Shaurya, he picks up the jersey collar of the white man and slams him against the pillar on which the basket and the backboard is fixed.
This is getting serious and I don't know why.
"How dare you hurt her." He forces his right hand back again to blow his next punch. But before that happened, Ryan ran over stop him.
This is about me? I run over to their sides.
"Don't fight, you guys."
But my request go in the blur as he rounded his fists again and landed another punch on jersey number twenty seven.
"Hey, I said stop." No one's listening to me "Shaurya, I said stop." I shouted to gain attention "It was an accident."
Ryan and Krish restrained him back as his muscles tensed below their hold. Jersey number three went up to help jersey number twenty seven. Shaurya shook off from them, wiping the sweat off his face. Those veins are still up, he's not done.
"An accident?" He took a big fast step towards me. "He shoved you."
Now, I'm angry. What's the big deal if he shoved me and I fell down? It's a game, things like that always happen. And I don't even believe that he shoved me. He must have accidently pushed or something, and since I was jumping there was no other way to receive it other than landing down flat.
"It's a game. It happens. Now, apologize to him." I ordered. I know I have no right, but since it's because of me falling down-
"No." He said cold flat, walking out of the court, his eyes still raging with anger.
"What do you mean no?" I shouted back but he kept walking.
One good day I hoped to have and it goes like this. Because of him.
"I'm very sorry, jersey number twenty seven-" I say frustrated.
"Max." He replied with a smile.
"Yes. Max. I'm really sorry for what happened."
"It's okay. I know him and he never does that." He says defending him.
"You know him how?"
"We are neighbors. We know each other for some time, now." He said swiping his bruised lips. That's when I see blood stains around the corner of his mouth.
Now, I can't let this slide. Can I? Especially when I was taken as the reason for his ill behavior.
"Oh my god, you're bleeding." I say checking for any more damages "Ryan." I call him out.
"He's bleeding, Ryan. He needs first aid. Can you help with that?" I walk out the court.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to make him apologize."
I don't know where he might be, but I take a left to where he disappeared. Soon, I catch him near a garden sitting at a bench. There's no one around here. Good.
"Hey, why did you do that?"
He looked up at me. He's not speaking.
"I want you to apologize to him." I try again.
"No." Oh, he's adamant.
"There's no place for no. You have to. He's bleeding." He's still silent.
"You punched him because he shoved me. Isn't that right?" Still refuses to speak.
"Did you see how everyone reacted? When I fell down, they came up to me to check if I was okay, if I was hurting. And what did you do? You didn't even ask me if I was okay. You straight went punched the shit out of him." He's shaking his head like he wants everything to go away.
"And more you refuse to apologize. You have to know Shaurya, you are in the wrong here. I don't care if he shoved me or pushed me. Falling down and getting hurt happens in every sport. But hitting someone, no. It's not-"
"Stop, Tara."
"You want me to stop now? Why won't you apologize?"
"Stop it, Tara." He says running his hand through his hair, still looking down on the ground, unable to look me in the eye.
"Stop playing the victim here, Shaurya. You have to apologize."
"Just shut up and leave." He shouted with rage, standing up.
I have to raise my face a thirty degrees to look him in the eye. I don't stop staring at him. The look he's giving me is of hurt now rather than the anger that I witnessed. It's asking for help. What is going on with him? Max said he has never done something like this. So, what happened now?
"Shaurya-" I try to calm him down but he cuts me off with the same brown cold indifferent eyes that I hate.
"Leave." He says blandly.
And I do as I am told.