|Chapter 01|

With the drink twirling in my hand rather mindlessly, my brows remain furrowed with perplexity, the voices of people around me appearing to be nothing more than a mere buzz to the ears now.

Who was this girl?

Focus on the guy in front of you, for now, Kiran.

How did she happen to know me so well?

Dude! Aman is now asking you something and y'know what? You're not paying heed to it!

And the next moment, I'm pulled out of my reverie when a hand drapes over and shakes me by my shoulder, making me glance up into those hazel eyes that are peering at me.

"Kiran?" Aman asks for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah?" I mumble, not really sure about what to utter now.

"Where are your thoughts lurking?" the raven-haired, lanky guy asks me, his hazel eyes seemingly offended at my negligence to hearing him.

"Nothing specific," I shake my head dismissively.

Shrugging with a roll of his eyes, Aman turns back to smile and greet a fellow who approached us smilingly. This is the thing I hate about attending celebratory gatherings: you need to smile at every damned person, expressing how happy you are in meeting them, when in reality, you're not even sure if you've seen that face of theirs before, ever.

It wasn't always like this though.

Shut up! Your being my consciousness doesn't really give you the right to poke in every single minute!

Whatever.

Sighing, I peer up and scan the place, hoping to find those brown eyes once again amid these crowds of guests. She was a young girl, dressed in a lehnga, as far as I recall clearly.

Lucky for you! Every other girl here is young and wearing a lehnga.

Get out of here.

Out of your brain? Not really possible. Remember the Golden Words? "I am you"? Which means you need to throw yourself out in order to throw me-

UGH.

"Kiran!"

"Wha-" I barely get to voice myself when I meet those dark and annoyed eyes of the groom. Oops. Looks like I'm zoning out a bit too much for even Rishav to handle now.

"Leave your work stress at the workplace," Rishav tells me, approaching me and Aman with quick strides, his crème-colored sherwani glimmering under the bright evening lights.

"That's what I've been telling him," Aman pipes in, much to my annoyance.

"Ananya says she wants you in the wedding photograph as well," Rishav mutters as he faces me, referring to his bride.

"But isn't it a family photo?" I ask, clearly clueless.

Rishav looks at me meaningfully, hoping that I get what he wants to convey. I blink at him stupidly, earning a disappointed sigh from him, his young and stark features etched with the feeling of being let down.

"Ananya hasn't asked for you," the boy admits it to me with a coy and uncertain smile. "I want you to be a part of the family picture, because no relative of mine deserves that spot as much as you do, despite being a friend to me."

The words make my lips upturn, passing a warm smile at Rishav who shuffles at his feet with ambiguity. Nodding in positive; I follow the young boy who trails ahead of me. In all honesty, Rishav has been a 'kiddo' to me. Ever since I first met him when he was an amateur little boy, aspiring to be a cricketer, to this day, when his name means something to the entire country, I've seen him grow and achieve steadily.

And he just got married today.

The thought is really overwhelming. I can't wait to see him raise a kid and everything that comes with being a dad. I'm sure he's gonna make a good life partner for Ananya.

And look at your pathetic, bachelor ass.

Shut up, being single has a lot of perks.

Not when you're turning thirty in a few years!

Age is just a number.

Then why do you consider it a problem when resuming the game?

"Smile wide!" the overly-enthusiastic photographer directs, dragging me out of my inner battle with my conscience. Forcing a smile on my lips, I wait as the flash goes off, capturing our comically beaming faces and making me go temporarily blind.

Hugging the groom once, I stumble out of the crowd with someone strolling beside me.

"Where're you headed for now?" Ravi, the bride's elder brother, asks me as he accompanies me with skipping steps.

"I just need some fresh air," I wave off at him with a small smile.

"But have something for dinner before-"

"I'll be back in a moment, Ravi," I tell him before he gets to respond and vanish past the gathering, glad that he didn't follow me anymore.

Reaching my sedan in the sparsely occupied parking space at this odd hour of the night, I quickly climb in. Settling over in the driver's seat, I take a deep breath, relishing the silence which appears heavenly to my ears after hours of blaring music and incessant conversations.

Closing my eyes, I lean back on the headrest and let that encounter rewind in my head for the hundredth time now.

Engaged in discussing an old match with Mr. Patil, I'm pretty focused on the conversation when someone walks into me, causing me to turn my attention to the person. It's a girl, peering up at me with a calm yet poised demeanor lacing her stance.

"Sorry there," I speak.

"Kiran Raj," the fawn-eyed girl says, with a sense of victory flashing through her face. She seems pretty ecstatic.

"Um, yeah," I respond, smiling at her.

"You're so stupid."

I furrow my brows as if not getting what the girl meant, my smile slowly disappearing. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You let go of your passion just like that?!" the stranger girl speaks. "Cricket was supposed to be your forever girlfriend and you let go of it like it meant little to you! One stain on your personality and you threw away the dream career altogether?"

"How do you know that-?"

"I've seen Rishav's Instagram posts about a very talented gem who let go of his biggest dream," she cuts my question off. "Connecting the dots ain't that hard a job, you know."

I simply look at the hazel-eyed fury in front of me. She resembles to have a fire that I myself once possessed. Smiling a crooked smile, I nod in silent agreement. "Maybe you're right. But I don't have either the age or the fitness to resume cricket now."

"Dude," the girl sighs, rolling her eyes slightly. "You're still in your late twenties or early thirties, I guess. And you definitely don't have to have a body-builder physique to resume playing."

"Who are you?" I ask with amused eyes. The girl literally is an inborn debater.

"Someone who's come to throw a bucket of ice-cold realization on you," was all she spoke with a warm smile before turning and disappearing into the crowds.

Blinking my eyes open, I gaze blankly at the steering wheel when the sequence ends abruptly. She was a stranger who actually knocked some sense into me. In the past nine years, this thought did cross my mind once or twice but never with such conviction.

Cricket meant everything to me. Then how did I shove it all away just like that?

You're the head of the Ranji Selectors' Team which supervises over five states. Isn't that something?

Maybe you're right... This is where I belong. Where I am supposed to be. Not on that dusty, grassy field, swinging a wooden bat in my arms and chasing runs.

I'm happy here. 

_____

Author's Note

Hello there! 
Thank you so much for being patient enough with awaiting the chapters to get published! 

I'd like to mention a special thanks to @dreamcatcher0105 for encouraging me to start posting on watty again.

P.S My college started today, it was a horrible experience :')
I zoned out so much and just kept missing my bedroom!!!

I'll see y'all at the next update!

Stay happy and healthyyy
Love,
Arhana <3