Rewrite the Stars | A Ruturaj Gaikwad Fanfiction

The plan (Rakesh's pov)

FC Kundra Gardens, December 2028 (Present)

One of the hundred ceremonies, this one involving the bride and groom's parents, had been concluded an hour ago, and Rutu had started his weekly dose of guilt tripping almost right away.

"...and she still thinks it's not your fault, she thinks it was only circumstances..."

"Do you say I tell her then?" said Rakesh at last.

Rutu's expression transformed into horror.

"What? No! Don't tell her-are you crazy?"

"Then her stance of not blaming me will never change," said Rakesh, "which is obviously what you're blaming me about."

"Hi, boys," said Aditi, appearing beside them. "What are you arguing about?"

"Just Rutu reminding me what I jerk I was to Mahati," said Rakesh, sighing. "You know, three years ago, about which he has already scolded me every week for those three years?"

Rutu glared.

Aditi looked at Rakesh in an expressionless sort of way.

"Don't joke," she said sternly.

"See, my point is what is the point of scolding a person about something they already regret so much?"

"You don't seem to regret it all that much," said Rutu.

Rakesh felt his own expression change.

"I know what I did was unforgiveable," he said. "But please don't suggest I don't regret it enough."

Aditi put a soothing arm around him and said, "You don't mean that, Rutu. The whole incident was so long ago, why don't it let it go, at least for a few days?"

"Few weeks," corrected Rakesh.

"If you both think so, why not?" said Rutu, not sounding like he agreed at all.

"You're acting strangely, Rutu," said Aditi. "It's beginning to worry me. You've not been yourself for weeks now. Don't you think so, Rakesh?"

"I do," said Rakesh truthfully.

"Don't say it's the pressure of the wedding," said Aditi. "You're vice captain of the national team and the captain of CSK, you deal with hectic team selections every two months, you've played in World Cups, you've played in twelve IPL playoff matches."

Rutu stared on, baffled.

"Your point is?" asked Rakesh curiously.

"That Rutu knows how to deal with pressure and multitasking," said Aditi. "And he never acts strange like this."

"He used to when he initially got into the national team, around the time we graduated out of college," said Rakesh. "Weird and touchy and bad tempered."

"I'm right here," said Rutu irritably.

"There you go," said Rakesh, satisfied. 

Aditi nodded.

"So, what's up?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Rutu.

"Rutu, I've asked you this half a dozen times before, and I know it's not nothing," said Aditi firmly. "Now that Rakesh seems to agree with me, will you please quit the pretense and tell us already?"

"Rakesh is just doing this to distract us," complained Rutu. "So that we get off his back about Mahati."

"We're not talking about Mahati, we're talking about you," said Aditi.