Stay With Me

3

Four years ago, 2019, July

"Oh, come on,Bhai. I don't think it would make such a big difference if I go or not. And besides, why don't you take Harris or Hassan with you?" Shadab reasoned with Babar.

Whoever thought that it was a good idea to have a party for cricket players in the middle of July was a damn idiot. Half of the team members were busy with their club duties, and the remaining were the 'scapegoats'. Unfortunately, Shadab belonged to them.

"Shadab, we aren't discussing this again. Harris has to deal with a sponsoring event and Hassan..." Babar seemed to be lost in his thoughts before making a grimace. "Well, I don't want to know what he's doing. I have to go as the captain, Shaheen is also coming and as the invitation was for all of us, you're coming with us."

As Babar saw that Shadab was still sulking he walked towards his teammate,  putting his hands on the younger's shoulder, "Shaddy, I promise to stay by your side the whole time, if you want to, and..," he groaned "I can’t believe that I'm really going to say it but, Virat is also going to be there."

Like it wasn’t the problem.

Don't understand Shadab wrong. He wanted to see Virat again and how, but if Virat was at the party, Anushka won't be that far away either. Shadab had no idea if he  could deal with the puppy love sick eyes, Virat always gave her or them dancing or laughing together.

"Bhai-"he tried it a last time but was cut off by Babar.

"My decision is final," With that being said, the older player walked out of the room.

He couldn't deal with this team anymore. Maybe he should talk to the board to raise his salary.

__

As soon as Shadab entered the party lounge, he regretted coming here. It looked like all of the ten national teams came with their entire squad.

Maybe he could make a move and run away.

"Don't even think about it, Shaddy." Babar said in an annoying tone, giving him the side eye, which was known as 'the captain's glare.'

Shadab didn't wonder how Babar knew what he  had in his mind. During the last 4 months, the older one had to deal with a lot of shit, which was created by the rookies in the team. He was fed up with their antics, and Shadab wouldn't be surprised if Babar stepped down from his position as the captain in the near future.

Shadab took a closer look at the room, and wow, the cricket board didn't spare no expense. The inner decoration looked expensive. It was a circular room with bright lights shining from above, large floor-to-ceiling windows with long red curtains that were pulled aside and doors lining the four sides of the room.

After admiring the interior design for a bit longer, he turned to where Babar should be standing, but as he met with nothing but emptiness, Shadab made himself at the work to look for his captain and found the aforementioned captain standing in a corner, talking to Maxwell.

Staying by your side, my foot.

As Shaheen was busy with some other business that definitely included arguing with Shubman, Shadab was on his own.

__

To say that Shadab was angry would be an understatement. He was fuming, and if one more person was to approach him, he might snap. He lost count of how many times he had to introduce himself to people while giving them non so subtle signs to leave him alone. But, apparently cricket players had no sense of noticing if someone was signalling them to fuck off. Or they simply didn't care.