The Foundation Stays

Legacy

Hardik must have positively sprinted away, because Jassi only caught up with him in the trail road near the fall of the cliff.

"Wait a moment, will you?" shouted Jassi.

Hardik backed up against a boulder and turned. 

"Waiting," he said, shortly.

"Good," said Jassi. What he wanted to do was to give Hardik a chance to explain his side, but it came out all wrong. "You have five minutes to convince me what actually happened."

He was sure from Hardik's expression that he was about to say fuck off and leave. Instead, Hardik chose to cling on to that bit of hope.

"Few days after the Asia Cup, Mahela sir called me, asking if I'm willing to be traded to MI for the same contract--I didn't commit anything right then, and then they'd called Rohit, asking if he'd step down as captain to trade me in--" 

He was speaking very fast, like he was scared of running out of the five minutes.

"--he said he didn't mind stepping down if GT agreed to the trade, and--"

Both of them had moved to sit on the boulder, their backs against the ocean, and both of them gazed at the pebble-strewn ground under their feet, Hardik talking, Jassi listening. A whistling sort of wind picked up, forcing Hardik to raise his voice as he finished explaining the sequence of calls and announcements.

There was only the sound of the wind once Hardik fell silent, and Jassi processed it all inside his head.

"Did you mention anything about captaincy to Mahela sir at all?" Jassi asked finally.

"I--I did, but not like that--I didn't realize the implication--"

"There!" said Jassi. "See--?"

But Hardik had jumped to his feet so he could tower over Jassi, eyes blazing.

"IF YOU'RE HERE JUST TO CONVINCE YOURSELF OF YOUR OWN ASSUMPTIONS, FUCK OFF, JASSI."

He was so loud, the wind faded in the background. Jassi flinched back.

"I'M NOT GOING TO BEG YOU TO BELIEVE MY SOB STORY BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE ANYWAY. YOU KEEP BELIEVING I CONSPIRED WITH THE MANAGEMENT TO KICK ROHIT BHAIYA OUT OF CAPTAINCY, KEEP ME THE VILLAIN OF YOUR STORY. I DON'T NEED YOUR SUPPORT--JUST LEAVE ME ALONE."

__________________

"Oh, no," said Virat, who'd joined Rohit in gazing down at the two from the balcony, when Hardik's shout reached them. "Do you think we should run to the base of the cliff to save at least one of their organs if they decide to push each other down?"

"Go for the legs," suggested Rohit. "There's no brain anyway."

Jassi, who'd been sitting on the boulder, stood up so he didn't have to crane his neck up. Hardik was still shouting--what, they couldn't make out--but that the fury was blind was unmistakable. 

Virat and Rohit exchanged a panicked glance and came to the wordless conclusion of running down to the trail road to prevent the possibility of any disaster.

_________________

"I'm sorry," said Jassi unexpectedly when Hardik paused for breath. "Continue what you were saying."

"No, I'm damn well not going to," screamed Hardik. "You've already decided what's believable of me, and it turns out we were never friends at all. Initially I thought I needed you to believe me because I need you by my side, but you're right, I don't need anyone. And then I was just trying to save our friendship, but there's nothing to save. So--"