My Lover's The Sunlight...

Mirrors

Meeting new people - yes, it was Aleya's favourite activity. And meeting with new people who were as crazy as her Rishu uncle? It was like the chocolate drizzled on top of her mixed ice-cream. "Rishu uncle!!!" She ran to her best man, unaware of the piercing glares from the two eldest cricketers. Rohit and Virat deserved to be the best, why was this stupid Rishabh interfering? They shared a glance, Aleya had to be stolen back to their side. "My cutie," Rishabh booped their noses together, "Kaisi ho meri bachchi?" "Good, aap?" "Apko dekhne ke baad koi dukhi reh sakta hai kya!" "Rishu, kaun hai yeh?" Surya who was just entering the room asked. "Ishan ki beti hai." 

The pallor on SKY's face as he imagined what would happen to Shubman if he knew about this little bundle of happiness was ignored in favour of gaining attention. It was hilarious seeing the ICT fight over Aleya. Jadeja was dramatic with his ghost stories, voicing them to make them more impactful but it seemed she had got Ishan's brand of fearlessness, not afraid of ghosts like Gilly boy. The post winning enjoyment became a set of "ICT's Got Talent" as the wives and children who had come to the match got a front row seat with Aleya being the judge. She hated loud music, a trait that most probably Shubman gave her because Ishan was always playing songs at obnoxious volumes but still she was the life of the party, Rishabh observed as Aleya nearly cried when Hardik put up a party song to flaunt his and Jaspreet's dance moves. 

Ashwin bhaiya's soft melody of Anuv Jain's 'Gul' calmed her down. The tomfoolery continued till it was nearly 9.30 p.m. It was KL who had stopped the fun, like the old man he was, "Abhi Aleya ka sleeping time ho chuka hai. Sab apne apne room mein jao." "Aleya kiske saath rahegi?" Virat asked. "Mere aur Surya ke saath." Before Virat and Rohit could whine, their wives interrupted in unison, "She deserves to be able to sleep, morons. You are like babies trapped in the bodies of adults, how will you care for her? Let our sensible boys handle it." "Rahul bhai, 'Leya ko sone ke age kahaniya sunne ki aadat hai. Aapko story-telling aati hai?" Rishabh mocked. "Bachcho ke samne tujhe kuch keh nahi pa raha hun. Tu baad mein mil mereko." Surya trudged away to their shared room, carrying a sleepy Aleya in his arms while the other wicketkeeper batsman followed while muttering curses under his breath. 

Together, the two men teamed up to get Aleya into her night-clothes which were basically a t-shirt of Shubman they had cut from the bottom to fit her. 

Bathing. CHECK.

Brushing the teeth. CHECK.

Dressing. CHECK. 

"Beta, aapko kaunsi story sunni hai?" "Aap log mere papa ko jante ho na?" Aleya looked at them with sad eyes. "Unke bachpan ki koi kahani batao na. Woh mujhe kabhi bhi apne bare mein story nahi batate." The two men hugged her, thinking the same things, 'Beta, uski life itni dard bhari ha, woh aapko kaise batata?' "Thik hai. Hum usse bachpan se toh nahi jante, par hum aapkko unn dino ki baat batate hai jab hum World Cup khel rahe the." She settled down on the pillow like an obedient child as the two men settled down beside her in a half-sitting position, leaning against the headboard. 

Surya began the tale, "5 saal pehle ki baat hai. 2023 mein ODI cricket ka World Cup India mein tha. Sara desh khushi se dag mag tha jab Indian team select hui thi. Par desh ke kuch log do players par apni nazre tikaye huye baithe the."

"Woh players the - Shubman Gill aur Ishan Kishan. Shubman Indian cricket ka Prince tha, the Virat Kohli ka successor aur Ishan, logo ko yeh nahi samajh aa raha tha ki woh team mein tha hi kyu. Sab ko lagta tha ki woh saare din masti karta rehta hain, khelta bhi nahi. Team mein rakhne ke piche kya vajah ho sakti hai?"

"Par unko yeh nahi pata tha ki Ishan hi team ki jaan tha. Aur Ishan ki jaan basti thi Shubman mein. Woh dono har vakt saath hote the, saath mein room bhi share karte the. Unko dekhkar hamare jaise intelligent log sochte the kya in dono ke bich mein kuch chal raha tha?" 

"India wanted to know about it when the photo of Ishan feeding Shubman on the day of Karvachauth was released. But what people didn't know that the poor guy himself was still fasting waiting for someone to break his vrath. Shubi had already eaten that day." 

"Did papa love Shubi uncle?", a sleepy voice interrupted. 

"We don't know very clearly, beta. But they sure looked at each other like the other had hung all the stars in the sky", Rahul sighed. 

"But I heard things when I", Surya stopped mid-sentence interrupted by soft snores from the baby. 

"Tu pagal hain kya", Rahul whispered, "Bachche ko koi bhala yeh sab batata hai?"

"Are Rahuliya, apne paas koi aur chara nahi hai. Hamare lover boys ki halat dekhi hai kya tune? Dono apni apni jaan ke piche pade huye hai. Agar koi unko saath la sakta hai, unko khushi de sakta hai, woh Aleya hai." "Baat to apne sahi kahi hai, bhau", a voice whispered from near the door. 

It was Rishabh who had given them a jumpscare. "So, let's begin mission, "Arrange Marriage for the two Dora: the Explorers of the Indian Cricket Team"?" "Tujhe iske alawa koi achha nam nahi mila?", cmplained the ever sensible Rahul. "Nam mein kya rakha hai. Agar woh dono saath ho, toh sab thik ho jayega", chastised Surya. "Par pehla step kya hoga?" 

"Step 1: Make Aleya love Shubman and the team continuously comment how similar she is to her other father, because I know for a fact ki agar Gilly ke dimaag mein yeh baat ekbar ghus gayi, toh woh Aleya ke birth certificate mein apna nam dalwa lega." 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I love Aleya and I love how theses guys are planning to reunite the morons. Likhte likhte time ka pata ki nahi chala. 

Enjoy, Adiraj.