Siraj wonders if jumping up from his seat and launching himself across the other side of their table is considered socially acceptable behavior.
Probably not, but it is the fastest way to get close to his friend who has never looked so.......exhausted and Lost.
He enters their dinning space with hunched shoulders and a lowered head.
His eyes are swollen.
Instead of taking up the empty seat beside Yashasvi, he's awkwardly hovering around the edge of their table, not looking up.
Siraj feels a ball of anxiety settle down in his gut like its made of lead.
The ball becomes ten times heavier When he sees Rohit Bhai slam- (actually slam!?) his phone on the table.
"What are you doing?"
Shubh finally looks up at him;
wide eyes with panic swirling in them like a cyclone.
His eyes look puffy.
"Huh?"
Rohit Bhai closes his eyes, sighs and shoots him an annoyed glare.
He's not mad, just irritated.
Thank God.
Siraj doesn't know how his friend would react if, on top of everything he's going through, he received a scolding from their Captain right now at the dinning table with their entire team and staff present.
He really doesnt want to find out.
Rohit Bhai drags his chair back a little.
"Yash, move to that seat. You - "
He points to shubh,
"Sit here. "
He points to the now vacated chair next to him.
Shubh goes and keeps his head down.
"Jassi- "
"Haanji!?"
"Plate. On your left. Put some of that rice in it."
Everyone scrambles to pass around the left over bowls to try and place a little bit of everything on shubhi's plate.
Rohit Bhai doesn't let them.
He just grabs the almost empty plate from jassi Bhai containing nothing but a few spoons of fried rice and places it in front of shubh.
Shubhi shoots a disgusted look at the rice but quitely shoves it in his mouth.
On a happier day, Siraj would have laughed and recorded his expressions.
Now, he silently sits in his seat and watches his dumb friend struggle to finish three spoons of rice.
When he's done, Rahul Bhai dumps the Gulab Jamuns on his plate.
All three of them.
He blinks owlishly at the plate for a second and then -
" Bhai...I can't eat this much..."
"Really? Not even one? "
"I really can't... I'll just end up wasting it."
"Alright."
Rohit Bhai stands up, grabs one of the smaller bowls kept next to the plates and scoops up the Gulab Jamuns into it. Then he turns to shubh.
"Do you want to eat anything else? "
He shakes his head in a no.
"Get up. You're coming with me."
"Uh- Um.... where? "
YOU ARE READING
Broken Records
FanfictionThe Indian Cricket Team winning yet another series in their home is no big deal. They've been doing for years. Except it is when a combined crisis leads to most of their key players missing out, leaving the already burdened captain with a bunch of...
