BROKEN THINGS

12

Waking up Rahul was not an easy task. He was far too deep asleep. When he finally did wake up, he looked far too disoriented and in pain. And kept trying to go right back to sleep.

"Come on Jammy, you need to freshen up then eat, take your meds. You can sleep after that," Sourav was saying softly. He had gone from Dravid to Rahul to Jammy in five seconds flat as soon as Rahul had whined at being woken up.

"Hurts," Rahul whispered hoarsely, trying to curl into a ball but they were not letting him. He didn't seem fully aware of what was happening.

"That's why you have to get up and take your medicines. The painkillers would have worn off by now," Sachin tried to explain.

Rahul just groaned and tried to turn his head away, hissing when his jaw came in contact with the pillow. Sourav took a step back and sighed.

"Ok, this is not working. Sachin help me pull him up,".

That was all the warning he recieved to scramble to Rahul's other side and pull him into a sitting position. That made Rahul finally open his eyes and look around the room completely confused. He looked so much like a lost child that Sachin had to smother a laugh.

Sourav shook his head, "Help him to the bathroom will you? I will order the food,".

"What happened to stay away from my brother or die?" Sachin sassed though he got to the task immediately. Rahul had gone from uncooperative to completely following their prompts after being made to sit up. He easily let himself get guided into the washroom and only blinked when handed his brush.

"Be gentle with your teeth. Or your jaw will hurt more. And don't close the door completely," Sachin instructed before looking suspiciously at his former friend, "You are listening to what I'm saying aren't you?"

It took Rahul a few seconds to nod back hesitantly. Sachin didn't totally want to believe him but having no choice he walked back out, "Shout if you need anything,".

Sourav was going through the menu meanwhile, giving it far too much thought than necessary.

"Why are you thinking so hard? Just order whatever. We are not choosy," Sachin said.

Sourav sighed, "Not about choosy. Rahul can't eat anything hard, can't take big bites. Plus he didn't have dinner. I'm debating whether soup-bread will be enough or should I just go with porridge even though it doesn't sound very good,".

Sachin hmmed and looked over his shoulder, "Get the soup and get a smoothie too. That will be enough. I wouldn't inflict that porridge on anyone, not even Rahul,".

"Good choice,". Sourav picked the reciever up to order the food, leaving Sachin to wander around in the room listlessly. Yesterday, all their emotions had been far too high and all their attention had been on Rahul's injuries. He hadn't really thought as much about the "change" his mind felt was about to come. Now that the matter had had a few hours and they had all rested some, he was getting very worried about the repercussions. Sourav wasn't but he was.

The Indian captain had gotten beaten to hell by their coach. And the former Indian captain who anyway had had a feud with the coach had then beaten the said man half to death, atleast that was his conclusion from the summary that Anil gave him of the man's condition. And the rest of the team, had only a vague idea of what was happening. He didn't know what was the word going around because atleast a few hotel staff had glimpsed something before their security could have intervened. And no matter how many NDAs BCCI got people to sign, some rumors would have leaked out. That was bound to have its own effects. He sighed, as much as he hated it, they needed to have a talk with the Board to decide the way ahead. Especially concerning Rahul who definitely looked traumatized.

A knock on the door got him out of his thoughts.

"That was quick," Sourav muttered going to the door, expecting room service. It wasn't room service. It was a very exhausted and worried looking Mahi.

"Dada how is Bhaiya? Where is he?" Mahi said as soon as the door opened.

"Mahi..." Sourav began to answer than stopped, they had no idea how much the team knew and it would be unwise to reveal much at the moment, "What are you talking about?"

Mahi looked at him as if he had gone crazy, "What am I- Dada, Bhaiya. He got hurt didn't he-"

He was interrupted by a yell, "Mahi, stop!"

It was Anil, hurrying down the corridor towards them.

Mahi looked at his seniors, very confused, "What's going on? I just want to know if Bhaiya is ok, he looked terrible on the TV-" Anil cut him off with a hand around his mouth but it was too late.

"The TV?" Sachin asked, a terrible feeling overtaking him. He could guess what had happened. Somebody had to have leaked a photo or a video. Rahul's face would have been enough. This was bad. This was very bad. They weren't prepared for this.

"I'm on the TV?" a soft voice had them turning around. Rahul was standing behind them, his face paling in horror as he comprehended the words.

This was bad. Very Very Very Bad.