Rohit immediately locked himself in his room, the image of Rahul and the baby seared into his mind
The dreams he hadn't even dared to fully acknowledge shattered into a billion little pieces right in front of his eyes
Hardik was married of course he was. Harry have a family. How could he have been so blind, so foolish? He thought to himself curling up on his bed as he started crying the pillow muffled his choked sobs
Later that morning
Only after rahul had finally left the mansion did rohit came out of his room and went to the massive kitchen
That's when suresh raina also entered the kitchen and found still red-eyed and heartbroken
"Oh, Ro beta," Suresh sighed softly as he sat beside rohit stroking his hair
He had known about rohit's feelings long before Rohit himself knew about it
"Harry and rahu" He began and the two names made rohit's heart ache more "they're separated beta. Not legally divorced yet, but they have been for a while" Suresh Revealed and this information made rohit freeze because wtf
He hesitated for a second before asking softly "What happened? "
" They loved each other never stopped doing that but after marriage they realized they loved each other more like best friends than lovers and rahu is actually dating Virat Kohli now, Hardik's best friend. It's all very complicated, but they're good friends, co-parenting Aggu currently "
The news offered a sliver of hope for rohit, but the sting of betrayal, of Hardik's silence, still lingered as he asked himself "Why hadn't Hardik told him? Why had he let him fall?
Then 3 more days passed with rohit avoiding every interaction with hardik which wasn't hard harry is never home anyway
But then agastya, the tiny, adorable two-year-old, was left at the dhoni mansion for 2 weeks while Rahul went on a trip with Virat to London.
And aggu with his bright eyes and infectious giggles, was a whirlwind of energy and Rohit sharma despite his heartache, found himself playing with the little boy
Because no matter what he can't hate this innocent baby for this
The next afternoon
Rohit was reading to Agastya, who sat perched on his lap, occasionally reaching out to poke the pages like a cat
"Dada loves you, Ro-hee," Agastya suddenly declared, his voice a bright, innocent chime
Rohit paused, his heart skipping a beat. "Dada? You mean your daddy, Hardik?" He asked to confirm if heard it right
Agastya nodded his tiny head vigorously "dada says Ro-hee is pretty. Dada says Ro-hee is nice. Dada loves Ro-hee." He continues in his adorable baby voice
Rohit felt a rush of conflicting emotions hearing those words "Hardik... loved him? He thought to himself The words, spoken by an innocent child, held a weight that Hardik's own lips had never uttered
But still, the image of KL Rahul, the husband, the father, remained a formidable barrier
Rohit couldn't bring himself to confess, not yet. Not when the shadow of another relationship still loomed
Two months crawled by filled with unspoken longing and awkward silences between Rohit and Hardik
Hardik often tried to talk to him, but Rohit always avoided the younger man, his heart too bruised to face the conversation
Then, one evening, Hardik came home, a quiet relief emanating from him. He found Rohit in the kitchen, making chai for himself
"It's done," Hardik said, his voice softer than Rohit had ever heard it. "The divorce. It's final."
