In the Darkest Hour

The best reunion

It was a hilarious reunion that they had at the airport. Everyone was remorseful and eager to make it up to Rohit, and Rohit himself was so deriliously happy at having them look at him with friendliness again that he had no difficulty in forgiving them all freely.

Jinks and Yuzi both got teary when they hugged Rohit, and Kuldeep told Rohit miserably that it was all his fault because he had first made Virat distrust him after he was added to that WhatsApp group. Kuldeep looked so sad that Rohit couldn't help giving him a hug and ruffling his hair, saying, "You were doing it because you thought Virat was wronged, Kuliya, so it's ok, really."

Bhuvi couldn't speak, because he had absolutely no idea how he could apologize for what they had done, so he just squeezed Rohit's hand hard, hoping that Rohit would get the message. Rohit did, and he grinned at Bhuvi, who grinned back, and then Jaddu punched Rohit on the arm and promised (just like Virat had done), "I'll do anything you say for one year...well, no, one month...or say, one week--"

"I won't accept less than one month!" said Rohit, glaring at him.

"I'll give another month of free service after that," offered Rahul enthusiastically.

Hardik had been clinging to Rohit like a leech for the last ten minutes and Rohit finally gave up trying to shake him off.

Shikhar, who was never at a loss of words, found that he couldn't say anything, but one look between him and Rohit settled everything.

Jassi looked on the verge of tears too, but then Rohit threw his arm around him and said cheerfully, "Why d'you look like you did when that IIT professor credited your awesome bowling to Magnus--what was that?"

"Reverse Magnus effect," said Jassi obligingly as the others laughed, and he didn't cry after all.

Everyone was so glad to see Rohit happy again that there was a grin on each one's face when they went to look for their truck.

They all wanted to sit beside Rohit on the way back, of course, and Rohit's right side was occupied firmly by Virat, which no one tried to deny him, and Jaddu and Hardik promptly had a yelling match which Hardik won, so he settled down on the other side of an amused Rohit triumphantly.

Hardik started telling Rohit about all the awful things they were going to do to Yograj and Rayudu, which included burning them slowly in hot oil, locking them up in a freezer, suffocating them to death by a pillow...

"God, Hardik," said Bhuvi, groaning.

"He's right, though," said Jaddu, his eyes glinting. "Only--his techniques are wrong."

"It's going to be our most seriously planned mission yet," said Virat in a low, dramatic voice.

"Yes, let's take a proper revenge on them!" shouted Kuldeep, getting all excited.

They told the truck driver to take them to the beach where they sat down to plot.

"The first thing we've got to tell them when we get back is that I called Rohit back fearing what the media will say," said Virat.

"So, we'll have to maintain distance with him for a few more days?" asked Yuzi.

Rohit shrank back slightly and most of them noticed with dismay that the haunted look in his eyes were back.

"There's no need to do that," said Bhuvi quickly.

Rohit felt awfully ashamed that he felt like this at the mere suggestion of pretending to an outcast, so he tried to say calmly, "No, we'd better do that, otherwise the whole idea of taking revenge will be ruined."

But his heart was sinking so fast, and his breathing had got uneven, and as Virat casually took his arm again and looked at him carefully, like a blow on his head, Virat realised that Rohit was still so... broken...inside.

For the first time Virat feared that their cruel treatment had scarred Rohit so badly that it would never heal.

"We'll find some other way, Ro," Virat heard Shikhar say reassuringly, breaking into his train of worry.

"No," said Rohit firmly, and suddenly Virat felt fearfully proud of his best friend because he knew best what it cost him to agree to this plan. "We can do it--don't worry about me, it's just pretending!" he added with typical Rohit Sharma-like impatience, which made everyone smile.

They had laid out their plan before evening fell.

As they were leaving the beach, Virat said, "Wait!" And he took his phone and video-called their mentor.

They all gathered around Rohit and Virat near the video camera and Mahi bhai's delighted smile appeared on the other side.

"Thanks a lot, Mahi bhai," said Virat, and everyone echoed it after him.

"Go and show them!" Mahi bhai told them.

"We will!"