Soul Swap!

Jinks' guilt trip

The ICT thundered into the hotel few hours later, yelling at the top of their voices for no reason. Aarya was yelling right along with them--she hadn't cried even once since meeting her uncles, and Radhika was in shock, because she hadn't been able to stop her daughter from crying a single hour since she was born before this.

"VIRAT! VIRAT!" shouted Rohit up the stairs. "CAN YOU STOP YOUR STUPID WORK FOR A MOMENT AND GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE!"

Virat, who had been watching a movie, hastily shut his laptop and surrounded himself with papers just as his door banged opened and Rohit came in, followed by the rest of the team, Hardik carrying Aarya.

"Had you all gone somewhere?" asked Virat.

"We went to pick up Aarya and Radhika from the airport," said Jinks.

Virat stared at Jinks for a moment before looking away, and said, "Oh... great."

Jinks straightaway felt that something was wrong.

What happened, Vi? he asked anxiously when Virat took Aarya from Hardik's arms.

Nothing much, said Virat casually. I didn't know you were going to bring Aarya.

Jinks went to sit beside him and said, "Kuldeep said none of us were supposed to disturb you, so we thought..."

"It's ok," said Virat quickly. "I don't mind."

The others got the hang of what they were talking about, but they were speaking too softly for them to hear clearly.

Jinks had begun to feel really bad about not even asking Virat once if he wanted to go, but Virat was apparently consumed in cuddling Aarya, and the team was overall in a far too rowdy mood for him to talk to Virat alone in peace.

Few hours later, when everyone's excitement had died down significantly, Jinks slipped into Virat's room and found him immersed in his laptop.

Jinks thought he looked kind of stormy, and he sat down beside Virat and hugged him.

"Are you angry and sad with us?" he asked.

"No," said Virat. "Well, maybe a bit..." he admitted.

"We did think you were busy, you know, Vi."

"You might've known I would never be too busy to go to meet your daughter, Jinks," said Virat.

Jinks felt most awfully guilty.

"I'm sorry, Vi. You're right, I should've known that."

"It's ok, really, Jinks. I'm not mad at you," said Virat, grinning slightly.

"I know, but..."

"Leave it, Jinks," said Virat firmly. "In fact, do you know I discovered an interesting concept the other day."

Reluctantly accepting the topic change, Jinks asked, "What?"

"There's something called soul swapping. Like if you and I swap souls, you'll start acting like me and I'll start acting like you--"

Jinks snorted with laughter.

"--and imagine how the others will feel! They'll be at their wits' end trying to figure out what happened!" said Virat enthusiastically.

"Except that you and I will think we're really like that, so we won't be able to enjoy their confusion at all," said Jinks.

"Not if we pretend we've swapped instead of actually swapping."

Jinks glanced at Virat, realising what he was implying.

"You're not suggesting we actually do that, are you?" he asked cautiously.

"I am, Jinks! Imagine how interesting it would be!" said Virat pleadingly.

"Virat, no!" said Jinks. "It's absolute nonsense, and we're not going to behave like kindergarteners like that!"

Virat looked away. "I knew you'd think that way."

Virat's resigned wistfulness of course renewed the guilt Jinks had been feeling minutes ago, and he realised he couldn't make himself refuse Virat anything just then.

"If you really want to do it, we can," said Jinks hesitantly.

"Will you do it?" shouted Virat excitedly, thrilled that his acting had worked so well.

He had convinced Jinks of doing a thing like this! His acting talents must be truly great, thought Virat smugly.

"Yes, let's," said Jinks with a rueful grin. "After all I didn't take you to the airport. This is the least I can do for you."

Virat ignored the slightest qualms he felt at using Jinks' love for him in the light of his success.

"Deal," said Virat solemnly, shaking a grinning Jinks' hand. "You'll have to fight with Ro a lot, you know."

"Oh... right," said Jinks, his grin fading a little.

"And dance to Punjabi songs," added Virat snidely.

Poor Jinks' grin vanished competely as he realised what he had undertaken.

"And I'll be grown up and sensible," said Virat grandly.

"Hope you remain so even after we've given up the act," muttered Jinks. "How long are we going to continue this, by the way? One day?"

"What?" said Virat, horrified. "They wouldn't get any time to feel shocked at all in one day! We must continue for at least a week or two."

Jinks slapped his forehead. "God, Vi."

"You promised, Jinks!" cried Virat.

"All right, all right, I'm not backing off," said Jinks.

"Great," said Virat, grinning at him. "Let's go down right now and start!"