Because You do Matter (A Jassi-Hardik Friendship Fanfiction)

Part 3

Jassi told his cab driver at least 50 times to go faster during the course of his journey from the New Zealand airport to their hotel.

Rahul, Kuldeep and Yuzi were waiting at the door and they dashed to hug the life out of him the moment he alighted--even Rahul.

But of course, Jassi found himself looking for Virat bhaiya in vain as all the others came and yelled at him and hugged him and Jaddu bhaiya whispered in his ear, "I'd have made Vi forgive you if this had been a prank, but it wasn't, so go and deal with his wrath."

An extremely jittery Jassi went and entered Virat bhaiya's room. Virat looked up as Jassi came up and sat down beside him.

"Please don't talk to me," said Virat.

"I'm sorry, Virat bhaiya," said Jassi, who had come prepared to apologise as many times as it took to make Virat bhaiya forgive him.

Virat didn't reply.

"I know it was an awful thing to do," tried Jassi. "I don't know how I forgot to..."

"Don't give me that nonsense!" snapped Virat.

"I..." began Jassi, trying not to feel hurt at Virat bhaiya's uncharacteristic tone with him. "I did really forget, Virat bhaiya..."

Virat exploded.

"HOW CAN YOU JUST FORGET?" he shouted.

Jassi shrank back, terrified.

"IF YOU HAD THOUGHT ABOUT US AT LEAST ONCE IN THE WHOLE DAY YOU'D HAVE REMEMBERED--"

"Virat bhaiya, Hardik--" said Jassi, his voice shaking.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT HARDIK!"

Jassi looked like he would dissolve into tears any moment now, and after a whole day of insane worry, Virat didn't want to relent--and if Jassi cried, Virat knew he would relent.

"Virat bhaiya, please forgive me just this once, I'll never..." said Jassi, resorting to the only thing he could think of.

Jassi tried to hug Virat bhaiya, but Virat pushed him away and walked out of the room without looking at Jassi.

Jassi stared after him, trying to hold back the tears, because Virat bhaiya had never pushed him away like that before, and...

Rohit, who had been lying in wait outside entered the room.

"He'll come around," said Rohit, throwing an arm around the tearful Jassi's shoulders.

"He's really mad," said Jassi, still sounding scared.

"Well, you gave him a pretty bad scare. All of us, in fact," said Rohit. "But I understand, Jassi. People do forget things sometimes."

Jassi couldn't even crack a smile at that.

So Rohit tried to cheer him up with the name of the most cheerful person they knew.

"What was Harry's reaction?"

To Rohit's surprise, Jassi's crumpled face fell even more at that.

"He wasn't happy at all," said Jassi tonelessly.

"Jassi..." said Rohit. "I know you're upset with Virat bhaiya, but don't you think you're being a bit unfair on Hardik?"

"I'm not upset with Virat bhaiya," said Jassi with a sniff.

"Ok, you're not," said Rohit indulgently, pulling him closer. "So what happened with Hardik?"

Jassi was so glad to have someone showing a little understanding towards him, that he sat leaning on Rohit bhaiya and told him everything.