third person
pov

Sanjana was new to the ICT chaos and her ex-boyfriend being there just made everything even more complicated. The constant teasing that Jasprit had to face had somewhere occupied a section of her mind and made her wonder was she responsible for it?

What she was missing was that the team was like a family or rather were brothers to one another and no one took offense to the teasing, of course there were times when things went a little overboard but they knew how to handle it. She was just un-introduced to this environment, and she did understand that right after her short chat with Jiya.

She quickly got ready for the team dinner which every member, be it the players or the support staff, had to have together, no matter what. Pulling over a white oversized cropped sweatshirt along with her black high waisted jeans, she took her phone and room keys before stepping out of the room and went to call Avyaan who stepped out of his room at the same time.

Both of them nodded at one another and smiled before moving towards the elevator. "How has your day been?" Sanjana asked. Avyaan just shook his head and replied, "Nothing much, just hanging out by the pool or with the crew, what were you upto?"

"Had a video conference with the producer for upcoming content and just random stuff over phone," Sanjana vaguely replied as the doors of the elevator opened, to reveal none other than Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, talk about fate.

"Harry, I swear to god, phone wapas kar nahi toh bohot maar-" Jassi stopped as he noticed the two people entering. He glared at his best friend and whispered, "Kuch mat bol-" Alas, Harry was in no mood to listen to him.

"Hello," he greeted ever so enthusiastically while Jassi cursed under his breath and wished it was someone else, but would any of them have listened? He forcibly smiled at the duo and took the opportunity to snatch his phone from Harry, succeeding immediately.

"Ayee! Aisa kya rakha hai tere phone mein? Kahi sachi koi girlfriend toh nahi? Mujhe team ko batana hi padega-" he couldn't continue as he earned a smack on the back of his head and amused looks from Sanjana and Avyaan.

"For god's sake leave me alone!" Jassi exclaimed and on the cue, doors of the elevator opened, as Jassi rushed pass three of them towards the dining room while Harry on the other hand, made a weird face and said to the duo, "Tension mat lo, thoda sanki hai, hume pata hai," which unknown to him Jassi heard.

"Harry aaj kisi aur ke room mein refugee ban jana," Jassi shouted without turning back.

Harry here looked frightened and immediately dashed towards Jassi pleading him to not do any such thing, leaving the duo, one again amused!

"Kya hua tum dono ko?" Sanjana and Avyaan heard Virat asking Jassi and Harry as soon as they reached the dinner table. "Mere paas rehne ke liye chhat nahi hai, bhai," talk about being dramatic. Harry made a crying face while each of them laughed at the duo.

"Kaam hi aise karta hai," Jassi muttered.

"Aye! Vi, yeh apna phone nahi de raha tha, kuch toh gadbad hai," Harry told Virat who was sitting next to him while looking at Jassi suspiciously who just ignored his looks and started talking with Devansh who was next to him.

"Jassi, aisa kya hai tere phone mein?" Ro asked while Jassi shook his head saying 'kuch nahi'.

"Arey, privacy hai bande ki," KL sided with Jassi.

"Guys, yeh dono ko chodo, welcome the new guests we have here," Jinks said pointing towards Sanjana and Avyaan, who smiled at Ajinkya.

Everyone muttered a soft hello as the two of them settled on the seats which surprisingly were just across Jassi and Devansh. Everyone was having their dinner with small chats and laughter.

"Kya kuch bhi!" Virat suddenly exclaimed, looking into his phone, while everyone looked perplexed at this sudden loud voice.

Rohit raised his eyebrows at him and asked, "Kya hua?" passed him his phone and also conveyed the message to the rest, "Today's headline - Are today's generation choosing career over love?? - I mean aisa thodi hai!" Virat strongly opposed, some did nod their heads while some had different opinions but one of them had just stopped his hand midway and was only looking down towards his plate.

"Love is as important as a career if not more, I mean it's the most beautiful feeling that I have got to experience," Virat made his point clear.

"Agreed! Money, career, job everything comes to you at one point in life but love is once in lifetime," Rohit gave his opinion.

"But what if it becomes a distraction?" this time it was Rishabh who asked.

"No! As someone who's happily married, I can proudly say that love is never a distraction, in fact it always pushes you forward in the right direction," Virat explained. The atmosphere had suddenly turned dense.

"But it's time consuming at a point where you want to achieve your dreams, sir," Sanjana nervously had put her point forward.

Virat cringed on hearing Sir and passed her a smile, "Sanjana, love doesn't require attention. And please no sir and all," he said.

"You know what, youngsters today, have a different meaning regarding love by watching all these movies. Your partner understands your routine while you understand his, it's a natural process of life," this time it was Jinks who had taken the challenge to change the views of the young kids in the squad.

"Not everyone thinks like that na," Jassi mumbled quietly while playing with the food on his plate.

Silence.

Silence surrounded the table while Jassi looked up when he didn't hear any other opinion popping up only to realise that all of them had heard what was just meant for himself.

Virat asked him, "Why don't you tell us what you feel about this topic?" he smiled at Jassi silently encouraging him to continue, while Jassi just shook his head, denying to speak.

"Come on, kiddo," Ro said.

"This generation is different, bhai. People just feel that it's okay to end a relationship whenever they want. At one point, everything is okay and the next moment, it's either a family issue or as you said career problem. It isn't as easy as it seems," he said and continued to eat while rest knew the silent meaning behind his words.

"But career is as important as love, like bhai said. You can't choose love and spoil your life," Sanjana said.

Jassi looked towards her and raised his eyebrows, silently challenging her, "Well, not everything is about choosing. You need to maintain a balance or maybe communicate instead of running away," he firmly said.

"Running away? I mean choosing to make your career isn't called running away, Jasprit." Sanjana countered back.

"I never said choosing your career is running away. People run away from such obstacles and some just decide on behalf of their partner, I mean who knows that better than you, right Sanjana?" Jassi angrily said, also taunting her in the whole debacle while the rest of the group had their eyes wide seeing the burning anger in their ever so cool Jassi's eyes.

Sanjana was quite shocked. Not only did he question her but also did that in front of everyone. On one side, looking accusingly as her was Jassi and on the other were the players who kinda looked disappointed with what he had uttered.

Of course the team knew! But what about her crew that didn't. She looked down for a moment, before looking back at Jassi and answering him, "People decide after thinking about each and everything. Everyone has the right to-" she couldn't continue as Jassi interrupted her.

"One has the right to decide for oneself and not for the other person who's very much into that relationship. Career never was the obstacle, in fact it's this very mistake that couples make of deciding on behalf of one another," Jassi sat for for a minute or two, trying to compose himself which wasn't quite succeeding.

Pushing the chair back, he stood up and rushed out of the room, leaving everyone flabbergasted by the sudden change that had occurred.

Devansh and Harry stood up to rush behind him, only to be stopped by Virat who shook his head and asked them to sit on their chairs, quietly.

"Virat, why did you stop us. Also he hasn't had anything," KL worriedly said.

"Let him learn to deal with things. This isn't the way to handle stuff and he was wrong, no one is going after him, let him realise," Rohit commanded and Virat only nodded in yes, quieting everyone.

"But-" Rishabh tried.

"Rish, have your dinner. He will come around," Pujji ordered. All the seniors were disappointed but that didn't stop them from worrying about him. They somewhere expected this to be more private and more mature but not the way it had progressed.

"His food?" Avyaan questioned. He could see the worry as well as disappointment floating in their eyes and couldn't help but ask what was there in every youngsters mind.

"Will ask the staff to keep it in his room," Virat said, silencing everyone and asking them to continue the dinner, which was completed in absolute silence.

_____________________________________________

⫷ 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖 ⫸

Hey guys,

So first of all, I am posting this from my laptop as my phone battery is dead and I didn't want make you guys wait any longer. I will edit it out tomorrow, do tell me if you find any mistake.

Moving to the chapter, a much needed conversation but not at the right place. A different side of both a characters and also a fiery debate. I hope everyone liked the update. Do tell me your favourite part.

Next update for all the books will be after 16th Jan cause my prelims end on 16th. I hope everyone waits till then. Hope everyone is in good health.

Stay safe

Love, Aarohi 💫