It had been two weeks since Virat broke up with his girlfriend of two years, and no one had seen him smile since. He walked about the field and hotel with a face of thundercloud, and his interaction with his team had remained a bare minimum.

In spite of him being a total jerk most of the time, he was pretty much the life and soul of the team, so everyone missed the old Virat. Everyone tried in their own way to bring him back to normal.

They sent Bhuvi first, but Virat, for the first and last time of his life, yelled at him so fiercely that Bhuvi retreated, looking terrified.

MS and Ash tried next. Virat refused to listen to them. Maybe because they were both happily married and had kids and all. They can't relate to him, he believed.

Raina tried, but Virat snubbed him too, and he gave up.

Everyone thought Jaddu didn't have enough tact for that sort of thing, so he tried to cheer Virat up with a few jokes. Virat didn't even crack a smile.

Personally they thought Jinks was the best person for the job, but he and Rohit were the only ones who hadn't joined the camp yet.

___________

Rohit came back, for once not looking as though he would drop off to sleep any moment.

After he greeted them all, he noticed the absence of an important person.

"Where's Virat?" he asked.

No one replied.

"Don't any of you know where he is?" he asked impatiently. "Shikhar?" He turned to Dhawan as usual.

"Well, you see... He broke up with Anushka few days back..." began Shikhar.

"And he's not in a mood for company," Jaddu finished.

Rohit frowned and crossed his arms. "When did this happen?"

"Two weeks ago," said Bhuvi.

"So he's been making himself scarce ever since?"

They nodded.

"Well, we need to talk to him! Where is he?"

"Actually we all tried, Rohit," said Ash.

"Nonsense, you all couldn't have tried hard enough. For the last time, where is Virat?"

"I saw him going into the gym two hours back," said Shikhar.

Rohit turned and stalked off to the gym.

___________

Rohit found Virat weight-lifting in the gym.

"Hi, Virat!" he said cheerfully.

Virat looked up for a moment and nodded curtly, and immediately turned back to his dumbbell.

"I expected a better welcome, man," said Rohit.

Virat started to get annoyed, "If you don't mind, could you please leave now, Rohit?"

Rohit settled down on a bench.

"How can I not mind when you don't even talk to me after meeting me after 2 months, just because a girl dumped you?"

Virat stared at Rohit in shock.

"Isn't it a bit stupid, Virat? You tell me," said Rohit, perfectly unperturbed.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand!" shouted Virat, losing his temper.

"Jeez, stop shouting!" said Rohit. "We're having a civil conversation here!"

"I DON'T WANT TO HAVE ANY CONVERSATION WITH YOU! GET LOST FROM HERE RIGHT NOW!" Virat was quite wild with fury now.

"It's a free country," said Rohit, shrugging, as he closed his eyes and pretended to doze.

Virat glared at him and stalked to a heavier dumbbell. He did manage to lift it, but it was clear that it was straining him.

Rohit thought about how childish and immature Virat still was, even at the age of 27. He didn't realise he had a smile on his face, more out of affection than anything else, till Virat grumbled, "Stop smirking like that."

Rohit immediately straightened his face, not wanting to antagonize Virat furthur.

"You can put that down," said Rohit. "I'm not your competitor."

Virat huffily went over to an even heavier dumbbell. This time it was too much, though, and as he lifted it a few inches, he staggered.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" cried Rohit, rushing to him and supporting the weight.

"Leave it," groaned Virat.

"Don't be a idiot! Let it go!"

Virat couldn't do anything but obey Rohit, and together they lowered the dumbbell to the ground.

But of course, Virat's pride had been wounded severely.

He pushed past Rohit to leave the room, but Rohit resisted and blocked his way.

"Let me pass," said Virat quietly.

"No," said Rohit.

"Rohit. Let. Me. Pass."

"No."

For a moment Virat looked as though he might hit Rohit, but instead he sank down on the nearest bench and buried his face in his hands.

"You all are always going after me. They haven't given me a moment's peace since...and now you too, Rohit..."

Virat sounded really close to tears. Rohit wondered awkwardly how he could possibly deal with a crying Virat.

"You think we're doing it to annoy you? We're not, you know. I don't want to see you moping around and hurting yourself just because of a girl," said Rohit.

"What is it to you?" whispered Virat, looking up at last, his eyes red and teary.

Rohit rolled his eyes.

"It can't be because I care for my friend, can it? Oh no, that would be way too obvious!" said Rohit, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Virat stared at Rohit silently. The tears escaped his eyes and fell down his cheeks.

"Virat..." began Rohit helplessly, extending his arms.

Then Virat did something he was ashamed of all his life. He threw himself into Rohit's arms and grasped his shirt, crying stormily on his shoulder.

Feeling horrified but strangely warm, Rohit hugged his miserable best friend and patted his back till he stopped sobbing.

"I love her," mumbled Virat.

"And she'll come running back to you before two months have gone by. Mark my words," said Rohit.

"Do you really, really think that?" asked Virat, his voice muffled in Rohit's shoulder, but Rohit was relieved to hear that he seemed to have stopped crying.

Could Anushka really leave this 10 year old kid in the form of a good looking 27 year old man? Rohit admitted she had to be pretty hard hearted for that.

"Yes, I do. I'm sure she'll come back," said Rohit.

Virat sniffed.

"Well, almost 90% sure," conceded Rohit.

Virat gave a sudden muffled laugh.

"Are you going to let me go now?" asked Rohit ironically.

Virat hastily released his hold on Rohit and stepped back, beginning to feel mortified.

"You won't bring this up the next time we have a run out fight?" asked Virat anxiously.

"Oh, I definitely will," said Rohit, grinning wickedly. "I'll bring this up every time after this."

And in spite of the death glare Virat gave Rohit now, he realised he didn't mind even if Rohit did bring this up every time after this.

What else were friends for, anyway?

____________

They sat down and talked about the Asia Cup, T20 World Cup, IPL, everything.

"I'm hungry," complained Virat, after some time.

"Haven't you had your lunch yet?" asked Rohit.

Virat shook his head.

"It's nearly 3!" scolded Rohit. "Were you planning to starve?"

"I was planning to. Maybe," said Virat, grinning.

"Totally out of control," muttered Rohit. He grabbed Virat's arm and dragged him down to the dining room.

____________

The rest of the team saw Rohit and Virat coming down from the gym, looking like the best of friends. Virat didn't look angry at all.

"Go and eat," commanded Rohit. Virat obeyed him without a word.

They all stared at Rohit in awe.

"How did you manage?" asked Jaddu, seeing that the others were too shocked to speak.

"I told you," said Rohit complacently. "You guys didn't try hard enough."

And he went off to join Virat.