Page 89 of Stumped

“Thanks for tonight, Tam.”

“Please, you’re doing me a favour from working through my Sunday evening.”

I poke her in the side. “Just sayyou’re welcome.”

“Absolutely not. Velliamma raised us better than that.”

I finish my water and drag her back to where our friends are bouncing around because the first innings are over. And now begins the best part.

Twenty-Nine. A swift kick in the ovaries

Elias

“There they are, my champions!”

I growl under my breath, but don’t look up from packing my bag as Dhruv walks into the room. We might have won the Qualifier against Mumbai last night, but my rage is still simmering below the surface of my excitement. I went into the match with so much weight on my shoulders, it’s a miracle I was able to focus. I scored a century and supported Bash as we tag teamed the heck out of that match. But the minute we finished celebrating in the locker room, I was angry again.

It’s one thing to fuck with me and my career, but to do that to someone else? Someone who is innocent in all of it. Someone I love with every breath I take. I can never forgive Dhruv for what he did and the fact that Vera has stayed calm through it all speaks volumes of how amazing she is. When I finally told Bash and Samar everything that went down, they joined me in making the executive decision to fire Dhruv. He might have helped us secure our Renegades contracts and pushed us in front of the BCCI for Team India, but fucking with my relationship was a step too far.

“What’s with the sad faces?”

“You’re fired, Dhruv,” I say, jaw tight as he looks at Bash and back at me.

“Come on, because ofher?”

“Because you got involved in something that has nothing to do with you.”

“Your career haseverythingto do with me, or did you forget what our contract states?”

Bash pushes past me and gets in Dhruv’s face. “Nowhere in our contracts does it say you’re in charge of our personal life. So consider this a termination.”

“You can’t fire me.” Dhruv laughs, because he thinks we haven’t covered all our bases.

Samar walks in with a stack of papers and sets them on the bed. “Our lawyer drew that up based on your contract, so we can most certainly fire you.”

“Instead of advising and accepting my decision, you made this about you, Dhruv. My relationship with Vera wasn’t going to change how I work or the money you make. But you got scared and you made choices that have led to this,” I tell him and he flips through the papers we’ve signed.

Thanks to Vera, I was able to speak to her contact last night after the match. Farhad is older and more established in the business, plus he’s worked with cricketers I’ve admired my whole life. I laid everything out for him and we came up with a plan. He got a lawyer to draw up termination papers and sent them over early this morning. Samar got them printed at the business centre, we signed it and now our relationship with Dhruv is over and done with.

“If you saw Vera as the best thing to happen to me and not as a hurdle in my journey, we’d still be working together. But if you can do this to me so easily, what’s stopping you from doing it to these two? Or worse.”

Samar claps Dhruv on the back. “We do appreciate everything you’ve done for us, because we know we wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for you. But you took things too far, man.”

We grab our bags and walk out of the room, Bash getting one last mumbled threat in. The minute the door closes behind us, I feel the heaviness slide off my shoulders. I couldn’t shake this off last night while talking to Farhad or Vera, like everything was going to collapse around me no matter how hard I tried. But now…everything is clear.

We hop on the bus with the rest of the team heading to the airport and wait for our flight to get us home. Unlike the day we arrived, the fans are nowhere to be seen. And everyone who recognises us, stops to offer congratulations and take selfies. There’s a bunch of Chennai fans at our gate who praise us for the game we played, but not a single one of them brings up the article.

Which I finally caved and read.

If you took out all the idiotic quotes and angry drivel, it tells a story about two people who come from different worlds falling in love. They painted Vera as the villain, which is ridiculous because she’s the reason I’m able to breathe better these days. But they don’t want the truth, right? They want a scandal, something to sensationalise and awomanto hate.

I’m on my way home. I can’t wait to see you.

Peaches

I’m so proud of you, Elias.

You and me, dinner tonight?

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