Woe is Me ft. Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer hated the Delhi Capitals management. Not really. He loathed the DC Management. He had captained the team to their first playoffs in forever. They faltered at the final frontier, but he was mighty proud of the way he led the team. Shocked would be an understatement for what he felt when he knew that the Knightriders had approached his manager regarding a move to Kolkata. Seems they had received a green signal from his current team.
Shreyas POV
"We are looking for a better brand name to captain the team" would have sounded less insulting if they bothered to communicate it directly to me. Listening to this from "sources" had dent my confidence no ends. The misery just worsened when I heard that the better brand was Rishabh- my trusted deputy in DC and more importantly my boyfriend of 8 months. What started off as occasional hook ups during Covid tours took a serious turn in the midst if the last edition if IPL. Imagine my surprise when he tells me that he knew of the captaincy plan, but chose to keep his mouth shut so as to not break my heart. Safe to say, a break up was the least violent conclusion of our shouting match.
We travelled to West Indies with the Indian team right after the break up. Rishabh was his usual self- jovial and ever chirpy. Seeing him all cheerful and bouncy had me wondering whether he had any feelings for me at all. That was until I heard him crying in the showers after a tough day in the field. I waited for him to get out so that I could talk to him and offer some advice in case he was upset about his awful performance in the match that day- I wasn't a stranger to such break downs. I called him and next thing I saw was a lapful of Rishabh Pant holding on to me and begging me to take him back as he couldn't live without me. The make up sex was mind blowing, but what was more liberating was the genuine heart to heart conversation that we had, once the adrenaline had calmed down. He slept in my arms till noon the next day as he had made a habit of crying himself to sleep and this was the best sleep he had in weeks.
Though we had our doubts about some existing relationships in the team, we weren't ready to reveal our relationship to our teammates yet. No matter what image these guys project on the outside, we couldn't trust our secret with any of them. I used to keep his extra key cards and sneak into his room each night and rush back before the world woke up. To everyone around, we were the ex DC teammates who had a falling out due to the captaincy saga. But in the confines if our room we were each others' pillars of support. Hiding our relationship was not a hassle as we used to meticulously follow the rule of no marks on visible areas and absolutely no PDA.
Fast forward three months. It was IPL season again. And my hate for Delhi Capitals was at its peak today. I hadn't met Rishabh for a month now and with both of us busy with captaincy chores, it had become quite difficult to even make time for long calls. Add to it the fact that I had heard rumours of my spidey being spotted with an actress. Yes, I could have asked him about it. But we just survived our first break up and I didn't want to have such a conversation over the phone, where I wouldn't have the control to just hold him tight in case the discussion went South for some reason. I stopped watching DC matches when the woman started appearing in the stadium to cheer for him. A DC insider told me that she was being paid by the team for making these appearances as part of their PR campaign. The way the cameras panned to her face each time my boy hit a boundary was driving me nuts. But today, the coach had told me to strictly watch the DC vs RCB match as we were scheduled to take on them over the weekend- some bullcrap about strategy and finding weaknesses, if any. But all I could focus on was how jealous I felt about not being the one cheering for Rishabh. Why did I even agree to the no PDA rule?
We were scheduled to travel to Delhi in the next two days for our upcoming match. But I took permission from the coach to leave a day ahead, citing some personal event, to surprise Rishabh. I needed to talk to him alone before the banter of the match caught up with us. The latest instagram post from the woman declaring her undying admiration for "her spidey" had pissed me off and I needed to lay my claim right away. I video called him to ensure that he was alone in his room before ringing the bell. Our first hug in over a month was a relief, neither of us wanting to let go. Once we settled, I broached the topic of his very public lady admirer. Rishabh didn't mince any words in informing me exactly how he felt about being unnecessarily dragged into gossip for PR stunts. He then proceeded to show me exactly why he had no interest in that woman. The limp and the bruises he sported the next day was testimony to how much I missed him. I knew the purple hickey on his neck would be misconstrued as a love bite from his supposed lady love but I knew he was all mine. For now, that would do. The day for fancy declarations and public claims would come. But till then, I had to cope with the fact that my boyfriend was too adorable to be left alone by admirers, irrespective of gender. Now would be a good time to talk to Shubman on how to manage tempers, when we are miles away from our social butterfly boyfies, who are surrounded by numerous "interested parties".
