It is the day! The day I would go to the cricket stadium for the first time. I have never watched a match live! But I'm not excited about that! I'm excited to see him play. I've never seen him play cricket, but I'm sure he's amazing! His passion for cricket shows it all. Manik wanted di, Jiju, and Rishab to come too but they're all busy. I told him I'll see if Alya can come. When I told her the other day if she wanted to come watch the match with me, she screamed to the top of her lungs.

"Are you kidding me? We get to watch them play live? OMG! I'm definitely coming!" That was her response. If you all are thinking that OMG Alya seems like a huge fan of cricket, then let me tell you that you're wrong. She knows just as much about cricket as I do, which is close to zero. She's only excited to see all the hot cricketers. Typical Alya! I'm currently waiting in my car outside her house! I'll be five minutes she said! It's been 15 minutes already! This is why I set off three hours before the game was about to start. Yes! Three hours seems like a lot specially when the match is taking place in Mumbai itself, but have you seen Mumbai traffic? It's so busy on a normal day and today was both a Saturday and the match day. I knew there would be a lot of traffic. Finally, I saw Alya walking out of her house and towards my car. She was looking fabulous as always. She gave me a big hug as she sat in the passenger seat next to me.

"Before you say anything I'm sorry! I had to make sure I looked fabulous! Also, watch this!" She said as she took off her cute leather jacket to reveal what looked like an indian cricket team jersey. She turned around to reveal a number with the name Kohli written on top.

"Like it?" She asked with hopeful eyes.

"Love it!" I replied with a smile as I started the engine.

"Wait wait wait! I got you one too!" She replied and I immediately turned towards her in shock.

"No way! I'm not wearing it!" I shouted. I did not want to pretend that I was a huge fan of cricket. Wearing that jersey would mean just that and I did not want to do that.

"Please! Have a look at it atleast, and if you don't like it you don't have to wear it!" She insisted.

"Alya it's not about liking and not liking. The indian cricket team jersey is a special thing! Just like my doctors coat is special to me! I remember Manik telling me how proud he feels every time he wears the blue jersey to represent his country. I am not a fan of cricket Alia. Me wearing the indian cricket team jersey would be an insult to it. I have no interest in cricket and I would be wearing it for the sake of it. I don't want to do that!" I explained to which I received weird looks from Alia.

"Bro it's just a jersey! Why are you getting so deep?" She said in disbelief.

"Okay sorry, but you know what I mean!" I said with a frown.

"Okayy, but have a look at it atleast! Please! You'll love it! You don't have to wear it!" She said with excitement again.

"But Alya..." I tried to resist but she was not having it.

"Please!" She exclaimed.

"Fine!" I said as I rolled my eyes and looked out of the window while she pulled the t-shirt out of her bag.

"Here!" She said excitedly and I turned around only to be shocked.

"Seriously Alia?" I stated as I examined the number 14 t-shirt with Manik's name on it. Alia giggled and I just rolled my eyes at her.

"You have to keep it! Even if you don't wear it!" She stated and I took the t-shirt and put it in my bag which was lying on the back seat. She started giggling and I just started my car and drove off. What is it with everyone and teasing me with Manik?

As I had imagined the traffic was crazy near Wankhede stadium, but we made it half an hour early. I was just looking around for parking space when I remembered about Manik's text from earlier. He had told me to park in the V.I.P parking as it would be less busy. I followed the signs towards the V.I.P parking and showed the guard our tickets. Once he examined our tickets, he guided us towards a parking space. I parked my car safely and decided to text Manik to inform him that I'm here. Then I realised that would be of no use. He's probably busy as the match is about to start soon. I decided to just go inside. We grabbed our bags, locked my car, and walked towards the back V.I.P entrance. As we reached the entrance, we were checked thoroughly by security. We were then directed towards our seating area. As we reached there we saw a few ladies and a couple of children already sat there. I'm assuming they're families of other cricketers.

'Aloo, any idea who any of these ladies are?" I questioned.

"Seriously Nanidni, you know nothing! That's Aesha Dhawan and that little boy is her son. She's Shikar Dhawan's wife. He's an Indian batsman." She said pointing towards a pretty woman who was busy taking pictures of her cute little boy. She looked a lot like the actress Jacqueline Fernandes.

"She is Nupur, the wife of Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar and next to her is Ritika, she's the wife of Indian opener Rohit Sharma." Alya said pointing towards two pretty ladies. I felt awkward being here. All these people were families of the cricketers, and I was just a friend.

'Alya, I'm starting to think coming here was a bad idea. I feel so out of place." I said quietly.

'Aray! How can you feel out of place when we are here?" I heard a familiar voice. I turned around to find Anushka Sharma and Sakshi Dhoni behind me. They both came and hugged me.

"Exactly Nandini! You are special for Manik and that makes you special for us too."  It was Sakshi who spoke this time.

"Special?" I questioned. What did they mean by that?

"She means that Manik's friends are special. He does not easily make friends but when he does, they are very special to him. You are his good friend right? So that makes you special too." Anushka said with a smile.

'Yup! That's exactly what I meant!" Sakshi said as she put down her little daughter who she was holding all this while. As soon as Sakshi put her down, Ziva ran towards the little boy who Alya said was called Zoravar.

"OMG! It feels so good to see you both! I am so excited for today's match." Alya said excitedly.

"We are equally excited! By the way, nice top!" Anushka said with a smirk as she noticed Alya was wearing a jersey with Virat's name on it.

"Come lets sit down and meet the others!" Sakshi said and we followed her. She introduced me and Alya to the ladies and they were all so nice. I even received a cuddle from Ziva and Zoravar. They were the cutest kids ever.

"So Nandini, what do you do?" Aesha asked.

"I'm actually a doctor!" I replied with a smile.

"WOW! That's amazing! What about you Alya?" She said with a smile.

"I'm both a model and a fashion designer!" Alya replied.

"I knew you looked familiar! Did you by any chance showcase your designs during the Lakme Fashion week last month?" Anushka said curiously.

"Yes, OMG I did! I didn't think you'd remember!" Alya said excitedly.

"Oh I remember well. They were some amazing designs." Anushka said with a smile.

"Nandini, who are you looking for? Manik?" Sakshi said as she nudged my arm. She must've caught me looking around the stadium.

"Huh? Yes, I mean no, I mean..." I said hesitantly.

"He wanted to see you. He asked me about you just a while back when me and Ziva went to see Mahi. They'll be busy now as the toss is done and the games about to start soon. They're bowling first so he'll be preparing to go on the field." Sakshi informed.

"It's okay. I'll see him later." I said with a slight smile. I really wanted to see him before the match. I wanted to wish him the best of luck, but the traffic got me late. The stadiums were filled up entirely and the crowd started cheering "India! India!" Cricket was truly a sport which brought so many people of different culture, race, and religion together. The chanting got louder as the commentators announced the entry of the players. Everyone stood up in preparation for the entry of the men in blue. I too stood up and started wandering around for him. Finally, a group of 11 men in blue walked out of their dressing room and towards the field. I started looking around for number 14, Manik Malhotra. The crowd started clapping and I too joined it. My eyes soon found him! He was walking alongside the captain Virat Kohli, and the ex captain M.S. Dhoni. An unexplained smile crept up on my lips and I started to clap louder. I was hoping he would turn around and see me. I wanted to wish him good luck. Please turn around! Please! And he did! He turned around along with the other players. I was about to wave at him when Sakshi stood in front of me. I guess she was trying to get a better view of her husband. I decide to move slightly towards my right so he could see me, but this time I was obstructed by Anushka who started to throw flying kisses to her husband. I tried to tiptoe and wave at him, but my short height did not help. Urgh! Manik's eyes kept wandering in search of me. I felt so bad, he probably thought I'm not here. He finally waved at Anushka and Sakshi and decided to take his place on the field.

"Sakshi!" I said irritatedly.

"What?" She said innocently as she turned around.

"You guys did it purposely!" I stated.

"Did what purposely?" Anushka questioned.

"You were trying to hide me from Manik!" I exclaimed.

"Haan toh!" Anushka said casually.

"So what? Seriously? He was looking around for me, and you guys hid me." I said irritatedly.

"How do you know he was looking for you?" Anushka said with a smirk.

"I... because... I... forget it!" I said irritatedly and sat back down. Anushka and Sakshi then came and sat on either side of me.

"Nandini we just wanted to tease Manik a little." Anushka explained.

"Yeah, he was really looking forward to seeing you so we thought why not make him wait longer." Sakshi added.

"How do you guys know he was really looking forward to seeing me? He probably isn't even bothered whether I come or not." I said with a sad pout.

"Seriously Nandini! What a drama queen you are! You very well know he cares." Sakshi said with exaggeration.

"I know!" I said with a giggle.

"Awh someone is blushing!" Anushka said as she pulled my cheeks slightly.

"No I'm not!" I stated.

"Yes you are!" Sakshi said with a giggle.

"Mummy match going to start! Silence please!" Ziva said cutely as she put her finger on her mother's lips to which we all burst out laughing.

"Come Ziva! No one takes the match seriously here. You, me, and baby Samaira will watch together." Zoravar said as he held Ziva's hand and took her towards baby Samaira, Rohit Sharma's daughter,  who was playing in her cute little car seat. All the ladies went awh at the kids antics and started to divert our attention to the match that was about to begin.

Manik's P.O.V:

Okay, so today is the match day! I was expecting Nandini to come but I just did not see her sitting in the stands. Was she late? But it's not like Nandini to be late! I decided to forget thinking about all that and divert my entire attention to the game. We had won the toss and chose to bowl first. The first five overs of the match consisted of the Australian batsmen hitting several boundaries and increasing the score. India desperately needed a wicket to break the partnership of Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, they were arguably the best openers of team Australia. Australia were currently on a score of 60 runs with 5 overs gone. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, one of our best bowlers, was blowing the next over. The first ball was a dot, second a six, third and fourth ball went for a four, and the fifth ball was a dot. The over simply was not going well for us. We really needed a wicket in order to break up the partnership of the Australian batsmen. As bhuvy bowled the last ball of the 6th over, Aaron Finch hit the ball right into the air. This is definitely going to go for a six. I paid close attention to the bowl which was travelling in my direction.

"Catch it Manik!" I heard Virat scream. I dived up in the air and caught the damn bowl! Yes! My teammates ran towards me with excitement and we all huddled together. As we were celebrating the wicket, my eyes diverted towards the large screen which showed glimpses of the audience. I smiled at Ziva and Zoravar clapping enthusiastically, and Bhuvneshwar's wife smiling to her fullest. She was proud of her husband after all. I quickly turned Bhuvy to face the big screen and he blushed at his wife's cute expressions. That once again reminded me of Nandini, if only she was here. I was about to look away when Virat gestured me to look at the screen. I turned around to find her. She was there smiling to her fullest. That smile, it was the most beautiful and serene smile.

"They told me that to make her fall in love, I had to make her laugh. But every time she laughs, I'm the one who falls in love."

~Anonymous 💕

A/N: Chapter 17 updated! Hope you all liked it! Do let me know your favourite part. Thank you for all the votes and lovely comments you guys send me. It means a lot. 😊❤️ Lots of love xxx