Well, only a small span of time together and there was already so much excitement. Somehow together both managed to forgot that they were sane adults and not some petty teenagers talking to their crush for the first time. In that half an hour car ride to the nearby beach, they had talked from everything to nothing. From their choosen professions to their favourite cricket player, their favourite song to the favourite movie, from their friends to their celebrity crushes, *read Manushi's random as hell K-pop crushes, that Jassi might not have heard of, but he was sure that somewhere they for sure will never be his favourites. Well, he could have sold Hardik off to see her blabbering the whole day, he would prefer her talking 'heart-lungs-kidney' any day above her talking about her crushes.

Jasprit Bumrah knew he was not a hateful or a vengeance driven person, hell he could never be, but somehow with her talking about random guy's hotness and smile, he was convinced to hit them with a bouncer. *Bouncer maarke muhh todd dunga😂*

The moment, Jassi opened the car door for her, she in no way could sustain that sigh that left her heart and travelled through her whole body. That chivalry.

Though there was a risk of people finding our 'celebrity' with a girl on a beach, but somehow being with her was worth all the risk, all the irritating PRs yapping at his ears. He suddenly realised that for the girl sitting next to him, cross-legged watching the waves rise and fall, he would risk. That Jasprit Bumrah who had thrashed the living spirit out of a certain best friend of his, lectured him over an hour explaining the importance of public image, didn't care a bit in that minute.

If somebody would have come and told Manushi Kaur that there she'll be, on a beach, in Mumbai next to her favourite cricketer, she would have laughed her heart out on that person's stupidness. But here she was, next to him, in Mumbai and definitely on a beach.

"Manushi, have you ever felt lost? Like when you disappoint somebody, or maybe everybody."

Jassi said suddenly breaking the comfortable silence around them.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't startled by the seriousness, the sincerity in his voice. Even if they had only known each other for a couple of months, she knew Jassi wasn't somebody who'll go around talking about his feelings. He'll hide from the whole world and then open the wrap of the closed cacoon in the four walls of his room.

"Honestly, I don't think so", she replied turning towards him and continued, "But why do you ask?".

Jassi, still gazing wistfully at the rising waves, sighed and started to talk about something that's always in his head, burdening his soul, "I've worked hard to become who I am, fighting all those, what is this bowling action, he won't be able to do anything shit for years. When I finally became somebody, they all turned and acted as if they were my sole supporters who believed in me", there was a underlying hate to his tone when he mimicked them surprising Manushi, she could only imagine what all he must've gone through, what all they would have said to piss off arguably the nicest man out there.

She didn't intrupt him, she didn't give a reaction, but he knew she was listening.

He continued, "I had a dream IPL debut, my first ever wicket, it was all smiles around. I was stupid enough to think that when I'll enter the national team, Virat bhaiya will hold grudge against me", he chuckled at his own naiveness, though his naive nature wasn't the only one to be blamed, it was also Harry and Jaddu who had convinced him that Virat hated him. "They all welcomed me warmly, made me a part of their family. For the first time I had people I could call my friends, my fans, people were praising me, I'd be lying to say if that didn't make me a little smug. But then came that day. The champions trophy 2017."

Manushi flinched. She knew what had happened that day. Obviously she did. It was a memory she had locked up at the corner of her brain promising her heart to never go to that locked part. Losing a final is one thing. Losing a final to Pakistan was another. That no-ball. If possible, it still had the power of giving her nightmares.

Jassi noticed the way she flinched, the way her ever shinning smiles, turned into frowns. She was a fan. This day haunted her, as much as it haunted him.

"It almost broke me, I've felt like a failure. An absolute failure. Even during the 2019 world cup, I even wished if I was like Harry or Jaddu bhaiya, then maybe, just maybe I could've scored the end runs. Maybe our dream, the whole country's dream wouldn't have been shattered after being this close."

There were unshed tears, Jassi didn't want to show her the vulnerable side of him, the broken Jassi. Everybody knew the happy version of him. Nobody knew how much these loses had made him bitter inside. To him it felt as if these loses will end up burning his sanity, his choosen family's sanity, happiness.

There was a silence, featuring the waves always raising higher than the last time, the distant chatter of the people who probably had trolled the team, cursed the team and called them a bad luck. They both couldn't help but go back to the flashbacks, those pain filled flashbacks. Those tears haunted both the player and the fan's heart. For one, he failed to make his country 'great' again, for one the excitement of dancing in front of the television in happiness, from seeing her favourite player lifting up trophies together changed to their low bent heads. It was shattering.

But something in Manushi snapped that day. She turned to Jassi, who by now was way down the memory line, going through the pages which were still wet by the tears of the people who loved this cruel game. "Jassi", she called him out, making him snap out of those haunting memories. She slowly tilted her petite body to face him, took his large hands, hands who had faced the tortures of a bowler, in her petite soft ones.

"I won't lie, am a fan. I can't lie even if I want to. I've watched the matches, I've seen the trophy go away from you guys's hands withing a snap of moments. You know everybody who loves this game, all of us have had one wish, which is not a secret in any way, we've all wanted to see our country, our favourite players take that trophy in their hands, raise it towards the croud, while the croud unabashedly would yell out our country's name in pride", she chuckled looking down, while Jassi for the first time watched a fan talk about it. He had definitely read those poetries, those stories about the loss, some also had made him cry. But he'd never talked about this face to face with a fan.

"The day when you lost those matches, Was I sad? Yes. Was I mad? Yes. Was I disappointed? Yes. Did I for one second doubt your dedication towards the game? No. Did I hate you guys? Definitely Not. All your fans, and when I say fans I mean the real ones not the ones who're too busy being toxic and counting the trophies the other countries have. I mean the ones who'd die for a single glance at you, to watch a single ball from your spell, to watch a single cover drive four from Virat Kohli, to watch Rohit Sharma hit one six, to watch MS Dhoni do a miraculous stumping. We all grew up doing this. Indians have larger than life ambitions when it comes to cricket. But does a world cup trophy make anybody more special than the rest? Kapil Dev sir and Mahi bhai both are great, but does that mean Dada and Virat bhaiya are any less of a sportsman? Ricky Ponting and Sir Vivian Richards are legends, but is Ab de Villiers not one?", asked him trying her best to word her emotions out. She could see Jassi catching up with what she meant.

"Trophies are important to us fans, but are they important enough to see you guys down? No. You guys are the pride of our nation, an inspiration. And to prove that, you'll never need a trophy. Your fans love you, there's no need for you to feel obliged of winning a trophy to return it back to them, they love you unconditionally. With or without a trophy, you guys are the best we know off, no questions asked", she shrugged with a small smile. She could see her words made an impact. Thankfully.

Jassi couldn't find words, he was speechless, more speechless than he had ever been. He could see the love in her eyes, the devotion. He knew that the people of his country, devoted themselves off to cricketers. But, he never in a million dreams had thought that they'll be somebody who would say that to him. And that to without any personal selfish reasons. The love they get, he'll forever be thankful for them. They've always helped him get out of self-loathing pits.

But the girl in front of him, the way she was looking at him with that small smile, the way their hands were still intervined together, the way she had to keep removing her hair from her eyes. The soft rays of lights falling upon her because of the sunset, she looked ethereal.

"Manu, I...", said Jassi suddenly, without even realising he said it aloud, until he saw her eyes look deep into his. "Manu, I what?", she said with that mischievous smile of hers. "Vo, I was ki I like", before he could complete his sentence it was his phone ringing quite loudly next to him. Mumbling some incoherent words under his breath, he checked who it was, and urghhhhh, he should have seen this one coming. It was his Mowgli of a best friend. Truly speaking, even he didn't knew why he was friends with him *facepalm*

Manushi could hear only one side of the conversation but somehow with that frequent eyes rolls, some unrealistic threats, she knew who it was, and she couldn't help but laugh watching those two bickering like toddlers.

Jassi with an eye roll told her that apparently they were being called home, or the precise words could be, "Tum dulha dulhan Ka hogya ho, toh hum baratiyon ki bhi fikar karlia karo", but very OBVIOUSLY he wasn't telling her this. He had no intentions of scaring her off, even before something could start.

There was a lot to start, a lot of beautiful beginnings. They were about to go on a roller coaster ride of emotions. There were going to be some confessions, some unsaid words and 'definately' a whole lot of love brewing. But right now there was going to be a car ride, through the busy roads, through busy hearts still pondering over their feelings and some music soothing there nerves.

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16th December
Manushikaur

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY!!!!!

You are the first person I connected on wattpad, my first friend, and honestly speaking I don't regret it a bit. The dork that you are, I never really thought we would end up being so close❤

I thought of this chapter while I was writing "Heart to Heart❤". But unfortunately this story in the plot was far awayyyy, but again I was freaking excited to write it. But but but the lazy ass that I am, I lost my interest in writing damn quick, and realised am better away from writing area😬.

I did want you to read this chapter and I realized that your birthday was the best opportunity to gift you this.

So here is your birthday gift from your pyaara sa "jinnie hyung"😂❤

Just know that your jinnie hyung loves you a lot❤❤