This is my submission for the Prompts Palette, as for some reason I'm unable to mail it. So here we go TEEN_FIX .

𖹭 Your trope would be: **Twist Ending** 

𖹭 Profession of Character A would be: **Politician**

𖹭 Profession of Character B would be: **Sportsperson** 

𖹭 Question to be answered: **Is what we are doing supposed to be normal?**

Ruchi had no interest in cricket and Rehaan had none in celebrating, yet here they were. Both of them glued to each other, passing fake smiles as people came and congratulated Rehaan. "I swear if one more person asks how I scored twenty-four runs in the last over so effortlessly I'm gonna kill them." He had a smile plastered over his face as he spoke to Ruchi with gritted teeth.

Ruchi had a similar smile on hers, "if one more person says anything related to the dumb game, I'm gonna lose it." It wasn't even an international match; it was just a play-off match in IPL. She nodded at a stranger who approached them and shook hands with Rehaan. The stranger in question was an old man, maybe in his sixties.

By the clothes he was wearing, Ruchi deduced he had more money than both her and Rehaan combined and by the look on his face, she concluded he'd worked hard to earn it. The man talked to Rehaan with a small smile on his face, Ruchi couldn't make out the words he was speaking neither was she interested.

After what felt like hours to Ruchi, the man left and Rehaan looked at her excitedly. "Wanna get out of here?" He asked, glancing at his phone and Ruchi would be damned if she'd refused the suggestion.

Hands-in-hands, they walked out of the bar. As they were walking on the she felt the excitement oozing out of Rehaan, "spill," she muttered and that was all it took for Rehaan to jump and start blabbering.

Apparently, that man was a member of the cricket council and had let Rehaan know that they were viewing him as an option for the team of the T-20 World Cup this year. Additionally, he's stated that Rehaan's position was totally secure if he kept on performing like this and proved himself to be an asset for his IPL team.

Ruchi had tried her best to not snort. She might not like cricket but she knew for any of that to happen, Rehaan's team would have to win the IPL and never in the history of the tournament had that happened. It wasn't that the team never had any good players, they lost despite having some of the best players too.

Rehaan, however had ignored her and instead placed his lips on hers all of a sudden. Only in a second, Ruchi heard the sound of cameras wrapped her hands around his neck.

This had started about three years ago, when Rehaan's team had lost the Ranji Trophy, he was the captain of the Delhi's team. She was in Mumbai, for an election campaign of her brother. That day, after the match, Rehaan had ditched his teammates and gone to a local café.

He'd order a cup of black coffee and sat on the only empty table. And like every depressed person in this world, he's stared at it for about half-an-hour and thought about the match.

His thoughts were interrupted by a feminine voice, "hey! Can I sit here? Or are you waiting for someone?"

Rehaan had looked up from his depression to Ruchi and told her to sit with a small nod. That was all they'd said to each-other. They'd drunk their coffees in silence and a few moments later, parted their ways. But only if they knew.

The next morning, the first thing Ruchi had read was the front-page title 'THE POLITICIAN AND THE CRICKETER: A LOVE STORY?' She crocked her eyebrows at it and decided to ignore it untill she saw her picture in the article. She'd stared with wide eyes and stared to read it. The article was about how 'Ruchi Ahuja, the sister of famous Aditya Ahuja' was 'spotted' with the 'son of a millionaire businessman and captain of the runner-up Ranji Trophy team.' It had further explained their theories. Somehow the two of them were seen in the same city three times before this 'incident.' Another factor supporting their assumptions was that Rehaan's father and Ruchi's brother had been at least acquaintances at some points if not friends.

Groaning, she'd called her assistant and asked him for the cricketer's phone number. The meeting was set up for the next week and Ruchi flew to Delhi. He'd gotten at her place almost an hour later than they'd agreed upon but she didn't care. She had an awesome plan and if it worked, they'd both be on the top of their careers.

"Be my boyfriend." She'd straight on told him, as soon as her assistant had left the room, and he had never been more confused in his life. She took in the look on his face and continued with a sigh, "we were just sitting together, not even talking and we ended up on the front page of the newspaper. If we actually give them what they want, we'll get the spotlight. People pay to be on the front page and there we are without even trying." After a huge internal debate, he agreed to her. And then, the spotlight did its magic.

Rehaan didn't have to play another Ranji Trophy because despite losing he was a good player and now he was recognised by the higher authorities too. At the age of twenty-three he played his first IPL and then at twenty-four he won the orange cap in IPL as well as was selected for India's tour to Australia, where he'd played two ODI matches and scored 172 runs in total. He'd gone on several tours after that, played a few matches and been at least decent in all of them.

Right now, here he was, turning twenty-six in four months and recommended for the World Cup team. Ruchi, on the hand, was still just 'Aditya Ahuja's sister' but she was sure she'd win this election.

"Do you think this is normal?" Rehaan asked once they were into Ruchi's apartment and greeting her assistant. Rehaan didn't know what he was doing there without Ruchi but didn't question it as Ruchi didn't seem to mind. She shot him a confused look, "you know, this, acting like we love each other. Is this supposed to be normal?"

She stared at him for a moment, taking the files from Kartik and nodding at him as he walked out the door. "Yes, of course!" She had kept it short, not wanting to go into the depth of the conversation. It wasn't that she'd never thought about it before, just that she hadn't reached a conclusion. At times, she'd questioned herself how long would they be able to keep it up, how long would they be able to hide the truth from the outer world?

There weren't any feelings involved with the two of them, but she'd questioned that too. What if there were? What if it wasn't a lie? But those questions were pushed down deep into her heart. Rehaan has also had these thoughts, he had thought about it too and for a short period last year, he's almost felt sad that it wasn't true.

But they'd told their heart to shut the fuck up. Looking at the two of them, if someone knew they weren't together they'd question it and try to push them together, that's how perfectly they'd moulded themselves to fit each-other.

They'd learnt about each-other's likes, dislikes, hobbies, strengths and weaknesses and now it was normal for Rehaan to add 'no olives please' after he'd ordered something for her. It was normal for him to open his shoes at the doorstep before entering her house and normal to not question when Ruchi would all of a sudden stand up and shout a quote or a fact.

And it was also normal for her to keep something to eat in her bag because he's just forgotten to eat when professionals weren't telling him to do so. It was normal to see him getting excited for the smallest thing possible and jumping or dancing every time, even if it's just a ten rupee note he's lost a week ago.

So, yes. Of course it was normal.

The following two weeks turned out to be two of the most eventful weeks for the two of them. Rehaan's team lost IPL despite all the player playing really well. It was 'hell of a match' according to Rehaan. Ruchi hadn't watched it but she's seen many posts regarding the match. Rehaan was announced as one of the 'possible choices' for the team by almost all the news channels.

She was busy with her campaign for the legislative elections. She's been to different villages and towns, expressed her thoughts and made promises. People loved that she thought about them, they loved the way she's presented their choices, they liked how she addressed the real problems and told them how she'd solve them. But most of all, they loved that she was associated with Rehaan Malhotra, the famous cricketer.

As the campaign came to an end and the days for voting came closer, so did the date of announcement of the Indian cricket team. Ruchi was sure she was gonna win the election and Rehaan was sure he was going to be on the team. It had all gone so smoothly, and now that the two of them had played their cards right, what could go wrong?

It was all too calm; Rehaan had a bad feeling. He'd tried everything to shake it away, he'd gone on a walk, talked to his father, who was on yet another business trip, he'd ordered pizza and spent the night watching a sit-com. He'd texted Ruchi and she'd told him he was just getting nervous. But Rehaan knew it wasn't that.

They'd spent the weeks away from each other, having some time to themselves. A week before the voting day, Rehaan visited Ruchi, to remind the public that they were together. They'd planned a few public appearances from the next day itself and had followed their schedule.

"It feels weird," Rehaan said, putting on his shoes for the 'date' in aquarium. They were 'together' for almost three years now and romantic dinners or movie dates were left far behind. Now they would just hang out at some random place and the paparazzi would call it a date. Ruchi let out a small chuckle and opened the door with a small shake of her head.

"No really!" He felt the need to defend his statement, "we've been doing this for three years but last three days were... just weird." He closed the door of the apartment after himself and followed Ruchi downstairs.

"That's because this is big, in the past three years, I wasn't fighting for the MLA post and you were almost on the world cup team." Ruchi explained to him with a smile, noticing the huge number of paparazzi outside the building, "now wave, smile and be in love with me, hopelessly."

And Rehaan did just that, he held her hand in his and walked outside with a huge grin on his face. He blocked the continuous shouting of the reporters and kept smiling at Ruchi. He looked at Ruchi as if she'd hung the moon and stars. He did just what she'd told him to untill he heard the reporter say, "sir, what do you have to say about the allegations?"

Allegations? His head turned towards the reporter, who asked yet another question. "Did you fake your relationship to get the spotlight? Did you do all this to get famous?" Rehaan's smile dropped in an instant and he felt Ruchi squeeze his hand. He looked at her, she shook her head slightly, almost unnoticeably, and he stayed quiet.

Questions erupted in his mind like a tornado. So many whats and whys but most importantly the 'how'. He found himself unable to move as he saw his dream shattering in front of his eyes. They probably should've thought this through. His eyes felt becoming moist, a stingy pain in his chest and his knees going week.

He didn't realise when Ruchi's bodyguards led them back inside the apartment. Once inside, Ruchi's assistant switched on the TV, navigated through channels. The anchor spoke in her high-pitched voice, using words that Rehaan would label to as dramatic but Ruchi would say they're professional.

"The source is still unidentified; we have no knowledge on who has raised these huge allegations on the two famous personalities. The unknown person had claim to have proofs-" the channel was suddenly muted. Rehaan raised his head, him, Ruchi and Ruchi's assistant were the only three people in the apartment.

"Who'd have any proofs?" Ruchi said out loud, wording Rehaan's thoughts. "No one other than us knows." Her voice cracked and Rehaan almost couldn't believe it. Ruchi was the strongest person he'd ever known. And here she was, at the verge of tears due to a stupid deal they made years ago. Rehaan felt stupid for not thinking of this as a possibility, but a part of him said there was no way he'd have known it.

The train of his thoughts, was however, interrupted by a small chuckle. Rehaan looked towards the source of the laugh, Ruchi's assistant stood there with a smile on his face. "You never really thought much, did you?" He asked. "You're just like you brother." His voice sounded like a taunt. Ruchi stared at him with wide eyes, in realisation, and Rehaan did the same, in confusion.

"What... why're you laughing? This isn't a time-"

"Rehaan!" Ruchi's voice cut him mid-sentence, sounding like a warning.

"What?" Rehaan still didn't understand her.

Instead of replying to him, she looked at Kartik, "why? Why'd you do that?"

Kartik gave her a smile, "oh well it's a long story. In short, rich people are assholes. Just like your brother," he turned to Rehaan, "and your father. They destroy things. They destroyed everything my family had for their profit. My mother died because of them."

And it hit Rehaan like a train, "you've been working with me for more than three years!" Ruchi almost yelled at him. Three years.

"Who else do you think paid the newspaper to print that article?" He started, "who d'ya think slipped that idea into your mind? Or who made sure that the public wouldn't forget you? You're talented, I'd give you that, but so are hundred and thousands of people in India, you're no special. Now I would love to re-count all the steps but we don't have enough words. So, get this, I have audios, of you two which're going to be uploaded in exactly thirteen minutes and forty-three seconds. And then, everything would be over."

And that's exactly what happened. The audios released; Kartik sent to prison for violating the NDA: Ruchi and Rehaan, vanished somewhere unknown and their dreams shattered. But at the end, they had each other. And maybe what they had wasn't supposed to be normal but sometimes abnormal is good.