The next morning, Dada woke up first. As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt a weight on his chest. He turned towards the weight and found Virat sleeping all but snuggled up to him using his chest a pillow, completely ditching the real one. Dada had a hard time controlling his snort as he tried to get up without disturbing the man-child sleeping on him. But as he moved, Virat just made an annoyed sound and gripped Dada more tightly, in his sleep.

Dada supressed a laugh and ruffled Virat's hair and said very gently, "Cheeku, wake up kiddo."

Virat, who was not in a mood to wake up, made a face and said, more like whined, "Uhh... sone do naa."

Dada smiled and said, "Accha, atleast mujhe toh utne de."

"Arey aap bhi so jaao", Virat mumbled innocently in his sleepy daze and Dada finally couldn't control his laughter anymore. Dada laughed out loud and Virat opened his eyes with a jolt.

He saw himself sleeping almost on top of Dada, and Dada's laugh made him feel embarrassed. He sat up and scratched his back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry, I don't know how I... ", he began but was cut off Dada himself.

"It's okay, you are my kid too. And now you will say sorry to me, eh Cheeku? That too for this?", said Dada a little loud and sarcastically.

"No no I d. Its just that I... slept... I.. didn't know", he heard Virat say hastily, with a flustered face.

"Dare you get embarrassed in front of me, Virat", said Dada, sending a warning glance to Virat.

At this particular moment, Yuvi thundered in, announcing, "Hello people, It's the great Yuvraj Singh here", flashing his trademark smug grin.

Sourav rolled his eyes and said drily, "Where did you land up from?"

"Me? Come on Dada. I live in Mumbai. I came to meet everyone", said Yuvi.

On the other hand, all these commotion broke Mahi's land of slumber too. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Dada slightly glaring at Virat and Virat giving him a timid and sheepish smile and Yuvi looking from Dada to Virat.

Now, already Mahi was hugely upset by what happened the previous night and now this scene managed to plummet his mood to the very low. He looked at the two people warily, not at all happy with the ongoing scene. He had heard the line "you are my kid too" and he absolutely did not like it. Cheeku is my kid, he thought grumpily.

"By the way, what happened? Why is Cheeku looking like you caught him stealing candy?", Mahi saw Yuvi ask Dada. Dada wearily repeated everything.

Virat just smiled cheekily at Dada who couldn't help but pull the kid's cheeks. In all this, Dada didn't notice Mahi silently fuming in jealousy.

But Yuvi saw that.

Suddenly Virat noticed Mahi awake and staring at them intently, more like glaring at them. He couldn't understand what made Mahi bhai angry, early morning itself. But still, he tried to greet him in his usual over clingy cheerful manner. Virat plunged towards Mahi, taking him in a hug and said, "Good Morning Bhai"

Mahi, though mad at him, held his little brother back and greeted him, "Good Morning Cheeku"

"Good Morning Mahiya", said Sourav lovingly as usual. "Good morning Mahiya", Yuvi copied Sourav but in a teasing tone

"Good Morning Dada", said Mahi, ignoring Yuvi completely and then blurted out the question he was dying to ask, "What happened Dada? Why were you scolding Cheeku?"

"First of all, I was not scolding Cheeku. I was just telling him what he did was completely okay with me. After all, it's only me", said Sourav, shrugging his shoulders.

"What did he do?", asked Mahi suspiciously eyeing both of them.

"Nothing he just unknowingly slept hugging me last night. Now you tell, is that a mistake, that he is saying sorry?", said Sourav playfully smacking the back of Virat's head lightly. Virat just scratched his neck looking like an innocent puppy.

Sourav laughed and pulled Virat's cheeks and Virat squirmed away. He did not like someone pulling his cheeks, not at all. But Mahi couldn't help but feel angry at the scene and he got off the bed and stormed out of the room to go to his own. Dada and Virat looked utterly confused at this sudden action of Mahi.

"What happened to him?", asked Sourav, confusedly.

"What have I done again? I swear I have not done anything", said Virat hastily, looking towards Dada, with a 'I don't know anything' face.

"Who said you did anything in the first place? Maybe his mood is a bit off about something", said Sourav exasperated at Virat's words. "I bet it is something silly", he muttered under his breath so that Virat is not able to hear.

"Come on now, go and freshen up. We are already late for breakfast", said Sourav as he got off the bed too, "And don't think about Mahi, he will come around", he added knowing very well of Virat's beautiful overthinking skills.

"Okay", said Virat as he went off inside the washroom.

During this whole conversation, Yuvi had kept quiet because he seemed to grasp the situation, and he smirked, an evil smirk.

Sourav walked out with Yuvi, still thinking what can upset his Mahiya, first thing in the morning. But he had to stop that train of thought as the boys had surrounded him once again and dragged him to the dining hall.

Yuvi excused himself and made his way towards Mahi's room. While on the way, he opened Google on his phone and downloaded all the pictures of Virat and Sourav available on the internet.

He opened Mahi's room door and found him sitting on his bed and muttering something that suspiciously sounded some curses to Yuvi.

Mahi had returned to his room, feeling angry, frustrated and jealous all at a time. He knew he shouldn't be like this, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but notice the fact that his Cheeku was getting more close to Dada, forgetting that he is his Dada.

He couldn't help but feel all possessive for his Cheeku. He saw Cheeku looking at Dada the same way he looked at him, with a sincere worshipping expression. And he was fuming alone.

"Mahiiii", Yuvi called out 'politely'.

Mahi snapped his head in Yuvi's direction and said annoyed, "What do you want?"

Yuvi became more gleeful seeing Mahi's foul mood. Let's have some fun, he thought before moving towards Mahi saying aloud, "Come on Mahi! I came to meet everyone aur tu hai ki puch rha hai ki what do you want?", making a fake hurt face.

Mahi rolled his eyes and said, "Chal chal, over acting band kar, aur point pe aa"

Yuvi dramatically plopped down on the bed beside Mahi, took out phone and and displayed the pictures he had earlier saved in it. He passed the phone to Mahi saying, "Tujhe kuch dikhana tha. Yeh dekh."

Mahi flipped through the pictures and he looked like he wanted to burn down the phone with his fiery glare, when Yuvi interrupted and said sighing, "Look how happy Cheeku looks with Dada, and as an elder brother seeing my little brother happy makes me happy too", in such a convincing tone, that Sourav would have surely fainted if he heard that. Mahi would have fainted now too, had he been in his right mind.

Mahi started at the pictures and pondered over Yuvi's words.

If my Cheeku is happy, then I should be happy in his happiness too. Maybe Cheeku loves Dada much more than me. As his elder brother I should accept that. I should stay away from him and Dada lest I intrude upon them.

Mahi closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, the thought of being an intruder on his Cheeku and Dada hurt him, but he thought that it was the best for everyone. On the other hand, Yuvi was laughing internally looking at the success of his plan, i.e., Mahi's expression.

"Ok I'll go meet the others then, if you don't want to talk", said Yuvi and swiftly went out of the room. Mahi could only nod.

Meanwhile, at the breakfast table, everyone was waiting for Mahi to come. Virat and Yuvi had also arrived, but their was no sign of Mahi.

"I will get him", said Sourav standing up and moving towards Mahi's room.

Sourav entered the room and saw Mahi brushing his hair. He looked pretty normal, which kind of irked Sourav, because when he saw Mahi last, he looked quite upset.

"Mahiya", Sourav called out, already thinking of ways to pacify his Mahiya, in case he is upset. But to his utter surprise, Mahi turned towards him, smiled and said, "Oh Dada, I was coming down only. Let's go for breakfast", making Sourav suspect that whether Mahi has been affected by bipolar disorder or something.

"Mahi, are you okay? You looked quite upset a few minutes ago", said Sourav, shocked at how did Mahi get over his bad mood without whining to him.

"No, it's nothing", said Mahi and dragged Sourav out of the room with him. They reached the dining area and Mahi greeted everyone with a smile.

But instead of sitting beside Virat, which was his usual place, Mahi went and sat beside Manish and Shami, practically shocking everyone. This was the very first time that Mahi did not sit beside Virat. 

Virat was very much confused by Mahi's action. He tried to enquire about the reason behind it, but no avail. Mahi simply denied every single time. Sourav was also confused and was getting worried due to Mahi's behaviour which was not all him.

Virat and Sourav looked at each other, their looks mirrored each other. But Sourav knew that something was up with his kid.

Sourav became more determined on that fact when he saw Mahi maintaining distance from Virat during practice. Every time Virat tried to talk or ask something, Mahi suddenly remembered an important work or a missed phone call, and slipped away from there. Sourav could see Virat getting visibly hurt due to Mahi's behaviour towards him.

Sourav knew something was wrong with Mahi and he was more than determined to find out what.

And he surely will.

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Heyya guys, after a long time, I update this story, Sorry for keeping you all waiting...

Tell me how this one was...

Love,
Baishali 💖