Hello Fam :)

Before going into the chapter, wth with the auctions? Faf in Red? I have got mixed feelings because I can't imagine CSK without him but he went to Virat, so mixed feelings. Sad that Suresh Raina was let go. I can be practical but there's logic and then there's heart. What decisions made you sad and excited?

It's late, so I will post this chapter again tomorrow but those who are awake can give it a read. 

Happy Reading...

Raina found his way to the library, grabbed a book for himself and went to sit at an isolated table, ignoring the books there. The table was facing the window such that his back was to the humans which, in his opinion, was the perfect place in a library. A worker asked him to keep the books on the table instead of replacing them on the shelf. He was doing it himself. Nodding at him, he started reading his book. Half a page later, he was interrupted when someone sat down beside him.

"Excuse me. That's my place", said the girl, whispering.

"I am sorry. I didn't know we were supposed to reserve our seats", asked Raina.

The girl stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes. "No, but I have kept my books here and I just went to take a call."

Raina nodded and looked around. "Can we share? It's away from humans and I loved this place."

The girl narrowed her eyes before letting out a sigh and sitting beside him.

"So you don't love humans?"

"I do. But I get nervous around new people."

"Have we known each other for years?", she said, teasing.

Raina chuckled. "No. But you are just asking questions and I am answering. So, I guess it's fine"

"Priyanka Chaudhary", she said, forwarding her hand.

"Raina Kohli."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kohli."

He gave a smile before getting back to his books. He was totally engrossed when he heard her calling him again.

"See you later, Raina."

"Are you going already?"

"I need to go home. Day scholar", said Priyanka.

"Really?", he said, surprisingly. "Even I was supposed to be a day scholar but something came up last moment, so I took the hostel."

Priyanka nodded. "I have my room though. But I know I would hardly use it. Anyways, bye."

He waved at her before getting back to his book again.

XXX

Meanwhile, sometime back, Ritika dragged Rohit outside the canteen, without listening to his protests of going to sleep. "Why are you dragging me?", he asked again.

"Because I need to talk to you alone", said Ritika, finally halting in her marathon.

"About what? Is there any problem?", he asked and saw her biting her lip.

"Yeah. I mean my roommate is a problem."

That made a frown appear on his face. "Hey", he said, cupping her face, "did she say anything to you? Do you want me to talk to your warden?"

Ritika shook her head. "No, but she is crazy. Since I woke up this morning, she was just ranting about all her fantasies."

"Fantasies?"

"Like she told me how much she is in love with SRK in 10 minutes. Trust me she covered almost every single detail. She then jumped to her own love story. She wants someone like Raj from DDLJ and the imagines of her fairy tale love story. And many more. I can't handle her. She is over-friendly and dramatic. She is-"

"Hey, hey. Ritsy, calm down", he said, halting her rant and waiting for her to take a breath. "Listen people are different. People really dream about a fairytale love story. It's okay. You can't expect her to be like you, right? Because she isn't my Ritsy. For example, you love Jurassic Park and you have watched it some 100 times.-"

"It's just 96 times", protested Ritika.

Rohit chuckled. "I am sure, you will score a century there. So what I was trying to say is she might not like Jurassic Park. She loves SRK and his movies. When you wanted to be inside Jurassic park she wished to be inside in an SRK movie along with him. We have to accept people, Rits. SRK isn't that bad. You can give it a try."

When she slumped against him and he wrapped his hands around her. "Thank you for sorting out."

"Anything for you."

"Won't you come to see my room?"

"Not now, yaar. I need sleep. Even you need one. Let's meet later", said Rohit and waited for her until she was out of sight before going back towards his hostel. This girl would make him crazy with her random panics but what are best friends for if not to calm down each other. It was in his job description.

XXX

Virat was leaning on Mahi, keeping his head on Mahi's shoulder. He was rather quiet. Raina was on the other side. Ab and Faf were sitting opposite to them with Rohit beside them.

"Cheeku, what's wrong? Why so silent?", asked Mahi.

"Nothing. I am missing home", he muttered.

"And that's why I asked you not to stay in a hostel."

Virat straightened up and grinned at Mahi "But I am already at home."

"What?"

"You are my home, Mahi bhai. I feel the same peace with you as to when I am at home", he declared.

"That's so cheesy", said Faf.

Virat waved him off. "I don't care."

Seeing his ever-energetic roommate sad, pained Ab and he thought of changing the topic. He glanced at Faf, silently gesturing his plan. Faf nodded in return. "So, what's with Cheeku? It sounds so cute", he asked.

"It's not cute. It's so kiddish", teased Faf. And I am not even kidding, bro."

"Mahi bhai, I am not a kid", complained Virat.

Raina, who got their plan when Ab winks at him, grinned. "Kids only complain like this, Cheeku", he teased, joining them.

"Mahi bhai, dekho na?"

Rohit chuckled. "This kid is so cute."

Virat hid his face against Mahi's shoulder but there was a hint of a smile on his face which relieved everyone. Before they could stretch the teasing, there was a knock on the door. Since Rohit was close to the door, he stood and opened it. There were two guys standing, one excited and the other hesitant.

"Do you have a charger?", said the excited guy. The excitement in his didn't really match his question.

Rohit shrugged and looked at Mahi, who gave him a nod, asking the two to come in.

"Did you forget your charger while packing?", asked Ab.

The guy just grinned. "Hey, I don't need a charger. Actually, since we stay in the same corridor, I wanted to us to know each other. Generally, gharon mein dahi cheeni ke liye aate hai. But yahan mujhe woh nahi milega. Hence, I asked for a charger. Haina, brilliant wala idea?", he said, pleased with himself.

"I hardly understood a thing here", muttered Ab.

Faf chuckled and translated it for him while Mahi asked the two guys to have a seat. "So, you are our corridor mate?"

"Neighbors. I have no idea about your names but hey, this is Hardik Pandya. And that's my roommate, Rahul", he said pointing towards the other kid. He was still doubtful about the whole room and hardly made an effort to utter a word.

Mahi wasn't sure but the other guy looked like, he was a word away from bolting out of the room. "Rahul?"

"Lokesh Rahul", he said, softly, looking weary at the room. "But you can call me just Rahul."

Mahi gave him a smile, hoping it would assure the kid to just relax. "Nice to meet you, Hardik and Rahul."

"Why don't we introduce ourselves?", said Hardik.

"Brilliant", said Rohit, agreeing. "I hardly know you people except for your names."

"Feel free to start", teased Ab.

Rohit punched him lightly. "I am Rohit Sharma. I am basically from Visakhapatnam but my family shifted to Dehradun. And yeah I guess we all are in science, right?"

"Yeah", said Ab. "But there are electives. So, we might not have the same courses. Coming to me, as you know I am Ab in short. I am from Pretoria, South Africa."

"Really? But what are you doing here? People go to study out of India and you are here in Mumbai", asked Hardik.

"I will explain this", said Faf. "I am half Indian."

"Half-Indian?", asked Virat.

"Yeah. My mom is from India and my dad is from Pretoria. He was on a short study tour to this university. There he met my mom, fell in love, and got married."

"Wait", interrupted Hardik. "So you are here to find the girl of your dreams and repeat the history."

Faf chuckled along with Ab. "No, I already have a girlfriend back in Africa. Imari, and I am very much in love with her."

"But you didn't tell us how Ab is here", asked Rohit.

Ab shrugged. "We are friends since class one. And I really don't want to study there when Faf is in India. So, I followed him here."

Virat walked up to Ab and gave him a hifi before running back to Mahi's side, giving a stink eye to Raina, who was about to grab his place. "Bro", he said to Ab, "you have every single quality to be my roommate."

Mahi slapped his head. "This idiot left his house to stay in a hostel just because I was staying here and also dragged Raina along with him."

"No, Mahi bhai. Raina cried for you. He emotionally blackmailed me to stay with you. So, I had to agree with him."

Mahi rolled his eyes. "People, you can just swap the person in this brat's words."

Hardik grinned. "Matlab, aap teeno yeh dosti hum nahi todenge type wale ho?"

"Sort of", said Raina.

"Okay, I am feeling the odd one here. I can't understand Hindi", muttered Ab.

Virat grinned at him. "Roomie, I am there to teach you. I promise, before you leave this college, I will make sure you get a degree in the Hindi language."

"No need, Roommate. Just teach me a few so that I don't feel left out", said Ab.

"Done. Does your grumpy-kid-cum-Mahi's-roommate speak Hindi?"

Faf rolled his eyes. "I have a name and it's shorter than your made-up ones. I can speak only a few basic words in Hindi."

Virat turned to Mahi, his grin widening. "Iski toh waat lagaunga, Mahi bhai. Hindi mein."

Mahi slapped his head.

Faf scoffed. "But I understand every word in Hindi. So, your plan is not working, little brat."

"Oops. Sorry. Kaan pakad ke", he said, holding his ears cutely.

Faf nodded his head in disbelief and a smile broke on his face, making Virat glee.

Hardik squealed. "You are so cute."

Virat huffed. "Dude, I am hot and handsome. Stop squealing like a girl. By the way, I am Virat. And that's Raina, my twin."

"You both hardly look like twins", said Rahul, for the first time, an adorable frown on his face.

"What do you mean?", asked Virat.

When Rahul tensed, Hardik bumped their shoulders. "He didn't utter a word while you hardly gave anyone a chance to speak", he said to Virat.

Mahi laughed. "Get used to it, Hardik. Except for the fact that they share their birthdays, they hardly have anything in common."

Virat slung an arm around him. "There's one most important thing in common."

Mahi raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"We love you more than anything in the world."

"Matlab tum abhi tak single ho?", said Hardik, interrupting the flashy smile on Virat's face to a smirk.

"Beta, ladkiya marti hai apne upar. Hum bas nahi bhagte unke peeche."

"I doubt", said Faf.

Virat stuck his tongue out at him. "You are just jealous. Waise, you both didn't tell us anything about you?", he said, pointing towards Rahul and Hardik.

Rahul shrugged. "I am just any other normal guy from Bangalore."

Virat smirked. "According to a recent study, a person who says he is normal isn't normal at all."

"Is this study conducted by Mr. Virat Kohli alias Mr. I-am-always-the-great?", Mahi asked.

"Absolutely."

Hardik burst out laughing. "Well, I am anything but normal. My dad owns a college in Gujarat and hence, I ran away from there by writing a letter. Anyways, they have an idea about how I am, so they won't be worried for me. They even think I will get married to someone directly and bring her home without letting them know. So, that's how much they trust me."

"Did you find someone?", asked Virat.

Hardik sighed. "Ladki? Kaha. Aaj kal seedhe saadhe sharif ladke pasand hi kahan aate hai inhe."

Rohit clapped his back. "Mujhe tum kisi bhi angle se seedhe saadhe sharif ladke nahi lagte."

Hardik flashed his teeth. "Bhai, woh kya hai na. I am a miracle. Only a few can witness how sweet I am. Raina ji, why aren't you talking about anything?"

Raina was startled at the sudden straight question. "What am I supposed to talk about?"

Mahi chuckled, patting his back. "He takes time opening to people. But he is the sweetest one, once you get to know him."

"Bhai, aisa nahi hai", he muttered, a blush creeping up on his neck.

"Exactly. Aisa nahi hai", said Virat, interrupting. "I am the sweetest."

"He really can't shut his mouth", said Faf.

Everyone laughed at that. "Mahi, you didn't tell us about yourself?", asked Hardik, once everyone quietened down.

"Well, I am Mahendra Singh Dhoni. That's all I know about myself. I am an orphan."

There was a gasp. "Don't you dare call yourself an orphan, Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni. You have me and Raina too. We both love you so much. We can leave everything for you and here you are saying you are an orphan? You have a family back there. My parents and your baby, the cute adorable Bruno who just forgets everyone when he sees you", yelled Virat. He had tears by the end of his rant and so did Raina.

Mahi smiled at the two, feeling lucky to have his two brothers by his side. As the atmosphere turned too gloomy, he wrapped his hands around Virat's neck, who was now trying hard to brush away his tears without anyone's notice. "I am sorry. I made my little one upset."

"Sorry won't work, Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I am so mad at you. Promise me, you won't use that word again. Not until I am alive", muttered Virat.

Mahi ruffled his hair. "Don't be so melodramatic, brat. I know you can't be mad at me." He visibly shuddered when Virat freed himself to pass a death glare in his direction. "Stop scaring me, Cheeku. Okay, I won't use that word again. Not until I have both of you with me."

It calmed him down and he threw his arms again around Mahi. This time even Raina joined them.

"Include me, Mahi bhai. You have me", said Rohit and jumped into the hug. Everyone else just followed turning into a group hug. 

Note: Mahi's orphan, as of now. We will see what's in store for him. Also, Hardik and KL are here. How's Hardik? :P

I have written this chapter almost a year back, the first draft. Faf and Virat would banter throughout in this. And now they are on the same team. There goes my story. I have to write sweet scenes now. :/ :P