Hardik didn't know what he felt when it became official that he was to captain MI next season. Possibly he didn't feel anything much. It wasn't a happy news. It wasn't a sad news. In fact, it wasn't a news at all, since he'd know it over two months.

Three weeks before India's first warm up match in the World Cup, MI's head coach had called him and asked, "We were thinking of approaching GT for you to be traded to us. What do you think about playing for MI?"

A stupid sentiment that Hardik had tucked carefully and callously inside the deepest corner of his heart when MI didn't retain him last year and GT picked up--a sentiment that still made him think of Mumbai Indians when he thought of home--tried to jump out with full force.

But Hardik was good at keeping it inside, so far inside he could think without its interference, and he asked about the details of the trade. Jayawardene said they were thinking of an all-cash trade, because they didn't have anyone comparable to him they wanted to trade away and the contract will pay the same as he was paid in GT.

"I'm captain of GT, too," said Hardik.

"Hm. True," conceded Jayawardene. "There should be some compensation to that. I'll get back to you."

A week passed with no follow-up. Hardik, who'd hidden away his MI sentiment, went about normal life. The World Cup squad was a few days away from gathering for the camp, and final preparations were going on.

Then, a week before the camp would start, he got a call from the MI management again, a conference call this time, and it was rather more formal.

"Good evening, Mr. Pandya. We have spoken to Mr. Sharma, who has confirmed he will step down as captain of Mumbai Indians if you and your team agree to our trade. If you do, the contract will pay the same, and you will be captain of MI, which is of course, a franchise of net worth considerably higher than your current franchise, not to mention where you have played seven years and where it all started."

Even if they hadn't elaborated it all, the trade would have appealed to Hardik instantly. But there was that tiny catch.

"Rohit is stepping down?" he asked.

Everyone in the conference nodded.

"Subject to the trade being successful, of course," added Jayawardene.

Just for a moment, Hardik was tempted to ask what Rohit had exactly said. The next moment, he no longer wanted to ask. 

Maybe he should ask Rohit before committing anything.

Or maybe...it was Mumbai Indians...it was his home...and...

"I am fine with the terms," he said, "if you can work it out with my management."

He'd got back a chorus of 'thank you's.

While MI and GT were still in talks, the World Cup camp assembled, the warm-up matches were washed out and the actual tournament began. Everyone was so buoyant, so hopeful and determined about their chances for the Cup, Rohit was leading the team with such perfection and everything was so normal that Hardik, who'd been in two minds about whether he should talk to Rohit about the offer decided against, almost without thinking.

And things had stayed perfectly normal.

Now that the trade and captaincy had been finalized and made open for everyone to know, Hardik had no idea what to feel. He'd thought he'd feel happier about returning home to MI. He'd thought he'd feel sadder about Rohit, MI's fortune-changing captain stepping down. Instead, he felt nothing.

He didn't delve into the depths of what everyone thought of this switch, but he knew it was nothing good. No one had been supposed to react nicely to the idea of Rohit no longer being MI's captain, and they didn't. Spite floated all around the internet.

Mahi bhai texted Hardik not to open social media for a couple of days, and Hardik agreed, and obeyed. 

A couple of days after the official announcement, a listless Hardik remembered he'd not personally informed Jassi and that he was setting himself up for another earful. So he decided to be smart and call Jassi before Jassi could.

"Morning, Jass," began Hardik when Jassi mumbled a sleepy hello. "I'm going to captain MI."

"Wow, I must be the first person to know," said Jassi, "after the whole world."

Hardik had expected this, but the unnatural malice in Jassi's voice took him by surprise.

"If you knew, you could have called as well," he said, a little defensive.

"Oh." Jassi paused. "I wasn't going to."

"Why?" demanded Hardik.

"Why?" asked Jassi in a bare whisper.

Hardik wasn't sure why his heart sank so.

"Jassi?"

"You became a captain, Hardik," said Jassi. "Act like a captain. A captain doesn't call one of their team's bowlers at eight in the morning without a proper reason."

"What d'you mean?" said Hardik, defensive again. "Rohit used to--call us--all the--"

"YOU ARE NOT ROHIT BHAIYA. YOU ARE JUST AT A POSITION ONCE OWNED BY ROHIT BHAIYA, IN FACT A POSITION OWNED BY HIM EVEN YESTERDAY MORNING, TILL SOME--" Jassi's shout trailed off abruptly.

Hardik, who'd been pacing in the hallway, bumped down on the the nearest couch and had to recall how to speak.

"Till some--?"

"Leave it, Hardik," said Jassi, quiet again.

"Till some?"

Silence.

"Jassi--" Hardik sounded like he was pleading even to himself.

"Till someone thought of dethroning him, dethroning a person we never did anything but look up to, dethroning the person who has always protected us, dethroning Rohit bhaiya!"

None of it seemed very real to Hardik anymore. It didn't seem to him Jassi had actually said what Hardik heard. Was he being delusional?

"I did not--"

"I didn't take any name," said Jassi, venom dripping from his tone. "And yet you assumed it was you. I wonder why?"

"Jas--!"

Click.

Hardik felt like bucketsful of ice had been poured on him, and he was frozen with it, unable to move a muscle.

Whatever Jassi had said, it still didn't seem real to Hardik, but now, he somehow knew it was real, it was. If Jassi could speak to him like that--

What terrible thing had Hardik done that Jassi spoke that way to him?

He must have done something...and the most terrifying part was...

He didn't know what it was.

That was when Hardik decided he had to disregard Mahi bhai's advice (command) and take matters into his own hands, the start of which was, of course: check the news.

So he checked the news and everything he'd completely ignored for two days, and he discovered it was far, far worse than what he'd dared to imagine even in his nightmares.

And there was something at the back of his mind which he'd never have dared imagined even in his nightmarish nightmares.

________________

After some time, a strange sort of numbness set in. But it was not as much born from the general sentiment as what Jassi had said, and what that implied.

'Till someone thought of dethroning him, dethroning a person we never did anything but look up to, dethroning the person who has always protected us, dethroning Rohit bhaiya!'

"De...dethroning isn't a word, Jass," whispered Hardik, and then the tears spilled out.