After a week

A week passed in a blur and it was time for Ananya to join her duty back. She felt fresh and was ready to get back to her work of handling terrorists and changing roles as per her job's demands. 

"Di, will you drop me at the stadium on the way? Roshan will drop me back," Vansh asked his sister while having their breakfast and Ananya agreed happily. Vansh grabbed his cricket kit while Ananya fetched her gun and both of them hopped onto her scooty. She had her own car but Vansh requested her to use the scooty and she agreed. 

He wanted to reminisce about the times when his sister used to drop him off for his early morning training sessions on her scooty and the siblings recreated it. They talked about the old memories and new changes on their way until they reached the stadium.

The senior Indian cricket team was already having their practice sessions and the junior team was also getting ready to play a match. Vansh took off his helmet, placed it in Ananya's hands, and hugged her goodbye before rushing to his team. Ananya shook her head at her brother's enthusiasm with a chuckle. 

She was about to start the scooty when she remembered she didn't give Vansh their house keys. Their mother will be at her hospital and their father will attend his coaching academy. The maids are on leave so Rashmi asked her to give the keys to Vansh as she would leave for the hospital locking the door. 

Ananya parked her scooty near the gate and placed her helmet in the seat before locking her scooty. She grabbed her bag and walked in to give her brother his keys. She knew very well about him and by now he would have thrown his bag and phone somewhere on the ground or in their dressing room. 

She looked around and felt self-conscious. Everyone around is either in their shots or in tracks while she is wearing a jean top with a blazer and her hair tied in a pony. She felt over-dressed and so out of the place seeing the people playing around. She was looking around and suddenly bumped into someone.

"Ouch!" The person she collided with exclaimed making her look up at him, with a hand on her forehead trying to soothe the pain the bump caused.

"I am sorry, I was just looking around and didn't see you coming," She quickly apologized stepping back, creating a respectable distance between them without meeting his eyes. The man just looked on, with a hint of amusement and confusion as he expected her to react differently. 

"It's okay. But what are you doing here?" He asked her looking at her from head to toe like she was some alien on earth after recovering from his shock of seeing a girl who's so cool even after bumping into him. 

He doesn't consider himself the most handsome man but he does have that effect on his fangirls and girls who watch cricket in general. Isn't it common to get excited when you see a player? Then why isn't she excited? Doesn't she watch cricket? He wondered.

"Excuse me?" Ananya raised her brow at him, clearly offended by his question. She stepped away from the man and started looking for her brother who had become Mr. India suddenly. 

Where are you, Idiot? 

Ananya  thought to herself roaming her eyes around the stadium searching for her brother. Her eyes finally landed on him who was talking to someone along with his teammates. The person's back was facing her and she couldn't see his face. She walked towards her brother not looking back at the man whom she bumped into.

"Vansh!" Her voice grabbed Vansh's attention along with the man standing with him and his teammates. 

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Shaurya was talking to the young cricketers who came to take tips from him when he heard someone calling the name of the junior's captain. He, along with everyone turned to look at the intruder who dared to interrupt their serious discussion but the juniors' smiled on seeing the intruder while Shaurya looked on, confused.

A girl in a jean top, with her hair neatly tied and looking so out of place. Shaurya took a look at the boys smiling at her and took another glance at her, taking in her features. 

She's beautiful!

He muttered to himself not knowing he actually checked out a girl after a long time and is smiling at her. 

"Hi, Di!" the youngsters chirped happily seeing their captain's sister. She is their team refreshment sponsor and used to come to all their matches whenever she was free. She had seen a few of them since their childhood and they had a good bond with her.

"Hey, boys! Did I disturb something?" She asked looking between her brother and his team. Her eyes then landed on the man who was looking at her with a stoic face. She discretely pinched her hand not believing she was seeing him in front of her. 

The matter is, she saw him first on TV  when he was playing IPL and he became her favorite cricketer from then. But she always tried to keep that liking grounded. She doesn't have his posters stuck in her room nor does she stalk him. She just follows him on social media and that was it. But she always felt happy about his success and used to celebrate it with an ice cream.

"I am so sorry if I have disturbed something. But I just came to give Vansh his keys. Here," she threw the keys to her brother who caught them with practiced ease. Why wouldn't he, he's getting trained to catch. 

"It's fine, Ms..." Shaurya paused not knowing her name while Ananya felt more flustered. 

"Shergill. Sir, meet my sister. Ananya Shergill and Di, this is Shaurya sir, your favorite cricketer, of course after me," He muttered the last part to himself. Shaurya raised a brow in amusement hearing Vansh's introduction while Ananya felt like whooping her brother's ass for making her embarrassed. She gave an awkward smile to Shaurya who smiled in return with a nod of his head.

"Nice to meet you, sir. I am getting late. I should leave. Bye, boys. Come home if you are free in the evening," She blurted out in one go after a pause and ran from there before Shaurya or the boys could say something making Shaurya chuckle internally. It is one of his weirdest fan interactions.

"She is always in a hurry," Vansh waved off the matter and they got back to their discussion. Ananya went to her office cursing her brother to her office. 

My day better not turn more embarrassing.

She walked into the office in the same foul mood and met her teammates who were having a banter about something. She shook her head at their madness and sat beside Rakshith. He's the most sensible one among them and being the eldest, he often babysits these grownups when their madness reaches its peaks.

"What happened to the man in that photo? Any information about him?" She asked Rakshith who was looking at his team members like they were some new type of monkeys escaped from the forest.

"No idea. Kulkarni sir is yet to come," He replied to her and she nodded in return. They were enjoying the show three monkeys were putting on until they saw Kulkarni sir entering.

"Good morning, Sir," All of them stood straight and wished him. Mr. Kulkarni nodded in acknowledgment and turned to the door as if waiting for someone. The team members too looked at the door and found Vikram entering from the door. 

Ananya and the other teammates looked at Rakshith in fear and then looked at Vikram. Basically, Rakshith and Vikram were best friends in their college times and Ananya and Bhavin were their juniors. Rakshith and Vikram's friendship was from their school times and they joined the same college. They got into a fight when Rakshith asked Vikram not to trust his girlfriend and they split away. They work in the same office but never talk to each other. In all this, Ananya's and Bhavin's life became hard as they stuck to both friends not making them feel like they picked sides. 

"Ab yeh kya nayi musibath hai yaar," Shika whispered to Ananya who was clutching Rakhsith's hand to control him. Vikram's eyes locked with Rakshith and none of them were ready to break their eye contact. The tension in the room was palpable as the men kept digging holes into each other's skulls through their eyes.

(What is this new problem now?)

"Team..." Kulkarni sir cleared his throat gaining their attention and both of them turned to him, finally breaking their eye lock. 

"Our team arrested the man in the photo in Sikkim. He wasn't ready to open his mouth at first but he blurted out everything after tasting our hospitality for two days," Kulkarni sir's voice cut through the silent environment as the team listened to him attentively along with Vikram.

"10 members of their group entered the country and they are targeting Mr. Mishra," Kulkarni sir paused and looked at his team to see their reactions. 

"Who sir?" Vikram finally asked the question they all wanted to ask. There are nearly 5 Mr. Mishra's whom they know about.

"The head coach of our cricket team, Mr. Atul Mishra. Mr. Mishra's wife is a cabinet minister and his abduction will create both political instability and the cricket fans are going to create a ruckus if something of that sort happens," He explained the gravity of the situation. The room fell silent for a while as they analyzed the consequences that would take place if they succeeded.

"Does the government know about it?" Rakshith asked the next question.

"Yes. I just had a meeting with the PM and the Defense minister. We have a plan," Kulkarni sir answered.

"The team has matches scheduled in India for the next 2 months and 6 of you are going to join them as journalists. We have already talked to the BCCI chief and you are going to travel with the team. A few other officers will be assigned to assist you and we have already increased the security of the entire team." He explained further. 

"The security will guard them from outside and I want you to keep a close eye on everything happening inside. You have to keep an eye on every person interacting with the team and protect them from any unforeseen danger," His voice was commanding as he detailed his plans.

"Why the whole team sir? Can't we just protect Mr. Mishra or better isolate him until we catch them?" Bhavin asked.

"We can't trust that man completely. We better keep an eye on the entire team," Ananya piped in.

"Yes, and we can't hide it from the media if we try to take any official actions. Chaos will arise in the nation if anyone even gets a sniff about this," Kulkarni sir explained further. 

"But how can we convince the cricket team of this? I am sure they won't be happy knowing someone else is traveling with them," Ananya wondered. No team would want some strangers staying with them for two months and with all the attention the team gets everywhere, she is positive that they would be annoyed if their personal space is disrupted. 

"We thought about it. They won't be happy with it but they can't go against honorable PM's direct orders too. We will be telling them that you are from PMO and the honorable PM wants you to document their daily routine to encourage youngsters to pursue sports and we are starting off with cricket as it is more famous." The chief explained their plan. 

"Are we really going to make a document of their life?" Vikram asked. 

"Yes, take their interviews, record their practices, try to gain their trust. Do whatever it takes to make them believe that you are actually with them for an interview and keep an eye on every one of them," Kulkarni sir commanded. 

"You will get your fake IDs by evening and you are going to fly to Kolkata with them tomorrow," with that being said, Kulkarni sir disappeared into his office leaving the team behind to formulate a plan and discuss their roles to make the drama as realistic as possible.