~24~
The incessant knocking woke Aarav up and he stretched on his bed. He looked at the clock at his bedside table. It was 7 in the morning. He wondered who it was so early.
"Coming..."
He called out as he walked to the door. As soon as he opened the door, in marched Anuj.
"Aah... nice to be back in here... Good morning, kid..."
"Get out..."
"Glad to see the temper intact, kid"
"I am not a kid anymore... I said GET OUT."
Anuj didn't respond but went around the house searching for someone.
"Didn't you hear what I said..."
He continued to ignore him and walked into the kitchen. Aarav followed him, highly irritated. The man was getting on his nerves. Looking around for sometime, Anuj finally called out
"Has my sweetheart gone for her morning walk?"
Aarav's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Ah I see the kid hasn't cleaned his ears... Where is Sweetheart?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"The cancer came back, she passed away a year ago."
Anuj felt the ground beneath him shake and he sat down on the kitchen floor suddenly. The shock was too much to bear. Aarav looked at him and walked to the table and poured a glass of water. Walking towards him, he gave the cup to drink. Anuj took it from him and sipped it, trying to regain himself.
"I wrote to Kaaka... I thought he would have told you."
Anuj nodded in negative. Aarav reached out his hand and helped Anuj on his feet. Anuj put his arms around him and hugged him tight.
"I am sorry.... I didn't know. Sorry... sorry for being late... again."
Aarav pulled back and nodded his head in negative.
"You didn't know... that's enough for me."
Anuj nodded quietly. After a few moments of silence, he gathered himself and said.
"She still loves you..."
"Oh yeah... I saw that yesterday."
"Still the same old bumbling idiot."
"Shut up. You are the reason for all this mess."
"Yup... I see no change... ok, kid... I would have wrestled it out with you in the field... but right now, I don't feel like it. Anyways I will win, as always, so you better listen..."
"You won't win..."
Anuj gave an exasperated sigh.
"Listen, kid. Mukku still loves you. She doesn't want to face you because... because... of what happened."
"Baby...."
Anuj nodded as Aarav's eyes filled up. The wound in his heart was still open and his medicine was not with him. As if understanding his thoughts, he said
"She will come back. Give her and yourself a chance."
"If only you had let me 10 years ago..."
"She wasn't ready. She made me promise never to find you."
"You know better than that."
Anuj looked away.
"You didn't wait... you didn't trust me... how do you expect me to trust that you would have come back."
"I didn't wait because I didn't want Mukku to go through what my mother went through because her careless brother thought holidaying was more important than her and she wasn't able to see it."
Anuj turned and clutched the collar of his Tee.
"You knew fully well what could have happened. Yet you chose to do it. I trusted you. I trusted you with my life. You couldn't have waited? I promised you Mukku was yours... why didn't you have some self control?"
He hit his hand away.
"I wouldn't have let anything happen to her. You know it. I would have come back if you had not sent a message through GK that the baby was no more and that Mukku hated me and didn't want to see me anytime ever. And for your kind information I did come back... but you guys had already left. I contacted GK again and again trying to make him let me contact you or Mukku... but he said neither you nor Mukku wanted to even hear my name... I left contacting him after sometime... the truth finally sinking in... Whatever happened back then... It was wrong... but you... you didn't come when we both needed you... when I needed you...."
"Because I didn't know.."
"What? Mukku..."
He shook his head.
"Three weeks after you had left, I came back and that's when I knew. The same night... she had to be rushed to the hospital and... we got to know about..."
Aarav sat down suddenly. His whole world seemed in a whirl. He had spent almost a decade hating this man for spoiling his life when he had been innocent. 
"But I thought..."
Anuj sghed and spoke softly.
"You really thought that I would leave you both like that, had I known?"
Aarav hung his head. He should have known better. Anuj hit him on his arms.
"You are a bigger idiot than I thought..."
"Sorry.... you know me... you should have talked... I am the kid, remember?"
"I am sorry about that, kid. I should have called you 10 years back... I really lost all hope after she left me..."
Aarav nodded.
"I did too... but why didn't you call me when you met her again..."
"Mukku came home around 10 days back, kid. Am I not allowed some time to process things? I am a human being after all."
Aarav said nothing.
"What did he tell you?"
"Who?"
"Vanraj..."
"Oh he said nothing... he said that Mukku missed me but wasn't sure of how her brother would react. He actually spoke kindly to me."
Anuj gave a sarcastic grunt.
"Kindness and Vanraj don't go together. He was probably pretending to get your attention."
Aarav looked up at him.
"You hate him?"
"Kid, stay away from him. He is upto no good."
"Mmmm... Anuj...?"
"What?"
"I am sorry for the years we lost because of these misunderstandings. All these years I blamed you for everything because I really couldn't take it that you of all people would betray us after you promised. I missed you just as much as I missed Mukku. You do know what you meant to me... I wish I can reverse the clock. I know it's impossible but, I want to make it up.... to Mukku and to you.. will you let me... Coach?"
"Will you promise never to doubt me again, kid?"
"Never... Ever... Coach."
With that, he stood up and hugged him tight renewing their long forgotten bond again.
***
Precap: "Why did you hide it from me?"
A/N: So this is Aarav's side of the story. What do you think of him?
A/N 2: How did you like this part? Let me know how it was.