MS Dhoni always believed that he wasn't good at maintaining relations. It was always people pushing him off to express himself, show emotions and talk about feelings. Also, one thing that he believed earnestly that he usually didn't contribute much to any relation, and the list of people who had stayed despite it was long.
And one of the people who deserved much better than him, was his wife, no matter what she said. He has always let her know that she was his 3rd priority, and she had smiled at him just asking when he leaves cricket will she be shifted to no. 2 or not. He couldn't even still properly tell her he loved her, he would just smile at her, and draw her into a hug and she would always understand his unsaid words.
Standing in the balcony of his hotel room, at 7 o clock in the morning of 6th February, all he could feel was guilt. Which husband leaves their wife to struggle through her labor pain of giving birth to their child, while he stands some 8000 kilometers away. He smirked self-depreciatingly towards himself, will Sakshi ever be able to forgive him? What will he ever tell his child? Was it even his right to claim the child as his after he has no role in the bringing of him to the world?
Even before he could realize he heard a knock on his door alerting him about his practise, and as he had finally began to groove into it, he saw Sonu running into the field clutching his phone with a smile brighter than the sun, as he shouted he has become a chachu. As MS held the phone and heard his sister speak, and discussing the health status of his wife, he realised he has become a father, a father to a daughter and maybe in one of the rarest of situations he could feel his voice tremble.
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2 and a half months later
As Ms was enroute from Australia back to India, all he could think was how he would face the little child. As he landed in Mumbai, he had the first flight back to Ranchi, and for the first time people could see MS Dhoni being fidgety.
As he entered his house, he saw his father rocking a small bindle wrapped in clothes and humming a song, while his mother and wife shared a fruit plate, and he saw a couple of his friends lazing around his living room. As soon as he entered he was welcomed, and then his father transferred the bundle, only for him to see a small baby staring at him and slowly raised her one arm to touch his nose. As MS looked spellbound at the bundle, the baby started fidgeting and whining, when Sakshi dived in to take her up and soothe her.
MS felt his nerves racing as he realized his daughter didn't like his touch and all he could do was think over the situation as he went about the rest of his day. As night dawned in, and he saw his wife placing their daughter in a crib, he quietly went and stood in their balcony, only to be hugged by his wife. As he began to apologize to her, she just shook her head and held him closer. He relaxed in the hug as she told his stories of the past 2 and a half months with the small baby, and dragged his to show his photos that have been clicked ever since her birth.
As MS started shifting through the photo, he looked wide-eyed at a particular one and gave a confused glance to Sakshi. It was a photo of his Captain, holding onto his baby at the hospital. Sakshi smiled, "Dada aur Bhabhi, both had come to see Ziva on the next day only, and do you want to know a small secret?" As MS frowned at her misplaced glee, she spoke, "Dada picked up Ziva and he had tears in his eyes, he might deny it now, but me and Bhabhi both saw." As MS smiled at the thought, Sakshi teased him, "Seems like someone is getting replaced from Dada's favorite list", making MS narrow his eyes at her as he grumbled about it not ever being possible as Sakshi laughed silently.
As they both went off to sleep, the gnawing feeling of not being there again crept up to him.
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