We Are Officers, Not Hooligans

Vell glanced at the clock. He stood up from his bed and headed towards the main Hall. There he saw Raanz, Sean and Fobi sitting by themselves, busy scrolling on their cell phones with lots of snacks scattered.

"Hey, what are you all doing? I just woke up", Vell stated, and strolled towards them.

"Nothing much, just checking my feed", Raanz replied to which Fobi just sighed.

"I wonder if we could call Ron to bring us to any clubs, I am hell kinda bored".

Thump thump thump thump!, the door opened and Justin barged in with Ryan following behind.

"Let's take all the balls and the bats too. We can't assume how many we would need", Justin stated in an anxious tone. Ryan nodded and they both entered a small room behind the kitchen. Raanz and the others curiously peered at them. When Justin emerged with a lot of bats, they all just got worried.

"Are you people beating someone? Or getting into any fight?"

"What makes you think that? We are officers, not hooligans!", an annoyed Ryan replied.

"Then, the bats...?" enquired a curious Fobi.

"Ah, this, we are playing cricket. Wanna join?" Ryan seemed to be in a good mood so as to invite them. Usually he would never personally associate with anyone other than the batch and Zsadin. Hearing this, all four nodded in excitement.

"Let me help you with these", and Raanz took some bats from Justin. They stepped out of the villa and seeing them approaching with Ryan and Justin everyone almost fell in surprise.

'It seems Ryan is getting comfortable around them', all of them thought. He was very protective of his colleagues, so they thought he had developed hostility against the boys. All the officers were gathered in the main ground. Some were setting up the stumps and drawing the lines.

"You are fixing them wrong!"

"Hey, the line is a little slanted, draw it right!"

Others were discussing among themselves. Some were bringing out water bottles and refreshments. It seemed they had settled among themselves after the incident with Nancy. Soon, the preparations were done and two teams were made. Ryan and Gabe were the two captains. The coin was tossed and Ryan won it, choosing to bat. Everyone was enthusiastic and full of energy. Even the girls were good players. The boys had never seen these people enjoying themselves to this extent. They were playing wholeheartedly, giving their all. They had always thought of these people to only know how to protect and fight.

*************

When Zsadin and D drove inside the villa, D was a little surprised to see the unexpected harmony between the boys and the officers. They were playing like they were friends since eternity. D was relieved seeing the boys coming back to normalcy. Ever since Nancy was shot, the boys were always gloomy, the feeling of being guilty was sinking in much deeper, twisting and hurting like a knife. But the way they were engrossed in the game, chatting with the officers made D glad. D continued to observe them while Zsadin went towards her room. Gabe noticed D and his chief come back and later gestured D to come join them and D gladly accepted. However, Ryan frowned at it. It seemed like he didn't have a problem with others but he was wary of D. They played for a few more hours and would have continued but the boys were tired like hell. All had enjoyed the game and were now resting in the main Hall. Zsadin had headed down to drink water when she saw the tired mess her batch was in and a thought flashed through her mind. She took out her cell phone and made a call. She spoke with the person and after getting a satisfied reply she glanced at the enthusiastic batch of hers.

"Batch, I have requested Chief Lee, Mrs.Whitt would be here in a few minutes. Be careful as to not annoy her", saying this she retreated to her room.

Usually, they themselves would volunteer to cook food but today they all were very tired and given Nancy's condition, Zsadin had sent the housekeeper to her. So there was no one who would have made food, most likely the last resort was to order takeout but due to Zsadin, the batch had sort of developed a liking towards home-cooked food. But hearing Zsadin say that Mrs. Whitt was coming would solve everything. They all almost jumped in happiness, even Ryan's mood became better.

The boys who were observing all these again became curious.

"Who is Mrs. Whitt?"

"She is Senior Chief Lee's housekeeper and cook".

"But why are you all so excited?"

"You will know when she comes!" And the boys were confused.

'Now, who is this lady?'