Homecoming

Chapter 27: Sessions

Ishan knew that when it came to trolls, the best thing to do was ignore them. They were a dime a dozen with nothing to do except dump their thoughts for all to see. He? He could take it - the hateful comments, the trolls - but he never could be quiet when it came to his team; he would defend them to death.

He had been scrolling through social media, bored of being cooped up in the house when he noticed a pattern - every other post seemed to be bashing Shubman. Normally he would ignore it, but something kept nagging in the back of his mind. Most of the comments seemed centered toward Shubman's lack of training on the grounds, and with his cramping issues, the question was this - could he afford to be out of the ground in his prime?

Ishan never thought he would ever say this, but the trolls were right. Ishan had a long road ahead to recovery, but Shubman needed to practice, and staying here was only impeding that. Although Shubman seemed perfectly content lazing around and taking care of Ishan all day, Ishan knew it was his responsibility to put some sense into him.

For the country's sake, of course.

Making up his mind, he decided to broach the topic that evening.

"When are you resuming training?"

Shubman looked up from his phone, caught off guard as Ishan almost never initiated conversation. He kept his phone down, and thought a bit.

"There's still time for the next tournament, and I can't very well leave you alone. Your sorry ass would miss me too much."

Ishan rolled his eyes at that, but kept on going.

"You need to practise, dude, you know it, I know it."

"Fine, fine. What do you suggest?"

"You can start tomorrow - I have already talked to the coach and he'll set up the sessions for you."

"And what will his highness do when he is left alone, injured, all day?"

Ishan turned sheepish.

"Uh, about that..."

Uh oh, thought Shubman. Something doesn't feel right.

"Aditi's in town - I invited her to hang out tomorrow. I was going to postpone but she leaves tomorrow evening."

"Oh."

Shubman felt a strange swooping sensation in his stomach - as if he had gotten hit with Bumrah's bowling.

"Oh. Alright. Good, good. You guys will hang out together. Good - friends meeting, hanging out, good good."

Shubman was aware he was rambling, but try as he might, he could not get his mouth to stop.

He stood up abruptly, and said,

"Well, I am off to sleep - early start tomorrow, with the practise and all. 'Night."

Ishan thought it weird the way Shubman was behaving, but replied with 'night' and continued watching his show.

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Shubman was fidgety the next morning, checking and rechecking the locks, writing down all emergency numbers for Ishan, showing him where the exit was ('It's my house, you idiot', Ishan had shouted), and packing his food and tablets.

Sensing Shubman panicking, Ishan calmly said,

"Shubman, relax. Contrary to popular belief, I am an adult and I can take care of yourself. Honestly, you are worse than my mother sometimes."

He received a flick on the head for that, but just then, the bell rang, so Shubman ran to open the door.

And came face to face with an angel.

Well, she went by Aditi, but it was easy to mistake her for an angel because of how radiant she looked. Her smile brightened when she saw Shubman, and she stood on her tip toes to hug him.

"Hi, Shubman, long time huh?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Good to see you. Come in, come in."

Shubman led her inside, where upon seeing Ishan, Aditi instantly ran over to engulf Ishan in a suffocating hug.

Shubman felt like someone was squeezing his heart, with the way Ishan and Aditi were giggling and hugging each other.

How rude, he thought, he was right there but they were ignoring him. Well, fine! He had a million other things to do than to watch the both of them fawn over each other.

"ISHAN."

Both Ishan and Aditi looked over in surprise, so Shubman lowered his voice a little.

"There's food, and your medicine is divided by dosage. Don't do anything that would pull your your stitches."

This, was said in a pointed look at Ishan, but it was Aditi who spoke up.

"Don't worry Shubi, Ishu is in good hands."

Shubman hated every word of that sentence.

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Shubman was sure he had never had a more brutal training session, not even when he was a kid and knew the ABCs of cricket. He was distracted all day, had narrowly avoided a lot of balls hitting him, and was constantly snippy. Coach was used to dealing with cricketers who behaved like school children, so all he said was 'get your head unfucked' and left it at that.

But how could he, when Ishan and Aditi were probably giggling over wedding magazines, choosing rings and dresses? The thought made Shubman so upset that he crushed the bottle he was holding, which made the youngsters practicing with him scram. He knew he was being irrational, Ishan and Aditi were good friends, and it's not like he had any say in Ishan's decisions, but it still hurt.

As if leaving Ishan alone was bad enough, but the fear that Ishan may have finally found someone who did not destroy him and that Shubman was too late was what kept his heart thumping loudly.

After his training, he rushed into his car, desperate to get to Ishan. He drummed his fingers anxiously the entire ride home, and pressed the buzzer impatiently once he reached the door.

To his surprise, it was Ishan who opened the door.

He looked, well, he looked as Shubman had left him - alive and unhurt.

Shubman simply drank in the sight in front of him, still at the door. Ishan, for his part, seemed transfixed by whatever he saw in Shubman's eyes, neither moving from their spot.

It was only Aditi's voice from another room that broke their staring contest.

"You alright?"

"Yea, but I should be asking you that. Did you run here?"

"Uh, no. Just....the training."

"Well, freshen up. Aditi's just leaving anyways."

Just then, Aditi came bounding from the other room, ready to go. She hugged Ishan goodbye, and whirled around toward Shubman. She walked a little closer to him, and with a knowing smile, whispered,

"Take care of him. If you hurt him again, you'll have me to answer to."

Maybe he could learn to like Aditi after all.

"I will."