Not In The Script...

Chapter-26: The Space Between Us

When Shubman woke up, the first thing he felt was the weight.

Not the sheets. Not the IV needle tucked into his hand.
The weight in his chest. Heavy. Dull. Lingering.

His eyes fluttered open slowly, painfully. The sterile white of the hospital ceiling greeted him like a bad memory.

There was a dull ache behind his eyes, a headache pounding steadily as though his body wanted to punish him for surviving the night.

His throat was dry. His limbs, heavy.

He shifted, a soft rustle of the sheets pulling his gaze to the figure slumped in the chair beside his bed.

Yash.

Head resting against his folded arms, his hand still loosely wrapped around Shubman’s.

Asleep.
Still here.

For a terrifying moment, Shubman’s first instinct was to pull away.

To create distance. To protect them both from the mess that was his mind.
But his hand didn’t move.

His chest tightened in that painful, familiar way—not panic this time, but something dangerously close to longing.

Yash stirred as if he could sense the change, blinking groggily until his eyes landed on Shubman.

“You’re awake,” Yash breathed, sitting up quickly, his voice laced with exhaustion and undeniable relief.

Shubman’s throat was too raw to speak. But he saw yash's eyes which were swollen from yesterday's incident as he was crying and apologizing the whole way to hospital.

Yash reached for the water cup, bringing it to Shubman’s lips without a word.

Shubman drank, each swallow scraping painfully down his throat.

“You scared the shit out of me,” Yash whispered, his voice trembling now that the danger had passed.

Shubman’s gaze dropped to their hands—still tangled together. Yash hadn’t let go, not even in sleep.

“You didn’t have to…” Shubman rasped, finally finding his voice, though it sounded foreign to his own ears.

“Yes, I did,” Yash said softly, as if the answer was obvious. “You’d have done the same for me.”

Shubman’s jaw clenched. “Would I?”

Yash’s brows pinched. “Don’t say that.”

“You hate me.”

“I never said that.”

“You should.”

Silence stretched between them, thick and trembling.

Yash leaned back, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I was angry. I still am. But hate? No. Not even close.”

Shubman looked away, his chest tightening painfully. “You were right. About everything. I was a coward.”

Yash didn’t correct him.

Didn’t offer him the easy comfort of denial.

Instead, Yash said, “I know why you did it.”

“I thought I was protecting you.”

“I didn’t need protecting. I needed you.”

Shubman’s hands trembled. He shoved them under the blanket to hide it.

“I thought if I made you hate me, you’d let me go.”

Yash’s laugh was hollow, bitter. “Did you really think I would?”

“I hoped you would,” Shubman whispered, his voice breaking. “Because watching you from a distance… it’s killing me.”

Yash’s eyes glistened, but he blinked the tears away, biting his lip to keep from crumbling.

“You’ve been on medication,” Yash said quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Shubman’s throat bobbed. “I didn’t want you to see me like this. Weak. Broken.”

“You think I haven’t been broken too?” Yash’s voice cracked. “I’ve been carrying the weight of your silence for six months. I thought I was the only one hurting.”

Shubman’s breath hitched. “Ishan—”

“Is my friend,” Yash interrupted firmly. “That’s all he’s ever been.”

“I know,” Shubman whispered, the confession peeling away the layers of his pride. “But I hated it. I hated watching you give our codes to someone else.”

Yash’s lips twitched sadly. “I never gave them away. I just… I didn’t know where to put them anymore.”

Silence settled between them again.

But this time, it wasn’t suffocating.

It was cautious. Fragile.

Like they were standing on the edge of something they weren’t sure how to cross.

Yash reached out, gently wrapping his fingers around Shubman’s trembling ones.

“This time,” Yash whispered, his thumb brushing over Shubman’s knuckles, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Shubman’s breath shuddered out of him, as if his chest had been holding onto that promise for far too long.

His other hand cautiously turned over, clutching Yash’s like a lifeline.

“Don’t let me push you away again.”

“I won’t,” Yash said, leaning forward, pressing their foreheads together, his voice soft but certain. “I’ll fight you if I have to.”

Shubman almost smiled—a cracked, uneven thing—but it was there.

And maybe, just maybe, that was the first step back.
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[End of Chapter 26]

Is the story getting bit boring??? Please let me know!! As the previous chapter had the least reaction!