POV: Ishaan Kishan
Ishaan sat outside on the balcony with a black coffee and with a cigarette. He shouldn't have drunk so much alcohol. He had a throbbing headache and felt nauseated. The cold winds helped him ease a little as he closed his eyes for a while.
The sound of the sliding door made Ishaan open his eyes. Shubman stood near the doorway and his eyes showed anger
‘ I told you not to smoke in my house’
‘ Babe, the door was closed’
‘ No, it wasn't. Now the whole house smells like smoke’
Ishaan didn't say anything and looked away. He didn't need the lecture this early in the morning.
Shubman stared at Ishaan for a while, hoping for a reply. Ishaan had looked away from him, that probably means the conversation was over. Infuriated he went inside.
Ishaan saw Shubman standing near the coffee machine as he came back in.
‘ Sorry about that, I will be careful from now on’ Ishaan said softly.
Silence.
‘ How was the dinner?’ Ishaan asked
Silence.
Ishaan took a deep sigh and sat down and stared at Shubman. One thing he has learned from their relationship was how differently they dealt with anger. Ishaan always chose to deal with it silently. Whenever he got angry he would become silent. The angrier he got, the quieter he became. He would then leave the room to cool off, because he doesn't know when his silence might turn into violence. Shubman on the other hand dealt with his anger loudly. At first he wouldn't say anything, after a while, he would go off, like a bomb.
So Ishaan patiently waited till Shubman's anger exploded.
‘ Why didn't you clean up properly?’ That was the first question he asked turning around.
Ishaan was confused.
‘ What?’
‘ You were supposed to clean the sink properly after our whole pomegranate fiasco. But you didn't. Now there are ants everywhere. Look at it!’ Shubman said pointing at the sink.
There was a line of ants crawling out of the sink.
"Shubh, I swear I cleaned it properly’ Ishaan said, wide eyes as he watched the ants climb up the wall.
‘ There were pomegranate bits in the sink,’ Shubman said through gritted teeth.
‘ Babe, I will clean it again.’ Ishaan said quietly, hoping it would calm him down.
Shubman took a deep sigh, he was getting angrier by the minute.
‘ Don't you know how much I hate it when things are messy and dirty. You always say that you clean up after yourself, but you don't. If you are gonna live here the least you can do is keep the place how I want, but no, you can't even do that much’
Ishaan didn't say anything and let him go on.
‘ I told you so many times not to smoke in the house, but you do anyway. You think that I don't know? That you secretly smoke when I'm out or when I'm sleeping. If you were gonna do it secretly the least you could have done is get rid of the evidence. You leave them out on purpose don't you? So I would get pissed off,’ he continued.
‘ and this drinking habit of yours. I mean…even I drink. But not like you do. You drink bottles and stop only when you pass out, has it ever occured to you that being that drunk you might reveal something that you shouldn't? He screamed.
Ishaan didn't say anything.
Shubman stared at him, shocked, puzzled and mostly annoyed. How can he be so calm?
" First of all, I am sorry about being messy, I will make improvements.”
“Secondly I don't need to do anything behind your back, you knew that I smoked and I drank when you hooked up with me, then why are you saying these things now?’ Ishaan asked as he got up.
"It's annoying me now," Shubman said through his teeth.
Ishaan walked around the counter and turned Shubman to face him. A few strands of his hair messily fell over his face.
‘Baby, I can't make promises saying that I will quit all of these things, but I will try my best to reduce the amount that I do it in’ Ishaan said softly caressing Shubman's face.
Shubman's jaw clenched, as he felt the anger in him grow even more despite the promise Ishaan made. Ishaan stared at him hoping he would say something, but Shubman stood in front of him eyes lowered to the ground. Ishaan felt an ache in his heart, even though he was standing close to Shubman, he could feel a distance forming between them. Shubman never looked up at Ishaan, and Ishaan couldn't fill the silence which was threatening to devour them.
Ishaans day was going in a blur. He didn't know what was happening around him. All he could think about was Shubman. They have fought before, he has seen Shubman's anger, but it was never like this. Before he left the house he tried to talk to him, only to be met with silence once again. Shubman never looked up at him, he backed away when Ishaan tried to kiss him. It was the first time he did that. Before, no matter what happens between them, Shubman never denies Ishaan from kissing him.
A sadness was spreading inside his heart. He sat in front of the brightly lit mirror as the make-up artists and hairdressers hovered around him. Ishaan took the phone and sent a text to Shubman.
‘Babe, are you coming to the show?’
He stared at the text for a while.
‘He must be busy’ he thought to himself.
Hours passed by and the show had started. Shubman never texted back to Ishaan. The sadness in Ishaan had changed its hues into anger.
POV: Shubman Gill.
Shubman came home earlier than usual. He still felt hollow from the anger he felt in the morning. He had fake smiled his way through practice, and lied about having a headache when his teammates asked him to come for a night out.
Just a few steps in, he was hit by the coldness in the house. Annoyed, he went and adjusted the thermostat. He made a mental note to call a technician to check it.
Taking off his jacket, he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and walked over to the sofa. He collapsed on the sofa and rested his legs on the coffee table. The October issue of GQ magazine was on it. Ishaan had graced the cover with another model; Shreyas Iyer. When it had come out, Shubman had childishly complained to Ishaan about how close he and Shreyas were. Ishaan spent the whole day trying to convince Shubman that Shreyas was just a good friend who has been with him since his struggle days.
A smile crossed shubman's lips as he thought of how, Ishaan had pinned him to the wall, pressed against him and told him
‘ Gill Sahab, get it in your head, you are the only person I love, Shreyas is just a friend, nothing else!’
All Shubman could think about was how cute Ishaan looked even though he was fuming with rage.
Shubman kept the magazine and opened his phone and checked the messages. Maybe he was overreacting over the whole thing. He started to type a reply, but instead decided to talk to Ishaan face to face.
He opened Instagram and scrolled through his feed. Ishaan had uploaded a story. He clicked on it. It was a repost of the official photos that the designer had posted. He went to the designers page and scrolled a bit. Ishaan was in almost all of the posts about the show. Shubman felt sad that he had missed out on the show. He went back to the main feed, mindlessly scrolled through the feed and stopped when he saw a picture of Ishaan and Shreyas. It must have been from the after party. He stared at Ishaan. Ishaan was wearing an all white outfit with gold accessories. His heart fluttered a little.
Shubman scrolled to the other photos. There was no one he could recognize, except in the last photo. It was Ishaan, he was holding a drink and a cigarette in his right hand, and had his left hand wrapped around a girl's waist.
Shubman sat up properly and looked at the girl's face. He had seen her somewhere, but he couldn't place it. Why was she with her arms wrapped around Ishaan's neck? Shubman felt annoyed, he knew that it was unreasonable to feel that way. But he did anyway. He let out a groan, carelessly threw the phone on the sofa and covered his face.
Eyes closed, Shubman rested his head on the sofa. He could hear the faint sound of the traffic. The room was getting cold again, but he was too lazy to get up and correct it. He took a deep breath in, and was going to slowly exhale, when a hand covered his mouth and nose. His eyes flew open, he tried to remove the hand but he couldn't get a grip. The hand was covered in a viscous fluid. Shubman dug his fingernails in the flesh hoping he could claw the hand away, but it was all in vain. He was thrashing around, his arms flailing around hoping to hit the person who was behind him. The hand tightened its grip, its long nails digging into Shubman's cheeks. Shubman panicked, he felt vomit coming up. Tears streamed through his bulging eyes as the vomit flooded his throat but couldn't find an exit. He started to choke, unable to breath, unable to get the vomit out. A piercing cold darkness engulfed him as his eyes closed. The last thing he felt was a cold tongue slide on the curve on his neck.
Shubman woke up startled, somehow he had fallen off the sofa. He sat up panicked. He took a few breaths of relief. When did he fall asleep? How did he fall off the sofa? He slowly got up and sat on the sofa rubbing his throat and face. He could still feel the cold hands on his skin. It's scaly flesh, the viscous fluid that covered it.
Shubman ran to the room as he remembered the nails digging into his skin and the tongue which had touched him. He switched on the lights and looked in the mirror. Eyes widened, he gasped in horror and took a few steps back as he saw his reflection. There were nail marks on his cheeks and a trail of dried blood down his neck. It wasn't a dream? Was it real? Shubman nearly fainted, but somehow managed to run to the living room and call his bodyguard.
‘ Ibrahim! There's someone in my house!’ he half screamed, half sobbed.
‘Get out of the apartment. I'm coming’’ Ibrahim replied in a calm but serious voice.
Shubman ran out of the apartment and pressed the elevator buttons to go down. The elevator doors opened, he got in and kept pushing the buttons to close the door. He was petrified. He rubbed his hands on his jeans trying to calm down. The doors opened to the lobby and to Shubman's relief Ibrahim was already there.
‘Sir, are you okay?’ Ibrahim asked, touching his shoulder.
Shubman was going to tell him what happened but he noticed the security guard watching them. He dragged Ibrahim in the elevator and pressed to his floor.
‘Sir?’ Ibrahim asked.
Shubman told him what happened, how someone had tried to choke him and was now somehow hiding in his house.
Ibrahim quietly listened to everything. They arrived on his floor.
‘Stay here’ Ibrahim said and made his way to Shubman's apartment.
He entered the passcode and entered without making a noise. Minutes went by, Ibrahim still didn't come out. Shubman was panicking again, did that person kill Ibrahim? He thought.
The door opened and Ibrahim came out.
‘ There is no one here sir," he told Shubman.
Shubman stood there shocked.
‘What?? What do you mean?!’ he stammered.
‘ Come inside sir, someone might be listening’ Ibrahim softly said as he grabbed Shubman by the elbow and brought him back inside.
Shubman looked around the apartment.
‘Sir, I have checked everywhere, no one is here’ Ibrahim repeated again.
‘ What do you mean by that? There was someone here, look at what they did to my face!’ Shubman yelled agitated.
Ibrahim stared at him blankly, he didn't say anything.
That's when it hit Shubman, Ibrahim didn't ask anything about his face. He was always quick to notice things, but this time he never asked about the nail marks or the blood.
He took a few steps back, and tumbled his way to the hallway mirror. His reflection stared back at him. There were no nail marks, no dried blood. He felt as though someone had knocked the breath out of him. He almost fell backwards, but was caught by Ibrahim.
‘ sir…?’ that was all he could say.
Shubman couldn't comprehend what was happening, all he could do was stare at his reflection.
‘ Sir, is there someone you can call, or somewhere else you can go? Maybe it's best if you don't spend the night here.’ Ibrahim said to him.
‘ uh, um..my sister's place, I guess’ Shubman stammered.
‘ uh, what about Ishaan sir?’ Ibrahim hesitantly asked.
Shubman looked at Ibrahim who stood a few inches away from him. Ibrahim has been the head of Shubman's security detail for the past three years. It wasn't just Shubman he was protecting, he was protecting Shubman's secrets as well.
‘ I uh.. I will let him know,’ Shubman said, looking down at his feet.
Ibrahim nodded and went into the living room, grabbed shubman's jacket and walked him out of the apartment.
Shubman called ishaan after getting into the car. It rang, but Ishaan didn't pick up. He tried again, no answer. Shubman felt overwhelmed. He was angry, and tired. He still felt the cold tongue on his neck. He rubbed his neck trying to fight off the feeling, but it seemed as though it was beneath his skin. In frustration he started to scratch, he scratched till it hurt, till the nail marks bruised his skin. He moved his hand across his face and started to scratch where the nail dug into. He felt hot tears roll down his cheeks and dissolve against his hands. Before he knew it, he was crying out loud, his head buried in his hands.
POV: Ishaan Kishan.
He walked out of the club and dialed Shubman's number. No answer. He checked his phone again, Shubman had called him more than thrice. He felt an uneasiness, a restlessness in his heart. He called again, no answer. He checked the time. It was past 23:00. Ishaan decided to go home and went to the parking lot. He texted Shreyas after getting into the car.
‘ hey, not feeling well, going home.’
Shreyas texted back after a while.
‘ ok’
‘ Shubman?’ Ishaan called out.
The lights were turned off. Ishaan switched on the lights in the living room and headed to the bedroom.
‘ baby?’ he called out again.
Shubman wasn't there. Ishaan came back out, worried. He took out his phone and was going to dial Shubman, but stopped. If Shubman is angry, then he would be too stubborn to answer. He called Ibrahim instead.
‘ Ibrahim? Hi, it's Ishaan. Where.. where is Shubman?’
‘ He went to his sister's house.’
‘ what? Why? What happened? Is he okay?’ Ishaan stiffened.
Ibrahim told him what happened with Shubman.
Ishaan didn't know what to say. He felt devastated. Shubman must have called him right after that, and he couldn't answer. He thanked Ibrahim and quickly left the apartment to go and meet Shubman.