POV: Shubman Gill.
Shubman paced around the house eagerly waiting for Ishaan's arrival. He doesn't know how he got through the night, or how he spent the day at practice and with his teammates. All he could think about was Ishaan, how food it would be to hug him again. To kiss his soft lips, to feel his arms wrap around his waist. To hear him say ‘ Jaan-e-jahan’ to him.
‘ Why isn't he here yet?’ Shubman stood in the hallway staring at the door.
‘ Shubhi, sit down, he will be here soon’ Simran said.
Simran sat on the sofa and watched as Shubman smiled to himself, as he walked around. She looked at Ibrahim who looked as worried as she was. She pulled the hem of his shirt.
‘ You think he would understand?’ she whispered.
‘ Maybe this will finally fix everything….’ he whispered back.
‘ Oh my god, he's here…’ Shubman ran to the door as he heard the doorbell ring.
Shubman's heart stopped for a second as he saw Ishaan standing in front of him. He didn't know whether he should cry or he should laugh. He stared at him, till his heart felt like bursting from happiness.
‘ Ishu…’ he finally managed to say.
The minute the door closed, he wrapped his arms around Ishaan and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him over.
It was as though nothing had changed. Shubman was finally in the arms of his refuge.
‘ I missed you so much, Ishaan. Didn't you think of me even once?!’ he complained after letting go.
Ishaan stared at Shubman's beautiful face, his heart sinking each and every second.
‘ Ishu there is so much I need to tell you. …you know…you know all of these problems, it's all because of Mayank…..i know you might have a hard time believing me, so I asked Ibrahim and Simran Di to be here…’ he rambled on and dragged Ishaan to the living room.
Ishaan looked at Shubman's hand which was wrapped around his wrist. No matter where Shubman dragged him, Ishaan was always ready to go as long as Shubman had his hands on him.
‘ Guys ... .look Ishu is finally home. .’
Ishaan looked at Simran and Ibrahim who welcomed him with warm smiles.
‘ I was just telling him about Mayank…Ibrahim ..can you tell him what happened. …’ Shubman said sitting down and pulled Ishaan to sit with him.
Simran and Ibrahim helped Shubman tell Ishaan everything that they had seen in the past few months. The horrors of black magic, of Mayank’s obsession, of the jinn's binding and how it made Shubman do things which were out of control. Ishaan listened to them, unable to comprehend what was going on. He shuddered as he saw the photos of Mayank's house and the Russian doll.
‘ But…but now it's all over baby…now..now we can be together in peace’ Shubman sighed, relieved and put his arms around Ishaan and kissed his shoulders.
‘ Please don't touch me…’ Ishaan's voice was barely audible.
‘ What..’
Shubman felt a coldness grip him.
‘ I said don't touch me.’ Ishaan said aloud and stood up.
‘ Baby..what's…what's going on?’ Shubman tried to touch his chest.
Ishaan hit his hands away and backed away.
Shubman stared at him in shock. His heart raced from fear.
‘ Ishu…why are you behaving like this,...I told you everything. It…it wasn't because of me. ..it was Mayank. I was …I was under the influence of black magic!’ Shubman cried out and tried to get close to him again.
Ishaan stood in front of him, hyperventilating. Anger coursing through his veins.
‘ Okay…okay let's say that whatever happened in the last few months were because of this….this Mayank and his black magic..what about before that?’ he questioned through gritted teeth.
‘ You were deceiving me even before that, Shubman Gill!’
Everyone stared at him in confusion.
‘ Baby…what?.’ he gasped.
Ishaan took out a bunch of photos from his jacket, the same photos he received last night in the envelope.
‘ You…you told me that you were at Virat's party on my birthday, but is that really where you were?’
Shubman gulped and gripped the sofa's armrest.
‘ No! You weren't at Virat's party. YOU WERE AT SARA’S PARTY’ Ishaan screamed and threw a couple of the photos at Shubman's chest.
Shubman stared in horror at the photos scattered at his feet. Photos of him and Saara together at a club.
‘ You came home drunk, you forgot my birthday, you…you pestered me to have sex with you even though I said no a million times. Is that what I was? Just a good fuck to you?’ Ishaan yelled, his voice heavy with anger and sadness.
‘ No baby…’ Shubman whimpered.
‘ No no..don't ..don't call me that. You..you fucking lied every single night you went out. You told me that you were going out with Abhishek or some other teammates, but you were just hanging around with her!’ he threw the rest of the pictures at him.
Simran and Ibrahim stared in disbelief at the photos. Shubman hugging her as he exited hotels, Shubman and her at several other parties. Shubman and her in his car leaving a premise of some place. Simran looked at Ibrahim who shrugged. He knew that he was meeting her, he didn't know that he lied to Ishaan about it.
‘ Why? Why did you do this to me, Shubman?’ Ishaan cried.
‘ Ishaan it's…it's not like that. ..I ..I had to go to meet her, she's. …She's Sachin’s daughter…I couldn't say no' he tried to explain.
‘ Why did you have to lie? Ek baar, bas ek baar if you had told me…that …that you were meeting her, I would have…I would have understood, Shubman.’ he cried and sat down on the sofa.
‘ Look, Ishaan…I'm sorry okay..I swear I will never hide anything from you again…I…’ Shubman sat at his feet and tried to talk to him.
‘ No Shubman…I …don't think I can ever…trust you’ he struggled to say.
Shubman felt his heart shatter into a million pieces.
‘ No no..Ishu, baby…I love you..I did what I did for my career…I had to be in that circle to be counted,...for the exposure, you know …you know how important these things are….’ Shubman tried to hold his hands but Ishaan pulled away.
‘ Ishaan…I love you ..I really do’ he cried out
‘ Really? If you really loved me then tell the world about it. Can you? Can you hold my hand in front of your father and admit that…admit that you love me?’ Ishaan asked, extending his hands towards Shubman.
Shubman felt drops of anger slowly mixing inside the sadness.
‘ It's..it's not that easy Ishaan' Shubman said getting up.
‘ Why? Why not Shubman?’ Ishaan gripped his arms and turned him around.
The droplets of anger fell faster and Shubman started to feel agitated.
‘ Because…. because right now I need to build my career,...and I can't have relationship rumors going around …’
Ishaan clenched his jaw as he tried to stand upright.
‘ Relationship rumors with me..? Because there are relationship rumors about you and Saara and you seem okay with that…’ Ishaan confronted him.
Shubman stood silently, his back towards Ishaan.
‘ Why? You don't have an answer to give? Shubman…I don't want to have a secret relationship with you. I want to be loved publicly, I want to be loved shamelessly, I want love…like how I loved you…why..why can't you give me that?’ Ishaan cried out.
‘ Ishaan, why can't you try to understand that my father has big dreams for me, and so do I..I want to be the best cricketer that India has ever seen. I don't have time for all this right now!’ Shubman turned around to face Ishaan.
‘ Then what the fuck am I doing with you?’ Ishaan screamed.
‘ You are with me because we love each other’
‘ No Shubman. I'm the only one who had love to give in this relationship. You just loved the way I love you. You loved how you can do whatever the hell you want and I would still be around. You loved only your career, your image, your pride, your arrogance’
Shubman let out a deep breath.
‘ So what? Have you seen me, Ishaan? I am the prince of cricket…this pride and this arrogance it's what I had earned. I cannot lose this over nothing’
Ishaan felt as though he got slapped.
Shubman winced as soon as the words left his tongue.
‘ That's…that's not what I mean Ishaan..I…’ he tried to hold Ishaan's hand.
‘ No…don't…don't come close to me.’ Ishaan felt a barbed wire wrap around his throat and heart as he looked at Shubman, the man he had once loved more than his life.
‘ Tum mere liye azaab ban chuke ho..stay away from me.’ Ishaan managed to say before he left the apartment.
Shubman stood still for a moment trying to comprehend everything before he ran to the door.
‘ ISHU!’
He bumped into his father as he entered the hallway, he saw a glimpse of Ishaan's back as the door closed.
‘ ISHAAN!’ He tried to run but his father held him back.
‘ Shubman Gill!’
‘ No no no…Dada…I love him, let me go..LET ME GO!’
Shubman screamed and pushed past his father who got a hold of his hand and pulled him back.
‘ Shubman don't you dare go outside, after him! Ibrahim hold him!’ his father struggled to hold him.
Ibrahim against his wishes tried to hold Shubman's arm trying to calm him down, but Shubman threw his hands at his face and accidentally cut Ibrahim's cheek.
Shubman stumbled back in horror and fell onto the floor. He stared at Ibrahim for a second and tried to run again. He was half crawling, half running, when Ibrahim held him back again.
‘ ISHAAN!’ he screamed as Ibrahim wrapped his arms around him trying to stop him from moving.
‘ Dad, why are you doing this?’ Simran cried out.
‘ No son of mine is going to be gay. He will not meet that boy again…’ their father said in anger.
‘ No! I am gay! I love Ishaan…let me go Ibrahim, I want to go to him’ Shubman screamed, trying to break free from his arms.
‘ Shubman Gill, you worked too hard to let all of this go over a boy! The world will not accept a gay cricketer, don't you get it ... .men like Jay Shah will ruin your life!’ his father tried to explain.
‘ But Dada…I love Ishaan..’ he cried out, gripping Ibrahim's arms.
Sound of his crying broke the silence of the house till everything went quiet after a few hours.
‘ Take him to the room and keep an eye on him’ he instructed Ibrahim.
Simran watched as Ibrahim carried Shubman to his room.
‘ Why dad? Is being gay that bad?’ she said in anger.
‘ No bacche. I'm just protecting him from this cruel world. It doesn't matter to me who he loves, but it matters to this society. They will eat him raw if they find out he's gay. Everything he worked for will go down the drain.
‘ I know he might hate me for the rest of my life and that's a burden I'm willing to carry, but I won't let him ruin his life, I won't let the dreams shatter around him’
Simran stared sadly at a father, who was just trying to protect his son. She didn't know what would happen next, but she knew that their father would be there to protect them.