The Prince And The Commoner (Shubman Gill)

~TEN~

Who else can't stop their tears? Well I don't know about you but I can't stop mine...Like for fucks sake Australia comes out of nowhere and ruins the finals!!!! I literally couldn't sleep and I can't stop crying...Like I love this team so much and now so many of them won't play the next WC and Rohit deserved the trophy, he's been playing without a care for his own milestone. Come onnnn. And I couldn't watch the match so I was just crying on my bed...woke up at 3 to check the score and cried again...so well...I'm guessing no one else could watch the end. I can't see them upset so I haven't even opened instagram!! I'm so depressed!!!! I'm sorry. Now go ahead and read...
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"Accha? Aur tum?" She tilted her head in confusion. "Are you proud of me?" She nodded with a smile. He smiled brighter when she looked away from his intense gaze.

"Tum yaha kyu aaye?" She didn't look back, just waited for him to reply.

"Woh- woh actually, I saw you here a few days ago, so chance le liya. Mujhe laga tum yehi hogi. Galat mat samajhna. I'm not trying to be a creep. Pehli baar jab mila, mujhe laga tum ab kabhi nhi milogi, fir do din baad Burger Planet pe dikh gyi. Aur aaj ka toh- pata hai tumhe." Akanksha stared at him weirdly and looked away once again.

"Aisa fir mat karna please. Mai comfortable nhi hu." She remembered the last time she had come to the river side, it was when she had felt horrible about everything in her life. Her incomplete ambitions. Everything.

"I'm sorry." He finally moved his eyes away from her, letting her breathe properly in the calmness of the river.

"Koi baat nhi, bas aagli baar kisi ko stalk karna hai toh unhe batana mat." She laughed at her own joke looking between him and the view. He didn't know how to take it, as a joke or as something serious.

"Are mazak tha, hass sakte ho." She laughed once again and so did Shubman. "Ek baat puchu?" He nodded, going back to looking at her.

"Was your journey difficult? Like your career as a cricketer?" He thought for a moment.

"Pehle, bohot easy tha, maine cricket khelna bohot pehle start kiya tha. Papa bolte the that I was a natural. Humesha support kiya hai unhone mujhe. City bhi shift ho gye mere liye. Mujhe team me jageh bhi asani se mil rhi thi. Haan maine mehnat bohot kiya, par kon nhi karta? Chances bhi bohot easily mil rhe the. Phir I had a dip in IPL and I didn't play well but when I was given the chance again, tab jake bana mera career. Meri journey dusro se bohot aasan tha par it wasn't a piece of cake." He explained, smiling at her. She nodded.

"Pata hai? Mujhe singing bohot pasand hai. Singer banna chahti thi mai, lekin kabhi chance hi nhi mila. Aur jab mila bhi toh, I couldn't take that opportunity due to personal reasons." She thought about the day she had everything taken from her. Her life changed completely, never to get better again...so she thought.

"Chia?" Shubman asked with sadness. She looked at her daughter in his arms.

"In a way." She sighed. "Your arms are probably sore. Mujhe do, mai usse stroller mai rakh deti hu." She wanted her daughter close to her and not with anyone else. She needed to feel that safe feeling she got when Chitra was in her arms.

"Are koi nhi, kuch nhi hai Chia-" He saw the look on her face like she was going to crumble any second yet she held on. He gave Chitra to Akanksha who held the child in her arms, extremely close to her body.

"Are you-" She avoided the question, asking one of her own in return.

"Tumhari sirf ek di hai na?" He nodded, taking the clue. She got up from the rocks moving towards the stroller. Every bad thing that could've happened crossed his mind but nothing could prepare him for the hell that was her life. 

(Trust me even I wasn't prepared for the hell I made her life...I planned on writing a non dramatic story and then while explaining the story to my friends I kept making it more and more dramatic and now it's just painful. I'm glad I'm not her.)

He could tell that she wanted nothing to do with that question so he talked about himself instead. Telling her about his own family, his hopes and dreams. She listened to everything he had to say and absorbed everything he said like a sponge.

He studied each one of her expressions with great intrigue. He felt himself slipping more and more. He had once been hurt horribly in a relationship and yet he found himself seeking it once again. With a woman of much intrigue. A woman of word. And many more things he didn't know yet, but he would find out. And he'd help her if she needed it, if she didn't he'd support her.

They spent more than an hour just strolling in the park, luckily there were warm blankets for Chitra to sleep comfortably in. Akanksha checked the time to see it was already 1 am and that whole time they had just been strolling around.

"Shubman, mujhe jana chaiye. Bohot late ho gya hai." She waved at him and walked towards the station-

"Akanksha? Can I drop you off? Bohot der hogyi hai...it's dangerous." She wanted to refuse but he was right, it was indeed very late. He surely wouldn't do anything bad even if he did...she knows her house better than him, she could find the knife quicker than him for sure. 

She nodded. "Thank you." He smiled following behind her. The whole train was empty but he never made her feel unsafe about being there with him. He sat in front of her rather than next to her giving her the distance that'd make her feel safe. Even during the walk to her house, he was close enough to her that he'd be there if she needed him but with enough distance that wouldn't make her feel suffocated. He dropped her in front of her house and walked immediately when he saw her walk in.

.

.

.

"Shubman!" He heard her call out to him. He halted in the darkness of the night before turning towards his sun.

She huffed and puffed standing in front of him. He waited patiently for her to say what she had to.

She passed him a small paper.

"Agli baar, bahane banane ki koi jarurat nhi hogi tumhe...And...Thank you." Shubman looked at her in confusion before hesitantly looking down at the piece of paper. It had 10 numbers on it and he finally understood that it was her phone number. He did a double take on it before letting out a loud gasp and jumping.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!" He pocketed the phone number. "Kya tum kal free ho?" She nodded her head softly.

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