Wo, Mein Aur Meri Sautan

our secret (part one)

It was quite sometime later Shubman's family and Virat came to join them. And still there was no sign of the Ishan like figure that went in the ICU.

Now the three had reached a silent agreement that it was all a hallucination.
The very next moment a person came out through the doors and started undoing the safety gear. After the last piece of covering was removed and discarded they all saw it, undeniably saw, Ishan Kishan.

He was standing there beside the trashcan, near the doors. Wiping his face and inhaling long deep breaths. He tilted his head looking towards the ceiling, eyes closed for a few minutes, maybe to collect himself or just processing everything that happened.

Team Shubman were stunned to silence with shock clear on their faces. Ishan took a step towards his left only to be met with seven very familiar faces. It took him a few seconds to understand why the stunned look. The silence stretched for a very long and uncomfortable minute.

"Hello, Ishan", Shahneel stepped.

"Hi di-, sorry Shahneel", Ishan struggled.

"You are here. Come on, we'll sit in the waiting room", Ishan didn't spare a look at anyone and took the chance to flee.

"What just happened here!?", Hardik saw his team staring in the direction Shahneel and Ishan had just disappeared.

"Mumbai Indians ki player hai na voh?", It was Shubman's mom.

"Yes Ishan Kishan. Yaha kya kar raha hai?", Shubman's dad was staring at Virat like he had all the answers.

From the still very shocked and surprised faces of his son's teammates dad understood, they didn't have a clue either.

Siraj without uttering a word followed the same path as they had. The flabbergasted bunch didn't notice him going behind them.

Shahneel was passing a cup of tea to Ishan when Siraj reached the entrance. She had one of his hands in her left hand, holding tight.

Siraj had his doubts when Shahneel easily recovered from her shock while they were all struggling to process what was happening. But he'll be honest he didn't know shit about what was happening.

'Was Shahneel and Ishan a thing? But what is he doing here? Now? Maybe called him for morale? Yeah that could be it. That has to be it'. He was happy with the reason and was about to walk back, not wanting to pry too much.

"Di, woh-", all Siraj could hear was Ishan sobbing.

But the 'di' didn't go to deaf ears, he heard it clear and distinct. Who calls their girlfriend 'di'. Also now that we are on the topic, why was he inside the ICU for so long. Definitely not going back now. 

"Ishu, take deep breaths please, you're going to make yourself sick"

" Di, nurse- nurse said he'll be alright and is doing good but di- why is he in the ICU"

" Ishu doctor said the same thing and they need to keep him under observation just to be safe. There's nothing to worry about"

" Why wasn't he responding to me then, he never does that. We could be fighting and he'll still answer when I call him", he did say a few more things after that but Siraj was having a hard time making out. But he did understand two things, Ishan and Shahneel weren't a 'thing' and Ishan and Shubman were definitely 'something'.

" Ishan, can I ask you something?"

Ishan nodded.

"Shubi was with you for the weekend and was to return tomorrow morning right?"

Shahneel didn't have to elaborate, Ishan knew what she was asking and why.

"Di, he took a cab back yesterday evening", he answered in a whisper.

Siraj was sure to go in shock, he couldn't believe his eyes obviously but his ear, absolutely not. What in the seven heavens was happening here. Shubman at Ishan's place for the weekend! But why? They didn't even meet each other's eyes on the field, always had a sarcastic remark whenever they had to interact and even went as far as refusing to shake hands after the match.

Ishan was beginning to answer the second question that lingered in the air, "Neel di we had an-", when Siraj made his presence known.

"Wait a damn second. I have a million questions for you both and at least a dozen need immediate answers"

The interruption made Shahneel choke on the tea she just sipped. She took a minute to recover and look at the two other souls present in the room. Ishan was pale as a sheet and was clutching her hand for dear life while Siraj looked like he has seen a ghost.

Before the awkward silence could stretch any longer Shahneel's big sister instincts kicked in. She knew she had to protect her brothers but she didn't know how much he had heard or how long he had been standing there.

" Miya eavesdropping is so not cool. We asked for privacy and moved here because we needed exactly that, Pri-va-cy".

Siraj hadn't said a word but did let his eyes move from Ishan's face to their intertwined hands and pause there for a little too long.

Shahneel followed his eyes and realised what he was staring at, Their hands. Okay I could work with that, her thoughts followed up with a lie.

"Miya, I'm sorry you had to find it out like this, but yes we are dating. He's my boyfriend". She cringed at her own words but knew this was the best defence she could come up with right now.

Ishan, who had been stoic till then flinched at that. He turned his head in a swift motion towards Shahneel, all she replied with was an even harder squeeze of the hand.

Shahneel was cooking up a narrative in her head when Siraj had enough of the BS and raised his hand, motioning her to stop whatever she was about to say.

"Neel, don't even try. I accept it, overhearing you guys wasn't my best behaviour but yes I have been standing there for some time and I know shubi and him-", Siraj gestured towards Ishan not looking at him. " have something going on".

Ishan knew there was no going back from here, they could maybe gaslight him, right? but does he really wanna do that? No, not after what went down yesterday afternoon. He did believe a part of the reason his Shub was on that hospital bed was him.

"Siraj, bhai?", He wasn't sure but went with the 'bhai' anyway. "Uh, I know you, you guys, we-", this was embarrassing and he wished either Neel or Siraj would say something. He inhaled all the air he could and continued,

" We are dating, we are seeing each other, we are in a relationship, name it whatever you want. But I'll tell you this, I love him and have loved him for a long time now ".

A/N: This was long over due. Started writing this last year 😁 but felt like it was getting nowhere. Tried writing another OS and ended up converting it into a book (for anyone interested in checking it out run to my profile) but my brain wouldn't let me move on from this draft so I'm publishing this. Will try uploading the other parts soon-ish 🙈.