"Just to keep you updated, sharing those things didn’t help me a bit!Shubman said entering the room to his therapist.

"Hello to you too, Mr. Shubman. And it didn’t because you haven’t shared the whole story yet?" the therapist said with a knowing smile.

"Umm... maybe?" Shubman responded sheepishly.

"Why don't you start from where we stopped yesterday? When did you meet Ishan next?"

"Well, after that tour, I got really busy with my IPL preparation. I had to practice twice as hard and manage the whole team. In between that tour and the first match, I didn’t talk with Ishan or hear from him. We won our first two consecutive matches. I was actually so busy I almost forgot about him. Then I saw him at the third match of our IPL, which we lost terribly. I was out at zero."

"How did you meet him? Did he come to the stadium?"

"No, fun fact is he met me at the hotel. I was in my room, sad and angry about my own performance, when I got a knock at my door. I thought it was hotel staff, so I said I didn’t need anything, but someone kept knocking. I angrily opened the door.

'Are you deaf? I just said... Oh my god! You! Hello,' I was too stunned to speak.

I was so emotional about the match that I stopped thinking and just hugged him.

'You're sad about the match, aren't you?' Ishan said, entering the room.

'I actually am. I should have performed better. Wait, how do you know? Did you watch the match?'

'I did. I was in the stands. I wanted to surprise you,' Ishan said, smiling.

'And how did you know my hotel room number?' I asked, amused.

'I have my ways, Mr. Gill. But I had no idea I got bumped with such a big celebrity. Damn!'

I smiled. My sadness and anger were all gone for a weird reason. The rest of the night, he stayed in my room. We talked about cricket. Apparently, he knows a lot about cricket. He was explaining to me what fielding position I did wrong, what should have been done to prevent getting out for a duck. I was surprised to see a non-cricketer having such vast knowledge about cricket.

After that, Ishan stayed for the whole IPL."

"So Ishan used to travel with your franchise for the matches?"

"No, actually, Ishan doesn’t like the limelight at all. So he didn't want to travel with me. He used to travel separately, but he watched my matches from such a position that I could easily find him. He would sometimes wink or give me a thumbs up. I don’t know why, but when I was in any confusion during the match, I would look at Ishan for solace, even though he isn't an expert. He would sometimes signal me to take DRS or predict which ball would be delivered in my batting, and surprisingly, most of the time he was right."

"Interesting. So you never asked Ishan where he got such deep knowledge about cricket?"

"I did. He said he really liked cricket from childhood, but his family moved abroad and he had to leave his dream of playing in the national team."

"I see. So were you two a couple during the IPL?"

"No, Ishan only came to talk to me at night when everyone left. Ishan made me promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone about him yet, otherwise, someone might leak an exaggerated theory to the media. We talked, watched movies, ate something, and in the morning before I woke up for practice, he was gone."

"Did he use to live near your hotel?"

"I don’t know. He never told me. He always shushed me, saying, 'Focus on IPL. I am not going away.'"

"Then how did love unfold?"

"Well, during those nights of talking and sharing, I realized I was falling for Ishan, and somehow I felt Ishan was falling too. And after winning the trophy in my first year as captain, I called him that night and proposed to him with the trophy instead of flowers. Haha," Shubman laughed.

"Why didn’t you invite him to the success party? I mean, you could always introduce him as a friend?"

"Tell that to that idiot. I assured him so many times, but he wouldn’t budge. Plus, he was really introverted. He didn’t like socializing at all."

"Okay, so after the proposal, what did he do?"

"At first, he was hesitant.

'Are you sure, Shubman? I mean, you're a big celebrity. You can get any model you want,' Ishan asked hesitantly.

'But I pulled off the moon. Look at yourself. A handsome, interesting, caring boy like you. Do you think it's every day I am blessed with a package like this?' I said with a wink.

Ishan then smiled shyly. 'Stop it. But I live in another country. How will this work?'

'Um, move in with me?'-I asked holding his hand.

'What? Mr. Gill, aren’t you way too fast? And what about my business?'

'Yeah, I don’t know that. What do you do for a living?'

'Just a small business. But that's okay. I can do it online. It's also not every day I get a proposal from a handsome hunk like Shubman Gill.'

That's how we started living together in my Mumbai house."

"So then how did the problem begin? Is it because you two decided to live together too fast?"

"No, Ishan was the most ideal person to live with. If you wanted him to give you space, he would give it to you. He would never argue over silly things or get mad at you. In fact, we can count on one hand the number of fights we had in three years of living together. Our problem began with Ishan's excessive introverted nature. Like, after a year and a half of secret dating, I shared with my close friends, family members, and teammates that I was in a living relationship. Naturally, they wanted to meet him. But Ishan was way too shy. He was also camera shy. He didn’t click a single picture with me in these three years. Even if I clicked his picture secretly, he somehow knew and deleted it later without me knowing."

"Just this? This was the reason?"

"Well, the reason sounded small, but the impact was getting bigger. Like, my sister wanted to bond with him, but he refused. My sister felt bad about it. I assured him that my sister was cool, but he wouldn't budge. So one day, on my birthday, my IPL family threw a party, and Dravid sir specially told me to take Ishan there and introduce him to them.

'So, what does my baby want for his birthday?' Ishan asked me at midnight.

'Promise you'll give it to me?'

'If it's in my range, I will bet my life to bring it, meri jaan.'

'So, Dravid sir, our coach, and Rohit bhai, Virat bhai, all are throwing a party today for my birthday.'

'Wow, that's great. Did you think I would get mad? You can celebrate with me after the party, pagal.'

'No, um... Ish, they want you to come. They specially mentioned you.'

Shubman, you know I don't like parties.'

'Just for an hour, please? It's about my reputation. They will think you are arrogant. Please, please? As my gift?'

'But, Shubman...'

'Please, baby?'

Sighed Ishan reluctantly agreed. 'Okay! But I have some work to do. You go first. I will join after an hour or so.'

'Done, baby,' I pulled him into a hug saying this.

The next day, we all waited for Ishan to come to cut the cake. One hour, two hours, three hours. Ishan wasn't there.

'Shubman,we have to go. Vamika's bedtime is already passed. It's okay, I will meet Ishan some other day,' Virat bhaiya and Anushka bhabhi said, patting me.

'No, bhaiya, five more minutes. Let's cut the cake. Ishan won't mind,' I said.

That's how I got one of my biggest humiliations from Ishan on my birthday."

"After I went home, Ishan kept chanting sorry as the first thing after opening the door.

'I am so, so sorry, Shubman. Shubman, just look at me once? Listen to me?' Ishan said, blocking my path.

'What? Listen to what, Ishan? That you were so insensitive that you didn’t think twice before ruining my birthday?' I shouted.

But Ishan was calm. But then, Ishan was always calm.

'I got a big deal for my company last moment, and the dealer wanted to have a meeting. I swear it was supposed to last an hour, but it went on for three hours. I had no idea it would take this much time. And if I didn’t do it, my deal was going to cancel. And this was really important to me.'

'Important than me, Ishan?'

'You can't be serious, Shubman! I left my family, hometown, everything for you. Do you know how hard it is to run a business completely online? But I never asked you to leave India because I knew mine was just hard, but yours is just impossible.'

'You could have at least called me, Ishan. Told me you were not coming.'

'Yes, it was my fault. I am sorry for that. Please, Shubman, don’t be mad at me?'

So that's how we had our first big fight."

"Wait, but didn't Ishan used to go and watch matches in these three years? Why didn't anyone from the IPL team see or know him?"

"Like I said, he likes to watch me play from the audience bar, not the VIP bar. But I could see him every time anyway."

"Then the second big fight?"

"When my family wanted to meet him. They were trying to meet him for years. One day, my mother got really sad thinking Ishan doesn't like them. So I requested Ishan to meet them. Finally, Ishan obliged, and I invited my family from Punjab to my house for some days. Then, when I went to fetch my family from the airport, coming back, I saw Ishan was nowhere to be seen. But we had just cleaned our house, prepared food together for them. I felt like I got the biggest invisible slap in my face."

"Then what happened? Where was actually Ishan?"

"Well, Ishan came back just a day after my parents' departure—

'Shubman.'

'I am sure the biggest deal of your life came again in just half an hour. And how dare I expect you to leave that for me, right?'

'No, Shubman...'

'What? The dealer wanted a face-to-face meeting within an hour?'

'Shubman, no, listen. My mother called just after you left, saying Dad is really sick, in ICU. So... so my head went blank, and I flew towards the airport. I tried to call you, but you didn’t receive.'

That made me a little calm.

'Why didn't you call me?'

'I wasn’t in the condition of...' Ishan broke down sobbing.

'Hey, it's okay. How is uncle now? Should I go and visit him?'

'No, he is okay now.'"

"And what was the last fight that triggered him leaving you?"- My therapist asked.

"Well, my best friend and sister were adamant they would meet Ishan. So one day, they surprised us by visiting unannounced. I opened the door and greeted them. Ishan heard that, and do you know what he did? He ran away from the back door, which was for emergency exits. I was so embarrassed in front of them."

"Well, it doesn’t sound like an introvert. It sounded more like some kind of sickness."

"I know. I tried to take him to therapy, but he would cry, saying I thought he was mad."

"When Ishan came back that day?"

"At night. My sister was so humiliated. My relationship was almost about to be broken with my family for Ishan. So I shouted a lot at him. He didn't answer once. In the morning when I woke up, he left, leaving me a note saying I deserve better."

"When Ishan came back that day?"

"At night. My sister was so humiliated. My relationship was almost about to be broken with my family for Ishan. So I shouted a lot at him. He didn't answer once. In the morning when I woke up, he left, leaving me a note saying I deserve better."

"Um... can I see the note?"

"I don’t have it. I lost it, actually."

"You lost the last memory of your boyfriend? In two months? That too, such a crucial one?"

"Um..."

"So, did you call his family, friends, office, anyone?"

"No, he never introduced me to them, saying they are conservative, won’t be happy. And he took every possible information of him."

"Okay, Mr. Shubman. I will tell you when to come next, okay? For now, focus on cricket, socializing, don't stay lonely. That would be my advice."

"Thanks."