•SHUBMAN GILL•

Ishan looks at me. He wants me to say something in his support. I open my mouth to speak, wanting to support him, but all I do is open and close it, unable to find the words. For the first time since Ishan arrived here, I see disappointment in his eyes. FOR ME. I should have spoken up for him, but I couldn't come up with anything.

Whatever they are suggesting seems like the only option that is left for us. Ishan is actively opposing the idea of fake dating, and my phone starts buzzing. It's Shreyas. "Oh, shit," I mutter under my breath and tap the green icon.

"Sorry, Shreyas, something urgent came up, so I won't be able to go with you guys," I say without letting him say hello. I totally forgot about our trip plan because of all this chaos.

"Haan pr ho kya gya?"

"I will explain everything but not now, okay bye"

"But-" I disconnect the call before he could ask anything, seriously I am not in a position to describe this scenario to anyone right now.

After 10 minutes, Ishan stops protesting against the idea and sit there with a defeated look. And now he is definitely pissed, pissed at ME.

"Okay so from now on Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan are in a relationship or let's say in a fake relationship which means In public eyes they are couples and you two should behave like that only"

"Huh?" Ishan ask raising his eyebrows.

"I am not asking for you two to kiss in public, just don't let your gaurd's down and keep in mind that you two are in a relationship especially when you are in any public place." Nia says while closing her laptop and getting up.

"Okay now I have to go somewhere." she collected her things and about to leave the room when darshan speaks "I'll drop you." I narrow my eyes at him. he never offered me this service.

Ishan stand up, I notice his clothes he is wearing a dark purple t-shirt and a cargo pant. His t-shirt says :

"THAT'S WHAT IT WAS. IT WAS WHAT THE F*CK."

Bruh, he literally chose to wear this t shirt here, he definitely has a collection of t shirts with some weird funny lines printer on them, last time it was- ah what it was? Nevermind.

---

It's been 3 day since Ishan and I came into a relationship well fake relationship. I was able to get his number, and with lot of courage I messaged him, but that was in vain:

Me:
Hello Ishan
It's me Shubman

Ishan:
We will talk later, Shubman.

It's been three days and he didn't bother to talk, first thing first I need to apologise to him, and also make him understand that whatever we are doing is for our own good and especially for ICT's image.

One good thing happened though, Virat bhaiya bought a farm house and he is throwing a party there, which means I'll get to meet Ishan there and have a conversation with him.

---

Ishan is sitting with Shreyas and Hardik bhai, talking to them without acknowledging my presence. The party is on full swing. I am with yuzi Bhai as he is telling me about the prank he pulled on team members.

After half an hour, when I look towards Ishan, Shreyas waves towards me, gesturing for me to go there. At first, I thought he wants me to join them, but that's not the case here.

When I reach where they are sitting, I notice that Ishan's head is resting on the table. "Shubman, can you bring him to his room?" Shreyas asks me. I look at Ishan and then again at Shreyas. He senses my confusion and continues, "Actually, Ishan accidentally had an alcoholic drink, thinking that it was non-alcoholic."

"And I guess he's never had any alcoholic drink before, as he seems pretty high after just one drink," Hardik Bhai chimes in.

Both Shreyas and Hardik Bhai look a little bit drunk, but they are still in their senses and can talk properly.

"Uhh okay" I say with a little bit of
skepticism.

When my hand reaches his arm, he looks up, his nose and cheeks are a dark shade of pink, and his eyes are droopy. He actually looks pretty high.

"Let's go to your room," I say, putting his arm over my shoulders, with one hand on his waist and the other holding his hand. He is able to walk with my support. We reach the part where our rooms are,his room is next to mine. As I am about to open the door, he speaks up, "My... brace.........let."

"your what?"

"My bracelet" he say pointing at a distance.

"I'll search for it later. Let me drop you to your room first."

"Nooooooooooo... I... want my brace....let," he slurs.

"Fine," I say, making him sit on a small table, and start searching for his bracelet. It takes me a total of 5 minutes to find it, but when I turn, Ishan is nowhere to be found.

The door of the room is locked from the outside, so he can't be inside.

"Ishan... where are you?" I shout. As I search for him, I notice a small back door that is slightly open.

I open it and look outside. Ishan is walking in the garden, his every footstep looks like he is on the verge of collapsing.

"Ishan, stop!" I shout and run towards him. He stops and looks in my direction, then starts walking again.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, huffing.

He doesn't say anything and just sits on the ground, tugging at my shirt to make me sit down too. His eyes are half open. He scans my facial features and starts poking my face with his index finger.

"What......a...shame....you... don't....have... pimples."

"Pimples" I ask confusedly.

"Yeah pimples....they appear when you smile"

"You mean dimples?"

"Yeah.... same....no.. difference."

"I do have dimples" I tell him

"I can't see them" he says looking at my cheeks.

"Yeah because I am not smiling"

"Then.....smile naa"

"Ehhh?"

"Please" he whines.

I have no other option so I fake smiles for him, he touches my dimple and smiles genuinely, "You look beautiful with them."

Then he touch his own cheek and his smile falters, "I don't have dimples...so sad" he say slowly more to himself than me.

"You know that dimples are a type of deformity?" He looks at me as if I have said something very offensive.

"Whatever" He says looking toward the sky

"We should go back" I offers and he just shake his head. "It's....better..... here"

A moment passed without any word he just keep admiring the beauty of night, he closes his eyes and open them again he do it 4-5 times as if he is struggling to keep them open. "You are sleepy, let's go back now please"

"You know what there is this boy....ummm what's his name?" He speaks ignoring my plea completely.

"Sabnam?....no....shubham....no... Ahhhh what it was.... Shivam? Nah...." I never heard this many variations of my name. He holds his head in frustration. "What's his naaaaaammmeee?"

"Are you talking about Shubman?"

"Yeah Shubman.....by the way who keeps their name Shubman?, such a long name" well boy you are talking about my name infront of me..but nevermind.

"What were you saying about Shubman?" I ask bringing him back on the topic.

"Yeah so... this boy sabnam.....he asked Mee to be his fake boyfriend" he is totally unaware of the fact that 'sabnam' is sitting right in front of him

"It's Shubman" I correct him again.

"Yeah yeah shubham........and I agreed to be his fake boyfriend....and ......then you know what happened?"

"What?" I ask knowing fully what actually happened after that.

~~~