•SHUBMAN GILL•

"Today you dedicated your century to me."

"Did I?"

"Yes, you did."

"I can't recall anything."

"Shut up."

"Make me?"

And I did shut him up by putting my hand over his mouth. (Kiss Krna hota hain but you are dumb so It's okay😔)

As we both make our way toward the rooms, I turn towards him and say, "You know what? Darshan hired a bodyguard for me."

He doesn't look amused at all. "Yeah, I asked him to do so."

"What?"

"Yup."

"But I don't need one. The security provided to the team is enough. I don't want to parade around with a bodyguard."

He put a hand on my shoulder and, with a dramatic tone, he speaks, "But what if someone kidnaps my boyfriend again?"

Okay, wait a minute. He just called me boyfriend. No, no, he just called me 'MY BOYFRIEND'. Should I just squeal out of happiness?

It's not like he's calling me "boyfriend" for the first time, but this time I am not the 'fake boyfriend' anymore. So lemme go just jskskkskskskskksks.

Ishan snaps his fingers in front of me. "What happened? Where did you get lost?"

I cleared my throat and shake my head because I gotta behave in front of my B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D. So, back to the topic. "You know he is weird. Like, he screamed when I screamed. And when I asked why he is wearing sunglasses at night, he literally replied with 'for the vibes'. Can you--"

A voice cut me off from behind. "Sir, I can very well hear you." It's him, the bodyguard.

I wasn't expecting him to be tailing us, and it catches me off guard, but I recover quickly. "So what? I didn't say anything wrong."

He gives me an uninterested look and takes off his sunglasses. Meanwhile, someone calls Ishan, so he leaves, and I completely turn toward the him and say, "I don't need a bodyguard, so you can go."

He furrows his eyebrows. "What? I mean, first you hire me and now you're saying you don't need me? This ain't fair."

"See, I didn't hire you. My manager did that without my permission, so it's not my fault," I counter.

His expression shifts from frowning to upset, and then he starts looking at someone. When I follow his gaze, I see the hotel manager standing there, talking with someone.

When I look back at him, he's giving literal heart eyes to the hotel manager.

"Uh, why are you looking at him like that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"I, uh—umm," he stammers, and I wait for him to form a coherent sentence.

He scratches the back of his neck and, with a shy smile, replies, "Actually, I have a crush on him." (Guess the bodyguard's name now)

"Like, on the hotel manager? You know him?" I ask, surprised, because I'm good friends with the hotel manager, Dhruv.

He nods, and I can't help but ask, "What's your name?"

"Dev," he replies.

"Dev," I say, nodding. "I think I've heard your name from him a few times."

A faint blush creeps onto his cheeks as he looks down, smiling and touching his hair.

When he starts looking at Dhruv like a lovesick puppy again, I realize that this is how I actually look when I look at Ishan: pathetically in love.

I smile at him and pat his shoulder. "Nice choice, huh?"

After a while, we are summon to the hotel lobby. Just as we are heading there, something stops me dead in my tracks. I grab Ishan's shirt and pull him to a halt. "Look there," I whisper, pointing dramatically.

"Isn't that Dhruv and your bodyguard?" Ishan ask, squinting.

"Yeah, and he told me he has a crush on Dhruv... but now he's harassing Dhruv by kissing him!"

"What?" Ishan's eyes widens.

"Oh no, we should save our friend Dhruv!" I declare, taking a heroic step forward only to be stopped by Ishan's firm grip on my arm.

"Oi, savior, take a closer look. Does it really look like he's harassing Dhruv?"

I squint, scrutinizing the scene. "Uh, no, it doesn't look like harassment."

Ishan giggles. "You were about to ruin their moment."

Dev and Dhruv are hugging now, and Dev looks a bit too ecstatic.

"But Dhruv was just Dev's crush a few minutes ago," I say, still not fully convinced.

"Shubman, people do confess their feelings, you know. But you'd never understand that because instead of confessing your feelings to the person you like," he pointed a finger at himself, "you just get jealous and pine over them," he finishes with a grin.

"I don't get jealous," I defend myself, but he knows better.

"Oh really, Shubman Gill? Then what about Mayank, huh? And what about that tour guide in Jaipur?" he ask, raising his eyebrows in that infuriatingly funny way.

"Wait, you still remember that tour guide?" Is that jealousy dripping in my tone? Yes, it is.

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about." He then grab my arm, dragging me along while I continue to rationalize how I am definitely not the jealous type, even though neither of us believes it.

________

"What do you mean I can't meet him, Darshan?" I ask, my tone edging toward hysteria.

"You heard me the first time," he replies plainly.

"But we're in the same city! What's the problem?" I reason.

It has been a whole month since the IPL started, and I haven't seen Ishan in person since the GT vs. MI match. Sure, we video-called each other an embarrassingly large number of times, but it isn't the same. Both our teams are currently in Delhi, but MI is leaving tomorrow as they have already played their match against DC. I have to make this happen.

I am currently on the phone convincing Darshan to do something and let me meet Ishan, but he isn't budging at all.

Two weeks ago, both teams were in Bangalore, and I tried to sneak out of the hotel to meet Ishan at the airport as their team was leaving. Unfortunately, my luck ran out faster than Usain Bolt, because Darshan caught me. He gave me a lecture so long and dry on how unprofessional I was being.

This is so frustrating.

Before I can persuade Darshan any further, he ends the call. BITCH.

Soon after, the team boards the bus to the ground for today's practice. The day is a blur of me concocting elaborate plans to meet Ishan, none of which seem solid.

At night, when we arrive at the hotel, the first thing I do after reaching my room is call Ishan. He picks up on the first ring.

"Hello," he greets me.

"You didn't miss me at all," I say, feigning hurt.

"We only video-called this morning," he replies.

My voice turns high-pitched and complaining. "I asked Darshan to let me meet you, but he straight up denied."

"Oh really?" he asks, amused.

"Yes, he is just being a bitch."

"Uh huh..." he trails off, not saying much.

"Wait, why am I hearing my own voice?" I ask, confused.

"Because--" he begins to say something, but before he can finish, I hear a knock on my door. Holding the phone near my ear, I open the door with one hand.

Darshan and Ishan stand there. Ishan is holding his phone, which is on speaker, that explains why I heard my own voice. Before I can celebrate seeing Ishan after a whole month, I catch Darshan’s glare. Oh, right. I’d just called him a bitch. And he'd heard it.

Oops, too bad.

Ishan looks between me and Darshan, enjoying my situation a bit too much.

I flash my signature dimpled smile at Darshan. "Hehe," I take hold of Ishan's hand. "You did listen to me, Darshan, hehe."

Darshan’s expression remains unchanged, as if he is contemplating the most painful way to murder me. I tighten my grip on Ishan's hand and pull him inside.

"Thank you, Darshan, for bringing him here," I say, smiling again. Then, for reasons beyond my understanding, I reach up and pinch Darshan's cheeks. His expression softens, just a bit. "You’re so cute. You act like you don't care, but you do. That's why you brought him here. And," I add, looking back at Ishan, then Darshan, "You’re not a bitch. Hehe." Slowly, I close the door.

Ishan chuckles, he begin to say something, but I attack him with a bone-crushing hug, which he immediately returns. I have missed him so much. I pull back to look at him. He is so cute, I could literally eat him.

"I wish we were on the same IPL team. Then we wouldn't have to stay away from each other for so long," I say, nuzzling my nose against his. He hums in response, and I gently brush the hair from his forehead, planting a soft kiss there before hugging him again. Sometimes, I still can't believe he's my very real boyfriend.

________

My sleep is interrupted by a knock on the door. Ishan slept here with me because I insisted, and now someone is knocking again.

"Shub," comes the voice from outside. Oh no, it's Hardik bhaiya, the GT captain.

"Ishan," I shake him, "Ishan, wake up, please." He opens his sleepy eyes, murmuring "hmmm," before closing them again. "Please, baby, wake up! Hardik bhaiya is knocking on the door, you've gotta hide!" He jerks awake at my words.

Hardik bhaiya knocks again.

Ishan and I scramble out of bed, frantically searching for a hiding place.

"Here, stand here," I say, gesturing beside the door. "He won't be able to see you." Ishan nods and complies.

I open the door, and without saying anything, Hardik bhaiya barges into the room, striding toward the bathroom and yanking the door open to look inside. "Did you forget something, bhaiya?" I ask, trying to distract him. If he turns around, he's definitely going to spot Ishan, so I gesture for Ishan to get under the bed. Though the space beneath it is small, Ishan somehow manages to squeeze in.

Hardik bhaiya starts looking around the room, checking behind the couch. I fidget with my fingers, praying silently, "Please, God, save us today."

He stops suddenly. "Come out, Ishan. I can see your toe." I facepalm myself.

Ishan crawls out from under the bed, looking thoroughly embarrassed, while Hardik bhaiya stands there with his hands on his hips.

"How did you know he was here?" I ask.

"Rohit bhai called, saying Ishan wasn't picking up his calls and wasn't at their hotel, so he must be with Shubman."

Ishan tries to hide his face with one hand, embarrassed beyond belief.

"Ishu baby," Hardik bhaiya says, clearly enjoying our situation, "you better go back to your hotel." Then he turns to me, "And you, do you remember that we have a match today? Come have breakfast and then we are leaving for practice." I nod vigorously.

See, we are that obvious. If you can't find one of us, you know he's with the other. When we finally told everyone that our fake relationship had very much turned into a real one, they didn't even have the decency to act surprised. Rohit and Virat bhaiya acted as if I was announcing the most mundane thing. I remember saying, "Please, be a little shocked at this revelation." Shreyas had remarked, "Why should we? As if you two acted subtle at all." And how could Rishabh not chime in? "You looked quite cringe," he said. His statement was quickly countered by Yuzi bhaiya, "Hey, they looked cute. You're just jealous." The conclusion? They all already knew. Ishan and I believed we were breaking some big news, but it turned out to be the worst-kept secret ever.

When Ishan is ready to leave, I pull him closer and whisper, "Give me my goodbye kiss." We kiss, savoring the taste of each other's lips, the kiss conveying our silent "I love yous" and "I'm going to miss yous."

When the kiss breaks, I hug him tightly, not wanting to let go.

~~~

Not me sneaking in my side ship here (dev-dhruv), have you seen them? They look so freakin cute together and - well I'll rant about them some other time.
also one more chapter to go🤺

My most favourite moment from the IND vs Pak match. Ah- this picture makes me so happy 💙

Also, our Boom Boom grabbed the Player of the Match award once again.

And let's not forget Rishab's performance, which gave us a mini heart attack after every ball.😭

My harrapan civilization!