•ISHAN KISHAN•

We are both sitting next to each other, having our dinner at a lavish restaurant. The reason? It's our first anniversary. It has been an eventful day.

I receive a custom-made bracelet from him, which has our picture hidden in it.

In the evening, we go to the beach and watch the sunset together. We didn't do anything extraordinary for the sake of it, everything feels special in itself when he is with me. I also receive a large bouquet of flowers first thing in the morning, with a cheesy note written on it.

We might have flown somewhere, but we literally have a series in India that starts in the next two days.

He takes a bite from the dessert or from my dessert, because he always has this habit of saying, "Oh, I don't feel like having anything sweet," and then proceeds to dig into my treat. Not that I'm complaining.

After gobbling down three spoonfuls of the pudding, he looks at me and says, "We should adopt."

I nod at him. "Yeah, we should adopt a dog."

"No, we should adopt a cat," he protests in a very non-protesting way.

"No, dog," I say again.

"No, cat," he counters again.

"Dog."

"Cat."

"Dog."

"Cat."

"Do----" The word dies in my mouth when, without any warning, he cups my face with one hand and presses our lips together, kissing me not so tenderly and making me forget everything for the moment and I reciprocate.

He doesn't care where we are, what situation we're in, or if people are watching us or not. If he wants to kiss, he'll kiss - not that I'm complaining(2)

And when the kiss breaks and I look into his eyes, all I say is, "Yes, cat, of course."
(One kiss is all it takes.)

So it's been decided that we are going to adopt a cat.

_____

We are a few steps away from the door of our apartment, but he has no patience as his lips are already on mine, his hand encircling my waist. My steps are moving backward while his are moving forward. My back hits the door, and his lips move from my lips to my neck as he starts placing open-mouthed kisses.

He enters the security code with one hand without even looking, while his other hand still holds me firmly. He opens the door, and we both enter without stopping our makeout session.

The lights in the living room are off, but I vividly remember that when we left earlier this evening, we left them on. Before I can think about it any further, the lights turn on accompanied by a loud chorus of voices:

"HAPPY MARRIAGE ANNIVERSARY."

We both get a bit startled and untangle ourselves. When I take in the scene, the sofas are moved to the corners, a large table stands in the middle with two cakes on it, there is some decoration on the wall behind, and balloons are lying on the floor. On either side stand our teammates - our second family: Sky, Yuzi, Yashu, Kuldeep, Shreyas, Miyaan, and Rinku, giving us their best toothy smiles.

Shubman and I exchange embarrassing glance, our faces flushed and hair a little messy. We smile at them genuinely for their efforts and pretend as if we weren't making out a minute ago, which they might have seen a glimpse of but acted like they didn't. Rinku and Yashu pop the confetti cannon and, being the overexcited kids that they are, shout the wishes again at the top of their lungs.

They hug us one by one, wishing us individually, and then haul us towards the table to cut the cake. We thank them, now completely in the mood, and cut the cakes, one is a three-layered vanilla cake, and the other is chocolate.

I look towards the dining table, which is set with lots of food. Shrey follows the direction of my gaze and, without hesitation, says, "Oh, we know you two had your special first anniversary dinner, so this is for us. We are going to eat the food while you eat each oth----......aaahhh," his sentence got cut short as he is pinched by Kuldeep in the waist. We all look towards Yashu to see if he heard anything or not, and to our relief, he is busy devouring the cake. (He is just a baby, so he shouldn't hear anything dirty)

They have brought gifts for us as well:

Surya Bhai: a pair of matching beach shirts

Shrey: concert tickets

Miyaan: a set of couple watches

Kuldeep: a painting of our wedding day

Yuzi: a set of perfume.

(Rinku and yahsu also gifted them something but I ran out of ideas)

After we are done opening the presents, they set up the projector, which starts showing a video made by them that includes wishes of other teammates and some of our very special moments from the very start. It is so sweet of them. We both smile at each picture or clip, our hearts filled with gratitude and contentment. They made our special day even more special. We once again thank them for going the extra mile for us.

______

After two weeks, we finally get the chance to visit an adoption center, but what happens there is quite unexpected. When Shubman Gill is your husband, nothing is ever really unexpected.

We are greeted by their meows. There are cats of different breeds, sizes, and colors. He goes to a white cat, saying, "Aww, you are so cute." After playing with her for a few minutes, he moves on.

We move from one cage to another, and he spends a good amount of time touring the center, taking his sweet time playing with the cats and making silly faces at them.

He stops at a white Turkish Angora and says, "Look, it's so fluffy!" Then he moves to an orange tabby, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, so cute." He pats the cat and then moves to a black Bombay cat, saying, "Look at the eyes, so innocent."

He is so enthusiastic with every cat. After analyzing everything, he turns to me and says, "I have decided on the cats."

"The cats?" I echo in confusion.

"Yeah, we are going to adopt eight cats."

Oh, he must be joking, but then he starts listing them to me one by one. "Are you seriously saying that you want to adopt eight cats?"

"Yes," he says, excitedly.

"You must be kidding, right?" I ask, though his tone suggests otherwise.

"No, I really want to adopt all of them but will settle for just eight."

Well, such behavior was expected from him, but I didn't think he would end up selecting eight cats.

He is Gazing at the cats with heart eyes, "Ah, Shubi," I begin, he looks at me "we can't adopt this many cats."

His expression dims a bit. "Why not?"

I can't believe I have to give him reasons why we can't adopt more than one cat, but I'll do that. After all, he is my husband, my cute, silly husband.

"See, we have to travel for cricket tours and other stuff, right? So if we have one cat, it'll be easier to manage. We can give the cat to one of our friends or family for the time we are not here, but we can't do that with eight cats. No one will agree to take care of eight cats," I reason.

He gets my point, and his demeanor changes from happy and excited to sulky.

He puts forth some counterpoints, but he knows they are in vain.

So, in conclusion, we went to adopt a cat, but Shubman, being Shubman, got so overwhelmed that he wanted to adopt every single one of them.

In the end, we go home without adopting any.

From the day we return home without adopting any cat, he is in a not-so-good mood. I promise him that we'll soon get the cat, but he, being himself, shows his reluctance.

He is in the kitchen making coffee when I slip in and hug him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder. He stops for a second and then continues his work. I tighten my hold and ask softly, "Are you upset with me?"

"No," he replies plainly.

"But you are acting like you're upset with me." He places the mug on the counter and turns around, then holds me by the waist and smiles genuinely, the kind of smile that always melts my heart. "Even if I was upset, your hug makes me forget it," he says playfully.

"Oh really?" I tease, pretending I'm going to kiss him. When he leans in, I pull back because his hold isn't firm. I wriggle away, grabbing the coffee he made for himself, and dart off, giggling.

"Nooo!" he whines. "That's my coffee!"

"What's yours is mine eventually," I tease, taking a sip.

_______

It's evening now, and I approach him holding a cardboard box. "What is this?" he asks.

"Close your eyes." He looks confused but closes them anyway, and I place the box in front of him.

When he opens his eyes, he practically melts at the sight. "Awww," he coos, looking at the tiny gray kitten in the box.

He gently holds the cat in his hands; the kitten is smaller than his palm. With utmost gentleness, he pets her head with one finger. "You are so cute!" he says in a babyish voice and start making silly kissing noises, cradling her protectively against his chest. "And so small."

"Where did you find her?" he asks, looking at me.

The watchman found her two days ago; she was abandoned by her mother, and he was taking care of her. So I thought adopting a stray kitten would be better.

He brings the kitten to eye level and says to her, "Baby, I am going to spoil you."

I raise my eyebrows. "Baby?"

With a teasing look, he asks, "Why? Are you jealous?"

I roll my eyes and sit beside him. "How can I get jealous of this cute little thing?" I say, caressing her head.

He throws an arm around me and says, "You both are my babies now." He then places the kitten in my lap, angles his phone, and takes a selfie and uploads it on Instagram.

He captions it: FAMILY ❤️

~~~

Updated the first epilogue when India qualified for the semi final and now it's been 14 day since they won the trophy, still high on the WIN.

____

Shubman won his the first bilateral series as Indian captain. So happy for him.

____

Before the announcement of Ind vs Zimbabwe squad I was really hoping they would select Ishan but now it seems like, they'll make sure he plays some domestic tournament to prove their point.

Waiting to see him play for india, and also waiting to see Ishman together, it's been really long :(