My Lover's The Sunlight...

গুরুচন্ডালী

Seeing Shubman and Ishan dance together on the dance floor, Sky signaled Hardik to change the song to a slower one, but out of nowhere a bengali song came up on his spotify. Though most could not understand the lyrics, the heart-wrenching voice was painful. Before the song could be changed, they noticed the stirrings in the couple. The dance floor emptied to give them a huge berth, for they had never seen Ishan dancing with a soulful grace, pairing with Shubman. The pain shining in their eyes pierced every single heart present in the room. The cricketers looked on with awe, with open mouths and captured the golden moments on camera. As the song reached its crescendo, Shubman and Ishan were just swaying their bodies in sync with the music. They could see their bodies shaking with sobs as each hid his face in the other's shoulder as the voice died down. The Pandya brothers, Brevis, Verma, Pant, Yadav and Rahul ushered everyone out of the backyard in absolute silence. They could not have spoken, even if they had wanted. Their tongues had been captured by cats as they felt as if they had seen some dance performance on India's Best Dancer. No one knew an unchoreographed, unplanned, drunk dance could be so heart-touching, so emotional. Everyone prayed that these little souls could get the love they deserved so much. 

When Shubi and Ishu finally came to their senses, the backyard had been emptied. There was absolute silence, except for the chirping crickets. A mild breeze was blowing through the trees and a lock of hair fell in Ishan's eyes caressed by nature. Shubman tucked it back from the gelled look it had slipped from. "Come with me", Ishan whispered as he pulled Shubman into a secret alcove in the Junior Pandya's yard. He knew this farmhouse like it was his own house, he was practically the Third Pandya brother! There were fairy lights hung from the trees there. A pristine white swing hung from the sturdy support that was painted like a tree. From there, they had a clear view of moon and its silver reflection on the lake by the farmhouse. The elder pushed Shubman on the swing, before seating himself beside him. He buried his face once again in the familiar shoulder as the floodgates opened once more. Ishan could not fathom if he even wanted to take this drastic step. He had thought that he had hid the truth well, but seeing Shubman once again had opened the Pandora's box in his heart, letting the feelings he had tried to hide for long, escape. What if - what if Shubman would not accept him and Aleya? But he had seen the bond growing between the two, and maybe they would have to take a break, because the IPL was starting soon. He vividly remembered the day when Aleya came back from her school, tear tracks on her fluffy little cheeks. She had cried, cried so much, muffling her sobs in one of Shubman's hoodies he had stolen five years ago as the children from her class had taunted her for having only a single parent. 

Ishan knew that he loved her enough for two, but she was only a little child who had demanded for another parent. He could do anything for her, even if it meant tearing his heart and giving it to the one person who had coveted it. Finally as he focused on the present, he noticed that the moon had hidden behind the clouds, darkening the surroundings even more. He could hear Shubman still sniffling from he had buried his nose in his fluffy hair. "Shu-Shubi?" Shubman's ears perked up at the nickname. "Bol?" Ishan pulled away a little and took opener's big hands in his considerably smaller ones. With begging eyes he looked up to meet up the ebony ones of the taller, "I live upon the rack, Shub." "The rack you say, then confess and live." The ritual of Shakespearean english was their own little thing. "Confess and love had been the very heart of my confession." "Main samjha nahi!" "You remember kissing me on 15th August, 2023?" "Tujhse judi koi baat kabhi bhul sakta hun main?" Ishan chuckled bitterly at the absurd sentence. "Tune ailaan kiya tha ki humare feelings ko bhi free hone ka haq hai?" "Yaad hai, par tu yeh sab abhi kyu bata raha hai?" "Because you forgot the night we spent together before leaving for the Asia Cup." "No, mujhe yaad hai! Harry bhai ki party main gaye the sab." "Party main kya hua woh bhul gaya?" "We were shit-faced drunk and due to dancing wildly and trying new kinds of yoga poses, tere kamar main aisa dard hua tha ki do-teen din thik se chal bhi nahi paya tha..." "Woh jhuth tha." Ishan lowered his face once more.