7 days

September 22 ( Part Two)

POV: Shubman Gill

‘ Shubhi….baby…wake up..oh my god. .’

‘ IBRAHIM!’

‘ No…No …No ….do something!’

‘ Simran, calm down…let Ibrahim check..’

‘ Oh my god ..please help him…please’

Shubman let out a weak groan and opened his eyes slightly.

‘ He's…he's waking up…. Alhamdulillah’

‘ OH MY BABY!’ Simran embraced Shubman into a tight hug.

Shubman's entire body ached, and burned at the same time. It hurt him to even blink.

‘ Was….was Ishu here?’ he muttered into Simran's ears.

Simran pulled back from the hug and looked at him sadly. The tears streaming down her face gave Shubman the answer. He closed his eyes tightly, as though in intolerable pain and tried to stop himself from crying.

‘ It's okay baby….it's going to be okay’ he heard Simran whisper in his ears before he passed out again.

‘ Ibrahim bhai, I'm…I'm concerned about what it revealed’

Mahi, Abrar and Ibrahim sat in the courtyard after everything inside was taken care of.

Ibrahim nodded and let out a sigh. It was bothering him as well.

‘ What it said…about the other half…what does it mean?’ Mahi asked.

‘ Well, black magic is done in two halves. One half will be with the victim, without their knowledge, the other half is supposed to be hidden. You have to destroy two halves to completely get rid of it’ Abrar explained.

‘ So..this isn't over yet? Shubhi isn't safe?’ Mahi asked, surprised.

Abrar rubbed the back of his neck and let out a slight groan.

‘ Uh…these beings, they lie and manipulate…so I'm not entirely sure if what it said was true or not’

‘ How do we find out?’

‘ Only one way ... .we have to ask the man who did this. …We have to ask Mayank’ Abrar sighed.

Mahi looked at Ibrahim who sat in the chair with his head tilted back, eyes closed as though in a deep thought.

‘ I'm going to make that man regret the day he laid eyes on Shubman’ Ibrahim said through gritted teeth.

The three of them say in silence for a while, all of them lost in different thoughts.

‘ I uh ….I need to go home…’ Mahi said getting up.

‘ Thank you so much for all the help Mahi. I …I couldn't have done this without you.’ Ibrahim said, hugging him.

‘ Save that for later. We still have a long way to go, I'm seeing this till the end, ' Mahi said and patted him on the back.

‘ Why are you going out of your way to help him?’ Abrar asked Ibrahim a few moments after Mahi had left.

Ibrahim looked at him confused.

‘ Shubman. He's gay isn't he? It's going against everything you believe in…and yet.’

Ibrahim shook his head and laughed.

‘ Abrar, he's…he's a good boy. How he loves, or who he loves, that isn't a concern of mine. When I became his bodyguard, I signed a contract to protect him. I'm honoring that…’ he said.

Abrar took a good look at him. Ibrahim was a lean but well built man, who easily towered over most people. He has sharp features, with jet black hair and piercing light green eyes.

‘ Is that all?’ he asked hesitantly.

Ibrahim looked down at his hands and nodded.

‘ That's all. A soldier's honor’ he said quietly.

‘ Ibrahim…’ Simran's quiet voice interrupted their conversation.

‘ Shubhi, wants to talk to you’ she said softly.

‘ Yes sir?’ Ibrahim asked, entering the room with Abrar.

‘ I…I want to go back to my apartment’

Shubman was sitting up in bed, leaning onto Simran

‘ Why don't you recover first..’ Ibrahim tried to say.

‘ No…I want to go back…I want to go back to where his memories are. I ….I want to go back to where I can see the things he left behind…’ Shubman cried.

Ibrahim nodded and took out his phone to make arrangements.

‘ I will get the house cleansed…you can shift him after that’ Abrar said to Ibrahim.

Abrar recited over Shubman for an hour before he left for the night. After he had left, Shubman's mom fed him a few morsels of food before he slept in her arms, with his father beside him.

‘ Aren't you going to sleep?’

Simran turned around and saw Ibrahim standing near the balcony door.

‘ I feel restless.’ She was quiet.

‘ He will recover, In Sha Allah’

Simran shook her head and sniffled.

‘ I…I heard what you guys discussed….it's..it's not over yet isn't it?’ she asked.

Ibrahim bit his lower lip. He didn't want her to worry about all of this.

‘ Simran…’ he said softly and went near her.

‘ Tell me.. please’

Her beautiful doe eyes sent shivers down Ibrahim's spine. He still remembers the first time he had seen her. How she had playfully narrowed her eyes at her after threatening to hurt him, if he didn't protect Shubman. He knew he shouldn't have glanced at her for a second time, but he did anyway, and ever since then, he's been a captive of her gaze.

She covered her face and started to sob.

‘ Please don't cry…we will figure it out’ he softly whispered to her, slightly lowering his head.

He awkwardly patted her head as she continued to sob,

‘What…are you doing?’ she wailed out loud.

‘ I…don't know what to do?’ he panicked and tried to back away.

‘ Hug me???!!!’ she yelled at him.

‘ Oh …’

He slowly put his arms around her and continued to pat her head, not knowing what else to do.

She shook her head and laughed a little and hugged him tighter, melting into his arms, breathing in his scent. Simran wanted to spend the rest of her life, listening to his heart beat.

‘ Aren't you worried about your ablution?’ she asked.

‘ What ….’ he asked, confused.

She looked up at him again and his heart stopped. 

‘ Ek or baar dhekh kar azaad kar de muhje, mein aaj bhi Teri pehli Nazar ke qaid mein hoon’

‘ I….I can do it again ..not a problem’ he felt out of breath.

Simran laughed and buried her face on his chest again, gripping his shirt tightly.

It wasn't the contract he was honoring this time, it was her eyes.