7 days

October 8

October 7

POV: Ishaan Kishan

‘ Shreyas! Come down for dinner.!’ Ishaan called out from the bottom of the stairs.

Ishaan was still back home with his family, away from everything that reminded him of Shubman. He knew that the hiatus from work and social media would hurt his career, even then he couldn't bring himself to go back to the roads, to the places that screamed Shubman's name at him.

‘ Yaar Shreyas!’ Ishaan called out in anger and stomped his way to the terrace.

‘ Bhai Sahab, do you come here every weekend just to get on my nerves?! Don't you have work to do? Whenever you come, you just….’

Ishaan stopped in his tracks. Shreyas stood on the terrace wall, facing towards the road, head lowered, covering his face.

‘ OYE!’

Ishaan ran towards him, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off the wall. Shreyas collided against him as they fell on the stone floor.

‘Are you fucking crazy?!’ Ishaan screamed.

Shreyas mumbled a sorry and tried to get up.

‘ Shrey…’ Ishaan stopped him.

Ishaan took a good look at him, his face was stained with tears. Shreyas sniffled and wiped his nose and tried to get up again.

‘ What's going on?’ Ishaan asked again, grabbing his arms.

‘ Nothing ..’ Shreyas said, looking away.

‘ Dhekh nakre mat dikhayo…what's wrong?’

Shreyas covered his face and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He didn't want to cry again. Ishaan tugged on his arms again.

‘ Tilak…Tilak called me’ Shreyas's voice trembled.

Ishaan felt a pulsating anger at Tilak's name. He clenched his jaw and looked away. He could still smell Tilak's perfume on Shubman's skin. He could still feel Tilak's bones collide against his knuckles, the warm blood staining Ishaan's skin.

‘ For…for what?’ he finally managed to ask.

‘ Nothing, it doesn't matter …’ Shreyas got up and brushed the dust from his jeans.

‘ Tell me’

‘ He…he was trying to explain what happened…I ..I don't know, I shouldn't have …I don't know why I picked up the call’ he mumbled.

‘ what…what happened?’ Ishaan forced himself to ask.

Shreyas looked away annoyed. The air felt humid on his tan skin. Shreyas watched as a moth collided with a light bulb.

‘ Well?’ Ishaan's breath was stuck in his throat.

‘ Why do you want to know? What's the point in knowing now?’ Shreyas questioned him.

‘ Just….tell me!’ Ishaan yelled in frustration.

‘ He said that it was Shubman who picked him up, he made the first move. He made ..he made Tilak sign something…he said that….he said that no one had to know, and that he was just experimenting…’

Every word was like a hook, which latched itself onto Ishaan's heart and tore it to pieces. Ishaan felt a wave of humiliation pass through him. He hugged his knees and cried.

‘ Why are you crying? Isn't this what you wanted to hear?!’ Shreyas sounded angry.

‘ I…why….what did you want to hear that you picked up his call?’ Ishaan yelled back.