Listen To Your Heart.

Chapter 23

Ishan's POV:

Ishan couldn't shake off the memory of that conversation with Anita, five years ago. Her words still echoed in his mind, haunting him as he tried to rebuild his life far away from everything he once knew.

"Ishan, if you make yourself far away from Shubman, so far that he can never reach you, then I will consider deleting these," Anita had said.

But Ishan couldn't bring himself to abandon everything he held dear. "Anita, my family, career, everything is here. And no matter how far I go, Shubman will always find a way back to me. He loves me so much," he had replied, his heart torn between his love for Shubman and the pressure to stay away.

"Fine, then watch Shubman go down, in his career, in his personal life, everywhere. How will you sleep, Ishan, knowing you could have freed Shubman from all this, but you decided to be selfish? Look at you, you would rather watch Shubman drown than save him!" Anita's words had cut deep.

Ishan tried to argue, to reason, to plead with Anita that day, but she didn't listen.Ishan would have begged on knees in a room full of people if Anita wanted,But Anita wanted to destroy Ishan.She showed no mercy, and Ishan couldn't comprehend how fate could be so merciless.

Defeated, Ishan returned home, packed all his belongings, and had one last conversation with his family. He wanted to scream and cry on the call with his mother, but he remembered Anita's warning.

"Nobody can know where you are, not even your family. Otherwise, Shubman would find you, and my vision of marrying him will go astray. So, be careful. Don't show up just a year later.Remember, I won't delete the video ever," she had warned.

Ishan composed himself, spoke to his family, his brother, and his father, and then he texted the ICT group.

"I love you all. Don't forget me in the pressure of the series," he wrote.

Their reply came quickly, "Hey, idiot, we're bringing you back. Just wait."

Although every part of him screamed to hear Shubman's voice, to see Shubman's face, Ishan didn't call him. Instead, he wrote a note, left it behind, and set off for an unknown destination.

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Finding a place where nobody would recognize him wasn't easy for Ishan. Cricket was known in many countries, so after much searching online, Ishan found a village in Scotland where hardly any Indians resided. He boarded a plane and headed there.

Upon arrival, the first month was spent searching for a house and settling in. Now, he needed a job. Ishan didn't want to use the money he earned from cricket since he had abandoned his family. Keeping the money for them was the least he could do.

He went to local cafes, and after much effort, he managed to secure a job. That's where he met his coworker, Alaska. She trained him, taught him how to make coffee and serve customers. Over the years, they became close friends. Alaska would invite Ishan to every family occasion and bring homemade food for him, acting like a big sister.

Despite their friendship, Ishan had no one to share his life problems with—not the life he was pretending to live now, but the one he had left behind with Shubman and his family, friends, and cricket. Since that day, Ishan hadn't searched once about cricket or India; he purposely avoided it. He feared he would go mad if he heard about his past life.

So, he kept a diary like an old-school boy, pouring his heart into it, writing about all the happy moments, traumas, and Shubman.