Destined hearts (Ishan x Shubman)

2.

It was a beautiful place, a small lake surrounded by greenery all around. Long trees, small plants, many bushes filled with various flowers. The full moon shone on the place, bathing everything in its pretty glow, the whole of the sky was littered with twinkling stars, creating a roof of enchanting beauty all over the place. Fireflies flew around the place freely, adding to it's beauty.

A man stood there overlooking the view. He glanced down at the clear lake, his own reflection staring back at him along with the bright reflection of the moon. Soon enough, two arms engulfed him from behind. He smiled, wrapping his hands on the hands that were now sitting on his waist and slightly leaned on the person behind him.

"Aa gye aap," He mumbled, gently caressing the hands.

"How did you know it was me?" The other man, who was slightly taller than him, asked, "What if it was someone else?"

He smiled, turning around to look at his beloved. His hand reached out to caress the other man's face, "I don't need to look to know it's you. Aapki ek aahat se pehchan sakte hain hum aapko. Even if I couldn't see, I would've still recognised you in a heartbeat,"

The other man chuckled, leaning into the touch, "Rukiye, aapke liye kuch hai hamare paas," He mumbled, reaching into his pocket to take out a carefully kept black rose, handing it to his love.

"Aw, a black one, thank you."

"I could've bought a red one as everyone says they symbolize love, but you love the black one more and that is what matters to me the most." He smiled.

The man smiled, softly kissing the rose, "It's beautiful. But not more than you,"

The taller male blushed, "Vaise, you don't have to kiss that rose, you can kiss me you know."

"Kya Jaan aap bhi," The man chuckled.

"I'm serious," The taller said, pouting.

The other man smiled, his face warming up. He quickly pecked his beloved's lips before sitting down and pulling him along as well.

They sat beside the lake, arms linked with each other's, a soft smile adorning both of their lips as they softly talked to each other.

Ishan woke up with a sigh, glancing around his room sleepily. What is it with these weird dreams again and again? He sighed again, leaning back on the headrest of the bed and glancing at his digital clock. 5:37, it read. After some minutes, he got up from the bed. Going to his balcony, he opened the door and stepped out, smiling as the soft morning breeze kissed his face.

He smiled, watching the sun slowly rise in the sky, glowing everything along with Ishan's face with its gentle morning glow.

"Some much needed vitamin D," Ishan mumbled to himself, chuckling a little.

He sighed as that dream again came to his mind. He often had dreams like this, always with those two people. Even though the pictures were always hazy and he didn't even remember the faces of those individuals, it always felt like it was something very close to his heart, something very important, familiar. Everytime he woke up after these dreams, it was like something was snatched away from him, it felt like he was stripped away from a part of his soul.

He shook his head to clear his mind and retreated back to his room to get ready for college. After taking a refreshing bath and getting dressed, he watered his flowers, made himself breakfast, refilled mishti's food and changed her water and then left for college after some time.

-

"Hey, bro. What's up?" Ishan smiled, going up to Mayank as he saw him as soon as he entered the campus.

"Hey,"

"What are you doing here?" Ishan asked as Mayank was strolling around the college garden instead of being inside the college.

"I was looking for Abhi," Mayank replied, "Is he not coming today? He asked.

"There, there, lover boy," Ishan chuckled, gesturing towards the entrance as he saw Abhishek walking towards them, "There's your aankh ka taara."

"Shut up, Ish."

"Hey, guys," Abhishek smiled, reaching them, "What are you talking about here?"

"Nothing much, it's just your aashiq was distressed about you not showing up already," Ishan quipped, receiving a deadly glare from Mayank.

"Really, Mayank?" Abhishek asked, smiling teasingly.

"No, there's nothing like that," Mayank replied through his gritted teeths, still burning holes into Ishan's head with his gaze, "I just wanted to talk about our pending assignment, nothing else."

"Okay," Abhishek chuckled.

"Tum dono ka kuch nahi ho sakta," Ishan mumbled, rolling his eyes, "Chalo ab andar,"

The three of them walked into the college, chatting about anything and everything.

"You know, I had one more dream like that," Ishan said suddenly.

"Uh-huh, that's interesting," Mayank commented, "I'm telling you these are like future visions, you have a superpower, Ishan,"

Ishan just passed him a judging look.

Abhishek chuckled, "Usually, dreams are our thoughts buried deep down in our subconscious. Or even something that might've happened with us in the past. To be honest, those dreams can mean anything, literally anything."

"Hmm, but I'm sure nothing like that happened with me, ever. I don't even know the places I see in my dreams, heck who knows if they even exist?"

"Maybe, it's just random then,"

"Ishan, this is so unfair," Mayank grumbled, "You actually listened to what he had to say and to me, you just gave a side eye,"

"'Cause he was talking sense and what you said was completely nonsense. Like what future visions, huh?" Ishan muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You're so mean," Mayank pouted before clinging onto Abhishek, "Main to Abhi ke sath hi rahoonga ab se, tu bhaad mein jaa,"

Ishan chuckled, "Haa haa, beta tu reh Abhi ke sath, mujhe tu vaise bhi nahi chahiye," He smiled sarcastically while Mayank just huffed, glaring at him.

Abhishek sighed, shaking his head at both of them, "Kaha fas gaya main,"

The bell rang, signalling the start of lectures. They parted ways, going to their respective classes.

Ishan couldn't help thinking about those dreams again, they always felt so vivid yet so distant, so close but at the same time something he can't seem to reach, so familiar, so real, so raw, so close to his heart but so far away at the same time. He was extremely sure that these dreams couldn't be just random, they definitely meant something. He was just yet to figure it out.