Yours insanely

82.Homesick

You stared carefully at the waistline of the dress on the mannequin, pulling the needle up.

Making a knot as close as possible to the right line of stitches, you went down on the left.

The sound of the door opening could be heard and Shahneel walked in. "Y/n," she called but didn't say anything further, seeing as you were in the middle of the final process.

Still holding the needle, you raised your index finger up, signing her to wait for just a second.

"I'm almost done," you mumbled as she stood silently beside you.

You turned around to the table, and picked up a rhinestone with the tweezer.

Setting it down on a dab of glue, you made sure it was right where you wanted it on the dress, before letting it dry.

You did the same with a few more rhinestones before finally breathing out.

Everyone in the studio was currently working on the winter collection, and so were you.

"What do you think?" You asked Shahneel.

"Extravagant, but not too warm," she observed. "Perfect for winter."

"This is the prototype," you said and placed the tweezer aside. "I'm planning on two more replicas, but more monochrome."

"Maybe we can send this with the next shipment to stores," she replied. "If we're ready with enough stock of this."

You nodded and leaned back on the table, remembering that she came in from the storage basement for something else.

"What were you about to say?" You asked again and Shahneel turned her head to look at you.

She thought for a moment, then spoke. "Oh, Shubi is waiting outside. He said he'll wait until you're done with work."

Ah, lunch date, you remember.

"I'm done now," you said and gathered your things in your backpack. "And the last set of fabric we received is disintegrated. It's been sent back."

"Heard the sender's warehouse went through some temperature changes," she let you know. "Some issue with the refrigeration equipment."

You started walking towards the way out as Shahneel accompanied you.

"I wasn't aware that we received that shipment," she mumbled, making a mental note to talk to the textile company about it. "It was supposed to be stopped when they discovered the issue."

You opened the door of the studio and walked to the lounge, where Shubman was sitting on the couch, waiting patiently.

His eyes lit up as soon as you were in sight, making dimples appear on his face before he stood up to greet you with a kiss.

"Hey, baby," he held your cheek, leaning forward to place his lips against your forehead.

"Hey," you mumbled with a smile, wrapping an arm around his torso.

Shahneel looked unamused and heart-eyed at the same time, because of her brother and you respectively.

"Enjoy your date," she told you, punched Shubman's arm, and walked away.

"Shall we leave?" He asked and you nodded, grabbing his hand.

"Where's Ishan?" You asked as he got your backpack and handed it to one of his men. "I thought he and Shahneel were planning a date."

"On his way," he answered, holding your hand as you walked out of the studio. "With takeaway. I was just on call with him."

The call, which included a conversation about how your uncle had been found, partly, in a shark's stomach.

Sharks got him before Shubman's men could, and one of them threw up his remains while still in the ocean.

You nodded again, not letting go of his hand even as you both got in the car.

It's been three months.

Three months since Shahneel's car was ambushed, and three months since you were taken and then found.

The both of you had to rest for at least a month.

Shubman and Ishan played nurse, and you two felt like you were at another hospital instead of back home, just with tastier food.

So by the start of the second month, you collectively decided that resting was enough and got back to work.

Currently, you and Shubman were at an Italian restaurant that you wanted to try and had opened last week.

"Shubi, that's enough," you said as he was about to feed you more pasta.

You sat by one of the tables outside, under the warm sun in the premath of winter.

"Just a little, honey," he tried to convince you, sitting beside you on the couch as he held the fork in front of your mouth.

"You've been saying that since the last plate of bruschetta," you pushed his arm slightly away. "No more."

"Okay, no more spaghetti," Shubman retreated. "We'll move on to dessert."

It was during the second bite that you brought it up.

"Shubi," you called and he hummed in response, a small smile still on his face. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Anything, jaan," he replied, feeding you another spoon of the semifreddo. "You know you don't have to ask me. You just have to say the word and what you want will be done."

"And now the dessert isn't sweet enough at all," you sighed a little, and he kissed your cheek.

"Tell me what it is," Shubman kissed your cheek again.

"I want to visit Haldia," you started and his fingers laced around yours. "The house I grew up in."

He stayed silent for a moment and you went on.

"I don't know why I feel like I want to see that place again," you added. "Maybe I want some kind of closure."

You looked down for a bit, your index finger drawing circles on the back of his hand, before looking up again.

"When do you want us to leave, baby?" Shubman asked as your eyes met his.