Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 26: Rue

Sorry, but the pain train will continue. In happy news, the story is soon coming to and end!

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Rinku might be the baby of the ICT gang, but even he was emotionally aware to understand that something had changed, dramatically, in the weeks since Shubman was back. He understood something about a kidnapping and Ishan saving the day; he overheard Shikhar talking to Siraj about Ishan's haunting gaze, causing shivers to erupt on Rinku's arm. One day, when he came across Shahneel trying to coax Shubman to get ready and go out with Sara and he snapped, actually snapped at his sister, was when Rinku understood - something was simmering and it wasn't going to end well.

Not knowing what to do, he turned to the only person he knew would help - Virat.

Virat, thankfully, was simply monitoring the training sessions at the headquarters, and so, Rinku approached him, a bit hesitantly. He stood nearby, not wanting to disturb the guy, lest he snap.

Virat bore it for a minute, and then snapped.

"Out with it, god's plan."

Rinku did not let the snapping, nor his nickname among the group, deter him from asking what he came for.

"What's happened with Ishan and Shubman?"

Virat swerved his narrowed eyes at Rinku, who shrank back, just a tiny bit.

"We're not gabby gossipers dude. I suggest you concentrate on work, or atleast on not stealing Surya's gun."

Rinku was nothing if not relentless. If getting his ass kicked by Virat was in god's plan, then god's plan it was, he reminded himself, and spoke.

"I-I am worried for the both of them, bhaiyya. Shubhman looked like he could fall over any minute, and Shahneel has taken to storming out at odd times. I hate how sad the atmosphere is there. I miss the laughter in that house; I even suggested we have another cricket match, but Shubman's eyes welled up and Shahneel snapped at me for even suggesting that. I-I tried to talk to Ishan, but even he had curt answers bhaiyya. I just-I don't know what to do anymore."

By the end of his speech, Rinku was back to looking at his feet, so a hand on his shoulders scared the hell out of him. After the initial shock, he was surprised to see a mix of kindness and sadness in Virat's eyes, and Rinku was suddenly aware of how many years Virat had been doing this, how many deaths, how many stories this man had been witness to.

"Rinku, I know how you feel, but we cannot solve anyone's problem for them, and definitely not problems that they have created themselves. I know you hate seeing Shahneel and Shubman sad, but trust me, give it time - sab theek ho jayega. As for Ishan, I really, really would love to smack some sense into that boy, but he's a grown up now - I'll just have to steal one of his shirts as lesson. Rohit won't let me put him in a headlock anymore."

Rinku laughed at that, and the tension was broken. Virat ruffled Rinku's hair in affection, and continued the training. Somewhat placated, if not totally convinced, Rinku went back to his duty.

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It was true what Rinku had felt - the sadness slowly permeated around the Gill house, and however much he wanted, Shubman could not dispel it. After the initial shock of kidnapping and the subsequent horror wore off, Shubman found it difficult to get out of his bed; somedays, he reluctantly spent some hours in the family room to make his mother less worried, but that was it. He felt like he had lost the taste for outside; he even spent less time with the bodyguards. He knew they thought it weird, but he didn't know how to tell them that even their faces, their mannerisms reminded him too much of someone who had ordered him out of his life...

He had tried, in the days after he was back, to talk to Ishan, pester Shikhar to tell him anything, something about how Ishan was, but it was difficult to get anything else except 'He's fine' out of the guy. Shubman felt hurt; had he read Ishan wrong after all this time? Was Ishan truly tired of him? Or had he always been tired of Shubman, simply pretending to be his friend to make his job easier?

These thoughts kept swirling around in Shubman's brain, and he found it harder and harder to keep a check on them. He would stare at nothing for hours, and even spending time with his friends didn't have the same sense of peace anymore. He kept finding traces of Ishan everywhere - from his trinkets to his bat to the hidden food stashes around the house - Ishan was everywhere except where Shubman wanted him - with him. A part of Shubman understood that it wasn't healthy mooning over a guy who didn't give him any time of the day, but how was he supposed to console his heart, which was stuck torturing him with memories of Ishan's smile and kindness?

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Shahneel was a lot of things - brazen, outspoken, jhalli - but never violent; but these days, murder was at the forefront of her mind, specifically, Ishan's murder. Rinku would help her if she asked, she mused - she's made him suffer enough on account of her moodiness owing to Shubman. She didn't know what to do; normally, Shubman would spill whatever it was that was bothering him and that would be it. But she didn't know how to handle this Shubman, who looked like he would crumble if she took a wrong step. She wanted Shubman to break down, to open up, but also dreaded what would happen if he did. She'd talked to everyone who knew about Shubman and Ishan, but she received the same reply - they would sort it out. But how, when one was happy sealing himself in his room and the other one had run away to the other end of the world? Shahneel wanted to bang their heads together and lock them in a room, but she'd cross that bridge when it came to it. Right now, her priority was getting Shubman out of the house and putting some semblance of life back into his existence. She was about to get out of her bed and do just that, when her phone rang.

Two minutes later, the phone clattered to the ground, and Shahneel felt her heart die tiny, agonizing deaths.