Memory Lane (into the wild night) | ishman |

Friends

The elevator dings as the two of them step out, looking much less disheveled, albeit still a little dark-eyed and tired from their sleepless night and hectic morning. The gold chip is safely in Shubman's pocket, and Ishan keeps a strict foot of distance between them as they walk through a few groups of people checking in or going about their business.

It's not very long before their unsteady peace is interrupted by the sounds of girlish squealing, and Ishan's friends descend upon them from where they were waiting.

"O.M.G! Ish there you are!" Cookie screams, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight hug. They're quickly joined by the other girls, with Mayank trailing behind with a shy wave. "Thank god!"

"You don't even look that hungover!" Mayank jokes.

"I bet you were the prettiest bride," Sara teases.

"Is that him!?" Cookie asks, looking over his shoulder at the man with an amused smile on his handsome face. "Oh wow, I mean he was hot in the dark club, but thank goodness he really is good looking sober!"

"Wow, Cookie, he's standing right there." Ishan rolls his eyes. He looks back over his shoulder at Shubman, and gives him an apologetic shrug. "Shubman, this is Cookie , Sara, Mayank, and my oldest friend Hardik. Everyone, this is, um, Shubman."

"Your husband," Sara says, wiggling her brows with a smirk.

"Yeah that."

"Nice to meet you all, um, again," Shubman says, shaking each of their hands. "I promise Ishan was in good hands."

"Oh, we heard—" Cookie is cut off by a soft shove and a stern look from Ishan.

"ANYWAY," Ishan announces. "So, you know how we got married, and I'm sure when I told you all that, you probably thought it would be the craziest thing I would have to tell you today, possibly ever?"

"Yeah, I mean, who thought after Anshumat you'd even be able to kiss another man, let alone let one snatch you off the market," Mayank quips.

"Okay, yeah we don't need to get into all that,"Ishan says, ignoring the frown that forms on Shubman's brow. "Listen, that's actually not the craziest thing that you need to know."

"Oh my god, he's pregnant." Sara says.

They all burst into laughter, and Ishan palms his face. "No! For fucks sake that's not humanly possible."

"Quiter talk if you ask me—"

"OKAY!" Ishan urges, clapping his hands together, unamused. "You guys, please just listen. We got married, and then after that we apparently went to the casino to celebrate, and we, well, we..." he looks up at Shubman, waving his hands nonsensically. "We..."

Shubman pulls the chip out of his pocket. "We won this."

"Holy shit!" A voice comes from behind the group. Everyone turns to see a handsome man with brownish-blondish hair and a nice navy suit walking up, staring right at what fits between Shubman's fingers. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Abhishek, thank god," Shubman groans, waving the man over and grabbing him by the shoulder. "This is all your fault."

"Well then, you're welcome."

"Um, hi?" Ishan looks up expectantly.

"Ohh, sorry," Shubman says. "Ishan, this is Abhishek, my buddy that I was out with last night."

"Not for that long," Abhishek says with a friendly smile, shaking Ishan's hand. "Got snatched up by you, must be the husband."

Ishan lets out a deep sigh. "Yeah that's me."

"Okay this is all fine and great, but can someone tell us what's so great about a yellow piece of plastic?" Cookis asks, arms crossed while she taps her fingers against her skin.

"Okay so apparently this chip is some grand prize," Ishan continues. "And, like, after we got married we won it...and it's worth 3 million dollars."

Everyone's jaws drop, except for Abhishek who simply smirks and nods his head. Then in complete unison, the urgent questions and excited squealing starts up again. Everyone talks all at the same time, a mile a minute, and Shubman and Ishan simply look at each other in bewilderment. Ishan knew his friends would freak out.

"Wait!" Hardik finally says, waving his hands to get everyone to be quiet. "What are you going to do? I mean, you have to get divorced, right?"

"They have to go get their money!" Sara says.

"Oh god, divorced, three million, divorced, money, it's all so much," Cookie says, eyes wide and worried.

"Yeah, and you're all being a big help making a huge scene like this," Ishan says, shooshing them, looking around to make sure nobody is giving them much attention. "We are going to figure out the money thing first, and then I guess we'll sort the divorce. Money is more urgent, right?"

He looks back at Shubman, who catches a surprised, and yet very amused, expression on Abhishek's face. "Right. Much more urgent."

"Good," Ishan nods. He holds out his hand for Shubman to take, and then turns back to his friends. "I've got this, it's all going to work out, and we don't need to act crazy."

"What do you want us to do?" Mayank asks, giving Ishan's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"I don't know," he says, shaking his head.

Abhisekh steps up, putting his arms around both Sara and Cookie's shoulders. "We are going to escort our dear newly-wed friends to wherever they need to go to get this chip thing over with. Okay? Now let's follow them, and let them get it all together for themselves."

Shubman gives him a thankful nod, and then moves his hand to his arm instead. "Thanks Abhi, come on Ishan, we got this."

"Yeah," he says, letting out a deep breath. He looks up at Shubman's warm eyes, comforting and safe. It gives Ishan's stomach a weird feeling. Though, nothing bad.

[if y'all still haven't figured out who is cookie then let me tell you it's me 😭☝🏽]