when 77 met 32 [ishman ff] [shubish]

2025

(There is a chapter before this, posted today, please read that before reading this. Thank you)

Ishan continued "I went to my place and started the set-up to go live. I was going to reveal their Shinigamis. But then I got that call again. with a letter dropped at my doorstep. It had pictures of all the people I knew from the cricketing world. all my friends and teammates. The person warned me. He said that if I said a word about this, there would be a scandal."

"a scandal bigger than any other in cricket. My friends would pay the price of my selfishness. and then he ended the call. The day after that, my brother got into a minor car accident while returning from work. Of course, he wasn't injured much, but then I got a message. It was video footage of my brother getting into that accident."

"It was intentional. Everything was intentional. I couldn't gather the courage to fight back anymore. I did what I was told. I had to let go of cricket first, and then the cricketers. I took my name off the IPL next year and refused to play. but I couldn't let go of the cricketers at all."

He said this, looking at the people around him. "More like the cricketers couldn't let go of you." Suhani commented, looking at Shubman, whose facial expression couldn't be read at all. Everyone smiled at her sentence, but Shubman. He just kept looking at Ishan. without blinking.

Ishan looked at Shubman and took a deep breath. He seemed to have understood that gaze. Shubman was furious; he had no idea at whom, but he was furious. Ishan didn't like that expression, so he turned his face, looking at Virat now.

"I had to let things go slowly, or else I would alert people. I started to talk less. Message less. Engage less. but some people are too stubborn." He said he was looking at Shubman. "They won't budge at all. so much so that I got a warning call regarding them. The person said that if I didn't cut my ties, everyone who was still in contact with me would take a blow."

"So you wanted to completely cut me off because of some threat you got?" Shubman asked, and his tone had anger in it. "Yes, Shubman, I couldn't let you ruin your career behind my already ruined career. You can't be mad at me because you would do the exact same thing if you were in my shoes." Ishan retorted back.

"No, I won't." "Yes, you would. Stop arguing; I know you better than that." Shubman looked like he wanted to say something, but Rishabh tapped on his back before he could speak, and he swallowed his words.

"What happened after that?" Suhani asked. "I was just done mourning and was going to move on with my life when I was dragged here by foul means." He said, glaring shubman.

"Honestly, what were you even thinking of, cutting Shubman off like that? That guy would have ended up injured for real if it wasn't for Suhani to have gathered the information that would actually help."

Hardik said he was disappointed in Ishan's decision-making. "He would still end up injured if I told him everything. I can't win with this one." Ishan said he was making everyone agree with him.

"You didn't have to suffer alone, you know?" Shubman said, looking at Ishan. but Ishan did not look back at Shubman. "Stop doing that." He said, he was still looking at Hardik.

"Do you still get those calls?" rohit asked. "Yes, sometimes just to remind me of how miserable I am, and sometimes when some cricketer acts up." He said the last part, giving side eyes to Shubman. "When was the last time he called you?" "Last week, I think. It was a mock call."

"Oh, the letters. Do you have one?" abhishek asked. "I have a picture of a few. Both the warning letters and the threatening ones." Ishan replied, looking at Abhishek. "Can you show it to me?" he asked. "Of course, but I was advised not to bring my phone with me. So, I brought them on a pen drive. I would need a laptop."