Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 29: Estrangement

I was supposed to post the last chapter on Aug 15, but I have gotten sick over the weekend and have not started writing it yet. 

:(

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks later –

Virat took his daily run, freshened up, took the stairs two at a time, and reached the door at the far end of the hallway of the Gill mansion. As always, he took a deep breath before he gripped the knob and pushed.

Inside, everything had been the same for the past few weeks. The room was devoid of life and energy, and in the middle of it, a lone patient. Virat had thought Shubman looked like Sleeping Beauty when he had sat guard for him the first time, except for the fact that Sleeping Beauty did not have wires and tubes going in and out of her body. Every day he came in, sometimes to check on him and sometimes to sit guard, but every time, Shubman remained still as a statue. The doctor had deemed it a miracle and Shubman's willpower that had reduced the fever and infection. If it hadn't been for the comforting sound of the heart monitor denoting that Shubi was alive, Virat wouldn't have been able to keep the calm demeanor he was famous for. Nor, he thought, would the other occupants of the house, including the ICT. They all took turns sitting guard for the young Gill, not because they had to, but because they genuinely liked him and had developed a fondness for the boy who used to bring them food and booze and had scintillating conversations with them. He felt like an intricate part of ICT now, and Virat knew how fiercely ICT protected their own. They sat in the room, sometimes talking, something playing, always hoping that Shubi would wake up and bestow upon them his trademark dimpled smile. He knew they didn't say it, but the scene in the forest haunted each and every one of them. They had spared the family the more gruesome details, focusing instead on getting Shubman the fastest and the best treatment, but that scene, that haunting image had stayed with them - Ishan's lost eyes, the icy coldness of Shubman's body, the way they both clung to each other even as their world crashed - Virat hoped never, ever to see anything like it ever again.

It was these thoughts that were swirling around his brain when the insistent beeping of the monitor brought him back to reality. Frantic, he looked at the monitor that showed spikes in Shubman's heartbeat, and even before he looked at the bed, he knew.

Shubman had finally opened his eyes, 2 weeks after that disastrous day.

He clamored to help Shubman with the tubes and the oxygen mask, quickly called the doctors and his parents over, and then heaved a sigh of relief. Shubman was quickly accosted and put through tests and questions, and it wasn't until the entirety of evening was passed, before he had a moment with Shubman alone.

Even before Shubman blinked and opened his mouth to ask, Virat knew the words he would speak.

"He's gone, isn't he?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardik didn't have much to worry in life - he laughed and he lived.

That had been a few days ago.

Now, we was well and truly concerned.

First, he had gotten frantic calls from Virat, something about Shubman almost dying, and Ishan not ready to move from his side. When he had packed his bags and was about to depart for India, Shikhar told him, in a barely restrained voice, that Ishan had left India. When they all (well, some of them; as far as he knew, many were upset that Ishan had chosen to leave, others thought he needed to clear his head) searched for him and found no trace, Hardik was once again ready to scrounge the earth to look for him, when Ishan dropped on his doorstep.