Bade Sapne

♤ Aam Aadmi ♤

Vira's POV

The next few days went by in a blur, with random meetups with Shubman and Ishan, Priya accompanying me everywhere. But, no matter how much time passed, Shubman's tantrum at the cinema kept playing in my head, again and again.

I couldn't make sense of it. Every time we hung out as a group, Shubman acted like nothing had happened. He was cool, calm, and distant as ever. But whenever our eyes met, it felt like he was hiding something just below the surface. What did he mean when he said, "It's never just a movie"? And why did it feel like he was trying to keep a distance, not just from me but from everyone around him?

I tried to push it out of my mind. I had Ishan by my side, and things between us were becoming effortless, natural. We laughed more, shared more moments of affection, and everything felt easy-at least on the surface. But despite the progress we were making, my thoughts kept drifting back to Shubman. It was as though there was this invisible weight hanging in the air between us, making every interaction feel charged with something I couldn't quite grasp.

One afternoon, we were all sitting in a café after another hangout. I found myself glancing at Shubman, who sat across from me, staring at his phone with his usual neutral expression. Priya sat beside him, chattering away. Her excitement was palpable, but Shubman barely responded, offering her nothing more than a polite nod or the occasional monosyllabic answer. His attention seemed to be elsewhere, like he was wrestling with his own thoughts.

Ishan was sitting next to me, his hand resting on my knee. I was leaning into his touch, but even then, I could feel the tension in the air. It was unsettling.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Shubman glanced up from his phone and made a comment-one that threw me completely off guard.

"What's wrong with you?"

My, Ishan and Priya's heads snapped towards him, as I looked at him in utter confusion.

"Huh? Meine kya kiya?"

He laughed, a cruel tone laced in his voice, almost as if he was mocking me.

"Ishan ke paise chahiye na?" He said, locking eyes with me, interlocking his fingers, a twisted smile on his face.

"Kya?" I asked, bewildered that he could make such an accusation.

Ishan and I looked at Shubman in horror, unable to believe that he would say such a thing. Before I could respond, Shubman continued.

"Innocent bane ki acting maat kar."

I was speechless, unable to comprehend what was going on. Where did this even come from? My eyes flitted to Ishan's, who had his eyes down on his lap, his eyes betraying a sense of conflict, almost as if he couldn't choose whose side to take.

"Ishan, kuch toh kaho na!" I urged.

"Yaar, voh mera dost hai."

"Lekin voh galat baat kar raha hai!"

He stayed silent, unable to counter my point. I scoffed at his behaviour, picking up my phone and standing up abruptly, fuming in anger. I flitted my eyes i Shubman's direction, wanting to say something, but decided against it.

Instead, I turned to Ishan.

"Tum bhi mere bare mein aise soch te ho?"

Ishan looked hurt, seemingly shocked that I would ever ask such a thing. "Kabhi nahi."

"Toh kyun sun rahe ho?"

"Yaar voh mazak kar raha hai."

Shubman spoke up for the first time in a while, a smug smile plastered on his face. "Mein saach bol raha hoon."

I glared at him. "Wha-"

"Ishan has worked hard to get to where he is today. And for you to just come into his life all of a sudden... seems like extremely convenient timing, doesn't it? Kyunki tu tar sirf aam aadmi ho. Or should I say, Aam Aurat?"

"Shubman!" Ishan snapped.

"Yaar, tum to ishq me andha ho chuka hai. Woh tum par kala jaadu kar chuki hai."

"You know what? Fine." I picked up my keys from the table, casting my eyes towards Priya. "Chalo Priya."

Priya, who'd been quiet this whole time, looked at me with a look of sympathy, and nodded slowly. I stood up again, Ishan moving to get up as well, when I put out a hand to stop him.

"Yaar, Vira-"

"Chalo Priya." I glared at Shubman in anger.

"Don't you dare look at me like that." He smirked.

"Fuck you."

"Should I tell Ishan what you did?"

"What did I-" I looked at him in confusion, then realised, and shot him a murderous look. He was talking about the bat. He smirked.

Behind me, Priya muttered "Aise nahi karna tha yaar, Shubman."

I smiled internally at the support she was giving, but just wanted to leave as soon as possible. I couldn't bear being in the same room as Shubman for even a second longer. I stormed outside.

"Vira! Vira! Suno-" Priya called after me.

"Nahi yaar. He's a dickhead, what the fuck?"

"Vira, yaar! Rukh!" I looked back to see Priya panting heavily, her hands on her thighs.

"Tu itni kyun thaki hai? We've walked about 10 metres."

"Woh chod. Baat karo mujhse."

"Yaar uska problem kya hai? He brought it up out of nowhere. No one even said anything, and he just fucking called me a gold-digger. What the actual fuck?"

"Yaar, chod, voh pagal hai."

My head snapped towards her, in shock that she was taking my side over Shubman's, when she'd been obsessing over him for over a year now. That's what you call a real one.

"Chalo. Ab batao, tum itni kyun thaki ho?"

"I'm pregnant."

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A/N:

HEYYYYYY

HOW WAS THIS CHAPTER???

You lucky ducks, you get a double upload coz our Prince served his fans exactly what they wanted- a glorious, well-deserved century. Beautiful. And I'm so grateful that I got to watch all of it, and my absolute FAVOURITE part, his iconic bow-down celebration. 😍🤩

Gosh, it's almost like our minds are connected, coz if you go check the comments section in the previous chapter, I kinda predicted that he'd make a century 😱

It's not the first time either- I've actually been right abt it quite a few times ;)

(There's me being delulu, but hey, I'm not jk)

BUT AHHHAHAHAH GO SHUBMANNNNN

119* IM SO PROUD OF HIM OMG (HE COULDA DONE MORE BUT ROHIT DECLARED)

BUT ANYWAYS, hope ur all enjoying the story so far. I feel kinda bad for posting this specific chapter today after such a joyous occasion, coz it makes Shubman seem like such a dickhead when he's not :(, but it adds a lot to the plot, so I had to, I'm sorry guys 😭😭

HES NOT LIKE THIS FOR TOO LONG DW 🤞❤️

anyways, ith it's abt time I shut up, so BYEEEE

Stay tuned ;)