when 77 met 32 [ishman ff] [shubish]

2022

It was December 2022, and everyone was chilling. Shubman was preparing for some domestic matches that were around the corner. Ishan was busy with his training and his now-girlfriend Aditi. Both were in Delhi at the time.

"Tu jara hai?" Shubman asked over a voice call. The question was directed to Rishabh regarding a party that Rishabh would attend with his friends the day after. "Haa toh, tujhe lagta hai nahi jaega?" Ishan retorted, to which Rishabh just sighed.

"Aree yaar dost hai mere." Rishabh said. "Haa haa aur hum toh koi hai hi nahi na." "Bhai koi dates toh clash nahi hora aesa nahi hai ke tumhe ditch karke ullog ko priority dera hu." "Haa, last time jab humne bullae the toh tu bohot busy tha," Shubman said, faking the hurt.

"areeyyy." "jaane de.." and the banter continued. They used to do this a lot—team up against one person. The victim was usually Rishabh. They decided to end the call after speaking for a while.

Everything has been too calm since the morning. Shubman had a weird feeling about it. At midnight, Shubman got a call. A call he would never forget. "hello Shubman? Are you awake?" It was Virat; he sounded anxious for some reason. "Yes, Bhai, I am. Why?" "You are in Delhi, right?"

"Haa bhai," Shubman said. "Sun, don't panic, but can you go to the address I have sent you?" Virat said, sounding much more panicked than Shubman. "Bhai, this is a hospital. What happened?" Shubman asked after reading the message, not feeling well about the situation.

"Rishabh got into a car crash." Virat said it in a single breath, hoping to have made some sense. "kya?" Shubman sounded numb. He heard it. He definitely did; he didn't want to accept it yet.

"How bad?" Shubman asked after a few seconds. "It's bad. We will take a flight to Delhi in the morning. Me and Rohit. Can you be there until then?" He sounded like he had to choke the words out of himself. Shubman was still shocked at 'it's bad'. How bad; he would have to look for himself.

Without any further greetings, he ended the call, took his keys, and ran out the door, but when he sat in the car, he remembered Ishan. Did Virat call him too? How would he react? Ishan was closer to Rishabh than he was. Ishan cannot handle the pain of anyone in his life. So, he decided to call Virat and ask about it before calling Ishan.

"Hello, bhai, ishan ko bataya hai kya?" he asked. "Nahi. Wahi bolna tha, but tune call kaat diya. Usko batane ki himmat nahi hai." Virat said. What did they expect from him? Shubman thought, 'Mere me bhi nahi hai.' He told himself this before ending the call again and rushing to Ishan's place first.

Shubman reached his place within the next 15 minutes with the help of rash driving, ran to his door, and spammed the bell. "Areeyy yaar, sabar hai?" Ishan's voice interrupted the turmoil inside of him. And then he opened the door. Ishan looked like he just came back from the practice and was preparing to sleep.

"Shubman? Tu kya karra hai? Call bhi nahi kiya," Shubman couldn't find the words to tell him. He was stuck there on his front porch. Looking straight at Ishan. Of course, Ishan noticed that something was wrong, so he pulled Shubman in for a hug immediately.

"Kya hua meri jaan? Kuch toh bol." Shubman melted in the hug. He couldn't bring himself to break that pure heart. He wanted to keep this pain to himself and never let Ishan know about it. But he had to. Tomorrow, everyone will know about it, and Ishan will too. He wanted him to know before the world told him.

"Rishabh." Shubman choked. "Haa Rishabh kya?" Ishan urged him to continue. It was not every day that you get an uninvited shubman at your doorstep looking like a mess, two seconds away from crying right outside your door. Ishan knew that this was serious. "Rishabh got into an accident," Shubman said.

Silence. Nobody spoke for a few minutes, or was it a few hours? This silence was different from the comfortable silence they were used to. This silence was loud. Deafening. "When?" Ishan asked, his voice heavy. Shubman was holding Ishan in place; he was afraid that Ishan would fall over without his support.

"Virat Bhai called; I don't know when he got into that accident, though. He sent me the address. Of the hospital." Shubman completed. Feeling stronger suddenly. Ishan took his hand, locked the door behind him, and dragged Shubman to his car. Taking a seat inside.

Shubman, without any words, drove them both to the hospital. The security was tighter than usual, with a couple of reporters outside. They successfully dodged them and entered the premises. The receptionist led them to the ICU. There were doctors everywhere.

"How bad is it?" Ishan asked one of the doctors. "The accident itself was pretty bad, sir, but we are trying our best. He was fortunately brought in before anything fatal could happen. He is fine for the time being. His leg is in very bad condition, though. If our estimation is correct, he can wake up in the next three days."

The doctor sounded like he had faced this situation a thousand more times. Rishabh was just another patient for him. Ishan didn't say anything after that. He just sat there. Shubman didn't like this one bit. "He is strong. I am sure he will fight it." Surprisingly, it was Ishan who said it.

Shubman looked at him and smiled. There was no need to say anything. They understood each other. In the morning, when the news spread, they started getting calls. They avoided them for a good few hours before Virat and Rohit arrived. Virat just walked up to Ishan and hugged him. Nothing was said for a few minutes. Rohit just looked at Shubman before smiling weakly.

Just like the doctor had predicted, Rishabh woke up a day after the accident. It was Shubman who was with him when he woke up. "Shub," he said, weakly grabbing Shubman's attention.

The first thing Shubman did after that was call the doctors. The doctors came and checked his vitals before clearing the room. "bhai?? thik hai?" Shubman questioned. He looked like he could cry at any moment. "Haa bhai sab thik," Rishabh said, smiling at him.

A few days after that went by in a blur. There were people everywhere. His family, the members, his friends, his friends' family, and the members' family. There were people everywhere. Even Aditi came. She came more for Ishan and less for Rishabh, though. "Achi ladki pataya hai," Rishabh said, smiling at Shubman when Ishan went out with her.

"Haa, bohot achi hai." Shubman's eyes didn't have the best friend's sparkle when he said that. He looked lost, like there was something he couldn't figure out. Rishabh looked at him for a good few seconds before smiling and looking away.

"Shubman, sir, did you identify the girl?" A nurse came in and asked. It broke Shubman out of his stance. "No, I don't know her. I'll let you know if I get a clue." Shubman answered, to which the nurse nodded and left the room. "what girl?" Rishabh asked.

"There was a girl that came in the first day you were here. She came in at around 9 in the morning. There was no one outside your door at the time, and she had a VIP pass. She just came in, talked to the doctors, looked at you, and left. When she was asked to identify herself, she left a bracelet behind." Shubman completed.

The look in Rishabh's eyes said that he knew something, and before Shubman could say anything about it, he asked, "Can I see the bracelet?" He looked anxious for some reason. "Yes, wait, let me ask the nurse for it." Shubman went outside and brought the bracelet in. It was a beautiful single-stoned bracelet. Unique with its own charm.

"I know her," Rishabh said after some time, smiling happily. "Who is she?" Shubman questioned him. "someone." Rishabh said it dreamily. Shubman wanted to ask him if he was okay or not but decided to keep his thoughts to himself for the time being.

The doctors there told them that Rishabh's leg needed to be amputated, and the mysterious girl wasn't that imported anymore. Rishabh was against the idea strongly. Like, who wouldn't be? Then, after a lot of planning, they decided to shift him to a hospital in Mumbai, and his further treatment would be carried out there.

Rishabh was airlifted to Mumbai a few days after the decision was made, and the doctors there told him that they would try their best to cure him without any amputations, and that gave everyone hope.