What after That?

Ch 74.

Shubman had always known.

He had always known that at some point, people were going to start asking.

And when they did, he had planned to shrug it off like he always did.

Yes he don't care.

But he wasn’t prepared for Gulati.

"Dude... are you... I mean..." Gulati hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "I saw something… you know, real. Are you serious about him?"

Shubman stared at him, unblinking.

He held Gulati’s gaze and nodded.

"Yeah," Shubman said simply. "I am."

Some people accepted it.

Some people laughed, brushing it off as some wild rumor.

" aisa thodi hota hai.. "

" bhaii kuchh bhi rumor faila do.. "

And some?

Some stepped away, whispering behind their backs, judging, because loving a boy while being a boy was still a sin to them.

" abee ye sab bus kuchh din ka drama hai in log ka.."

" Ye pyaar wyaar nahi hai bhaii pure lust.."

" gf nahi mili to bf bana liya.. bahut illogical hai.."

" abee asie logo se door hi raho.. saale khud to gande hai hi.. hum log ka bhi mood spoil kar dete hai.."

" Ye bakchod new rules banayenge.. bachcha kya bhagwan deke jayega "

So marrying was just to make babies?

What about love and respect?

Aarav had asked Ishan the same thing as Gulati as a supportive cousin.

"How long has this been going on?" Aarav questioned, arms crossed.

Ishan had smiled softly, like he was looking back on something precious.

"From the last months of school," he said simply, like that explained everything.

There were names thrown at them, whispered insults from people who thought their approval mattered.

" chhakke hai saale.."

But Ishan?

Ishan never needed their approval when Shubman started to talk stupid stories of his.

Holding Shubman’s hand in corridor gives him this strange strength like the side eyes of people don't even exists.

And Shubman?

Well, Shubman never cared about anything else but the way Ishan looked at him.

If Ishan had been in a relationship with anyone else, they wouldn’t have been this protective.

Not like Shubman.

Shubman had always been short-tempered, his patience thinner than a thread. And when it came to the people he loved—especially Ishan—he wasn’t the kind to let things slide.

Mess with Ishan?

And you’d better be ready to pick your teeth off the floor.

There had been countless times when someone said something stupid, threw a name, made an unnecessary comment—and before Ishan could even react, Shubman was rolling up his sleeves.