People always have two options about one sided love. First, It's alluring to love someone from far away.
Second, It hurts to love without getting anything back.
But let's be truthful one sided is like loving a wall that will not love you back. It's like holding a rose with thorns, beautiful yet painful. Maybe it's similar in this scenario.
Ishan and shubman well... Who doesn't know this Sita Geeta of ICT. The bond shared by these two is so close that people mistake them to be couples instead of bestfriends. I mean, just look at them. But in the end it's just friendship right?
But, you never see when the line between friendship and love blurs out. You can't just control your heart from falling in love,can you?
Ishan fell in love too. With his bestfriend. Those stupid butterflies never seem to stop fluttering in his stomach whenever Ishan is near shubman or even thinking about him gives him weird love feelings in his cluttered body. Cheeks heating up, tip of ear getting red, stuttering.
Shubman would always tease ishan whenever he gets beet red. "Looks like my baby has fallen in love with me." Now who will tell that idiot, prince that yes! His princess has actually fallen for his prince.
It was like any other morning. Some players were practising, some were in the dressing room. That's when Shubman entered with the brightest smile anyone has ever seen. The players immediately stopped their work looking straight at the smiling guy as he got ready to announce something.
"So a-a apparently I'm dating sara" shubman was beet red trying to avoid eye contact with the team as they erupted in chaos. Some teasing him while some were congratulating him with smirks.
The whole room was rowdy, loud with whistles. But, at the very end of the room a faint breaking voice could be heard not loud just silently to himself.
He knew–oh, of course–he knew something was going on between Shubman and Sara. Though Shubman never admitted anything to Ishan, his eyes would light up for her, a smile tucking on his lips whenever someone mentioned her name. Signs were crystal clear like water from the Himalayas. But somewhere Ishan hoped maybe even prayed all this to be a fleeting feeling. But, today his body had gotten stiff, tears threatening to spill. Ishan had prepared himself for such a day, convincing himself that Shubman would never love him back. But hearing him confirm it made his whole nervous system numb.
Days passed like a blur. Seeing Shubman talking about Sara everytime.. every freaking time.
Is it selfish to wish to be at Sara's place? To wish he was the one making Shubman smile just by someone mentioning his name?
Jealousy, sadness, hurt, regret every emotion was crushing him slowly breathing their weight. Well... Now Shubman was blindly in love with not noticing his best friend's sinking performance, skipped meals and stuff. Shubman really tried talking to him and almost begged to let him know what's wrong with him but Ishan well he just refused to even speak. He thought keeping distance was going to help him move on but in the process someone was breaking too.
It was a stormy, rainy evening. All the players were almost gone, just a few of them remaining back in their cabs and some packing their stuff to leave. But Ishan... He was still there on the ground practicing in the storm. Shubman tried calling him but his voice fell on deaf ears.
Hours passed by, the sky started throwing thunders, rain only got heavy. Ishan still stood there. Soaked in rain not carrying about his surroundings. At last Shubman had to step out to drag this maniac inside. Ishan's attempt to set free from his grip failed. All it did was make Shubman tighten his grip around Ishan's wrist.
Once the two men were inside, Shubman blasted. " Don't you understand? Practicing in the rain. Don't you care about your damn health?".
That was it, a vessel filled with unspoken emotions finally broke.
"STOP! stop pretending like you care! Cause you don't. You don't even know what I'm dealing with. All you do is care about your girlfriend!".
"It's not what-" Shubman was cut by Ishan. Emotions too heavy to stop.
"You did nothing but use me. I loved you all these years only for you to choose someone else!"
Love? Is that what Ishan felt all these years?. Shubman was still processing his words "Love" still sounding like a foreign word to shubman's ears. Before Shubman could grasp the whole situation, Ishan was gone.
The night was dark, the rain was getting angry. The streets were all alone with just two clueless headlights roaming around searching through blind alleys and lonely parks. In hopes of finding that one boy he truly desires.
Panic started to sip in his eyes. His hopeful gaze moved in every possible direction only to meet disappointment lurking in bare corners.
Time was running, each tick of the clock was setting a new kind of fear in Shubman, his brain already making up the worst possibilities. Hope started to blur out. Until a small figure sitting at some bus stop all alone like a fragile glass caught his eyes.
Shubman slammed the brakes so hard the tyres screamed. The world outside was a blur of rain and darkness, but that figure—shoulders curled up, chin tucked into trembling knees—pulled his heart into his throat.
"Please... let it be him," he whispered, voice breaking.
Before the car even fully stopped, he was out. The cold rain punched against his body like needles, soaking him in seconds, but he didn't care. His footsteps splashed through puddles as he crossed the empty road, breath heavy, pulse racing.
Ishan didn't hear him approaching at first. His movement got surpassed in the heavy rain.
Then he saw him.
His breath caught. His lips parted. His entire body jerked in disbelief.
"Shub..." he whispered, voice barely a sound.
And the moment that tiny, broken word left his lips, Ishan pushed himself off the metal bench. His legs wobbled but he didn't care — he just ran. Not gracefully, not steadily — but with the kind of desperation reserved only for the person your heart refuses to forget.
Shubman's chest tightened painfully as he watched him.
And then he ran too.
The rain blurred everything, the streetlights flickered, the world seemed to disappear except the two of them racing toward each other through the storm.
When they finally collided, it wasn't soft — it was desperate. Ishan crashed into him with a choked breath, hands grabbing fistfuls of Shubman's shirt like he was scared the rain would swallow him again.
Shubman's arms wrapped around him instantly — tight, protective, almost lifting him off the ground.
"You could scatter into the rain like pieces of light," he murmured, "and I'd gather every part back into my arms."
The End.
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Request by PusmitaChakraborty2
I messed up the original plot that was requested. I thought about deleting it and writing again after I read the comment again but I had already completed the whole ff. My apologies.
