One Last Time x Shubman Gill | ✔️

24

||Shubman||

"Good job everyone" I heard our captain Dinesh Kartik say. After going through the two day test, I was finally selected to play in the upcoming season. Being in playing X1 after so many disappointing performances in my past matches, itself is a huge stepping stone for me. I was proud of myself.

One more person who would be proud of me was my sister. Even from up there I know she'd be cheering me on all the matches I had played so far. My performance wasn't too good but it wasn't bad either, it was consistently improving. I had played 3 matches up until now and we were done practicing for our 4th match, which was against Mumbai Indians.

Our flight to Mumbai was in three hours so I went back to my room and took a quick hot shower. After the shower I ordered some food and started packing my bags. While folding my clothes I came across the box of pendant I had bought for Aarohi as a gift for making me fall in love with cricket once again.

If today I'm here, it's only because of her. I could never thank her enough for it. With this pendant I obviously cannot express how much thankful I am, but I can surely promise to be with her at all times. It's not just a thank you gift, it's also a promise which I intend to keep till my last breath. I smile and open my gallery to find hundreds of selfies clicked by her, for some reason she always clicked pictures in my phone. Whenever I used to ask why, she would always shrug and say,"Just because."

After my food arrived, I completed eating and soon was done with my packing too. I had nothing else left to do so I decided to just lay down and rest a bit. Aarohi might be in a session right now, so I couldn't even call her. I closed my eyes and instantly Aarohi's smiling face flashed in front of me. The same face that made me believe that the world isn't such a bad place after all. It all depends on the type of people you live with.

Voice of the rain made me open my eyes. I got up from the bed and walked towards my window. Raindrops were sliding down the window, making me want to trace those with my fingers. I wasn't a fan of rain but when I had read one of Aarohi's wish in the past, I was waiting for rain ever since. She wanted to kiss in rain, and I just couldn't wait for it.

I dialed her phone number in a hope that she would have been out of the session by now. Just when I was gonna end the call, she picked it up.

"Hello" I said with a huge smile.

"Hi" she said with a tired voice. The voice which broke my heart.

||Aarohi||

Mannie helped me sit back comfortably on the bed after my fifth session. It was the most painful session by far. My chest was burning to the point where it felt as if I would die after taking another breath. Someone's phone was ringing in the room which irritated me further.

Before I could express my discomfort at the loud ring, mom asked,"It's Shubman, do you want me to pick it up and ask him to call later, or should I ignore it?"

I shaked my head and brought my hand forward asking for the phone. She was reluctant but nevertheless walked towards me saying,"How will you speak, honey?"

"It's okay. I'll manage." I replied barely audible for her to hear.

She gave me the phone and I picked it up saying hi with the maximum energy I could use.