Part 32

The soft beeping coming from the machine followed by light snores coming from a sleeping Ishan was the only sound reverberating in the slightly dimmed hospital room . A faint smell of fertilizer in the atmosphere.

Mrs Kishan was patting Ishan's head , preserving the solemn moment with her son. Ishan had come back from office a while ago and sat by her bed complaining about his boss and Due to the fatigue, he succumbed to sleep in that position.

A creak sound of the door opening brought Mrs Kishan to look over at the entrance as Shubman came in her view. He came to check upon her condition.

Not surprised to see Ishan , He merely glanced at the sleeping lad before walking up to Mrs Kishan and jotting down something on his notepad.

No words were exchanged as Shubman immaculately did his job . As he was done , he again looked at Ishan's squished face against the comforter and his little grip on it .

Mrs. Kishan noticed the subtle action of Shubman and chuckled. "Hope he isn't troubling you a lot?"

She asked.

It's not a mystery that Ishan is a troublemaker with an overbearing temperament added with his clumsy nature. It's just a perfect recipe for disaster.

Shubman shook his head , "not really" it was true that he doesn't get annoyed with Ishan's playful nature as he was accustomed with it by now.

"Good" she said as the same fearful feeling trembled her heart. Her smile grew sad and eyes crinkled into dimness. "Did you tell him about my condition?"

Shubman understood the painstaking question and shook his head sideways. He just couldn't bring himself to say the truth to him leaving him in darkness.

Mrs Kishan extracted her hand from Ishan's head but put the hand back again , continuing what she was doing after hearing the whine from Ishan at the loss of contact.

She sighed and putting stone in her heart stated,"don't tell him" although unfair to Ishan, she just wished to see him happy in the last few months of her life.

Shubman knew the injustice in her words and looked down, pondering over it before agreeing with her.

He doesn't want to lie but he has to respect Mrs Kishan's wish and bury the secret within him. Except them both nobody exactly knows the true condition of Mrs kishan.

At first , Ishan didn't buy the lie that Shubman had said about the whole surgery but since according to him , Shubman doesn't lie , he believed him.

Ishan's body stiffened at the two pairs of eyes gazing at him . He blinked open his eyes and sat upright, rubbing his aching back as a result of sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

He looked at both of them in confusion as to why they both were staring at him. The cut throat tension is still floating around.

Did they find something about me? Or maybe I am just so beautiful that they can't stop staring at me .

Ishan remained silent for a moment before asking,"did something happen?" His mind recalled every possible thing he did in which he was the problem as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Shubman shot a glance at him, analysing that Ishan's left leg was shaking, meaning he must be thinking something really hard. He pressed his tongue against his inner cheek, "oh yes , we found out what you did yesterday.."

Yesterday!? I didn't do anything yesterday.

"Mumma ye jhoot bol Raha hai . Maine kal kuch nahi kiya hai"

"To matlab parso kiya tha" Shubman continued with his pretending. He was just teasing him .

Parso? Shit . I accidentally poured tea on his stack of books at the table . They were probably new considering the spine of the book was tight as ever.

"Wo wo maine nahi Kiya tha . ....wo .. wo. Gravity and bird ne kiya tha"

Shubman,"....."

Shubman,"???"

Mrs Kishan,"....?"

"Actually the bird was flying and knocked upon the cup of tea and the tea spilled all over the "white paper with ink" due to gravity acting upon it. Hence it was their fault your "white pages" become moldy" Ishan explained in one breath , hoping they buy his lie. However seeing their face, they probably don't even understand what's happening much less get a conclusion over it.

Mrs Kishan headed back and forth between the two lads bantering over bird and gravity when The door was again opened and Mrs Gill entered as the drama was elevating. "woah ye kya ho raha hai?"

As soon as her voice rang out , Ishan looked at her as if he found his knight in shining armour.

He made a pitiful face and called out her name in despair."mummy ji. Aap dekhiye Shubman mujhe pareshan kar raha hai"

Mrs Gill gave a stern look at shubman, "why are you troubling my ishu" Ishan gave a victory smile to shubman and changed his expression to that of a wronged puppy hit by its owner when Mrs Gill looked at him again.

Shubman scoffed in disbelief, "mom your ishu was troubling me not the other way around."

Mrs Kishan interrupted in between to stop the chaos in between them as they finally dissipated their banter.

Ishan sticks his tongue out at Shubman before walking towards the glass window, not in the mood to hear gossip between Mrs Kishan and Mrs Gill.

He placed his palm over the window , his fingerprint imprints on it as he moved his eyes when they stopped at the giant Ferris wheel.

He shrieked in joy,"oh my, is there a carnival?!"

They heard the overjoyed yell of Ishan and Mrs Gill was the first one to speak as a very nice opportunity to make Ishan and Shubman spend time together in her mind. "Yes honey there is a carnival. Why don't you go there to see Shubman? Shubman here likes carnival"

Hearing his name dragged in the conversation and looked at his mother sprouting untrue facts.

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That's how , They both are now in the midst of people. Several fragrances mixed with sweats diffused in the air .

Shubman held Ishan palm tightly to not lose him in the tsunami of people , When he saw that Ishan was about to break free from his grip and rush over to some stall .

"Stay close to me" he said and intertwined their fingers, making sure they were close enough.

Ishan didn't mind , and started dragging him to the array of different stalls illuminated with cute decoration and lighting.

Ishan was happily enjoying the buzzing racket around him while Shubman rubbed the space between his eyebrows to stop the over growing headache.

He was least interested in such things , especially the constant contact with other passersby in the crowded space.

He looked at Ishan who seemed to look like a child experiencing the carnival for the very first time. He smiled and continued walking behind him, making himself a barrier to refrain Ishan from being touched by others.

"Woah! It's still so nice here" Ishan exclaimed .

Shubman stopped his urge to roll his eyes . He doesn't want to sound like prude but what's so fun about being sandwiched between tons of people and not to forget the unhygienic atmosphere.

"Hey there's a photobooth there!! Ishan pointed at a small booth in the distance. There weren't a lot of people there either.

They entered the booth , there were fairy lights Tinkle and several props placed on the small table. Ishan smirked mischievously before picking up a bunny headband from the counter .

Cute bunny shubman! Pff

He laughed to himself as he tried to place the headband on Shubman but the said man swiftly moved his head away and holded Ishan's wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting a headband on you" Ishan innocently replied. Shubman narrowed his eyes and looked at the fluffy ears on the band and cringed imagining himself in it . "No," he said .

Ishan pouted , blinking his eyes at Shubman, persuading him to comply with his wish. Shubman again denied but seeing the adorable expression on his face made him eat his words.

Shubman,"...."

....

"Okay so cheese!" Ishan said, giving a huge smile at the camera . A cute tiger ears headband adorning his head . Meanwhile, Shubman was sitting there with no expression .

Ishan looked at the reel of photo and frowned,

"Yahh! Why aren't you smiling? You look like you're sitting with a gun pointing at you. You have such a beautiful smile yet you don't smile . What's the use of these dimples then!? I am going to take pictures again and this time you will smile okay!!"

Ishan said in a breath and put another coin in the slot to take pictures again .

Shubman's ears turn red as the corner of his naturally turned upward.

Facing the camera , the duo poses for it; however just as the shutter was about to click , Ishan's foot slipped over a small prop ball lying on the floor.

Shubman stretched his arm to stabilize him as Ishan had his eyes shut in fear .

Click!

The camera clicked their unpicture perfect photo as Ishan mood turned tart sour due to the continuous failed attempt to click a photo.

He walked outside the photo booth, taking off his headband and throwing on its initial position.

Shubman quickly got the reel of the photo and put it in his pocket before running after Ishan. He paced up to him , catching his wrist to stop him from walking further.

Shubman asked,"What happened?" . He didn't know why suddenly Ishan's mood had turned over .

"Aise gussa nahi karte. Hum fir se click kar lenge photo. " he softly said, cupping Ishan's face in his palm.

Ishan nodded and hooked his arms around Shubman's . "Hmmm. Let's eat panipuri"

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"Jeez, stop giving me looks. They are tasty"

Ishan whines .

The clean freak in shubman had been eyeing Ishan and the stall of panipuri. The stall itself looked dirty to Shubman and not to forget the seller isn't even wearing a glove .

Shubman crisscrossed his arms and stood there impatiently watching Ishan eating.

Ishan felt the pressure on him seeing shubman acting like a ticking time bomb as he hurriedly gobbled down the Pani Puri before shubman actually dragged him from here.

"How much?" Ishan said through his burning mouth. The water was quite too spicy for him but he forgot the spiciness hearing the rate of it.

Did I just hear him say 50 rupees for 5 batasha!?

Oh my holy fudge . I am not even a foreigner!

"Are bhaiya you're selling gold pani puri?" Ishan scoffed. The seller didn't budge from his price and remained firm .

Shubman sighed and put his palm over Ishan's face stopping him and quickly gave a hundred rupees note to the seller , hauling Ishan away from the stall.

Ishan snarled at Shubman as soon as they found a quiet spot and glared at him. Shubman tilted his head at him,"what?" When his phone rang out, he turned to pick up the call .

And when he turned back again , there was no in the vicinity. He pinched his forehead in distress. "Now where did he go? "

But at that moment Ishan came back with a victory smile and pulled Shubman arms , opened his palm and placed 90 rupees on them.

Shubman frowned at the money and sighed ,

"Seriously Ishan.it's just a few amount of money"

"Yes seriously! It's not about money. It's about his dishonesty. I don't mind giving extra money to hard working people but he tried to trick us. That's not good." Ishan stated his thoughts and linked his arms around Shubman's.

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They tried several rides and by now Ishan's head started to go in circles due to continuous movement. A sensation built up in his upper abdomen as he felt nauseous.

Shubman frowned as Ishan's face paled , a few sweat drops forming on his forehead. He opens his arms to reach out to him because he looks like he is about to vomit.

Ishan closed his eyes as he emptied out the content he had eaten earlier and felt light headed.

Shubman had helped him lean forward to prevent choking all while rubbing his back.

Extending a tissue , he cleans the side of Ishan's mouth in concern. "Are you okay now ? Do you still feel nauseous?"

Helping Ishan to take a sip of water , Shubman caressed Ishan hairs . " I told you not to eat too much if you were going to ride.but how can Ishan Kishan Gill listen to me" he taunted and embraced Ishan , rubbing his back.

Ishan felt a lot better after drinking the cold water.

He leaned more into Shubman's arms and pouted.

"My stomach just didn't like the food"

"Yes yes. Now let's head home or you still want to do something here" his tone turned sarcastic at the end as he started walking towards the exit but Ishan remained firm at his place.

Sensing Ishan wasn't walking, Shubman turned around in confusion. Ishan pointed at the Ferris wheel they still had to ride .

Shubman let out a deep sigh and stared blankly at Ishan. This guy had just an episode of nausea and he still wants to go on the Ferris wheel.

He barely reacted to Ishan before languidly walking to the ticket counter.

Ishan clapped in happiness before sprinting up to him as Shubman stared at him with a chilly expression. "Don't run" he was worried that Ishan might end up puking again due to rapid motion.

They sat on one of the open-air gondolas as Ishan felt jitters running over his body. "Woo"

Shubman turned his head to look at Ishan and asked ,"are you happy?"

"Yesssss"

They went higher up as Ishan could almost see the enchanting beauty of the city . "Woahh beautiful!!"

"Indeed" Shubman muttered, his gaze locked at the joyful youth. He extended his hand and made Ishan look at him.

And before he knew , he enclosed their lips together .

Ishan felt the Minty breath on his lips as he leaned towards Shubman, the moonlight casting a nice glow on them.

They moved their lips in synchronisation with a slow pace .

Shubman's hand trailed upward to Ishan's face as he turned it slightly, pulling him in a deeper kiss

The city , the Ferris wheel , everything evaporated from Ishan's mind and he could only live in this moment. This was his entire world right now , nothing else seems to matter.

As they pulled away, Shubman rubbed his thumb over Ishan's now scarlet lips.

"Shubman.... I think I like you" Ishan confessed in the warm moment, gazing earnestly at Shubman .

He has never been with anyone before and had no idea how these things work in real life.

Shubman's cold eyes warmed up as looked at Ishan as if he was a rare treasure. His treasure.

He stretched his arms behind Ishan pulling him closer than ever on the gondola as Ishan instinctively clutch on Shubman's shirt from the sudden jerk.

He placed his forehead against Ishan's. His minty breath brushed on Ishan's lips as Shubman continued his earlier onslaught on Ishan's mouth, letting his actions speak words for him.

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Author's note:

Jeez they are too much 🤧 and damn I wrote too much , Almost 3000 words. 💀

And Not me writing fan fiction when I should be studying for my English literature exam which is Tomorrow 🥲. I have yet to study my whole syllabus .

And yk the only thing I could remember from my syllabus  "fair is foul , foul is fair , hover through the foggy and filthy air" ,🗿🥲