Little Book Of Red Lies | Shubman Gill ✓

22. When fate conspires

It was absurd how everyone was eager to return home early that day. Shubman and Sara had cut their date short because Shubman wanted to sit with Rahul and talk with him about his ongoing board exams. They had developed a ritual where Rahul would rant about everything he found problematic in the curriculum until he was sure that he knew enough to write for the approaching paper. Shubman always found it entertaining.

The way he saw it, both the Arora siblings had inherited the "question everything gene" and would not take anything on its face value. Sara had found it sweet that her boyfriend had bonded so much with her bestfriend's brother. She happily agreed to return home early. After all she knew that over the course of time Shubman had befriended Kavya and Rahul. If only he had managed to do the same with her brother….she let the thought trail off. Tonight was the last night she would get to be this close to Shubman before the IPL madness began. Why waste it by thinking about unsolved problems?

Kavya despised fast trains. Yes they did their assigned job by helping you reach your destination earlier than the slow trains ever would but they were always suffocating. Especially because her returning time was what Mumbaikars would term as, "Peak hours" aka Warzone where you have to have the tact, energy and aggression to push your way into the compartment so that neither do you obstruct anyone else's way and nor do you have to bear the brunt of tired females returning home after a weary day.

And since Kavya had always found it difficult to claim something as her own she struggled. Magnificently. Or embarrassingly. Depending on whose perspective one considers. She hated being the cause of inconvenience to others just because she was too nervous to put her heavy bag up in the space provided for luggage because of her short height. But tonight was different. When Kavya found herself tying a bun and getting ready to board the 6.16pm fast train, she smiled. She had to get home early today. For tomorrow she won't return to see Shubman Gill smiling as he opened the door.

******

Sachin Tendulkar had the urge to return home early too. He had a premonition that he needed to make sure of his children's safety. And God knows that even though he is worried about them everyday, tonight was different. He felt dread rise in the pit of his stomach and acting on his intuition he decided to excuse himself from a launch event party and head home.

It had been a decade since he had first encountered a vampire who was after his life. And when you spend two years saving your life from an immortal creature, you grow used to feeling morbid. But everything had changed the day Manvir and Kamaldeep had sacrificed their life for him. He never received any death threats after that from that devil. It was almost as if he had forgotten about him. But Sachin knew better. He must have found a new target. And Sachin prayed every day that his children were not his aim.

Over the course of years Sachin had gained mastery in keeping track of as many vampires as he could. He knew that Shubman Gill was a vampire. He had picked the signs early. The purple eyelids. The pale skin. Him gasping for breath each time there was blood involved in a fellow player's injury.

Sachin had also been stocking vervain in his house. Under the pretence of bringing goodies for his children from abroad he had always managed to slip some vervain in these gifts… sometimes in a soap bar…sometimes in a perfume….sometimes in a bracelet. Unknowingly Sara Tendulkar had two items with vervain on them. One gifted to her by her father in the form of an anklet and other gifted by Shubman. If only her father had doubted her when she produced jewellery saying that her friend had started a new business and sent free samples for them. If only he knew that his daughter was not dating a human but a creature he feared and was enraged by, to death.

And so it must have been destined that all four of them would return at the same time that day.

*****

"Shubman Gill?" He said, horrified to see his daughter holding his hand. He had lived his whole life trying to shelter the Tendulkars and the Aroras from vampires and God had played such a cruel trick with him!!

Kavya studied Kaka with curiosity. She had never heard so much venom in his voice when he had previously talked to her about Shubman. She vividly remembers each time she had watched an U-19 World Cup match with him. He seemed to find Shubman tolerable. Can the fact that a person is dating your daughter lead to such great scrutiny, she wondered. I guess I will never know.

"Pleased to meet you again, Sir." Shubman says politely forwarding his right hand. Shubman had hoped that the use of the word "again" would soften Sachin's expression. This wasn't their first interaction. Surely, Sachin Sir would give him a chance, right?

But Sachin had no interest in him, his eyes were looking at Sara with remorse.

"Before you say anything Baba, yes we're dating. I'm so sorry, we were planning to tell you soon."

Kavya feels like an intruder and with no plans of hearing the further discussion she rings the bell. Rahul opens it and upon seeing Shubman he tells him that he's looking forward to their rant session.

And that is all Sachin needs to end his patience.

"All of you, inside my house, right now."
He looks at the Aroras too and they frown. Why does he want them?

As soon as they're inside, Sachin asks Sara what the hell is going on. Only he uses the word hell in his head.

And so Sara begins from the beginning. When she reaches the part where she explains how Shubman had thought it would be nice to stay at the Aroras apartment to be close to her, Sachin slaps himself in his head. Amazing. Utterly amazing.

"Of everyone, my daughter decides to date a vampire." He says out loud

"A what?" Sara and Rahul simultaneously shriek.

Uh-oh, Kavya and Shubman think in sync.