ShubDaSara

The Tables have begun to Turn

End of 2021

Unarguably their EGO had come in between. When Sara tried contacting Shub, she was told he is currently concentrating on his cricket, while he never really instructed his team to restrict Sara's calls. She was so hurt that she made sure not to dial him again. Shub's version was that Sara never even tried to have a conversation post the fake news incident. He was not the old Shub who had nothing to loose and who would desperately keep calling her, like old times. Now he was a man who was living his dreams. He couldn't just let all of that pass. They both had their own versions of this battle and they both were totally unaware of the other's version of it.

Sara spent the new years in Goa only. She literally had no mood to travel anywhere. Shub had a boys trip planned to Maldives. It was difficult for both of them, it went on to continuously build inside both of them but neither of them was ready to let go of that pain and talk about it.

Early 2022

Shub was busy with his continuous matches. But he kept seeing Sara's pictures from Goa on Instagram. It kept making him feel, "What fool he had made out of himself? Seriously. She is literally chilling in Goa with the same guy the rumors had floated and I am still expecting her to talk to me ? I have to be strong." Thinking this, he decided to unfollow her from his Instagram. It was bothering him. Without consulting anyone from his team, he unfollowed Sara.

When Sara figured out Shub had unfollowed her, her instant thought was to call him or text him to clear it out. But then she remembered Shub's team member's words. He didn't wish to talk to her and now he clearly doesn't even wish to see her, what else could be the reason he unfollowed her. She too decided to unfollow Shub. She shared about this with her friends, not with any of their mutual friends. Even while discussing it with her friends, she was clear, "Guys, I do not want any opinions here. This is what it is from now on."

Meanwhile there was an article claiming "Shubman to be allegedly dating a foreign Model." Sara got to read it and she literally had a good laugh over it, "Ahh! It's fake. I know him too well for this. It is 100% fake! They might have gone out or something but he isn't dating her, for sure." She seemed to be confident.

Sara and Shahneel's equation remained uneffected during all this. They kept on talking and so did Shub and Arjun. Neither of them shared what was going on in their dating life with their siblings, but Arjun and Shahneel had an idea about it. They could feel it, yet again, both of them thought it was better to give them some more time to think about it.

Shub and Sara were still not in a state to accept that something this precious, that they had built over 2 years of love, trust, effort and dedication had just ended, forget sharing it with anyone. But then it seemed like that only, a dead END.

Aug, 2022

Shubman was being approached for various brand collaborations. He had become a STAR. After his massive out of the world performance for Gujarat Titans that year, everybody wanted a piece of him, 2022 was changing his life only for the best but he constantly felt the void inside of him, he was begining to even have trouble sleeping. He was just doing everything he was supposted to do, more like a machine. He had invested all his pain and anger into his cricket. The point was, a closure was still due. It had to happen some time. Both of them now were silently waiting for that only.

Shub was with his team, discussing his August schedule when they said there is a recent meet up planned socially for a brand collaboration with "Sara"

Shub's eyes sparkled. His heart started beating fast, faster than ever. The team continued, "It is with "Sara Ali Khan."
Shub: "Ohh Okay, kya karna hoga ?"
Shub's Team: "Nothing much, you just need to see each other once socially for dinner, that's all.
Shub: "Cool."

End of Aug, 2022
Mumbai

Shub was told about the dinner with SAK and the media was already informed to cover the same! What Shub and even Shub's team didn't know or expect was the fact that media was going to spread the meet as the beginning of yet another dating. The media was too interested in the Cricket-Actor dating angle after Virushka. Shubman had fondly begun to be addressed as the "Prince of Indian Cricket" and Indian media wanted to set him very soon with some popular B-town actress. When Shub went to see SAK, it was a very casual meet. He had legit difficulty in calling her Sara because before this he had always addressed his Sara. He asked, "Do you mind if I call you SAK?"
SAK: "No, that's alright, many of my friends address me like that."
Shub: "Cool then."

Shub was literally not able to look straight into her eyes,in the beginning. That was the extent of missing Sara, his Sara. But he managed, It was something he had signed up for. He was a committed guy! They spent a good time together. After finishing the dinner, they greeted each other goodbye and eventually went back. Next morning, the news of them "allegedly" dating was all over. Media claimed Shubman to be Dating Sara Ali Khan. They even went ahead to say it had always been Sara Ali Khan and how netizens had confused it to be Sara Tendulkar for a while earlier. They claimed this meet to be a date, they were so eager for yet again an actress-cricketer relationship.

Sara was in London while all this news started floating. Obviously, she got to read about it too. It was the first time she could feel what Shub might have felt when he read the news of Sid and her dating. But there was a difference. Shub knew the news was all fake, while Sara clearly had no idea if this news was fake or true? She kept on thinking, "Why would he date a Sara again? Is he obsessed with the name ? Has he already moved on and she is still here, sulking over it all. She had known SAK but stalked her yet again only to conclude that she was pretty and was clearly someone Shub might date. What if Shub was actually seeing her? Unlike last time (during the foreign Model news) these thoughts started disturbing her. Obviously there was nothing, she could have done. She felt like crying, she even cried. Wanted to throw things, she even thought of calling him and having the due closure once for all. She deserved that atleast. But still she resisted herself, she felt it might look very clingy. What if Shub's team misbehaved again? She was not gonna take it again at any cost. She was still the daughter of Sachin Tendulkar, Shub might have forgotten all of it but she remembered, it was her truth. Sara's team very particularly asked her not to make any further moves. Just let it all pass.

Next few days were toughest it could have been, for Sara, she kept struggling. Her phone used to ring continuously, everybody wanted to know about it. The Gossip and obviously as to how was she coping up with it. Her friends, her family, their mutual friends, everyone tried reaching out to her, but she just wouldn't respond. When something breaks, 95% people come to have fun, only 5% people are actually bothered about what had happened. Sara was intelligent enough to understand all this. She was lost, hurt, dismantled too, but not even for a tiny micro second she thought of causing any trouble to Shub. She didn't even tell her family about it. She decided to shut herself down for some days. This was her defence mechanism, she never had a heartbreak like this earlier. But then she had never loved this much too. It kept on hurting her every day, she tried distracting herself with everything possible. With her studies, her projects at college, travelling, binge watching, consuming more ice creams, even tried speaking to few guys in London to distract herself but to her surprise everything reminded her of Shub, the beautiful memories they had made. It was just not getting any better. She decided to start working on a 2023 planner to distract herself and to put her mind into something fruitful. She was not going to allow herself any further free time to miss or even think about Shub.

The only thing she now was waiting for was the due closure, she knew it will come, when the time will be right.

[ No General Trivia for this chapter because I just do not wish to put the SAK pictures with Shub here, we all have seen it and lived it already XD
We do not need it anymore. PS: Hold on, better days are on their way :) ]