While she was on phone with Zubeen, Nia's eyes luckily fell on Mark who was walking out of the Mall and scanning the crowd. Most probably he was looking for her. She quickly hung up the call and almost dived down behind a car parked nearby. She would need to talk to Rhianna about this Mark Adam matter and tell her friend that she was not interested in him.
To her surprise she was not the only one playing truant that afternoon. She was hiding from flirt master Mark Adam, but this toddler...Nia fell into kind of deep thought.
She was jolted out of her momentary meditation by someone shaking her on one of her arms. One thought flashed through her head, like the sudden bolt of lightning, 'Mark, oh god! But wait, the hand feels small and soft. Mark's must be like claws.' She wondered where the toddler hiding there had gone but she lacked time to ponder on that. Nia turned around to look at the intruder behind her.
"Auntie, are you playing hide and seek with your grandma?" The four or five years old angel giggled, covering her mouth with a hand.
Nia smiled at the little girl. 'Oh blessed childhood!' She lamented in her heart. 'I can't possibly tell you that I'm hiding from a mad man.' She sighed and tried to see if Crazy Mark was still loitering around. Luckily there was no Mark. He must have gone back to Rhianna.
"Sweetie, you better go back to your grandma. It'll be dark soon." Nia could not see anyone who looked like a grandma. An arcade was not a place for a child to play hide and seek. She wondered what kind of people let a child be by herself here. Perhaps the little girl sneaked away to hide from her grandma.
"Yana, baby... where are you? Come out, gramma is tired." Some elderly lady's voice came from the front of the car.
Nia who was about to stand up, was shushed by the little girl, her black eyes big and serious. Nia bent down to her height and told her in a soft voice, "Sweetie, your gramma says she's tired. Let's go to her."
The child must have taken a liking to her, for she extended her small hand to hold Nia's big one. Perhaps she considered Nia as sort of kindred spirits, as both were hiding from someone, though Nia was not playing any games with that jerk. She held the child's hand and walked to the front of the car. There no sight of a smiling grandma awaited them. Her eyes searched for the lady who called the little girl a moment ago.
To her horror Nia saw an elderly lady squatting on the ground, clutching at her chest. The child let go of her hand and ran to the woman. "Gramma...gramma." She started crying. Nia acted immediately, bending near the woman, asking if she had any medicine with her. The woman pointed to the bag lying near her. Nia took out the medicine and gave to the woman. As she fed the medicine, she saw the face of the lady clearly and Nia froze.
How many years had passed since she last saw the woman? Was the last time Nia saw her was at the time of her grandpa's funeral? This old woman lying unconscious was once so close to her and her family. Her heart fluttered in her chest.
A suffocating feeling forced its way into her inside. By the time she gathered herself and asked people to help her carry the lady into some car, the driver came from wherever he had been. Nia and others helped him to carry the old lady inside the car behind which she and child had been hiding a while ago. It was grandma's car.
The little girl refused to let go of Nia. As the condition of the lady was critical and she needed to be admitted to the hospital, the driver requested Nia to accompany them. She knew she could not send them off and pat herself as doing enough as a responsible citizen. She could not be that bystander, doing her bit of responsibility. His grandma was once her grandma too. This woman loved her as much as she loved him.
Should she discard grandma for his sin and rejoice at his lose? She was Nirvana, her name signified peace, 'moksha'; the freedom of the soul. She could not be petty to hold a grudge against the sick old woman and let her soul suffer because she was his grandma. Nirvana supposed to bring joy and tranquility to people. Her was not a mere name. It held a soulful meaning. And she loved this woman. Yougal Lucas could not come between the love she once shared with grandma.
Nia asked the driver to take them to the City Hospital. As the car raced through the evening traffic Nia sat on the back seat of the car with the child on the lap. With one hand she rubbed the child's back who had fallen quiet, with the other hand she held grandma who was in a semi conscious state. She sat in a daze, her heart thumped fiercely as the car sped away to the hospital.