It was a few minutes before the lunch bell rang. Aditya yawned as he looked at the sleeping figures of Kumari and Kranthi on both sides. He was a little envious of the fact that these people could sleep. Since Tya had activated 'Cellular Regulation' ability, sleep was not a necessity anymore for Aditya. Of course, he could sleep if he asked Tya to produce 'Melatonin' hormone from the pineal gland, regulate his body temperature, breathing and heart rate. But, it would be 'artificial'. Even when Aditya yawned, it was due to psychological boredom but not due to tiredness or lack of oxygen levels in the blood.
Yesterday, it took a full hour for Charita to calm down. Comforting girls was not Aditya's forte. He had never faced this situation with all the girls or women that were related to him. Even though Charita calmed down in the end, she took advantage of the fact that Aditya was in the defence to make a request. She wanted to see Aditya's girlfriend. How could Aditya accept? Technically, Ishaan doesn't have a girlfriend, but Aditya does.
When Charita saw that Aditya was hesitating, she started to have suspicions. Did her boss lie to her about being in a relationship? Charita became remained adamant about this demand, and so Aditya had to agree in the end.
"Maybe I should just fire her and be done with it," Aditya thought, but he knew that he couldn't do that. Just like Maahi said, he was not good at rejecting a woman's advances. Well, if Charita was not so beautiful, it might have been easier to do so. But, if Aditya was sure of one thing, it would be that, he did not have the time to afford.
Let alone, Charita, Aditya did not meet Maahi after that day and was only in contact through phone. Maahi had called the other day and was speaking about how her mental capabilities seem to have become sharp. Her working efficiency has also increased exponentially and was wondering if it was because Aditya untied her heart knot.
As his powers increased, the time that Aditya had to spend, to utilise those powers for reaching his goal efficiently, also increased. In the beginning, Aditya remembered going for 'fight' training by elder brother Munna and come home limping every day. The rest of the day was repairing cars and studying. Now, studying has been taken over by Tya and 'fight' training was finished. There were no gang wars, giving warnings or extortion. There was no opposition for Taarini in Bangalore anymore. The building work of the iconic tower had started and was proceeding with no obstacles.
Now the game had stepped up. Aditya was dealing with powers on whom he did not have a complete grasp. Aditya had created three separate identities for security purposes, but in the end, these identities entirely occupied his time. Aditya also felt that his workload would only increase in the future. Speaking about Taarini, Aditya had gone to meet her in the evening after office work was finished.
Aditya was surprised to see that most of Taarini's followers were absent except for a few core members like Munna and Raghav. Aditya had sent Faisal and others to tax haven countries like Mauritius to open a bunch of off-shore companies. Aditya was planning to create foreign bank accounts which could be used to store Tya's 'illegal money'. But he did not know what happened to other followers of Taarini.
When asked, Taarini had said that these people were sent by her to visit scenic places in India. Taarini knew that the final war with the Mumbai Mafia Alliance and others was particularly bloody. It would be a surprise if these followers of her were not mentally traumatised. In the end, they were also humans and not demons. So, Taarini had spent quite a bit of money so that they could take a break for a month. Her plan was for them to stay around these tourist spots to calm their mind and steady their heart. This vacation might help them to come out of the shadow of that night.
When he came to know this, Aditya was reminded once again that Taarini was different from other leaders. As to why Taarini had asked him to come, it turned out that she was also planning to leave Bangalore for two days. Taarini was not going to some tourist place but to bring back the children in her orphanage. Even when those children were sent away, Taarini had gone personally to place them in that village.
When the situation in Bangalore had turned violent and bloody, it was the first thing that Taarini did. Now, the conditions in Bangalore had settled down, and she had come out as the final winner. Taarini wanted to bring those children back. It was clear that she missed them dearly. Taarini wanted to know if Aditya would like to accompany her.
Aditya had struggled a little when he heard her request. Where did he have the time to go on a leisure trip? Aditya had plans to go to Mumbai. But when he thought about how it was the first time that Taarini had asked something like this, he agreed.
Taarini had helped him when he needed someone to guide him the most. Her training, introduction to firearms, fighting and the underworld contacts. Aditya learned a lot under her tutelage. In a way, 'Rudra' was someone that Aditya created, based on Taarini's character. Aditya was grateful for each of these things that Taarini did for him. Maybe it was not a bad idea to relax for two days.
Taarini agreed to wait for the cultural fest in his school to be completed. So, the tour was set for the weekend. When Aditya was about to leave, he asked if Taarini could get a good set of archery equipment and Taarini nodded. Aditya planned to gift this equipment to Kumari.
Aditya and Tya had figured out a new plan to make a lot of money. It was pretty simple, i.e. to sell information. Now that Tya could hack into almost any computer (except that 'Organisation'), Aditya planned to become a trader of secret intelligence. For example, he could hack into the server of a construction company and sell it's 'quotation' details to its rivals. He could sell the secret recipes of a multi-billion dollar food chain company to others. Each famous company has a competitor who would willingly pay a massive sum of money to know their opponent details.
That was the plan for the initial capital. Once Aditya got a fixed sum, Tya could start investing the money into the stock market. For an anomaly like Tya, it was effortless to study the patterns of stock markets. Many companies were employing Artificial Intelligence to do the same thing nowadays. This method was Aditya's way of earning money to fund his plans. After Faisal had completed his job, Aditya will begin his 'Intelligence' trading centre.
The lunch bell rang as Aditya emerged from his thoughts. He turned to look at Kumari who was sleeping and thought, "it's better if this girl took up archery rather than doing this. As for White buffalo, he will most probably inherit his father's car service centre and live a happy life."
Aditya saw Javed, the obese mathematics teacher, walk away without even glancing at the students. Aditya shook his head as he woke up Kranthi and dragged the drowsy Kumari along to their school's old canteen.
Aditya looked at the flowering trees beside the old canteen. Spring was about to start, and many of these trees were covered in beautiful flowers of diverse colours. Aditya was not enjoying the view, but he was savouring the memories associated with these trees. There were flowering trees like the African Tulip tree, Cassia Fistula (golden shower tree), Gulmohar tree (Flame tree) among others. He planted some of these trees with the help of his mother.
It was his mother who had procured these saplings when he was eight years old. It was part of an environmental project at that time when students were required to plant tree saplings. The school administration allocated this plot of land for this project. His mother taught him to use the various gardening tools at that time. Her laughter, which was like a summer-rain, lingered in his ears.
Aditya gazed at those fully grown trees which were in full bloom for a brief while before continuing to the canteen. They were a few students in a different school uniform waiting at the entrance. It was Bhadra and others. Since Aditya had joined the school, either he would visit them during lunch, or they would come to the old canteen. They would change the place each day as Aditya and others did not mind where they ate as long as they spent some time together. But for some apparent reasons, Yu Yan would also stick around.
Kumari suddenly became active as she jumped towards Kavya and Anupama and started chatting excitedly. Aditya and others also talked about some usual things. The topics revolved around the upcoming sports competitions and cultural fest.
Kavya, who was talking with the girls, looked suddenly at Aditya and said, "Bhadra, don't you think that Aditya would be perfect for that role in our skit."
Jatin, who was eating a sandwich choked when he heard these words. The corner of Bhadra's mouth twitched when he heard these words. He turned to look at Aditya with pity in his eyes. Anupama giggled when she heard Kavya words but nodded. Aditya caught these reactions but still asked, "Which role is it?"
Kavya said, "I will tell you if you agree."
Aditya squinted his eyes at Kavya and ignored her. Kavya turned her eyes at Bhadra who coughed and said, "Adi, it will be fun."
Aditya looked at Bhadra and Jatin who seem to be trying hard to keep their faces straight. He sighed as he looked at Kavya, "Okay, I will do it. Should I come to practice or something?"
Kavya shook her head hurriedly as she said, "no need, it is enough as long as you come at the time of play."
Aditya's brows wrinkled as he looked at Kavya doubtfully but still nodded in the end. He was going to become occupied with other things after this cultural fest. So, he might as well have some fun with his friends.