Gagan didn't know or understand what their problem was, Adin was smart, like Himu. Kamron wanted to be strong, just like him and Carla... she was beautiful too, maybe not as much as Swara, but that's a brother's opinion, it's got to be biased, but she had better marks on her maths tests than Swara and she also helps Adin in his business, so it's equal, isn't it?
Yet, despite all their similarities, why couldn't they all just get along?
It was a question that sometimes bugged Gagan a lot. Adin and Kamron were respectively 1 and 3 years younger than him, while Carla was the oldest of their generation.
27 years old, she had helped her pregnant mother and grandfathers take care of the children. Yet she and her mother would be denied even touching the babies because of them not being the real blood of the family whenever Liam wasn't around, which had made her, slowly but steadily, bitter, and that bitterness also carried over to her younger brothers, which slowly turned into envy and hatred for their cousins.
Gagan, unaware of it all, just wanted them to get along nicely with each other.
As he was standing outside his grandfather's room, he remembered something, Grandpa was the fine one, Grandfather was... scary.
As he started moving towards the next door, suddenly an unfamiliar sensation rested on his shoulder.
His battle instincts kicked in, he tried taking the hand and throwing the stranger down.
Then he realised that he was in his own home, meaning that it was going to be someone from the family that he would take down, but it was too late, he had already applied the force, he could now only hope that the other person would be fine.
But nothing moved. Surprised, he turned around to see his Grandfather behind him, holding the baluster railing with one hand, next to which was the central courtyard.
Grandfather Carl was a man in his mid-sixties. Though he was 5'9", as tall as the boy in front of him, his lean frame made him look taller. He had a craggy face with almost no wrinkles, which was despite him being a businessman. Saying that he was fit as a fiddle would be an understatement.
{When did he come here? I was pretty sure there was no one in the corridor, no, on the whole floor. How did he move so silently? Why is he holding the railing? Did he already know I was going to throw him? Is it another one of his tests? Scary. Scary. Scary.}
He got really nervous. Sure, he always wanted to fight someone stronger than him, but despite his age, he was sure that this old man could beat him if they were to fight head on. He felt black and red aura around him, one that reeked of blood and death.
"Come in, son." Neither the old man had an unsteady gait, nor a feeble voice. It sounded more like a command on the battlefield than a simple invite to a room.
He opened the wooden door and entered the room. It was a big room, but not too large.
Liam had wanted the whole family to stay together, hence everybody living on the second floor, well everybody other than Himanshu.
Not his grandson, but his older brother, who was killed by some thug in an alley, trying to harm the two of them.
Though he was only 16 years old, he had tried his best to protect them until someone noticed Carl crying and called the police.
Realising that he was in trouble, he tried to run away, but Himanshu stopped him from getting away.
He was a law-abiding, righteous citizen, who would help others whenever they needed it. Always cheerful, always making sure that his little brothers wouldn't have to sleep with their bellies empty. He was a hero. A HERO!
Yet, no one came to help him when he was lying on the street, a knife in his stomach.
He looked at his little brother, weakly smiling and trying to reach his face, "Thank goodness. You are okay." before his eyes stopped moving. His father, his mother, his brother, the breadwinner, the one who would always smile, his everything, everything was taken in that one moment.
The assailant fled the scene, he was caught a few weeks later, but all he got was a sentence of 18 months and 6 months of probation. Why? Because it was an effing juvenile court. Apparently, a seventeen year old killing someone in broad daylight and fleeing the scene isn't a big enough deal.
That day, he was filled with regret, if only, if only he was strong, strong enough to stop, no, kill, anyone who would try to harm his family.
But he was an orphan for as long as he knew, with a four year older big brother, who was a student, not a fighter.
Yet, the next day, there was a fire in his eyes, a fire of revenge, madness and determination.
He then joined a local gang, received training, and killed the rival gang's leader, who hadn't expected a 10 year old kid dressed up as a white bird on Halloween to have a gun.
That was the beginning of the Legend of the White Crow, who would eat up anyone and anything in his way.
An year later, he found that little thug up in an alley. It was the only murder he committed imperfectly, and the only thing he confessed to when he was caught. All of his other crimes, well there was no evidence. Oh! By the way, he was only 14 years old when he got caught, so only a sentence of 18 months and 6 months of probation for him. The same one that the guy had got. Oh, the cruel, red thread of fate.
After he was out, he was a free man with lots of money, so he used the connections he had established in the four years to start a small business of manufacturing car products.
Some years later, he chanced upon a secret society of mercenaries and assassins, who saw that his attacks didn't pack much of a punch, but his technique and cunning were commendable. So, he trained and trained, until he wasn't just cunning anymore, but strong and cunning.
Twenty years after he had started the business, his brother Liam said he wanted to create an AI that could traverse through anything, so he did his best to provide his brother with everything he needed to complete his dream, also it was the optimum time for an AI that could take you anywhere, whether you were in a car, a ship or in a chopper. One that was stronger than the old ones. Since the Cleansing had just happened and the old ones would lead to places still filled with saltwater, all the maps needed to be started again from scratch.
Feingold was the creation of the century, combined with the Kingdom cars, it was simply the best. Internet search, facial recognition, problem recognition, self-defensive capabilities and of course self driving, there was all there could be, making the Kingdom a simply unbeatable company.
Carl's only regret was that he couldn't give that punk a more gruesome death, which made him hit the hardwood table in front of him with a loud thud.
Seeing Grandfather's angry face and him releasing a killing intent almost made Gagan wet his pants.
Almost.
**********
Author's Note: That was wayyyyy too long and it totally became Carl's chapter instead of Gagan's.