An Assassin's Debt(contd...1)
Part 10
After the English period it was the second language hour and those who opted for Hindi went to the other room where their teacher was waiting and those who opted for Telugu stayed back in the class. The teacher who taught Telugu was Mr.Shastri a man in his sixties who was a very experienced teacher and had been teaching the G-section since 3 years, so he knew all of them very well.
As soon as Mr.Shastri entered the class everyone stood up and greeted him. He scanned the entire class quickly with his eagle like vision and spotted the new boy sitting in the last bench. He knew who the boy was as the Head Mistress had told him about Ravi and everything else but still he wanted to hear the boy speak. So he politely asked the boy to stand up, Ravi was not interested in standing up but respecting his teacher's age, he stood up.
Mr.Shastri wanted to hear how he would speak in Telugu and as he expected when Ravi spoke, he spoke Telugu with a Foreign Accent and other than that he made no mistakes. Everyone was surprised on hearing him speak in such fluent Telugu. Later Mr.Shastri passed the period by not teaching them but by cracking some of his characteristic jokes. Even he told them what books they should bring and left the class after the bell rang.
After his period they had a 15 minutes recess. Again the entire class burst into chatter and everyone were busy with their friends. Pooja saw that no one was talking to Ravi and that he was not eating anything, so she went up to him and asked,”Hey... MM... Ravi did you not bring anything to eat."
Ravi was a little surprised by being approached by someone new and he simply said," I have no one to pack me anything."
On hearing the last statement she was shocked, she never expected that kind of answer, she couldn't say anything else for a moment then she ran to her bench and when she came back she carried with her a pack of biscuits gave them to him, he refused at first but slowly took it from her hand and started eating them one by one.
She was really glad that she was able to at least satisfy his hunger and said, “Ravi you never say that you don't have anyone ever again, you have all of us, OK." "
“Ya right, and my name is Shreya nice to meet you.", saying this Shreya came and joined them and stretched her hand but Ravi did not shake it, he just looked at her for some time and looked away. This angered Shreya all to Pooja's amusement. The scene was really funny for her. Then the rest of the day passed away quickly. While leaving everyone were a little surprised to find a new Black BMW M6 waiting at the gates
Pooja guessed who it belonged to and her guess was right, the door opened and Ravi went and sat in it but just before leaving he stopped the car and said,”Hey Pooja want me to drop you at your house."
Pooja was not at all interested and said, “Ravi my house is near and I prefer walking to going in a car, so bye." and she walked away quickly in the direction of her house.
Part 11
That night near the place Ravi was living the "Shady Man" was waiting for Ravi and when Ravi came, the shady man asked,"Hey Scar how was the first day of your school."
To this Ravi just said, “Humans talk a lot."
"That’s the problem with you Scar, you don't know how to live among humans and for this assignment you need to learn a lot. This one is not like your regular Assassination Missions. Anyway we have our people working in the school and they will see that you don't fail in any subject and I have arranged a membership in the library for you, I also chose some books for you to read, as you have 3 days holidays.
Ravi was briefed about his "new" assignment once again and after sometime they both went their separate directions.
The next day Ravi woke up early in the morning and left for the library He went up to the librarian and said, “My name is Ravi and I have a membership here."
"Ohh Ravi that name sounds familiar.” said the librarian who was a funky teenager and spoke with a strange accent.
"Look, just tell me where those books are OK."Ravi snapped.
"Hey hey what are you getting excited about.”, said the librarian and he checked the library's database and after a few seconds said, “Dude you do have a membership and you have issued 3 books which are kept on table no.5 you can sit there and read them and remember mate no tearing and no writing on the library's books."
Even as the librarian was completing his sentence Ravi walked away from him and searched for table no.5 and found 3 books one larger than the other lying on top of the table. Ravi picked up the first book which was the thinnest of them all and its name read-"Everything You Need to Know-Child's Edition."
Ravi started reading the book and found information on everything from alphabets, poems to good manners etc. By the time he finished it, it was almost closing time for the library.
The librarian came and said,"Hey man everyone left and now its closing time come back tomorrow if you want to still continue reading it." Ravi wanted to just get up and go but he read in the "good manners section" of the book that if someone talks politely with you reply politely, so instead of doing what he was urged to do he smiled back at librarian and said, “I have finished reading it you can put it back where it belongs." and left the place. The librarian was shocked at the behavior of Ravi because on the same morning Ravi behaved strangely and now he was behaving very "Normally". So he put the book where it belongs and left the library.
Part 12
The next morning Ravi woke up very early and went to the "Library" He went to the library early but it was already open and soon he was sitting on his table again and the next book was "Everything You Need to Know-Teen Edition."
He started reading the book and found it interesting because there was information about many things he never heard about, the book had information about everything from Pythagoras' Theorem to the scientific name of Blue Whale.
Ravi spent hours reading and trying to remember anything and everything he could. Then after reading the book almost till the end he reached a chapter called-"Love" and as any other chapter he continued reading it but this was not a normal chapter. It was very different from the other chapters as it had no formulas, no scientific terms, no nothing but just assumptions and guesses. Ravi did not understand half of what he was reading and he wondered how someone could go to great extents without expecting anything in return. He had never experienced "Love" from anyone and he did not know that it was an emotion which was the greatest strength and weakness of humans.
As he was pondering on all these thoughts the funky teen librarian came to him and saw what he was reading, he just said,"Hey Dude, love is not something you can learn from reading books, you need to feel it to find out what it is."
Ravi said, “But from whom can you expect love?"
The librarian was surprised for a moment on what he had heard and thought for a second and then asked,"Hey man, tell me something - who was the closest person to you since childhood."
Ravi thought for a while and in his mind came the face of only person- His Master at A.A.A (Aristocratic Assassin's Academy) but his master never behaved anything that could be termed as loving and caring or anything that he read in the book, so he just said, “I don't know Mister."
The teen librarian was getting late and as he could not think of what to say, he just said,”OK man, I hope you find your love soon, gotta go." So Ravi gave the book and went back to his residence.
Part 13
The next day like the previous day was a holiday and Ravi again went to the library early in the morning and started reading the final book which was lying on the table its title was-"Everything You Need to Know-Adult Edition."
This book was a lot different from the other two books not only in its size but also its contents. It had information on topics ranging from dining etiquette to the recession. Ravi had read about only half of the book by evening and he was not interested in reading further. It was strange for him - to feel bored when he had a task in his hands. But he decided he had learnt enough of humans and the way they think and emote. As Ravi was lost in all the memories of the things he learnt the last 2 days the funky teen librarian came up to him and said, “Dude a Lil piece of advice- the book looks interesting but it’s boring man, so close it and I will give you some better books to read."
Ravi just stared at him for a while and said, “Look Mister, thanks for your advice and you can take the book, I am done reading it anyway." So the librarian took the book from him and went to keep it in its original place and Ravi went home.
That night near Pooja's house, a girl of St.Joseph's Public School was walking down the dimly lit road she hears some strange sounds, her mind was now divided into two parts one part told her to run and other was filled with curiosity. Her urges got the better of her and she followed the sounds. She hid behind the wall of a nearby house and in the dimly lit road at a distance she could see some people surrounding a boy and others were lying on the road moaning in pain. Then she could not believe at what she saw next- the boy was breathing heavily and at least 5 heavily built thugs pounced on him at once. The boy dodged every one of them easily and hit each of them once at particular part of the body and all of them fell down and started crying in pain. After sometime all the painful cries stopped as all of them had fainted, she then saw the lean boy standing among many people who were lying down and were as still as dead. The boy sensed some new presence and called out, “Who is there?"
The girl who was hiding behind the building shuddered in fear when she heard the voice which was filled with cold rage. Then she thought if that guy could finish off so many people and still be standing it would not be difficult for him to find her. So as if in a trance she came out of her hiding place and started walking slowly towards the person. As she got closer in the brightening street light she could make out the outline of a boy of her age. Then when she got close enough she saw the person's face and was shocked to find out that the person was the new foreign exchange student-"Ravi".
Part 14
Her jaw dropped, she said, “You are Ravi right, the new guy at school."
Ravi remembered what he read in the book- When approached by someone, appear more approachable and act friendly with everyone. So his eyes widened for a second and then receded to normal. His facial expression also became normal and a small smile came on Ravi's face.
Her voice still trembling she asked, “What are you?"
Ravi just said," Can I trust you?"
The girl without thinking a moment said, “With all your heart." Ravi asked what her name was and she said,"Aarthi."
Ravi continued," Aarthi, I came to this school with a mission. I am not your average teenager, I am a special agent of the T.S.S (Teen Spy Service) and we have credible information that drug smuggling is happening through the school so I have been specially sent to bust the gang."
"Ravi, I trust you, so who are these gang members and what do they do?” asked Aarthi innocently.
Ravi said, “Well you must have seen many fruit vendors near the school campus- those people sell fruits which are laced with many addictive drugs, so children who eat those fruits even once get addicted to them and the thugs can make the children do anything they want."
Aarthi was not listening to half of what Ravi was saying but she heard things here and there and was able to make out something. She totally believed what Ravi said without even thinking for a split second that he might be bluffing and that he could be "The Bad Guy."
Then Ravi asked her what she was doing here all alone and to this she replied, “Ravi my parents are not at home and they are not going to return for the night and I love to go for walks alone at night."
Ravi said, “You might feel nice about going for walks but it is not safe for anyone these days to venture alone at night so I guess I better walk you to your house."
Aarthi was really excited about walking with a real life secret agent. On their way back Ravi talked very little and even if he did, he asked about the school and students in it and by the time Ravi learnt all he needed to know they reached Aarthi's house and she promised Ravi that she will never go alone at night and also that she will not reveal anything about him to anyone
. No one knew that everything he said to her was a lie, and Agent Scar was a Cold Blooded Assassin and the people whom he had fought with were like thorns in his assignment so he had to remove them.
Part 15
It was a cold night, a couple was walking hand in hand, and in the other hand they seemed to be carrying something. Someone was watching them very closely from a distance, that someone who was observing them suddenly jumped in front of them and the girl got surprised and dropped what she was carrying. The boy also got a little surprised but was quick to take guard and took a defensive stance. The girl then saw a young boy (much younger than her) standing in front of her.
She heaved a sigh of relief and said to her companion, “Toby it’s just a poor kid ,why don't you give him something."
The young boy paid no heed to her words but said in a cold voice, “You thought you could just leave The King and go." As soon as the girl heard the word "King" she shuddered with fright. The young boy continued, “You were King's Personal Assassin and you suddenly left the job because of this human girl, King did not like that at all."
Toby on hearing all this said, “I don't want to go back to that life anymore and anything you say will not make go back."
The young boy said, “King didn't send me to bring you back, he sent me to show you his new Personal Assassin-Me."
Toby was holding a pair of Kendo Bamboo Swords
He dropped one and held the other one tightly. The girl who was seeing all this came up to Toby and said, “Toby, you said you are not going to use them again."
Toby replied, “I promise I won't be hard on the boy."
"If you have finished talking can we start the fight.” said the young Assassin.
Toby said,"Hey kid we don't have to do this, you don't know about me and you are very young to become an Assassin, it's not the life you would want."
"Oh, I know that you use the Toxic Bamboo style of Kendo and your Kendo Swords are made of Bamboo sticks that can poison a person if they touch them."
Toby said, “Even after knowing this you want a fight."
The Assassin just nodded his head as if signaling - "Yes". Toby without wasting another moment sprang fast and swiftly attacking the boy with his bamboo stick and as Toby drew the sword down on the boy's head the bamboo stick struck the ground instead of boy. Toby was really surprised, he wondered - did he misjudge the position of the boy or did the boy move so fast that he dodged the attack. The boy had moved a few feet away from the place Toby was about to strike.
The young Assassin said," Human emotions have really made you slow Toby." Toby was surprised on hearing the boy's words and wondered if he was really fighting a boy.
The boy said," If you finished attacking it's my turn." As soon as he completed his sentence the young Assassin sprang forward and struck Toby directly in the torso with two fingers and Toby fell down spurting blood from his mouth.
The young Assassin was walking away slowly and after taking a few steps he stopped and said, “No one has ever stood up again after taking a direct hit from me, you sure are interesting." and turned around, he saw Toby desperately trying to stand up and at last he stood up.
The girl who was watching all this with horror rushed to Toby's side and supported him and pleaded with the boy, “Please don't harm him anymore, we won't tell anybody about the King please leave us." The young Assassin paid no attention to her words and was walking slowly towards the couple. Seeing that words could not change the attitude of the boy she said, “If it is a fight you want, fight Me." and picked up another Kendo sword.
"Killing you is not a part of my assignment but if you stand in the way you are also going to die.”, said the Assassin coolly and while he was completing his sentence the girl rushed swiftly towards him and brought her sword down quickly, the Assassin dodged her but not perfectly and his arm protector broke with a crack and his hand showed a long black scar.
"She is much better than you Toby.”, said the Assassin and came so fast towards her that her eyes could not catch his image, saying the words, “Crushing Turtle's Fist" The Assassin hit the forehead of the girl so hard that she went and hit Toby and both of them fell down. The girl died instantly and Toby was taking his last breaths.
In his last breath Toby said, “You don't know what you are doing, but one day you will realize how wrong you have been and that day you will be shattered, but at least tell me what name is ."
The Assassin said, "You won't live long enough to remember my name anyway." and struck Toby's neck and Toby's wind pipe got crushed and he too died. Ravi woke up sweating profusely, it was not just a dream but a distant memory from somewhere in the back of his head, he wondered why he remembered it now and thought that reading about all that "Love" and human emotions caused that dream, then he saw the time - it was 3 in the morning so he went back to sleep.
Part 16
That morning after that weird memory flash Ravi woke up at 5 A.M. and got ready to go to Verma Coaching Center. But at the center he was surprised to find that Pooja had not come to their tuition that day, she was sleeping soundly in her cozy bed; she along with her family had gone to their native village and had returned the previous night only so all of them were tired. In their coaching center nothing much was taught that day but Mr.Ramesh before leaving gave them a lot of homework. Ravi returned to his residence and saw the paper. A little smile crept on his face when he read the headlines - "Gang War in Hyderabad an entire gang of thugs found on road. Police say they have no idea of who would've fought with them as they were the only ruthless gang of that area." Ravi smiled because he imagined how the faces of Policemen would be if they knew that it was not a gang who finished them but a Teen (Assassin).
Then he thought, “Such useless people. Can't even clean up the mess after a little get together." He was thinking about King's men and wondered why they did not dispose the bodies. In all these thoughts he saw his Casio G-Shock He was a little surprised to see the time - It was already 8:40 A.M meaning he was going to be late for school again.
As expected by the time he reached school. Their class teacher Ms.Savita was already in the class and he was just in time to give his attendance. She allowed him into the class and like the previous day he went and sat in the last bench where no one was sitting. The first half of the day passed slowly but he got to learn a lot of things which were not in "The Everything You Need to Know Book." During Lunch he was slowly eating something he had brought from his house which he himself prepared. He saw that unlike that other day Pooja was not approaching him but was busy with her friends. He felt that it would not be good to go and talk to her. He also observed that Pooja's best friend Shreya was looking at him on many occasions but he pretended that he did not notice her and continued eating his food.
As he was lost in his observations a boy from his class came near him and said,"Hey Ravi can I sit here."
Ravi took a look at the boy and said, “No one is sitting there."
So the boy sat beside him and introduced himself as,"Hey I am Pavan." Pavan continued, “So tell me which subject do you like more Mathematics or Biology." Ravi was a little taken aback by the question because he was not formally trained in any of the subject. The only thing he was trained was in the Art of Killing and he decided that as he also dealt with bodies and Biology also dealt with bodies that would be the better answer so he simply replied, “Biology."
Pavan said,”Ohh, so you like Biology, then why go to Verma Coaching Center where more importance is given for Math."
Ravi asked, “Who told you I go there?"
"Pooja told me, even I go there but I took the evening batch, just remember many of our classmates go there so if you have problem feel free to approach us."
Ravi just said, “Well I go there only for Physics and Chemistry." He continued, “What else did Pooja tell about me."
To this Pavan said, “Nothing much, did I mention that she is my younger cousin, just like a little sister to me."
Ravi said, “No." and during all this talk the lunch period got over. Pavan continued to sit beside Ravi remaining of the day and Pavan talked about various things and Ravi got to know a lot about the class matters from him. The school was finally over at 3:40 P.M.
Part 17
That evening in Ravi's residence when he was studying what he was taught that day, The Shady Man who had brought him entered the room and said, “Agent Scar, How are you? Oh so even you are studying these days?"
Ravi did not like his presence and muttered, “What do you want?" very seriously.
The Shady Man said, “Scar, I have a new assignment for you."
"But I am already in an assignment right? So how can I take up a new one before that is complete?” asked Ravi
"Are you questioning me Scar?” questioned the Shady Man.
"What about King?” asked Ravi.
"Agent Scar, you are just a Legendary Level Assassin you dare question my authority.” said the Shady Man a little angry.
Ravi was not ready to accept but he just said, “No" against his own wishes.
"That’s a good boy now let me introduce you to Sakura Kinomoto."
Then a twenty something Japanese girl entered the room and said, “Hello Scar, how are you today?" Ravi did not reply anything back but just looked at The Shady Man.
The Shady Man continued,"Sakura is a rich girl and she has been getting death threats from a long time and now someone has kidnapped her father and they brought him here and she has been asked to pay a huge ransom."
"So?” said Agent Scar.
"Well the thing is that tonight is the deal and she wants you to finish all of them when they come to take the money.” said the Shady Man in a matter of fact way.
Sakura said, “Agent Scar I have heard a lot about you and I really want to take revenge on all those who have kidnapped my father."
Ravi looked at the shady man and asked, “Is the contract ready?"
The shady man removed a paper from his coat pocket and handed it to Ravi. Ravi looked at the contract it read- I, Agent Scar hereby accept the terms and conditions of this contract by putting my signature of acceptance on this deal. The deal states that," You Agent Scar will annihilate the kidnappers of my father by any means possible by dawn of the next morning. You will however take care in the making sure that the assassination is conducted cleanly and no suspicion arises. You will be rewarded with a cheque of 500,000 U.S.Dollars if and only the deal is fulfilled on your side." This contract will be confirmed by signature and the deal cannot be taken back once accepted. Ravi read the deal thoroughly and signed on it but he was still disturbed by thoughts of whether he should have accepted the new one night assignment or not.
Part 18
That night while Ravi was still disturbed by the thoughts of whether he should have accepted the assignment or not, the time for the assignment had come and he along with Sakura Kinomoto and a few of her followers went into a dark alley and waited there.
Someone from the followers asked Sakura,"Sakura dono (a term giving respect) are you sure this is the right place?"
Sakura replied,"Kira Chan this is the right place, this is what the kidnappers said." A few minutes later the kidnappers came in a Black Van and the side door opened and an old Japanese man came outside with his eyes blindfolded and hands tied behind him. As soon as Sakura's followers saw that man they drew out their guns and the people from the van also came out and drew out their guns too.
Then their leader came from inside the Van and said,"Sakura darling, I hate bloodshed, just give me the money and no one gets hurt."
Sakura replied, “The only ones getting hurt here are your people."
She then just glanced at Ravi and Ravi clenched his fists and got ready to finish all of them but just then a helicopter flew just above them and from that helicopter a big shadowy creature jumped into the narrow alley.
While jumping the shadowy creature broke the only street light that was casting light in the alley and as it was a new moon night everything became pitch black. For some time dead silence and then suddenly everyone started hearing Blood Curdling screams of pain, sounds of bones being broken and necks being snapped very clearly. In the lights of gunshots Ravi caught glimpses of the creature; it was not human and humongous.
Ravi traced Sakura and standing in front of her, he asked, “Madam, are you alright?" Sakura had some kind of torch with her and she lit it and in its red glow what Ravi's saw made his eyes widen
Sakura asked her father, “Papa Are you alright?" Ravi was astonished at what he saw and was too shocked to warn her and her father was blindfolded so he was in utter confusion as to what was happening around him. Just then the monster with its huge hands threw out Sakura as if she was some toothpick and rushed towards her father it passed Ravi without even touching him and directly pounced on her father, his Spinal Cord snapped and he died instantly without even knowing who or what killed him.
The monster though huge was very agile for its size and it quickly climbed a building and reached its rooftop and started running across rooftops. Ravi did not understand for a second what just happened but when he regained his senses he rushed to Sakura's side and she was taking her last breath.
She asked him in a very low voice, “Why didn't you protect my father?"
Ravi just replied, “My contract said nothing about protecting you people."
Sakura then died in Ravi's arms and Ravi got up and looking at her body he said, “Even if you are dead I will keep my part of the contract."
Ravi also quickly climbed the rooftop and saw the monster going at a distance running and jumping across buildings. Ravi was also quick and soon caught up with the monster but when he was still a little distance away from it he said in a low tone, “Inhibiting 70%" Then his custom made Casio G-Shock glowed green and showed the numbers 30% Ravi got a quick burst of speed and pounced on the monster. The monster was very furry and its coat was rough. The monster stopped for a second and shook Ravi off it and Ravi went and hit a wall of the building. He was trying to get up and the monster came very close to him and raised its two hands like a Gorilla to strike him but it stopped suddenly and turned its head to one side as if responding to a Call. Then it started running again. Ravi was trying to get up but his leg suffered a micro fracture and it was very painful for him to stand up. Ravi was not willing to give up so easily and he quickly searched his pockets and found a small knife and with An Assassin's Precision he threw the knife at it, the knife impaled one of the monster's arms but it did not care for it and as it neared a rooftop after which there were no buildings the helicopter that dropped the monster rose from the ground level and the monster jumped into and the helicopter went away very quickly into the dark moonless sky but just before leaving into darkness in the light of the helicopter Ravi's eyes caught the letter "K" on it and it meant it belonged to The King.
Ravi was more surprised and felt more questions than answers in his life and forced himself to stand up and walk to the road. His leg had swollen by that time and just as he reached the road he made a phone call and within no time he was picked up and sent to a hospital.
Part 19
The next morning Ravi did not go to Verma Coaching Center as his leg had really swollen and it was painful but he did not care much as The Nanobots roaming in his bloodstream were healing the wounds 5 times faster than a normal person. He was deeply pondering about last night's events, just then the door opened and The Shady Man entered the room. Ravi on seeing felt a never before felt emotion-Anger, he did not know what he was feeling and he just wanted to hit him with a Crushing Turtle's Fist but he held back that urge but could not stop his face from showing anger on it.
The Shady Man came and said, “Hello Scar, how are you today?"
Ravi on listening to this got on his feet and a pang of pain passed through him but ignoring it he went quickly towards him and caught his collar and said, “Who are you?, why did you want to frame me against The King?"
"Relax Scar, look what I have brought for you Movie DVDs.”, said the Shady Man.
Ravi was now really angry on him and snapped, “Who the hell are you?"
"You really want to know, well then do you remember a person called Toby you killed 2 years ago."
Ravi's eyes widened on hearing the name Toby but said, “What’s that got to do with you." "Everything!” screamed The Shady Man "My name is Bobby and I am Toby's Father. After meeting that girl Toby started taking really good decisions but you killed him." Ravi now loosened the grip on Bobby's collar and went back a little with surprise Bobby continued, “But I am not angry on you because like Toby you are also just a Pawn in The King's hands, after your need is over he will only finish you off."
"That’s a lie, a bloody lie.” yelled Ravi unable to understand his opinion about King and Bobby. "No its not and even you know that, you are just not willing to accept it yet and I did not want you to realize late about the Value of Life, So I selected you for this special emotional mission, I thought being close to that girl will make you understand the real value of life. Now tell me frankly will you kill that girl-Pooja."
Ravi wanted to say "Yes" but he could not, he just didn't know why. While Ravi was thinking of what to say a little smile crept on Bobby's face as he felt that he was succeeding in his mission.
But the smile vanished as soon as it came when Bobby heard a deep voice which said, “Yes he will and I am going to prove It." the voice belonged to none but The King only. King came from another room and he was followed by his henchmen. Bobby on seeing King removed the knife which Ravi had used the previous night and sprang upon The King screaming like a madman but King's followers caught him and seized the weapon from him. The King and Ravi did not move even one bit.
The King continued,"Mr.Bobby, I never expected this from you, but still I am happy that I am going to send you near your beloved son. Scar, let Mr. Bobby experience how that good for nothing had died." But strangely Ravi did not move, he was very disturbed by his thoughts - one part of his mind was remembering all he had read in the Everything You Need to Know Books and one part of him was remembering everything taught by his master at A.A.A (Aristocratic Assassin's Academy). The King did not like to repeat his orders again and seeing that Agent Scar was not going to kill him he just snapped his fingers and a 6 foot 3 inches tall, muscle bomber standing behind him came forward and went towards Bobby and lifted him in air but strangely Bobby was smiling and that muscle bomber choked Bobby to death. King's other followers carried his limp body away.
The King put a hand on Ravi's shoulders and said," Agent Scar don't think of what that madman said, I love you like a son and that's all you need to know." Ravi did not know what to say and just kept quiet and The King and his men went away after a few minutes. In the posh Limousine where King was seated along with the muscle bomber.
The muscle bomber asked,"Mr.King did you really mean what you said to that Assassin."
The King smiled and said,"Mr.Robert when we say we like our dogs like our children do we really mean it, the dogs will one day attack our children and whom will we side with." Robert understood what the King meant and asked him no further questions. What Bobby and The King said left a deep impact on Ravi's naive mind and he was left in utter confusion.
An Assassin's Debt(contd...2)
Part 20
The next day Ravi came to school as his leg had completely healed(thanks to the Nanobots in his bloodstream) He was surprised to see that he was the first one to enter the class but he still went and sat at the last bench of the class. He was still disturbed by the events of the previous day; he was wondering who was right - The King or Bobby. As he was lost in all these thoughts Pooja entered the class and saw him thinking about something deeply.
She went up to him and said,"Hey Ravi you didn't come to Verma Coaching since 2 days and even skipped school yesterday what happened?"
Ravi was brought back to his senses by her sweet voice but just replied, “Well I sprained my leg and I couldn't walk for 2 days that's why."
"Oh then how is your leg now?” asked Pooja and Ravi said, “Fine and thanks for caring about me."
Pooja's face started reddening because she felt shy when she heard him speaking like that and she said,”Ohh, OK then take care I have to go and meet my friends.” and was getting ready to leave, then Ravi said,"Pooja one sec I need to talk to you."
Pooja was not the type of girl who could easily talk with everyone and be friendly with new people but still she stopped at the door and said, “Yes Ravi what is it?" Ravi then asked her if he could take her books for completing his notes and she said, “Take any book you want from the bag" and left in a hurry to catch up with her friends.
About 15 minutes later Pooja again returned to the class and said,"Hey Ravi there is a park near our school, someone is trying to remove it and build some hotel and as environment friendly students we are going to protest against it, Interested in coming along?"
Ravi was seriously trying to understand what he was writing and he didn't care a damn about any park so he just said, “No" and Pooja went away giving him an angry look. Time for the school bell to ring was very near and no one had entered the class as all had gone to the park to protest against the builder and Ravi was the only one in the class. After he had written everything necessary he went to the staff room and saw that only a few teachers present, when he asked them if they were not going to teach anything that day, they all replied that for that day and the following day there would be no classes for 10th class students.
As he was coming back to class to take his bag and go home Shreya who was running and looking away bumped into him, he asked her,"Hey is everyone going to that Park." Shreya appeared very anxious and replied, “Yes aren't you coming along?"
Ravi replied, “No." Shreya was not the calm type like Pooja and she wanted him to come along so she said, “What kind of student are you, that park has a lot of old trees and its one of the last Natural Green Spots left in the city, we don't want to lose it for some hotel and if the park is gone the pollution levels in the surrounding areas will rise so much that in a few years even breathing in these areas would become difficult."
Ravi after listening to all that said, “Is Pooja coming along?"
Shreya replied, “Coming along? You must be joking she is the leader of the group."
Ravi thought for a second and asked, “What is the name of the builder?"
Shreya replied,"Venu...Venu Gopal." On hearing the name a little evil smile spread on Ravi's face and then Shreya asked, “So are you coming along?"
Ravi just nodded his head and Shreya ran away saying, “You are the best."
That day when Ravi went to the Park, he saw that it was in a very bad state - overgrown grass, unkempt flower beds, unplanned digging and a lot of trash was lying everywhere but it did have a lot of trees. He also saw many students who were shouting slogans like - "Save the Park, Save the City." and others like that.
He saw Aarthi standing at the back of the crowd and went up to her and said,"Hey Aarthi Hi." Aarthi was really excited on talking with Ravi after a long time and said,"Hey Hi, I heard you were not going to come."
Ravi just said, “Sometimes everything you hear is not true, so what’s the situation like?" To this Aarthi replied, “Well Ravi the builder did not turn up and we won't leave of this park without teaching him a lesson or two. And Ya one more thing he is returning from Delhi tomorrow"
Ravi just said thanks and started to leave Aarthi said,"Hey Ravi aren't you going to stay?" Ravi said, “I will return tomorrow." and left.
Part 21
The next day was a very dull and gray as it had rained the entire night and dark rain clouds loomed large over the blue sky. Ravi reached the Park was not surprised on seeing less than half the students who were present yesterday.
He thought to himself, “Weak humans, the going gets a little tough and nobody gets going." Then with his Assassin's eyes scanned the entire scene and found only a bunch of tenth graders who were really concerned about the environment and he smiled when he saw Shreya arguing with someone (most probably Venu) Pooja was standing a little back and was shouting slogans at the top of her voice. His image of Pooja as a Bespectacled, Shy, Introvert, girl was changing drastically when he saw her shouting for a bunch of trees and a little greenery. Now the clouds had covered the entire sky and it had become a little dark, occasionally lightening could be seen and thunders could be heard.
There was chill in the air and most of the students who were present there wore sweaters and were carrying umbrellas in one hand and in the other were placards and as for Ravi he was wearing a gray colored jacket with a hood over his head. He was observing everything from a distance, Pooja then went up to the builder and was talking to him about something, the builder naturally did not like it and it angered him so much that he lost his temper and raised his hand and brought it down fast to slap her but Ravi was quick to act and caught hold of his hand before it could strike her and said, “Leave the Park to us or you will regret your decision." Venu was now very angry and let go off Pooja and now caught hold of Ravi's jacket and started getting rough with him. Ravi slowly lifted his head slowly and as lightening flashed in the sky Venu for the first time saw who he was holding and Venu's hands started shivering.
"Hello Mr.Venu long time no see.” said Agent Scar slowly and Venu instantly let go off him and said, “You... what are you doing here?"
Agent Scar replied, “That’s none of your concern, just leave the park and go."
"What do you want with the park?” questioned Venu.
"Don't you remember what happened to Mr.Murali?",said Scar seriously.
Then Venu had a memory flash, about two months ago he had hired Agent Scar to assassinate Mr.Murali and his family who were the only rivals he had in the building business and Venu knew better than anyone present there of what Agent Scar was capable of doing single handedly.
Now Mr.Venu was shivering more than ever and Agent Scar continued in his low tone, “I think Padmavathi is in the kitchen cutting vegetables and Little Nikita is in her play school, If you want both of them to see tomorrow's sunrise, leave now with all your men."
Venu now trembling in fear which was clear in his shaky voice said, “Please don't harm them I won't come near the park ever again, here are the papers, you can have them for free just don't kill them." All this conversation happened so slowly that only those two could hear each other and nobody else. Then after some brief moments Mr.Venu Gopal took all his men and machinery and left the place. The students were all stunned; they all wondered how Ravi could change the Stone like Heart of Venu just by talking with him for a few minutes when they failed to do that since 2 days.
Ravi just turned back and faced all his fellow students and said loudly, “Friends, I have brought the entire place and I gift it to you all, but we still need to improve this place and make it the best park this area has ever had."
All the students shouted in joy and everyone were ecstatic, all were happily singing, dancing and hugging each other, the mood was like that of a carnival but the weather was dull and a stark contrast to the mood, Ravi went up to Pooja who was hugging all her friends and crying in joy as her little initiative of saving the park was successful and Ravi went up to her and She turned and was about to hug him but stopped when she saw it was a boy, she then smiled shyly and stretched her hand as if for a handshake and Ravi too stretched his hand and they both shook hands for the first time.
Agent Scar was amazed at the softness and delicateness of her hands which were a result of proper upbringing by her loving parents while his hands were rough and hard and he knew why. Pooja said, “Thanks a lot Ravi not only for the park but also for saving me from that brute."
"Hey Pooja don't mention, what are friends for and anyway buying the park is no big deal for Me.”, said Ravi.
Pooja then said, “A lot of our friend's parents are engineers and planners we will ask them for an idea of how to improve the park and every Saturday and Sunday we all will work for a few hours and within no time the Park will become the best."
Ravi replied, “Sure Pooja whatever you suggest I don't know anyone here anyway."
Pooja asked,"Hey Ravi have you thought about any name to the park."
Ravi thought for a second and said, “Friends Park"
"That’s a cool name", said Shreya joining them and asked Ravi, “What did you say to Venu that made him leave so early."
Ravi just smiled and said, “Well, everyone has their weaknesses you just need to know when to use those against them, anyway you wanted the park and you have it."
Shreya said, “You should've left that Venu to me for a few minutes and I would've shown the power of my Karate."
Pooja said,"Shreya when will you learn all battles need not be won by fighting, when a few words are enough."
"Very true.” echoed Ravi and Shreya said, “I don't know about all that philosophy, that’s your department Pooja and this victory calls for a celebration." and all the students once again shouted with joy.
Part 22
As the weeks passed, the park whose plan was laid by many engineers was taking shape by the help of students and anyone who was interested in helping. Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons were spent in gardening, digging dirt, planting saplings etc. but Pooja had to make up a lot of stories to come out of her house every week which included everything from "Special Classes at School to Visiting a Sick Friend".
One such Saturday evening while she was working on the Flower Beds near the Entrance Gate, she was working without a care in the world, Ravi came and joined her and they were working so hard that they got mud spots in many places on their faces.
Then Ravi asked Pooja,"Hey Pooja, how is it that you manage to come twice every week while others want to skip their share of work by giving some reasons."
To this Pooja smiled shyly and replied, “Well Ravi, the thing is that, I have a lot of childhood memories of playing in this green lot and I didn't want to lose it to someone stupid, I just want to do my bit to save the environment before I leave the school."
Ravi couldn't understand what was so great about that piece of land but didn't want to hurt Pooja so he just said, “I am really touched by your will." and Pooja once again smiled coyly then Ravi noticed that the Pooja's left cheek was dirtied and when he pointed out to her to clean it she couldn't get the right spot then he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it clean. Unknown to them someone had clicked their picture in that position.
Then Ravi said,"Pooja I think your Mother is really cool allowing you to do all such kind of activities when most mothers might think that you are wasting your time."
Then Pooja felt a feeling of guilt filling her up and said to Ravi in a low tone, “Actually even my mother is like all mothers she does not approve of me going and doing all such kind of work but I do it out of sheer interest."
Then Ravi told her,"Hey I think it’s better you tell your mother about it because if she gets to know about this from someone else then she might feel bad."
Pooja protested, “If I tell her she won't let me come here again."
"It’s alright Pooja, you initiated the campaign and brought it till here, now even if you back off I won’t feel bad, I will finish all the work even if I have to do it all alone.” said Ravi.
Pooja was really impressed by Ravi's interest in protecting and beautifying the park but she said nothing more and they both continued their work before leaving for their homes.
Later that evening at Pooja's house, when Pooja was studying for her upcoming weekend test in Verma Coaching Center, Shruti who was Pooja's older sister comes up to her and asked,"Hey Lil Sis how was your special class today?"
To this Pooja replies, “It was fine we had Botany today, we learnt a lot about new varieties of plants today."
"Only the theory classes were fine or even the Practicals?” taunted Shruti.
"Sister what are you talking about?" asked Pooja her voice now trembling a little bit.
Then Shruti looked at her seriously and asked, “What is his name?"
"Whose name do you want?” replied Pooja now really scared.
"Don't play games with me Lil Sister I know what have you been up to this entire afternoon and how important your special classes were.”, said Shruti angrily she then continued, “I don't care what you are doing or who he is, but telling lies about it was bad."
Pooja still tried to play innocent but Shruti smiled evilly and showed Pooja her cell phone in which a picture of Ravi wiping Pooja's cheek was there. Pooja was dumbfounded for a moment and just managed to say, “How did you get that?"
"Well, while you and your friend were busy I took it as I was passing by; let’s see what Mom has to say about this.” said Shruti naughtily.
Pooja was really scared about her mother and pleaded with Shruti,"Please Sister don't tell anyone about this I will do anything you say, if you want I will even do all your chores for a week, just don't tell Mom about it."
"Well the offer does look tempting but it’s wrong for you to lie and for me to support you, So...." saying this Shruti started to leave the room then Pooja did one last attempt," Sister I always did what you told me and kept many of your secrets just keep my one secret Please..."
But Shruti left quickly and went up to their Mother who was having a really bad headache and when Shruti showed their photo she was really enraged and angrily called out for Pooja. Pooja came down silently and was shivering from inside. She knew that her mother got those occasional headaches and during that time her mood was really bad. Pooja's mother was talking so angrily that tears rolled in Pooja's eyes out of fear and before Pooja could utter a single word, Pooja's mother slapped Pooja so hardly that finger marks fell on Pooja's face.
Shruti was shocked by the turn of events Pooja started crying loudly and was running away from her mother and just then their door opened and Pooja's Father came in. Pooja ran into her father's arms and started crying loudly. Pooja's father was really taken aback by what he was seeing and he was really tired by the day's work but he couldn't bear to see his Precious Darling crying bitterly and said in a calm tone, “Little Princess what happened tell me everything."
Pooja's mother angrily told him, “Well your delicate darling is not so little anymore. Do you know what has she done?" Pooja's father left the bag in the hall and took his wife inside and asked her what happened.
Shruti was feeling a little bad as she never expected such kind of events, she just said, “Sorry Poo, I never thought that Mom would hit you... I am really sorry." Pooja was really angry on everyone in the whole world for that few minutes and just wanted to get away from there. Her tears continued to roll down her left cheek which had become red because of the slap. After sometime Pooja's father came out and was feeling really bad that his daughter had cheated them but also knew why she did it,
So, with a cool mind he thought for some time and said, “Look Pooja what you have done is really wrong and I am not talking about the gardening part but doing it without our knowledge." His voice was stern but steady.
Pooja said, “I am really sorry, I will never do it ever again." and she meant it. Pooja's Mother was still angry and she was breathing heavily. Later during dinner time Pooja's family had a quiet dinner, even the T.V. was turned off.
Pooja's mother said, “Young lady no more going out all alone or with your friends for a long time, if you were really so interested in saving the Environment you could have convinced me to approve but you took the easy path which is bad."
Pooja's Father cut in and said, “Listen Pooja there is always the Easy Path and Right Path for anything, the easy path may seem tempting but it’s the right path which should be adopted." After a quick dinner Pooja ran into her room and cried silently into her pillow for a long time and she was so tired by the day's events that she fell asleep without even knowing when.
Part 23
The next day nobody woke up Pooja till 7 A.M which was very late according to her and when she woke up she was shocked to realize that she had missed an important day where so much was about to be taught. But when she remembered the previous day's events she was depressed and had to drag herself out of the bed. Her Dad had left for office early and her Mother was busy in the kitchen. Pooja got ready and was not at all interested in going to the school or any place else she just wanted to go to her room and stay inside but she remembered the saying "Everything One Wants One Cannot Get" and sat on the dining table and when she saw what her mother had prepared she was a little surprised to find that her mom had made her favorite Vegetarian dishes Mango Dal and Potato Fry.
Then she slowly went into the kitchen and saw her mother busy with the house work but she slowly said-"Mom" and her mother turned around and found Pooja standing in the door way.
Pooja's mother smiled and said, “Sorry Pooja, I didn't want to hurt you it's just that I was shattered when I realized you also started telling lies."
Then Pooja ran into her mother's arms and hugged her tightly and started crying, through her tears she said, “Sorry Mom I promise you it will never happen again."
Then her mother wiped Pooja's tears and said in a loving voice,"Pooja if you are so passionate about that park I won't stop you from going but next time just don't forget to tell me."
Pooja replied with a smile, “Thank you Mom, you are the best." Then she quickly had her breakfast then her Mom packed her lunch in a jiffy and she went to school.
On her way to school she had a lot of time and thought how foolish she had been in not being able to understand her parents well and while she was walking slowly towards her school her best friend Shreya called out to her and the first thing that Pooja told to her was about the previous day's incidents and Shreya was also shocked on hearing that Pooja's mother had actually slapped her but was relieved when what happened that day morning.
During school in the break after the first two periods, Ravi asked Pooja why she didn't come to Verma Coaching Center and even to him she told the entire incident and he again advised her that she should have told her mother long back. Pooja said that her mother allowed her to work in the park but not every Saturday and Sunday to this Ravi replied "It's OK." Shreya suddenly joined them and said aloud that she would be more than glad to help Ravi but he was not interested in taking her help but said OK. Then the next few periods got over slowly and the last period for that day was called "Library"
In that period the students could either go to the school library or read or could read any other book in the class itself. Many of the students went to the Library and only a few were left in the class. Only about a dozen students were in the class and they were talking to each other instead of reading. Then Pradeep a student who didn't go to the library had to read about something so he went to the library to get the book he required and came back quickly. About 15 minutes later some Ruffians climbed their floor and started talking loudly then they started searching each classroom and finally came to G-Section, then they scanned the class completely and pointed at Pradeep and ordered him to come out. Pradeep went out and asked why they had called him and quickly they were arguing something about a Broken Car Windshield. Pradeep was arguing that he could not have broken that car as he was in the library at the time when they say they saw him breaking the car glass and they said that they saw someone just like him throwing stones from the school terrace which broke the Car Glass.
Now their argument was really getting heated up and the few students who were present were watching with utmost interest. There were about 5 people who had come and one of them rose his hand to slap Pradeep and Pooja suddenly screamed- Someone Help and before Ravi could react someone who was sitting near the doorway jumped onto the person who was about to hit Pradeep and shouting the word,"Shoryuuken" punched the man directly on his face causing him to fall down. Ravi was surprised on hearing that Japanese attack here in his class and wondered for a moment if there was another Assassin in his class but he dropped that idea when he realized the attack was very crude and unplanned. But that boy who jumped into the Party uninvited was in trouble because the surprise element was no longer there and he and Pradeep were surrounded by 5 big men.
Ravi quickly got up from his place and rushed to their aid but he did not hit anyone as the other boy had done but simply caught hold of their leader's arm and said, “All battles need not be won by violence, we can go and talk to the Principal." Even Pradeep said the same thing but their leader was in no mood to talk and got ready for a rumble but many teachers had come and the argument got really loud. Then the teachers convinced them that Pradeep was in the library for some time and he could not have done that harm. Those people went away saying a few swear words and later the teachers praised Ravi for his calm handling of the situation but at the same time scolded the other boy for his unthoughtful action but he said that he couldn't just sit while his friend was getting beaten up. The Teachers later felt that what the other boy did was also right in its own respect. After the scene had completely calmed down Ravi went up to that boy and asked,"Hey what is your name?" The other boy replied,"Sudheer."
Then Ravi curiously asked if he knew the meaning of the word,"Shoryuuken."
Sudheer got really excited and said, “Don’t you know, it means Rising Dragon Fist."
Ravi knew exactly what it meant but continued the discussion, “How did he learn that attack." To this Sudheer replied,"Hey I didn't execute it perfectly, you should see how Ken does it, it’s just awesome."
Now even Ravi was a little excited and asked, “Who is Ken and where does he live?"
Sudheer started laughing and after sometime said, “Dude where are you from, The Stone Age? Ken is my favorite character in the game Street Fighter; its world famous man never played it?"
Agent Scar had never played any video game or for that matter even seen one closely so he just said, “No man from where I come it’s not that popular."
Then Sudheer said in a matter of fact way, “You should come over to my house sometime we can play Street Fighter I have the latest edition and its really cool, there are a lot of characters you can choose from and each of them has their own set of moves."
Ravi was a little awestruck about the whole concept of controlling characters and making them fight each other and said,”Ohh I will come one day but you should promise me that you also come and work in the Park for a day or two the more everyone helps the quicker the Park would get ready."
Sudheer was not even a little bit interested in that Park issue but said,”Ok" After sometime while everyone were leaving for their houses Pradeep came up to Ravi and thanked him from his heart. Ravi suddenly felt strange because many were telling him that he had done a good job by protecting Pradeep while he felt that he had not done anything because he did not even use a single attack. He felt lighter, he felt better and he was actually feeling happy when all were praising him. He thought that it’s a good thing to protect the weak and that too without expecting anything in return. So Ravi decided that from that day onwards he would try to protect the weak.
Part 24
As days passed by Agent Scar got accustomed to ways of humans and now was able to easily blend in with them and pretend to be an Average Teenager. Even the work in the park was finished and was getting ready for its opening ceremony. Another lonely Saturday afternoon where Ravi was at his residence staring blankly at the Biology Text book while his thoughts were drifting somewhere else. Now that the work in the park was finished he could no longer meet Pooja after school or spend time with her during the Saturdays when the school was left early in the afternoon. He didn't know why but he just wanted to be near her, feel her presence, look at her smiling face and such thoughts disturbed him a lot.
He was An Assassin, there was no room in his mind for emotions but he didn't know why he was thinking about her, just then a voice made him come back to his senses. It was Robert's voice who was the King's Personal Body guard, he said,"Hey Scar, King is now serious about that assignment and has taken personal interest in it, he is flying here tomorrow on some work and is going to stay at the King's Cross and one more thing he asked me to deliver you this DVD box and get emotionally closer to the Subject.
Ravi replied, “What are those for, I am very close to the subject."
Robert shook his head and said, “When will you learn Assassin, getting emotionally closer means..... I can't explain it myself just watch these stupid Candy Floss Romantic Movies you will know what I mean."
Ravi just narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice," Why get An Assassin to do An Actor's Job."
Robert said, “This is all due to that Bobby's fault he was given the task to choose and he chose you, Anyway now we have come far and we need you to go ahead with the Assignment." Agent Scar gave a big sigh and took the DVD case from Robert. After their brief chat Robert went away and Ravi got down to the task of watching Movies.
The rest of the day was spent in watching those movies and picking up the finer points in them on how to Love a person. Even the next day which was Sunday was spent like that. Ravi never expected that but he started liking watching all those romantic movies not the funny ones but the serious and intense ones. Some of them had action and a lot of fighting which any boy of his age would like but he did not because for Agent Scar it was all in a day's work. He learnt by heart almost all the Romantic lines from many movies and he could use them freely in regular conversation.
School began on Monday and as that day progressed during the Lunch Break suddenly Ms.Savita came into the class with a little surprised expression on her face and asked Ravi, “Is it true what I have heard?" Other students were also surprised but Ravi calmly nodded his head and said, “Yes"
Ms.Savita continued, “Ravi you don't have to do it, think about your decision once again."
Ravi said, “Madam I have made up my mind and I am not going to change my decision." Other students were now curious and someone from first bench asked Ms.Savita what's the matter.
Ms.Savita's eyes grew a little wide and said, “Ravi has just donated a part of his property to the St.Joseph's Charitable Trust, which itself sums up to Crores of Rupees."
The Students were all a little frozen after hearing such a thing then Pooja made the first move and started clapping her hands and the other students also followed suit. Then after their Teacher left, some congratulated Ravi, some others told about the pros and cons of his deed and some students just did not react. After their school was left Ravi no longer had a Black Colored Car waiting for him at the entrance because he had donated all of them.
While he was walking Pooja come towards him and slowly said, “What you did was really cool, but can you live without all that Riches and Royalties?"
Agent Scar never experienced luxuries till now, all of his childhood was spent in a Dark Metallic Room with his Master who taught him his Deadly Arts.
Ravi just smiled and said a filmy dialogue which he thought was necessary at that time, “Riches may last a lifetime but Good deeds last forever." Those words really impressed Pooja and then their conversation turned to the most common topic between them-"The Friend's Park". Ravi said that the work in the park was now complete and its grand opening ceremony and the person who would be inaugurating their little park would be none other than The King himself.
Pooja stopped walking for a second and opened her mouth wide, “You are not joking are you, I mean such a big and influential businessman coming to open our little Park."
The King in the eyes of normal people was a rich businessman who had all kinds of businesses ranging from "Movie Production Houses" to "Packers and Movers" only a few knew how he had established the monopoly in the business world. Ravi just said that he knew The King since a long time and thought it might be nice if someone like him opened it. A few days later on the day of the opening ceremony of the Friend's Park, King came along with many of his Knights and Mr. Robert being his chief body guard was always by the side of him. The opening Ceremony was very grand and The King gave an inspirational speech about environment and all that kind of stuff.
Agent Scar was totally disinterested in such things and was looking everywhere trying to catch Pooja's eye so that he could give her a smile which would be returned soon but Pooja was totally awed by the presence of The King and did not miss even word of his speech which was written by someone else for him.
After the ceremony was over at The King's Cross where The King was temporarily residing he said, “Scar, this assignment is really important for me and I will not accept any kind of failure and how far have you got with the Subject, does she believe in you completely."
Agent Scar replied, “I don't know King, human girls are very difficult to comprehend."
The King was a little annoyed and said, “I don't know what you will do or how will do it but make her your trust you, fall in Love with you, Then we can proceed with the mission."
Ravi then took his leave with the King and thought about the words, “Fall in Love”, how was he going to do that.
Part 25
Ravi was now devising various plans on how to make her fall for him and for this he was taking the help of various sources which ranged from Movies to the Internet. So one day he came to the school early and found something lying on his place which was the last bench. Curiously he went and saw that it was an envelope. In his career as An Assassin he had seen many different kinds of envelopes some of which were bombs others which spread diseases but keeping all those thoughts aside. He opened the envelope and instead of any biological or chemical weapons he smelt sweet perfume from it and it contained a card inside - A Pink coloured one with the picture of a girl and when he opened the card the words "Missing you a lot Lately." were inscribed on it and below them in a handwriting of a girl were the words-To you Ravi From "Me" any boy of his age if he had received such cards they would have treasured it but he had no reason to save such items so he took one good look at it once again and just tore the entire thing and threw it in the dust bin.
He felt the presence of a person from outside watching him but before he could see the person they went away. Later that day their class teacher Ms.Savita came and announced that they would be having Assignment tests from the next day and the portion would be one lesson in each subject.
5 days later........
5 tests had finished and Agent Scar knew he had done them extremely well, who wouldn't if they got to know the question paper the previous day itself thanks to King's Men and all he had to do was learn by heart a bunch of questions and reproduce them exactly. Even during these tests he kept getting greeting cards from his mysterious admirer - "Me". As the days passed by Agent Scar felt that the cards were getting more idiotic and Ravi more Romantic. On the sixth day of the week when they had the last test he came and found another card waiting for him on his place and in the card was a little hand written message, “It’s easy to have someone in your heart and very difficult to be in someone's so respect the heart that cares for you. And please don’t ignore "Me"." Ravi kept that card in his bag instead of throwing it into the dust bin. During the test he finished the answering the paper a good 30 minutes before the stipulated time and was idling his time thinking about various plans to make the girl sitting in front(-Pooja) fall for him.
Then he heard a whisper calling his name from behind.
Ravi slowly leaned back and asked, “What is it?"
Shreya asked him slowly if he had got the answer for the 9th question. Ravi said, “Yes" and then she asked him if he could tell her the answer. Agent Scar read in “Everything You Need to Know Books that -Cheating is Bad”
So he said her, the same thing and she said,”Ohh Knock it off Ravi it's not bad if you have a solid reason."
Then Ravi asked her one more question, “How Can I tell you an entire answer?"
Shreya thought how ancient Ravi seemed and said, “Just put your answer script to one side and I will write."
As he was asked Ravi did and after sometime Ravi asked her if she had written it and she said, “Ravi I can't understand a thing you have written, your handwriting is so shabby, ask Pooja to give her paper."
Then Ravi tapped Pooja's back with his pen and when she leaned back said,"Shreya wants your paper."
Then Pooja turned back glaring at Shreya and in reply Shreya made a few requesting gestures. Then again Pooja turned front and checked if any invigilator was watching them. Once the Coast was Clear she quickly gave the paper on which the 9th answer was written to Ravi and he passed it back. After the exam was over Pooja gave an earful to Shreya about how she was wasting her time and that she should concentrate more on studies.
Shreya simply smiled and said, “I don't need to worry about my studies as long as you are there for me."
Pooja said, “Ask me next time and the only thing you are going to get from me is a punch." It was the last period for the day and it was English so Ms.Savita entered the class along with the corrected answer scripts. They were not sorted according to Roll No’s and students were being called out randomly to collect their papers. Pavan Kumar had got the highest in English 24 marks out of 25 which was not a surprise to anyone because he was highly talented in the field of English and Math having written several novels in English all of them waiting to be published. Pooja was next with 22 out of 25. Then the last person to receive the paper was Ravi and when his marks were announced all were a little surprised as he had scored 23 out of 25.
Then their teacher called him out of his place and spoke to him personally, “Ravi I am a little surprised at seeing your Answer Script. All the answers are written just as they are in the text book without missing even the punctuation marks."
Ravi replied, “Is it wrong to write like that."
Savita said, “No Ravi I don't mean that but we here at St.Joseph's don't want students to read only for marks but for knowledge of the subject."
"Madam, what are you trying to say.” asked Ravi.
"Read Pavan's paper Ravi, look how well he has written the answers on his own without deviating from the Subject, I want you to write like him.” said Ms.Savita.
"How am I supposed to do that?",asked Ravi and after thinking for a short while Ms.Savita said, “Ravi first of all read voraciously all kinds of books you find in the library, then start writing a diary about your day to day activities. That way slowly but surely your English will improve." Ravi asked for the final time, “Anything else Madam?"
Ms.Savita smiled and said, “Ravi you have to improve your handwriting, it took me a lot of time to correct your paper and I don't think all the teachers have that kind of patience."
Ravi just walked away. The bell rang and the students were getting ready to leave. Pooja came to Ravi and said,"Congrats I saw your paper, you have a good memory Ravi really."
Ravi smiled and said, “Thanks Pooja, Anyone can have memory but only a few like you have talent to write on their own and I think that's what is really great."
Those words made Pooja blush a little. Shreya came towards them and told Ravi, “Today is my birthday and the Party starts at 6 PM." Ravi wished her a Happy Birthday.
Ravi saw that most of the Students who secured less marks than they expected were trying to dispose of the papers in various methods and Shreya asked Ravi what he was going to do with his paper. Ravi simply said, “I have no one to show my paper to." So he tore it made it into a plane and flew it. The design was a little different and because of that the Plane went really far and high. Shreya was amazed by the flight of that little plane and asked Ravi if he could teach her how to make the plane in that method and
Ravi said, “I will teach when I come to your house for your Birthday Party."
Then after Ravi left Pooja came to Shreya and said,"Hey why did you ask him to come an hour before the party begins. What are you planning to do?"
Shreya smiled shyly and said, “Something Personal." Nodding her head in dismay Pooja went away and Shreya was waiting eagerly for the clock to strike 6 PM.
Part 26
That evening after school left, everyone who were invited by Shreya for her birthday party went home quickly and started getting ready because Shreya's parties were one of the best anyone gave in their school and everyone wanted to appear "Cool And Happening"
Ravi also went home and as he had read in books "Everyone wore a suit and was neatly dressed for parties" So Ravi just took out the best suit he had and got dressed in it and was getting ready to leave as the clock was about to strike 6 P.M. On the other side Shreya was anxiously waiting for Ravi to come as she had a lot of things in mind for him. As the hour’s hand of the clock was getting near to 6 P.M she was getting more and more impatient. The clock struck 6 and 5 minutes had passed but still no sign of Ravi.
Then suddenly the door bell rang. The sudden sound made her jump but she quickly went and opened the door. There he was with his shabby hair covering his forehead wearing a very costly suit in which he looked uncomfortable. That was the first time Ravi saw Shreya in a dress other than the school uniform and he felt that she was what teenage boys would describe as being pretty. She wore a chic outfit holding her pet cat "Breezy" in her arms she opened the door and looked him into his eyes and just said "You are late."
Then she had one look at his dress and said, “How old do you think I am going to become?"
Ravi just scratched his head and said,”Hm maybe 16."
"Yes right and this is a party for teenagers and you look like you have come for a boardroom meeting except for the hair though."
Ravi said, “But I thought this is how people dressed for parties."
"Well Ravi people dress that way for very formal parties not for a teenager's birthday, anyway come on in."
Then Ravi went inside and was a little surprised to find none of their classmates there. He said the same thing to Shreya and she said that they were all going to be a little late as they went to buy a surprise gift for her and then she smiled and said, “I know I am going to get a surprise just don't know what it’s going to be."
Then she said to Ravi,"Hey you promised to teach me hope to make Paper Planes the way you make them."
Then Ravi taught her to make paper planes though he was not really interested in doing so. The only reason Agent Scar had to come to the party was because of his subject "Pooja" who being Shreya's best friend would also come. Then after the plane making session was over. Shreya went inside the kitchen and brought Ravi a piece of cake which was not her birthday cake. Then Ravi asked her where her parents were and she said that they had gone out to do some last moment shopping. Then Shreya asked Ravi to come to her room. As soon as Ravi entered the room he was a little surprised by seeing the dominant pink colour used in the room and most of the decor of the room was that of the Hello Kitty kind and he just said to her,"Shreya you seem to like cats a lot."
"Yes since my childhood I have grown up in the company of cats.” said Shreya
Then Ravi sat down and ate the cake he was given. Agent Scar felt that it tasted "sweet" and sweet meant good. Then she took the plate and put it away. She turned on the music player and some romantic instrumental music CD was playing in the background. Shreya then asked Ravi if he would tell her how her new perfume smelt. As if Ravi had a choice he said yes. Then she went near the dressing table and on the table there was a perfume bottle labelled "Black Rose" She sprayed a little of it on the back side of her palm and instantly the room was filled with strong intoxicating fragrance of The Black Rose. Ravi took a sniff in the air and his eyes widened. It was the same fragrance that lingered around all those Secret Admirer cards he had been getting over the past one week.
Then before he could say something Shreya put her hand over his lips and said, “Don’t say anything just listen." then she continued "I have been thinking about you a lot lately, I am not like all the other girls I can't hide my feelings for you and expect that you understand how I feel about you by my talk and all that crap."
Then she pushed Ravi to the wall and went really close to him, the light switch was beside him and she put her beside him and dimmed down the lights. Dimly lit Room, Instrumental music playing the background, fragrance of the Black Rose it was the perfect setting for a Romantic scene to happen. Then she came close to Ravi and whispered in her dreamy voice, “Ravi I love you and want to be with you forever and ever." .
Such emotions were embarrassing even for someone like Agent Scar. They were like that for what seemed to be a few minutes for Ravi and was in reality only a few seconds. He felt she was a good looking girl, rich and most importantly she loved the boy, any other teen would have said yes and anyone would've guessed what might happen after that but he was not any ordinary teenager and he quickly brightened the lights in the room and said, “Sorry Shreya but I don't like you."
She was totally taken aback by the outcome of events which she had never expected. Then Ravi asked her if she was his mystery admirer and she nodded her head as if affirming. She became really depressed and thought all this to be a bad nightmare and that it should quickly end but it wasn't. For the first time in her life she actually proposed to a boy and he rejected her and that was too much for someone like Shreya who always had the habit of getting things done in her way since childhood.
She had never tasted rejection before. Then she said in a low muffled voice controlling her tears, “Why?"
Agent Scar had no concern for the emotions of some human girl and said, “Why should I?"
Then Shreya looked into Ravi's eyes and looking at her misty eyes anyone would've said sorry but Agent Scar looked away and she continued, “Then what about all those long flirty chat sessions."
Ravi was now really confused and asked, “What chat sessions are you talking about?"
Shreya was still thinking Ravi was trying to make her cry and wanted her to beg him but he was serious he knew what he was saying and said,"Shreya I really don't understand what are you talking about."
Then Shreya rushed to her bedside drawer and removed a few papers from that and pushed them into Ravi's hand. Ravi glanced through them and found that they were the printouts of chat sessions. The tone of most of the chat sessions was very romantic and personal. Agent Scar's Assassin mind was quickly processing the facts and making inferences in record time.
Then Shreya asked Ravi, “Why are you doing this to me Ravi after all such long talks I have been waiting for you since two months from the day you told me that you were going to be transferred to my school and that you had a crush on me."
Agent Scar just needed to know one thing and he asked a very basic question, “Did you see me any time before I came to school." Shreya said no and that’s all that Agent Scar needed to know.
Then he said,"Shreya, sorry to disappoint you but that’s not the id I am currently using, that is my old hacked account, you must have chatted with some hacker all this while."
Then Agent Scar completely understood the scene - "There must have been a real boy with the name Ravi Teja who was an orphan in a foreign country and that he must have been transferred here and that she must have met him through some social networking websites which were making the world a global village and to put Agent Scar in Ravi's place the King's men must have bumped him off sometime before approaching Agent Scar." Hacking was very common and that he used to his advantage.
"No you are lying, just pretending that you don't know Me.”, said Shreya now tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Ravi said seriously,"Shreya I have never seen you before I came here and I never thought about you anything more than just a girl in my class that’s all."
Shreya was now crying bitterly she was still adamant to let go of him and tried one last resort Shreya said,"Ohh Ok Ravi leave the past but now why don't you start thinking about me?"
Ravi never thought that a girl like Shreya so tom-boyish and care free attitude could go to such extents for a guy, then he knew that he had to end this once and for all and just like in the movies he used the ultimate dialogue ,"Shreya to be frank I don't have any kind of feelings for you."
That was it and that was the limit for Shreya's patience. She stood up was trying hard to hold back her tears in which she was unsuccessful said in an angry voice, “Ravi it's your bad luck you are missing someone like me."
Ravi was getting laugh but controlled it and said in a serious tone, “Forgot to give you this Shreya." and he removed a small box and kept it on a nearby table and finally said, “Happy Birthday." and left.
As he was leaving he met Pooja near the door way and just went away without saying anything to her but looking at the expression on Ravi's face Pooja rushed into Shreya's Room and found her crying bitterly. Then on seeing Pooja, Shreya hugged her tightly and started crying even louder. Pooja anxiously asked what had happened and did that Ravi hurt her. Shreya wiped her tears and narrated that entire incident to Pooja and Pooja just did not know what to say so she said, “Take him lite who cares about him , if you ask me I think he looks a little weird, I promise you we are going to find a much better boy friend for you."
Pooja knew all that she was saying was childish crap but at that moment that seemed the most appropriate words. Then Shreya asked slowly, “Do you think I am going to get someone better than him."
Pooja was glad that her plan was working and said, “Yes I am 100% sure about that."
Then Shreya hugged Pooja happily and said,"Pooja you are the best friend a girl could ever have." Pooja was just happy that she could make her best friend smile again. They spent the rest of the evening finding all the flaws in Ravi which made Shreya feel much better. Then after sometime her birthday party started and she slowly forgot the ache in her heart but once the party ended she remembered all the incidents that had happened in the evening and felt a little depressed again but drifted to a dreamless sleep.
An Assassin's Debt(contd...3)
Part 27
The next morning we find Pooja worshiping in the small Vinayaka Temple that was established in the Friend's Park. The next day their results were going to be announced and Pooja always had the habit of going to the temple to pray and wish for a better rank. Then while she was leaving the temple she was called by Ravi who had "accidentally" bumped into her at the park. The truth was he was observing her every move since the time she woke up. The first emotion Pooja felt on seeing Ravi was disgust because he had hurt her best friend on the previous day which was also her birthday. So in Pooja's eyes Ravi had committed a big crime. Then even though she was least interested in talking to him she continued to do so because of only one reason-"The Lonely Orphan" their talk slowly diverted to Shreya and her proposal.
Ravi said seriously that he had no interest in her whatsoever.
Then he asks her,"Pooja what do you think about me?"
The first words that entered Pooja's mind, “Cheat, Rogue etc.etc." but the words that exited her mouth were,"Hmm Ravi you’re a good boy."
Ravi wanted to hear something more and continued,"Pooja anyone can say that I want to hear something you personally feel about me."
Pooja still wanted to use those words but concealing her true emotions she continued, “Ravi you study well, are rich, I think you are someone whom lucky girls get as their boyfriends."
Pooja for a moment couldn't control what she was saying and Ravi was a little surprised by the words he was hearing from her mouth.
But then he responded,"Pooja, why don't you be that lucky girl?"
Pooja stopped walking suddenly and said, “What did you just say?"
Ravi looked back and continued, “I know it might sound cheap and all that but I always had feelings for you since the first time I saw you in that dimly lit stairway; So Pooja will you be my Girl Friend?"
Now Ravi's head was filled with images from romantic movies where "the Hero tries lots of things and makes the place and time in which he proposes to his Lady Love very special" but he was doing it some small park in broad day light. Then he made all those thoughts vanish by thinking that they were only movies and this was real life. Then Pooja came up to Ravi and said, “Ravi, do you understand what you are saying, we are only 16. All this you talk is not love it's only attraction."
Agent Scar felt that he was failing in his mission and that was something which never happened till now so he suddenly screamed,"Love,Attraction,Infatuation call it whatever you want I wanna be with you and I don't care a damn about anything else." That sudden burst of Ravi and choice of words made Pooja smile a little as she found it funny but then she realized what she was getting into and said, “Ravi I.. I never thought about you in that way."
Then he said the same thing that Shreya said to him the previous night, “It’s O.K. start thinking now." after hearing those words Pooja's mind was exactly divided into two parts
The good side telling her,"Pooja, go ahead with him, he is perfect for you and he has no one; if you also reject him he will become lonely again."
The evil part was telling her, “Who cares about his emotions, what is he to you. Remember how he hurt your best friend, take revenge by rejecting him. Remember Pooja Revenge is sweet." Then the good part and evil part of her started fighting each other and all this sudden turn of events caused a little confusion and she only managed to say, “I don't know Ravi I need some time to think."
"Pooja just remember I will never let anything harm you ever again.” said Ravi and
said, “It’s O.K Ravi leave that lets talk about something else."
Then Ravi said he would go and get her something to eat and she said yes but for Pooja being in the company of Ravi suddenly seemed a little strange. Then she started thinking about him in an analytical manner looking at all the possibilities. After some thinking she felt he might not be bad for her. Then another major question was in her mind, “Should she say yes or no."
She thought about the various possibilities that would occur and why should she say yes -"She could also become one of those girls in school who flaunted their Boy Friends and went with them to parties and dates. Get or demand gifts.
Then she went into the emotional aspect of their relationship and thought would it continue throughout the year and why was he doing this. She hadn't been proposed by anyone before, everyone always saw her as A Boy's Girlfriend's Best friend that’s all."
Then she thought why should she say no-" It was their final year at school and was an important one as the result would be crucial in determining their future. Being the final year at school they would have to break up after one year because continuing a long distance relationship would be very difficult for them." Then she decided it would be better if she politely rejected his proposal as that would be good for both of them.
As she was lost in all these thoughts A group of ruffians surrounded her bench and started talking cheaply about her. Ignoring them she got ready to leave but one of them pushed her and she almost fell down. Then the leader of the gang who was known as "Acid Chandu" infamously because of his habit of pouring acid over girl's faces entered the scene. She got really scared on seeing him because he was a merciless gangster and he came close to her and said, “This lot was our hideout and now you took it away from us and I will take away your beauty from you."
"No, please no don't do this to me I only did what was right; please don't hurt Me.”, pleaded Pooja.
Ravi came towards the group and asked Pooja ignoring them completely,"Hmm Pooja do you like the cheese or the tomato flavour of the 'Corn in Cup'."
Pooja had too many things on her mind and her favourite flavour of 'Corn in Cup' was not one among them and then she thought "Is Ravi Blind, can't he see what’s happening."
Ravi knew exactly what was happening but didn't care a bit for them; he just didn't need to think about those low lives.
Then he asked Pooja in a very casual tone, “Shall we leave it's getting a late."
All this discussion didn't go down well with Acid Chandu who always wanted to be the centre of attention of everything. Then one of the gang members came and told in Chandu's ears that this was the boy who did not let them hit the other boy who broke a Car's windshield in School. Then Chandu ordered his men to hold Ravi while he poured acid on Pooja's face.
Then gangsters who were near Ravi grabbed hold of his arms and he offered no resistance at all. There were some 10 people and Agent Scar could finish all of them within a minute but didn't want Pooja to see that side of him. Then he continued to talk casually, “Look Mister what you are doing is really wrong and if you hurt her even one bit you are going to regret it..... A lot."
Chandu spoke, “First I will make you watch her being disfigured then we will kill you... painfully."
"I tell you one more time and this is going to be the last time, stop it now or you won't be there to stop it later.” said Agent Scar.
"Ha Ha Ha this little punk talks big, bring in the acid bottle”, ordered Acid Chandu to one of his men.
Then one of the men brought a bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid. Then he opened the bottle and allowed a little to fall on the ground and the ground dissolved away. Pooja's fear made her freeze on the spot unable to move and from a little distance Acid Chandu hurled acid at her.
Part 28
Acid Chandu hurled acid at Pooja from a distance and she covered her face and looked away. Agent Scar knew this was the perfect moment. He broke free from his captives and he quickly said the words, “Inhibiting 20%.” He gained a sudden burst of strength and speed and then muttered the words, “Eye of the Assassin Activate." closing his left eye and opening only his right one.
Suddenly the world appeared to go slow around him. He could even see the acid coming towards Pooja in form of drops separated from each other. He pounced upon her and they both fell down away from harm's reach.
For a moment no one understood what had happened. Then things became clearer, -Ravi actually broke free from his captives and then pushed Pooja away from the acid in all over a fraction of a second. Pooja herself was not sure how it happened. Then Agent Scar quickly got back to his legs and lifted Pooja up and without uttering another word, he grabbed her arm tightly and started running straight towards Acid Chandu. But just before they bumped into each other Agent Scar moved a little aside and pushed Acid Chandu down.
Pooja and Ravi started running really fast and she was not exactly an athletic person, she was soon out of breath and couldn't run any longer. So they turned into a by-lane and were in for a shock because they entered a dead end and on the other end of the lane Acid Chandu's gang members blocked the entrance. Pooja was now certain that she would die and Agent Scar had far more important thoughts in his mind - It's no big deal for me to finish all this creeps in a minute but then I would have to reveal my identity to the subject that would mean the end of the mission. I have never failed in any mission but if I don't kill them they are going to kill me and I wouldn't want that scenario to arise.
Being the monsoon season the sky had become dark gray and Thunders could be heard and lightning could be seen occasionally. What started as a slow drizzle quickly turned into heavy downpour and that setting was perfect for a bloody fight scene to happen.
Pooja had told something about the almighty God to Ravi who always granted wishes to ones who truly prayed him. Agent Scar had never been to any temple or even thought about the existence of God till then but he closed his eyes and said, “Dear God, I don't know if you are listening to me or not but if you are, don't let me reveal my identity and I will I will...." he had to promise God something he thought and said, “I will not kill the subjects of my next two assignments."
Rain continued to pour over their heads and Ravi opened his eyes
Only to find the gangsters coming close to them. Seeing that he had no other option.
He turned to Pooja and said, “Sorry Pooja." he meant it in a different context but she thought that he was saying it because he would be unable to protect her. Then he started walking towards them slowly and he felt a pull from behind, it was Pooja who caught his sleeve and said, “No don't they are going to kill you."
Ignoring Pooja's warning he continued to walk slowly towards them and this time closing his right eye he uttered the words, “Eye of the Assassin Activate."
Again the world appeared different for him but this time Agent Scar was seeing the world in different colours, he was not seeing their faces but was able to see the weak spots of every person who was coming towards him and he had been trained to strike most of the weak spots in relatively very little time. He clenched his fists and got ready to fight them off but he stopped on hearing the sound of a Police siren.
The Police Jeep was on its regular patrols and stopped to check what the commotion was. Then Inspector Ram the newly transferred Police Officer got down from the Jeep and shouted,"Hey who is there and what's going on?"
The ruffians ran away on seeing the Police and Ravi deactivated his special eye. From that moment on he started believing that God existed and was really grateful to him. Then Pooja narrated the entire incident to Inspector Ram and he personally offered them a lift home. As they were going in the jeep. Pooja noticed that tears were rolling down Ravi's cheeks and she asked him why he was crying.
The real reason was that the ability "Eye of the Assassin" strains one's eye a lot and as Agent Scar had used simultaneously for two times, his eyes were burning up and the tears were helping them to cool down. But Ravi wanted to use the scene to his advantage and said, “I would never forgive myself if something had happened to you today." he wiped away his tears and then she asked him another question, “Why did you try to fight off those brutes when you knew you had no chance of winning against them."
Ravi just got another opportunity, he said,"Pooja I just thought it would be better to you know.... die protecting you rather than live without you."
That was more than enough, Pooja realized how much Ravi loved her and she had decided what to say to him the next day but she just didn't want to show it and she kept quiet. Finally Pooja's house came and both of them got down there only and she said to Ravi, “What if those brutes attack me again."
Ravi replied, “You know what Pooja, God does exist and he is going to punish all of them tonight for trying to hurt a sweet girl like you."
Then Ravi just said, “Bye, take care." and left. Pooja never expected the turn of events to be like this but she was finally in Love and that too with whom, a person who broke her best friend's heart. Pooja didn't care about anything anymore-Shreya, their Final Year exams. All those things seemed trivial for her now. She had seen how protective he was about her and she knew she had found herself a new boy friend.
Back at King's Cross. Agent Scar was talking with The King only in the presence of Robert who was King's personal Body guard. Agent Scar said, “She is in love with me right now, what next." The King was happy and said, “Good Scar, but let’s take it slowly from here wait for a while before we start extracting info from her."
Scar said, “If you wanted Romeo Spy why hire an assassin."
Robert asked humbly, “Boss who is a Romeo Spy?"
Agent Scar replied, “Romeo Spies were created in ancient times for faking emotions and extracting information from daughters and sisters of Rich and the Influential."
Then Robert also repeated the question why hire him.
Then the King slowly said, “Through our History most of the Romeo Spies fell in Love with their Subjects and the missions had to be terminated abruptly, we wanted to Assassin cause you are trained to come out of any situation alive and most importantly, you don't have emotions."
Agent Scar left the place and outside he looked at his watch and uttered the words, “Tracker Device Activate" then the screen of his watch changed to a map and blinking blip was in an old warehouse not far from the place he was standing and he thought to himself, “Acid Chandu I am going to neutralize you now." and went away.
Part 29
That afternoon Pooja went into her house she hid most of the details of incidents that happened that morning from her mother but somehow she couldn't remove the smile which came upon her face every time she thought about Ravi. She had actually been proposed by a boy and that was a really big thing for her. Then soon her mother noticed that her little daughter was unusually very elated and asked her about the same to which Pooja simply replied, “I think I am going to get a very good rank in class." and then went away.
Pooja later went into the bathroom in her bedroom and there she suddenly saw herself in the mirror. She thought to herself, “What must have he liked in me so much that he would risk his life for me, he doesn't even know me well." then she removed her spectacles messed up her curly black locks and parted them in the side shabbily just like "someone" she now started having feelings about and said,"Pooja will you be my girlfriend?" saying those words she suddenly giggled and thought, “Dumb fellow doesn't even know how to propose to a girl but wants to risk his life for her maybe he does love me." then felt that she should have had straight hair just like her sister so that when she messed her hair up and parted to the side her hair would resemble her now special someone's hairdo.
Fist she felt that Ravi's hair was totally unkempt and uncool but now she started feeling that it was kinda cute and suited him that way. No one knew anything about her wild imagination, even she forgot about it but at times it took control of itself and then she was lost in her imagination in which she and her Ravi were going in a boat and the boat soon left water it was travelling in air was slowly romantically going towards the full moon, her fantasy ride could have continued for a bit longer if it was not for her elder sister Shruti saying angrily,"Pooja you have been in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes come out or else..."
Pooja thought, “Do I need an elder sister?" then Pooja came out and Shruti asked angrily, “What took you so long?"
To that Pooja simply said, “It must be something I ate out my stomach doesn't feel too good."
Shruti then said,”Ohh OK take care." and went inside. Pooja felt that she had to share her feelings with someone or she might just explode with happiness but who could it be with whom she could share such deep personal feelings. Her choice was limited because she had only 2 friends whom she considered very close and one of them was Shreya and she couldn't possibly tell her about this matter and that left her with only one choice - "Teju".
So Pooja called Teju's house and the first thing she said to her when Teju received the call was,"Teju, you won't believe what happened today - a guy actually proposed me and I am a little confused."
Teju thought she had a really analytical brain which she developed overtime by constantly feeding it with tons of crime fiction and detective mysteries, she considered herself an expert in criminal psychology.
Then the first question which Teju asked was, “Who is he?"
Then for a moment Pooja became a little mute and then she told her, “The Beggar Prince."
Now Teju was a little shocked, her analytical mind was going into a hyper-drive deducing all the probabilities and possibilities of why would he propose her? Then she put forth her doubts to Pooja and Pooja said that she also did not know why.
Then Teju using all the possibilities asked her various questions about Ravi and most of the answers were not known to Pooja.
Then Teju told her, “You know what Pooja, I think that he proposed you because he wants something in return from you, I mean come on Pooja who would propose "us" just by looking."
Pooja understood what Teju was trying to tell and she told a little annoyed,"Teju he proposed me not "us" and I think he has genuine feelings for me."
Teju asked how did she know and Pooja told her about the entire incident that happened in the morning and after listening to all that Teju continued,"Pooja think about it once again, anyway where does he sit in the class."
Pooja told her that he always sits in the last bench during classes and during exams he sits just behind her.
. Then Teju exclaimed, “Got it, he wants to copy answers from you and doesn't want to feel anything bad about it, so if you are his girl friend you would gladly show them to him."
Pooja blurted out, “Actually he got more marks than me in most of the subjects."
Now Teju was again back to square one. She just couldn't make out why a rich, good student boy would propose to some ordinary looking studious girl who most perceived as being shy and introvert type.
Then Teju warned her,"Pooja this is the final year at school I think you are going to get distracted by him and it might impact your future also."
Pooja had enough of the negativity and was now having doubts whether she should have called Teju or not but said,"Na, it’s not going to be a problem it’s not like I am head over heels in love with him or anything like that I just wanted to have a relationship before I completed my schooling and I am not going to let this opportunity miss."
Teju did not want her friend's career to derail and she said, “But Pooja you don't know anything about him how are you going to stay together."
Pooja simply said, “Don’t you know Teju Opposites Attract."
"True Pooja but to flock together you need to be birds of the same feather.” said Teju.
Then Teju told Pooja something of a plan to test whether "they" have the same state of mind and Pooja also liked the plan and thought she would execute it the next day.
Part 30
A few hours later Agent Scar was looking at an old Acid Factory and thought to himself, “Couldn’t you have found a better place Chandu?"
Then inside the factory
Acid Chandu was hurling abuses at his henchmen. He said, “All of you are crap, nothing but crap couldn't finish off one kid who touched me. If you couldn't kill one kid how can I expect you all to protect me when something happens, If only I would have been standing....." but before Acid Chandu completed his sentence they all heard the words,
“What would you have done if you were standing Mr.Chandu?" which made everyone turn back only to find the boy who escaped from their clutches back in their lair.
Acid Chandu got up from his chair and said in his hoarse voice, “Sneaky Rat how did you get in. Anyway you are not going to get out alive."
Then Agent Scar coolly replied, “Actually even I prefer sneaking up on enemies but if the enemy is really dumb I can make a front door entrance."
Now Chandu's anger knew no bounds he screamed, “Where are those guards?"
Agent Scar replied, “All are dead."
Now Chandu bellowed in hoarse voice, “Everybody attack!!!"
Agent Scar activated his Assassin's Eye just in time and could see all the bullets coming towards him. For him they were so slow he could easily move through them and one after the other he started killing Acid Chandu's men remorselessly. He was moving so fast, for the untrained eye he appeared as a blur.
Then after a few minutes everyone in Chandu's Gang had been killed and Agent Scar started walking slowly towards Chandu and said in a low tone, “You said you would do something to me if someone would not stop you."
"Forget that I just said it as a joke please don't kill Me.”, pleaded Acid Chandu. Acid Chandu continued, “How did you find me here anyway."
Agent Scar just shrugged and said, “Check your pockets, just before I pushed you I put a small tracker in you and leave that ....your crimes are beyond forgiveness, remember all those people who pleaded with you just before you poured acid on them."
Acid Chandu said, “I will...I will surrender to the police I will even pay compensation to all those people I have killed."
Agent Scar then said, “If only it was that easy... I give you "Jinchu" Punishment given by humans for humans and your punishment is Third Eye Blind." and came swiftly and struck Acid Chandu's forehead with his first two fingers.
A moment later Acid Chandu started screaming wildly like a madman. The pain he was feeling in his eyes was excruciating he was feeling as if hot molten metal was being poured into his eyes. In reality his optic nerves had been damaged and that was causing him pain.
Then through his pain he managed to say the words, “Please kill me, this pain is unbearable."
Agent Scar just said, “Wash your face with water it might just cool down the pain."
Then Acid Chandu started searching frantically for his bottle of water and he tripped over a dead body of one of his henchmen and he fell down. Then he got up his eyes were burning and couldn't see anything and using his hands he scanned the area and found a glass bottle and as he poured water in glass bottle he opened the cap and poured the contents over his face and now pain knew no bounds not only his eyes but his entire face was burning up and he knew he was dying the last words he said to Agent Scar were, “What did you do...." and he died.
Then Agent Scar smiled evilly over Acid Chandu's dead body and said, “Forgot to tell you Mr.Chandu I replaced the bottle of water on that table with an acid bottle your favourite -Sulphuric Acid." Then he took one look at Acid Chandu's now disfigured face and went away into the night humming to himself.
The next day was Pooja's results and more than the results she was excited about what she was going to say to Ravi. In her house she got ready really quick and said that she was going a little early because it was the day of their results but the real reason which only she knew was that -Ravi was coming early to school and if she also went early she could get some "Alone Time" with him and she only her assumption would be true.
At the school gates her Father dropped her and the school was a little deserted as not many children come so early. Her emotions were really sky rocketing as she had never done that before. She couldn't even talk to new people unless it really mattered and now she was going to discuss her future Love Affair with a boy whom she barely knew. As she was entering the class she was happy that there was only one bag in the class and that too in the last bench which meant her "Beggar Prince" had come but where was he she couldn't find him anywhere. Then she entered the class and suddenly Ravi was standing by the wall just beside the entrance That made her gasp but was quick to reclaim herself and said, “Ravi you scared me, never do that again."
Ravi just said, “I did? Sorry." and then after she put her bag on the third bench where she usually sat she turned back to Ravi only to find him eagerly waiting for her answer.
She started,"Umm Ravi I thought a lot about it yesterday, but I still feel that we don't know each other very well to you know... to get into a relationship."
Ravi was quick to react, “You know what I feel Pooja, what’s the fun in loving a person when you know everything about them, if you ask me Love is process of getting to know someone really well."
Pooja thought, “Wow I've never heard that before" but only said,"OK Ravi but we still need to have some commonness between us, like how two waves are in phase."
Ravi replied, “But waves in phase never produce beats Pooja, even I read Physics."
"But Ravi we just ...... can't get into relationship just like that, you don't know anything about Me.”, said Pooja.
"Trust me Pooja you wouldn't want to know more about Me.”, replied Ravi. "Pooja just tell me your answer.” asked Ravi seriously and
Pooja took a deep breath and said closing her eyes, “Well Ravi my answer is Yes..... And No"
Part 31
"Ravi, my answer is Yes... and No.”, said Pooja thinking about Teju who had suggested that answer to her to see if Ravi's and her mind was on the same level of understanding. Then Pooja said, “Ravi if you could... You know tell me why I answered like that and then if your answer is what I am thinking then I am all yours."
Agent Scar thought, “What is all this from where do these girls get all those weird ideas." Then he started thinking why Pooja said such an answer and analyzing her character
he said shyly and slowly, “Yes - because you also like me and No - because it's our tenth and you might get distracted from your studies."
That was the answer she had in her mind and on hearing it from Ravi she was totally blown away by him. She thought she should have some similarities with him and it looked it they were going to share a lot more in common than she expected. Pooja just couldn't say anything further she just blushed and smiled Ravi understood what she was trying to say but still said, “So Pooja say those three magical words, I want to hear them through your sweet voice."
Pooja was too shy to say them in front of him so she turned back still blushing she managed to say, “Ravi, I Love You."
She couldn't believe what she was telling him. The one thing she was advised by many of her well wishers was never to fall for a guy before she left school was but that was what had happened. Strangely she wasn't feeling bad about it, she was feeling light and elated. She turned back to face Ravi only to see him smiling broadly and his eyes were shining. Then she stretched out her hand and Ravi took it gently into his and shook her hand for the second time. Agent Scar was really glad that he had succeeded in completing 25% of his assignment.
After they shook their hands and before Ravi could say anything. Pooja said, “Ravi there are certain rules that "we" have to follow to make this relationship work out."
"OK, anything for you.” said Ravi.
"The first and foremost rule to our relationship is that it has to be a private one.” said Pooja.
"Why like that?” asked Ravi.
Then Pooja seeing downwards said slowly, “It’s just that I made comments on my friends when they would be with their Boyfriends and now if everyone gets to know they will tease me too."
"Ohh OK whatever.” said Ravi and then he continued, “I think it's better if you go and sit in your place for now."
"No its OK let’s talk some more time.” said Pooja.
"Pooja someone is coming." "How do you know I don't hear nor see anyone.” protested Pooja.
"If only I could tell you.” said Ravi.
The truth was that Agent Scar's senses were better than a normal human's and he could hear sounds from even a far away distance and now he was hearing footsteps on the staircase near their classroom
Pooja then said, “Why can't you tell me? Maintaining Secrets from now only?"
"No Pooja nothing like that I just felt someone was coming and anyway lets continue our discussion today evening after school at Friend's Park I will be waiting for you near the forest section.”, said Ravi and just as Pooja went and sat in her place her "Best Friend" Shreya came into the class.
The first thing Shreya said was, “Since when did you start coming to classes early."
Pooja smiled and said, “Since Today."
Then soon the entire class filled up and one after the other teachers came and started distributing the answer scripts and in almost all of them the top three students were Pavan, Ravi and Pooja but the order was not fixed they kept rotating. Then just before lunch came the maths teacher and started giving the answer scripts but this time the Foreign Exchange Student didn't get marks everyone were expecting from him. He only got 16 out of 25 and the reason was simple. Even though he got the question the previous night only 4 questions came from the class work and he attempted them but the other 2 were given from somewhere else and he just left them blank without even attempting.
Generally most of the students in his class scored very good marks in maths as they felt it was easy but somehow Ravi never showed great interest in numbers. Finally at the end of the day their report cards were given and Pavan stood first in the class, Pooja came second, Karthik came third and Ravi got fourth. Ravi could have got second rank had he got more marks in maths. But he didn't care why would he; the fact was that he was succeeding in his mission and that made him happy.
After school Ravi and Pooja straight away went home without even glancing at each other. They promised each other that they would meet in Friend's Park at 6 PM. and now both of them were eagerly waiting at what the other one would say on their first official meeting as a couple.
An Assassin's Debt(contd...4)
Part 32
The moment Pooja went home she showed her report card to her mother and her mother was really glad that her daughter secured the second rank in class but like all mothers she motivated her daughter by saying,"Pandu next time aim for first OK?"
"All right Mom.” replied Pooja and then she continued, “Mom I am planning to go to cycling everyday from today onwards."
Her mother asked,"Pooja, since when have you developed interest in cycling. I told you to go cycling since 2 years and you said you were not interested."
"Mom it's just that my biology teacher explained the direct relationship between development of muscles and their amount of usage. So the more I use my muscles the more they develop, it's a little complicated you won't understand it anyway. Now I am leaving." ,saying that Pooja left for her room.
Then she quickly changed her dress and went off with her old Pink coloured Lady Bird Cycle to the Friend's Park where there was a bicycle track. She reached the track in a minute but instead of going on the track she took a turn and went into the Forest Section of the park which was a little isolated, had a few benches and a whole lot of trees. As soon as she reached the Forest section she saw Ravi sitting on a bench nearby. She stopped the cycle just beside the bench and then after getting down she sat beside him on the bench.
She just couldn't see him directly in the eyes, she didn't know why but it was difficult for her.
Ravi then broke the ice by saying,"Um Pooja Hi."
Pooja also replied,"Hi."
Then not knowing to what else to say he said again,"Hi."
She also said,"Hi."
This way they said "Hi" to each other some more times.
Pooja smiled and said, “It’s OK stop it." Then Ravi said,”Ok."
Pooja suddenly burst out, “Ravi do that again."
Ravi was a little surprised and asked, “What?!!"
"Ravi you just moved your ears do that again.” said Pooja excited.
That was an unconscious habit which Agent Scar had developed through the years He occasionally moved his ears. Others wouldn't know much but his sense of hearing was highly developed and it helped him sense his environment better.
Then Ravi moved his ears again and Pooja said,"Aww Ravi that is so cute."
Ravi didn't know what to say but he still managed to say, “Glad you liked it."
Then Pooja said, “There are still some more rules we have to obey in our relationship. They are - 2.You have to honest with me tell me anything and everything about you. 3. Let your love be true even if we are going to be together for only a year."
Then she continued and told him some more rules and through this conversation Ravi listened to her like a little school boy would listen to his teacher with his hands folded in front of him
Pooja then said, “First let’s start with getting to know some basic things about each other. So Ravi tell me when is your Birthday?"
Agent Scar had to think for a moment to remember when it was and after a few seconds he said, “July 5
"And mine is on July 11, that makes you just a week older than Me.”, said Pooja and then she smiled.
A soft smile came upon Ravi's face and then he said, “What next, my birthday is coming in a few days so what gift are you going to give me."
"Ravi people don't ask like that and if I tell you what would happen to the surprise element.” said Pooja.
"But you are Pooja, and you just said I could talk anything I want with you.” smirked Ravi.
Pooja blushed a little as she felt uncomfortable and said,”Ok leave it. Anything you want to know about me?"
Ravi said, “Not now some other time. But Pooja how are we going to meet again. School and coaching centre both are ruled out."
"Don't worry Ravi, we will meet every day here only.” assured Pooja.
"But what are you going to tell your Mother.” questioned Ravi.
"Oh don't worry about her; she is thinking I am riding my cycle in the bicycle track now and everyday from today."
Ravi asked one more question, “Won’t she get a doubt, I mean if you cycle for an hour you must be sweating a lot.".
Pooja smiled and said, “Ravi, I have really oily skin, so even if I take one round around the track I would sweat so much it looks like as if I have been dipped in water and taken out."
"OK then it would be fun meeting you every day after school at this place.” said Ravi.
Then they talked about some more things and Pooja's One Hour was fast coming to an end and she looked at the watch and said, “Don’t want to leave, but have to go."
Then she took her cycle and pedalled fast onto the track and took an entire round the park. She was right. She was sweating so much anyone would have believed she could have been riding for hours. Just before she left Ravi called out to her and said, “Going to miss you."
Pooja just smiled and went away. Then she went home, took a bath, studied for some time and had dinner. Finally as she lay on her bed, she wasn't feeling sleepy like she usually did. She was getting so many thoughts. She thought about how many things they could have talked about but did not. How many things she should still know about him. Among all those thoughts she finally fell asleep and her dreams were weird and strange as they had always been.
She got crazy dreams in which she was a warrior princess and others such as those. Her dreams were a stark contrast to her outward nature which she put in front of everyone. Everyone thought she was this kind, sweet natured, soft spoken girl who was really weak. But she was not, she was different. She had someone hidden deep within her and only she knew about the real Pooja, till then. In the middle of the night she woke up suddenly thanks to a good dream which turned bad. Then she thought, “I have to tell Ravi about my other side, when I expect him to tell everything about him, I should also be honest and tell him everything about me."
Then as lay in her bed, her mind was again divided into two parts
the good part of her was telling her,"Pooja tell him everything about you first, then continue your relationship. It's good for both of you."
The evil part of Pooja was telling her, “Why do you have to tell him our little secret Pooja, why not hide it from him just like you do it from others." The evil part of hers continued, “If you tell him our secret, he might leave you, feeling cheated."
Then the good part said, “No Pooja, its wrong you want him to love you for what you are and not what he expects you to be."
Finally Pooja said, “You are right Angel, I have to tell him the truth."
Her sister was woken up by those words and said sleepily, “Who are you talking to.... shut up and go to sleep."
Then Pooja decided to herself that she was going to tell Ravi her Little Dark Secret and drifted off to another round dreamy sleep.
Part 33
The next day she didn't want to wake up early but she had to. Then after another 3 hours of strenuous bout of classes in Verma Coaching Center in which she spent most of her time talking to Teju about Ravi. It seemed as if Teju was more interested in knowing about Ravi then Pooja herself. Finally in the end Pooja told Teju,"Enough, I don't know about him anything more, if you want to know more ask him yourself, I will make you both meet."
"What!! Meet? Him, now, No way...” said Teju.
"Yes way.” taunted Pooja and then she continued, “I think he will wait for a minute or two near the stationary shop near our coaching center before his Car comes."
Then when they got down, they saw him waiting for his car and there was some time before Pooja's Father also came. So Pooja went towards Ravi, Teju following her closely and Pooja said,”Hi." That voice was too familiar and pleasant and on hearing it Ravi turned only to find the person he was expecting.
Then Pooja continued, “Ravi, meet my best friend Tejaswini but you can call her Teju."
Teju suddenly froze because she was not accustomed to talking with new boys very freely and didn't know what to say.
Then Ravi after a few moments of silence said, “You can talk to this 'Beggar Prince', he won't bite"
After listening to that Teju was a little shocked a looked at Pooja as if trying to convey, “Did you tell him that." but Pooja was also shocked and then Teju managed to say, “Did you hear that that day, I am really sorry."
"No it's OK.” said Ravi.
Then his ride came and he went away. "Pooja your boy friend is cool and mysterious, I really liked him a lot.” said Teju.
Then Pooja looked at Teju angrily but within she was happy that her best friend also approves of their relationship. Then a few minutes later her father came drove her back home.
Then she went to school and again she went early to find Ravi there all alone sitting in the last bench and then she started the conversation, "Hmm Ravi there is something I need to tell you."
Ravi smiled at her and said,"Pooja the proposal part of our relationship is already over, now you can tell me anything."
The moment Pooja heard she blushed again; she was still not used to talking with him very freely. She felt awkward whenever she wanted to tell him something personal. She felt that he was supposed to be telling her a lot of things and she should be the listening type but for her... the reverse was happening.
Then she continued,"Oh not that Ravi, there is something else I want to tell you."
"OK Pooja go ahead.” said Ravi.
Then before she could continue their conversation ahead, someone else entered the class and it was none other than her best friend Shreya.
Shreya was a surprised on seeing both of them together. Seeing her Pooja stopped her talk right in its tracks and said,"Hi" with a weak smile coming onto her face.
Shreya looked at her suspiciously and then asked her,”Hey Po, what are you doing with him."
Pooja felt very uncomfortable on being asked that question but after a few moments of squeamishness she managed to said,”Ohh nothing, Ravi here was telling me about his new girl friend." and then both of them looked at Ravi and Agent Scar just didn't know what to say suddenly and words failed to come out of his mouth.
Shreya took the initiative and started, “So you have a girl friend? And for her you rejected me."
Pooja came in and said,"Shreya, leave all that, he told you right? That he was not interested in you."
"You don't talk in between.” snapped Shreya and then she continued,"Hey Ravi, show me your girl friend's picture and tell me more about her."
Ravi cleared his throat and said, “Well I can't show her pictures because even I don't have them but to summarize her in one word, she is cool girl to have as a girl friend." S
hreya didn't see Pooja but she blushed again when Ravi told Shreya about his cool girl friend. Then Shreya said, “Can you introduce me to this cool girl of yours."
Ravi then just smiled and said, “Well when the time comes." and went back to his seat and sat down. But before further conversation could continue, some other students also entered the class and there was no point in continuing it. The school was a drag. Both Pooja and Agent Scar were eagerly waiting for their “Park Time” because Pooja wanted to tell him something and he was eager to find out what it was.
Part 34
The school was a drag but it finally got over and then everyone went to their respective homes. Pooja was making all sorts of plans in her imaginative mind to tell her "Dark Secret" to another person for the first time. She went home, changed her dress and got ready quickly and after a cup of milk she took her cycle and was off.
Her mother thought, “Wow she is changing a lot but anyway it’s in a good way only so I have no reason to worry."
After a few minutes the phone in Pooja's house rang. Pooja's mom lifted the phone and said Hello.
The person on the other end said, “Hello Mrs.Reddy, it's me Shreya speaking, can I talk to Pooja."
Pooja's Mom was a little surprised on hearing Shreya on the other end and she said,"Shreya you still didn't go to the park? Pooja said that she went there to meet you."
Shreya was a little surprised but was quick to respond, “Actually I got some urgent work and was going to be a little late and that’s what I wanted to tell her."
"Oh, but she already left, don't worry about her she can wait.” said Pooja's Mother and hung up the phone.
Shreya was very suspicious now. She thought, “Pooja went to the park to meet somebody and took my name. I have to find out who that is.” and quickly went to the park.
In the park, Ravi and Pooja were sitting on the same bench that they sat on previously in the "Forest Section" which was a little isolated. There Pooja was just fidgeting with herself and after a few minutes Agent Scar started getting annoyed by that,
Then he said,"Pooja you said you wanted to talk about something."
Pooja still looking down towards the ground said slowly, “Ravi, what do you think about me?"
"What? Why are you asking all this now?” replied Ravi.
"Ravi a question is not answer to another question, just tell me what do you think about me."
Ravi was a little surprised by her question but said, “Well you are a really good girl."
Then Pooja said, “That, anyone can say, tell me what you think about me."
Ravi smiled and continued; “Now I get it, where this conversation is heading... Pooja I am really lucky to get you... Happy?"
Agent Scar thought this was like a repeat of their conversation a few days ago. But he was wrong because she said,”Na, that’s not what I meant, tell me what is my character sketch according to you."
It took Ravi some time to think what to say but then he said, “Well where to start... Hm I think you are a soft natured girl who wouldn't want to hurt others, you are studious, love to hang out with friends, help them when they are in trouble."
Then Pooja cut in saying, “And My favourite past time is watching Girly gossip shows and talking about them later?"
"Hm Ya.” Ravi echoed.
"Well Ravi there are a few things you need to know about Me.”, said Pooja slowly. After a brief pause she continued, “Ravi, I thought at least you could see through me but no, even you fell for the pretence, but anyway I will only tell about myself.....firstly I am not such a girly or good girl, I have a few dark secrets."
Agent Scar thought,"Hey who wrote her dialogues man... she is saying everything I am supposed to be telling her." She took a deep breath and continued, “I don't like gossip shows, I once ran away from an ice cream parlour without paying the bill, I tripped a boy once when I was in fifth class and made him cry...." She smiled to herself when she remembered that incident but then became a little more serious and said, “You may think I am a little freaky but I speak with Angel and Viper."
Ravi looked a little quizzed and said, “Who is this Angel and Viper."
It was evident that Pooja was feeling very shy now but said, “They are my imaginary friends, Angel is the good one and Viper is the bad one, before I take any major decision I consult them." Another brief pause and then she said, “Ravi I wanted my boy friend to love me for what I am and not what he expects me to be, so if you love me even after this. I will be the happiest person if not......" She never completed that sentence.
Ravi had the most awkward expression she ever saw on a boy's face... it was a mixture of surprise, shock, in short it was very queer. Then she stood up and was about to leave but before she could move one step, she felt a tug on her arm. It was Ravi now smiling softly, and then he pulled gently one more time and made her to sit on the bench. Pooja's eyes were getting moist... She thought that Ravi would think her some nutcase and make fun of her. But he did no such thing. He looked at her with the most caring look that could come on his face.
Then he sighed and said, “Well that’s a little unexpected..... Remember one thing Pooja, I love you and there will be no change in that."
Now tears which had come in her eyes started rolling down her cheeks. Those were not the tears of sadness or pain but happiness and relief. But Agent Scar didn't know people cried even when they were happy and again his face started showing some kind of concern... Then he saw through her specs he saw deep eyes, moist with tears that were waiting to roll down... So innocent and sweet were her eyes. How could she think herself to be evil if she possessed such eyes? He slowly lifted his index finger towards her cheek and flicked away a tear that was rolling down. "Thanks Ravi, I am so relived... I was expecting something different.” said Pooja.
Ravi said,"Hm Pooja, you know what... what all you said as your dark secrets are not so dark at all, if you ask me you just think that you are evil but you are not... you are a good girl."
"No Ravi, I am not that good.” said Pooja a little loudly.
Agent Scar thought, “If she thinks she is not good and has dark secrets for those minute and useless things... what would she think of me when she gets to know my little secret and things I have done in my past."
Making Pooja fall in love with him was a part of Agent Scar's assignment and till now he thought it might be easy for him to do that but after listening to her little confession and how complicated her mind is... It just might take a little longer to complete his assignment than planned previously.
Then Ravi said, “Let me prove to you that you are a good girl Pooja. Tell me whose advice do you follow most of the times - Your Angel's or your Viper's?"
Pooja thought for some time and said, “Angel’s only... But sometimes I even listen to words of Viper."
Ravi smiled and said, “See that proves my point. You are a good girl who just thinks she is not so nice and it's alright to get into mischief sometimes. So tell me how much you made the bill and ran away."
Pooja thought hard and said,”Ohh your asking about the Ice Cream Parlour incident, that day I was alone and made a bill of Rs.140."
Then a big smile came upon Ravi's face. After that Pooja narrated some more incidents in her childhood when she was still not pretending to be a "very good girl" according to her and most of the situations she narrated were hilarious for Ravi.
He had never thought little girls could do such things and after a few minutes... He burst into laughter, something he had never done till that day, Pooja also started laughing out loud with him. She thought, “I was always reprimanded for laughing loud and was only told to give soft smiles but with Ravi I don't need to hold back." and her thoughts continued, “I am so lucky to get him... he made me feel so many emotions like anxiety, happiness, romantic, and madness all in a span of 15 minutes, what would have happened to me if I had not met him."
But after a few seconds of their mad laughter Pooja suddenly stopped.
Ravi still laughing asked through his laughter,"Hey what happened why you stopped suddenly." Then Ravi noticed that Pooja's face which was now a little red with tears and laughter in a short span was showing the emotion of shock. He turned back slowly to find Shreya so angry that she was breathing very heavily and she was definitely not amused at what she was seeing.
