The next day, Sakshi's alarm was blaring like a fire drill. It had probably rung a dozen times already, judging by the annoyed look that appeared on her face as she blindly slapped at her phone. Her eyes half-shut and hair a mess, she groggily turned off the alarm and, without a hint of urgency, pulled the sheets back over her head.
"Nope," she mumbled in her bed, she had a habit of not using a pillow.
"Not today."
And like usual her sleep didn't last long. When she finally opened her eyes again, the sun had already climbed far too high for comfort, it was literally hitting her on her eyes. With a resigned groan, she rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, toothbrush already halfway in her mouth, when she realized her toothpaste was finished. She groaned, and just put the tooth brush on mouth and went to look at his other part.
Still in her oversized T-shirt and with a zombie's steps, she walked out into the hall, brushing her teeth, practicing brushing lazily, expecting the usual silence. Instead, voices carried from the living room. She squinted, confused.
Her father was there, speaking to someone she didn't immediately recognize.
She would've turned around and retreated unnoticed, probably back to her room, to wash her face and pretend the day hadn't started but then her father looked up.
"Sakshi, come here."
She froze mid-step, eyes wide.
still stuck in her mouth, she looked up slowly. The man sitting opposite her father turned slightly. Her eyes met his.
Dr. Arya.
Her heart skipped. She almost dropped the empty toothbrush.
" Not good." She thinks inside, remembering the weird things that happen in his class, which was the result of his awakening superpower, by using himself as a test subject, who in a right mind does that. And she sifted to her father, and she had a living answer, so forget about this thought.
Her father motioned again. "Come. Dr. Arya has something to say." And he didn't pay attention to her state, to minds like them, this is nothing.
Still stunned, Sakshi shuffled in, slowly pulling the toothbrush from her mouth like it was a sword she didn't know how to hold.
"Good… morning?" she offered, unsure if it was actually morning anymore.
Dr. Arya gave a small smile. "Technically, yes. And… I owe you one. An apology."
Sakshi raised a brow but said nothing.
He continued, glancing down at something in his hands—a small file folder.
"I was… out of line yesterday," he said, his voice calmer, more human than she remembered.
"I overreacted. You know power and that stuff. Your father and I had a long conversation last night."
"Really?" she said, arms crossed, still holding the toothbrush.
Her father cleared his throat but said nothing. Dr. Arya gave a weak laugh.
"Fair. I wasn't sure you'd even be here today, but I asked for a chance to speak with you. To say I'm sorry. And…" He slid the folder across the table. "Also to offer this."
She stepped forward, wary. Inside the folder was a printed document.
"No assignments for the next month," he said.
"Full exemption. You can sit in class, observe, or just work on your own. No submissions, no grades."
Sakshi blinked.
"No tests?"
"Not yet."
"Not group projects?"
"Did you had, before?"
"…is this?"
Dr. Arya chuckled. "just… my way of making things right. And showing that I trust you'll still learn something without being forced."
She looked at her father, who simply nodded. His face said: I really don't care.
Sakshi took a breath. Her father did say Arya had once experimented on himself. The man was practically a second Mahamanav in this world. But now, sitting there with a ridiculous apology and a weirdly generous bribe, he just looked tired. And maybe a little guilty, maybe.
"Alright," She said, taking the file from him.
Dr. Arya smiled. "Fair deal."
She grabbed the folder and turned to leave, she looked back at him once, and without saying anything, she left, disappearing back into her room.
Rohit exhaled, gave Arya a look, and asked.
"That… was the easy part." And he leaned forward. And Dr Arya just looked at him.
He turned his head, and looked at the direction of the fridge and raised his hand, and a bottle of old Bourbon came flying toward them, Rohit grabbed it, and slowly placed it on the table, and asked.
" What the matter? that you need to ask while drunk."
" Nothing, just seeing if you had opened it or not. I remember I gave you this at your forty-ninth birthday. It took me a while to find a bottle made on the same day as your birthday. We both are new to this. If I had known, I would. Give you something else." And Rohit opened the bottle with ease, and poured each small glass.
They both took it simultaneously, and drank in the same way, and they both didn't have much reaction to it.
" Things aside, I wanted to ask you something?" And Rohit, didn't say anything which means he acquiesced.
Arya leaned back, and looked at the empty glasses, both near the opened bottle.
" Rohit." He said calmly, thinking, calculating his words, processing them, and soon came to an answer.
"You were right." He said with a forced smile with little stiffness. And just looked at him without much expression, but his face said it all. And Arya was not in the mood to entertain him, his mind is feeling different now. And he stood up, and left the room, not looking back.
And Rohit just sat there thinking, when he grabbed the glass, and took a sip of another drink, and fell into deep contemplation.
And Arya with his sunglasses entered the elevator, and saw the world through the glass of the elevator, and saw the world below him, and then the sun above him, and he remembered a sentence.
" There are thousands of stars, but only one moon."
" There is silence outside but noise inside." And as soon as the elevator door opened, he heard all the notices, and saw all the people and saw everything about them. But he couldn't understand what kept them alive, he saw the energy, saw the nerve system, saw their brains working, their heart pumping blood in their body, and them maintaining a life of normal. He looked closely at the DNA, and saw all the disease and data in their body. He can cure any diseases and can cause any disease, but why is this happening? He wanted to ask Rohit, but something inside me is telling that something seems wrong. His mind was saying something.
He sat on his car, and he looked at his hand again, and closed them, and he looked up and heard lot of noises, the world is very noisy, the traffic was really bad, and he feel the tremble in the air, and when he looked up, a look of longing appeared on his face.
" How great it would be to just fly over." And busy as she was looking at the sky, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts.
" A soul" He murmurs.
And next, he enters a hospital, holding a flower brooch or wellbeing and a box of old chocolate, and he was whistling a bit, his steps filled with confidence.
He entered a medical room, and saw his old student lying there, eating chocolate..
" Isn't it my favorite student supriya, laying in a bed where she said I'll be sooner or later." And when the person in the bed saw him, she smiled and greeted him.
" Yes! But I'm too young to be there." And Arya laughed.
" That's the reply you get, with a week of extra homework."
" And I can't give you homework now." Supriya murmurs, and Arya sat beside her on a chair and handed her the brooch and the chocolate, and like he expected, she put the flowers aside, and took the chocolate in her hand.
" You haven't changed." Said Dr Arya. And Surpiya didn't reply, just busy herself with chocolate.
" Eat slowly, I can't cure your diabetes, not yet." And she rolled her eyes.
" Professor, have you even thought about anything except science?" And then she looked at his sunglasses.
" Well, Not much." Said Arya nonchalantly.
" How's your health? The tram did a number on you."
" I should be asking about your health, but yeah, I shouldn't be on that tram. But what are you, I didn't see you in college the last time I went."
" You went to college." And he was a little surprised.
" I really… . " And her happy mood fell a little. And seeing this, Arya changed the subject.
" Anyways, how's your job doing? I heard Drisyam is buying your news channel."
" Yeah it's just a trick, they already bought it months ago, they are just pretending now." And Arya didn't care much.
" How's your job doing?" She also asked back.
" Good,,, good, you know. That old good science. Your job is great, I really envy you."
" Yeah." And she hasn't much to ask, and she sighs, and looks a little tired and lonely. And seeing this, he asked, looking at the door.
" So what happened? Why do you look like you talk with your dad?" And seeing her reaction, or say no reaction, he raised his eyebrows.
" So? It's… "
" No it's not like that….but yes! I did talk but I'm worried about something else?" And he asked, paying her attention with his mind, not eyes. They were looking at the door.
" And what is it?" And she sighs, and says in a soft voice.
" Professor, Do you think I'm wrong?" And he was a little surprised.
" I don't take you as an indecisive person, Supriya. What happened?" And she just sighs, and says.
" I don't know, if I ask you something outrageous would you laugh at me?"
" Depends on what you ask?" And she looked a little conflicted, but asked nonetheless.
" What if, what if you have the power, but not the will." And this sentence caught his eye.
" What if I have power to change something, change something for good but I don't, even though the thought I'm changing seems totally unnecessary or redundant." And after listening, he replied.
" Depends, what's the impact, or if you think personally, it's better if you don't have any regrets when the time comes. Or,, you can just pretend and say I didn't see anything. Or maybe, just accept it like a pro. Life is all about choices, wrong or right. It really doesn't matter after a certain level."
" You'll never see a billionaire worrying about his next meal, or if you want Metaphorically. You can decide if you want to eat chicken for lunch or not. But a chicken doesn't have the right to decide if he wants to be eaten for lunch or not."
" But.." She looked I tangled, and said,
" Forget about this, what do you think of this Kirsh guy?"
" Krish?" And he raised his eyebrows.
" I presume that your problems are related to him. Is it because he saved your life?" He asked, thinking if she knew who he was?
" You can say that, in a meeting before I said he shouldn't be there, but the very next day he saved my life, and I'm a little confused. I really don't wanna think about it but my kind keeps recalling this, like it's saying hay, find the answer." And hearing this he laughed.
" You were right on both ends, if I were Krish I really wouldn't care much, it's like he wasn't there, the accident will still happen, and because he was there, he was able to save you. But what if it wasn't there next time? Is it his fault? Would you blame him? And the answer is yes. When something becomes routine, no matter how good or bad it is, a human could not live without it. He saved you twice, but what next, he is a mortal, bigger mortal if you want to say. Your thinking that he should not be there is correct, and your worry of what if isn't there is also correct." And he looked at his hands.
" The moment he decided to put on that mask, his weight got attached to him. No matter what he does, he is now a hero. Life gives us choices, and he chose the path of hero, not once but twice."
" Now you can see, it doesn't matter if he wants to be or not, being a hero was never a glorifying thing, it's just a mask of glory behind a pained face."
" In the end the only thing that matters is, how long can he keep his kind heart."
" And remember a kind heart can always be kind, if he lives alone or dies the next day." And after hearing all this, she lowered his head.
" Isn't it too radical what you think?"
" Well yes. And it also depends on the danger level of the hero we are talking about, Krish hasn't shown anything that interests the people there, at least not yet."
" You already know the answer and result. You just wanted to hear it from others." He said bluntly, exposing her thoughts, which she didn't care about, but secretly nodded.
" So what should he do?"
" As I said, either he hides far away, or dies. These are the last options of a hero. No one cares about a retired hero, does they. Think for yourself. But a dead hero is whole another thing, and if he dies while at work, you can clap or cry." And she didn't reply, just sat there, without much emotion, just loneliness.
" Don't think about it Soup(nickname) This super power thing is not something you can participate in, leave these things for those who can, and think about not getting in trouble in future, you know what I meant right." And she sees his eyes on the medical bed.
" I think he is a bad omen for me. Both times I got injured because of him."
" Yes." He said, and got ready to leave, when she asked the last question.
" What if he loses his kindness?" And he stopped.
" It depends what price the world is ready to pay, Or what price they made him pay." And he left the med room with a goodbye.
" She is right though. So am I. But there is a best, and also the worst choice. Become a God. God feels no pain. As I said before. after a level, things become meaningless. When he has the power where he does need to worry about anything, he could do anything." And he stopped, and looked at the statue of Lord Krishna(A God) in the hospital.
" What do you think?" He asked the statue, and inside his brain cells were constantly evolving.