Nature's Comeback

15- Grandpa

Neer and Ahana were stranded again, all because of their awesome bike. Unlike the previous times, this time the bike has passed the level of no return.

The twins sat beneath the tree, watching with a frown as their bike turned into smoke.

Loud coughing was heard and in a few seconds a huge book fell down from the tree, startling the twins. They both stood up fright and looked up at the tree. Soon enough, a guy of their age came down while still coughing, trying to discard the smoke around him.

"For a moment I thought it was the book who coughed," Neer muttered, having relaxed from the earlier shock.

"Wouldn't be too astonishing if it actually happened. Things have a knack of going weird around us," Ahana responded, all the while glaring at the coughing guy.

"What's the use of your powers if you can't even stop the smoke?" The guy muttered while still trying to wave off the smoke around him. "Useless elements."

With a quick snap of her fingers, Ahana reduced the intensity of the smoke. Still keeping some of it to direct towards the rude guy if he irritated her more.

"Who are you? And how do you know about us?" Neer asked in a cautious tone.

"Don't be afraid. I am not here to harm you," the guy assured with a smile, which disappeared when he saw the unamused look on Ahana's face.

"Okay okay, don't kill me with your glaring eyes. I am Gyaan, the grandson of Mr. Gopal. I hope that you two remember the teacher that took you in," Gyaan said, looking at the twins with a knowing look.

How could the twins forget that man? Not only did he take them in and provide food and shelter, he also helped them gain education for free. They wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Gopal Sir.

"Of course we do. Even if we try, we can't repay his debt," Neer answered, his heart breaking at the thought of that kind Grandpa.

"Then you should have stayed beside him until the end to repay your debts. Why did you two run away?" Gyaan inquired with raised eyebrows.

"I was the one who lit his hand on fire," Ahana informed, while looking down in shame.

"He was well aware that it was an accident. Your powers were new and you didn't know how to handle them. He knew about it all," Gyaan said, making Ahana's head snap up.

"Yes, he was aware of your powers. The main reason he took you in was that he saw me in you two. I was in hospital and he missed me so much. You two were a lot like me, at least for him and that compelled him to take care of you two.

"However, as days passed by, he stopped seeing you two as my substitute. You become his real grandchildren. Until the very end, he wished to see you two again. It was his last wish to see if you two were doing okay."

Gyaan's words brought a new wave of guilt. Ahana and Neer had left his home in a hurry after that day. They didn't want to harm the kind Grandpa by mistake. In the hurry of protecting the Grandpa from physical harm, they forgot about the emotional harm that would come from their leaving.

"Is he...is he...," Neer couldn't complete his sentence. The word 'dead' wouldn't dare come out of his mouth.

Gyaan nodded slowly, still not getting over the fact that his best friend had left this world.

"He asked me to look for you and make sure that you two were doing okay," Gyaan spoke, giving a small smile to the twins.

"Looks like you have been following us," Ahana huffed, but her usual snarky tone was missing.

"I wasn't," Gyaan said defensively, "I was peacefully reading my book when your bike decided to harm my lungs."

"Reading a book while sitting on a tree." Neer nodded sarcastically, "Of course, it is totally believable."

"Alright, I agree. I was following you. Sorry." Gyaan raised his hands in surrender.

"I couldn't say this back then, but why did you two acted so foolishly while trying to help the researchers," Gyaan blurted out suddenly.

The thing was irritating him for a while, but he didn't have anyone to speak it out with. Now he could actually let out his irritation.

"Excuse me!" Both the twins scoffed in unison upon being called stupid.

"Elaborate before I burn your ass," Ahana threatened.

"Come on guys, you both know that you both have low immunity. Then why waste it by trying to make the water and fire disappear," Gyaan huffed, before continuing, "Instead of focussing on your own elements, you should have tried to tackle each other's element.

"Neer could have put down the fire with his water, and Ahana could have made the water evaporate with her heat. After all, creating your powers takes far less energy than you trying to make it vanish. Neer wouldn't have fainted if you tried this method." Gyaan finished, puffing out air from his mouth at the end of his long speech.

"Sorry we don't have that much Gyaan, Mr. Gyaan," Neer said sarcastically, word playing with his name as Gyaan meant knowledge.

"If you knew a better way then you should have come out and told us. What's the use of flaunting your fabulous idea now when everything is done and over with?" Ahana glared at the annoying guy.

"Listen Gyaan, the only reason I am even standing and hearing your nonsense is because of Grandpa. So shut up when I am still being nice," she warned, moving a small flame in front of Gyaan's eyes to let him know about the aftereffects of his blabbering.

"Okay, Okay sorry. It's just that these facts were roaming in my mind since a long time and I wanted to vomit it out before it took over my brain. I won't question your intelligence from now on. So can you please...," Gyaan requested with scared eyes, pointing towards the flame.

The flame disappeared causing him to sigh in relief.

"Everything aside, the creation of the rainbow was too good. The kids floating, the hole in the ground, the walls of water, walking fire, they all were nice. But I think the rainbow surpassed all other acts," Gyaan spoke like he was stating his favourite parts of a movie.

"Just how much did you see? How long were you there witnessing everything?" Neer questioned.

"How do you know so much about us? Wait! You mentioned that Grandpa saw you in us. Like we were like you. So does that mean, you are also an element?"

Before Gyaan could answer Neer's question, they heard Tej's excited voice.

"See I told you there was another element."

The dog had helped the researchers find Ahana and Neer. Having reached they all heard Neer's questions at the last and made their own assumptions about Gyaan.