Accusation

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Mr. Rao, Paayal’s father, looked upstairs to the landing, where he saw two small children with blue eyes. He smiled with relief that his three adopted grandchildren were safe and secure from the chaos of the burned-up house. "Gaurav! Chandni! Come downstairs, my children."

The little boy and the little girl rushed down the steps in a second like a flash of lightning. Their grandfather opened his arms and the children leapt into them.

"Are you okay?"

"We are fine, Grandpa," Gaurav replied, pulling a fake smile.

"Where are your parents?"

The three of them bowed their heads and couldn't answer him.

"What is wrong, my children? Where is your mother? And your father?" They still didn't respond to him, and he started getting worried.

Heena first answered his question. "Grandpa? Mother and Father didn't make it."

His eyes opened wide in shock and grief, and he jumped backward. He would have lost his balance, if not for the little arms that held him.

Heena and Gaurav were the ones to rescue their grandfather and keep him from losing his balance. "Are you all right, Grandpa?"

He merely nodded in reply, his mind elsewhere. "Why didn't Sanjay protect my daughter? How did this happen?"

The three looked at each other without answering their grandfather's question.

His eyes narrowed. "What happened? One of you tell me.” When they stayed silent, he added in an angry voice, “Right now.”

Heena jabbed Gaurav in the ribs with her fingers, looking pointedly at him. In so many difficult situations, the sisters always put Gaurav at the front to explain everything to adults. Once again, the sisters put their brother on the spot as the male of the family, though his granddaughters were strong-willed, just like their mother.

“Grandpa…” Gaurav sighed deeply, "Mother and Father – well — they have been taken away from us."

"Taken away? What do you mean, Gov?"

The family nickname spoken by his grandfather made Gaurav tremble so hard he couldn’t get the words out, his eyes just staring silently into Mr. Rao’s.

Gaurav took another breath to speak, someone else said in a deep voice, "I will explain everything to you, sir."

Mr. Rao and his grandchildren turned their heads to stare at the burnt-out front doorstep. The man wore a blue suit and a red cape. Mr. Rao looked very surprised, his light brown eyes growing larger, as he faced the most famous person in the whole wide world, a man portrayed in action figures, comics, movies, also cups, garments, footwear, stationery, and key rings, for a start. Mr. Rao remembered when his young infant grandson begged his late father and his late mother to buy him Superman's action figure from the store.

He glanced at the Man of Steel, here in person. Any awe and delight he felt at seeing him faded before the thought that his daughter and her husband were no more

He opened his mouth to plead.  "Superman? Please tell me, what has happened to them?"

Like his children, Superman looked downward, his chin touching his chest. He bowed his head in respect and also dread. He didn't know how to tell Paayal’s father. The late young woman took good care of his children as her own, and so did her late husband.

"I will explain everything.” He lifted his head and looked directly at the brown-skinned aged man with the graying black mustache. Superman, with the help of his son Gaurav, began the tragic tale with the mystery mist which caused the destruction

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