" I'm sor-"
"DON'T, JUST DON'T SAY IT. YOU DO NOT EVEN DESERVE TO SAY IT AFTER WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME! I BEGGED YOU, SCREAMED AND PLEAD, BUT YOU DIDN'T HEED MY WORDS. THEN WHY SHOULD I!"
I yelled with tears streaming down my face when witnessing m...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The next few days were spent packing and arranging things to be shifted from the mansion to Adi's house. Boxes slowly filled corners that once felt permanent. Cupboards were left half open, beds stripped, and rooms that had held too many memories were slowly emptied. Everyone had been discharged and was back at the mansion, though Ashok uncle was still on strict bed rest because of his injuries.
That evening, they all gathered in the living room.
The seating itself made things clear.
On one side sat Deenaz, Sharmila, and Suhail. Sharmila was in her wheelchair, sitting upright, her hands resting neatly on her lap. Her expression was calm, but her eyes looked tired. Suhail sat beside her, quiet and withdrawn, saying nothing. His shoulder bandaged from the shot he had gotten was making his movements slow and that irritated him alot, because the bastard his hands was itching to finish off was in the basement thanks to Deenaz and Rafeeq but he can't do anything to him. Deenaz sat comfortably, his posture relaxed, his gaze moving around the room as if he was simply observing.
On the opposite side sat Amaira, Adi, and Anjali. Amaira kept her distance, her body language closed off, careful about where she looked. Adi sat silently, feeling the weight in the room but not knowing how to break it. Anjali watched everyone closely, catching the pauses and the looks that no one addressed.
Elizey sat on the armrest beside Amaira, leaning slightly back, one leg crossed over the other. She looked casual, but her eyes were sharp, missing nothing.
A little away from both groups sat Rafeeq, Amina, and Rehan. Rafeeq remained calm as always. Amina sat close to him, concern written clearly on her face. Rehan sat forward, his phone in his hand, though he hadn't looked at it in a while.
No one spoke.
The silence stretched, heavy and uncomfortable.
Then Rehan finally broke it.
"I have something to tell you all," All of them looked at him.
"For my studies, I had submitted my thesis and was given the Turing award too, right?"
Amaira and Elizey nodded their heads whereas the others who were new to the information were surprised.
"Wow, you got a Turing award and didn't even tell us? This is not fair. And isn't it one of the highest awards in your field?" Amina asked with amusement.
Rehan gave a small smile and said, "Yea, but I didn't think it was much of an important thing and also I got another information to share," he proned.
He paused, as if deciding how much to say.
"Well... I didn't just submit it as a thesis," he continued. "I also sent it as a business proposal to one company."
"IBM as a COO"
That pulled everyone out of the silent reverie.
"They reached out to me a long time ago," Rehan said. "They felt the idea could actually work in their work and that could increase their profit wise. Not just on paper."
