Runaway

Chapter 27

The elevator opened making a ting sound . I have come to this building almost a quit number of time before, there is nothing new to see here around, the same containers in the backside of the building, same office rooms, conference rooms and what not. He took a left turn and a right turn, soon it leaded to small narrow passage. I have never seen this before, we were approaching the end but he halted a 3 feet before it. He pulled out his phone and opened something, but I was fully consumed in my thoughts rather than looking at him. I heard a shifting sound, I turned to my right to see him but he was looking above, a ladder unfolded itself and gradually came down. He held out his hand and I grabbed it, climbed the ladder carefully. Holy macaroni cheese, it's a secret room. I went inside and saw the whole cctv footage of the company was flashing on about 20 to 25 screens, which were fitted on the wall. Five computers were placed alongside of it. A couch was laying adjacent side of the room. The room was separated by a glass wall, I went near it and tried to push open, but unfortunately it didn't. I thought I was doing the wrong way and pushed it a little forward. Suddenly a arm circled around my waist and pulled me into him and hushed me down " woah woah, calm down sweet heart, it's encrypted". He said and I realized how foolish I was, his one arm was circled around my waist and his free arm typed out the password. It was 2 step verification passwords, one his iris scanner and numeric password.

13032005 he typed out, I was wondering how he remembers different combinations of numbers or what it symbolizes. "Remember it, maybe useful for you in future" he whispered in my ears. I nodded my head pretty sure knowing I will forget it in maybe one or two minutes, I just can't help a temporary memory loss person to be honest.

Finally he opened the door and the room was revealed, it was just a replica of his own room, the big comfy chair, a table, but the other elements which surprised was the big book shelf which was kept alongside of it. I never knew he reads, hundreds of books were arranged neatly, and something worth a note was every book was hardcover. The reader in me was screaming I went near it and run my fingers along the spine of the books. "what's your favorite book?" doubt colors my voice.

"if you have a favorite, I don't trust you. Any book lover has at least five they can name off the top of their hand" his brown eyes hold mine.

Oh wow, this guy actually like reading. He grins when I roll my eyes with a little effort, not putting much sass behind it and started to walk further. I looked around the room " so what's this room for" I asked him without facing him as my focus were on a book.

"a private space of mine" he simply shrugged his shoulder. I nodded lightly moved to the next door, it leaded to a big archery and gun shoot spot. My eyes widened seeing the arrangements. I have never seen a indoor archery area , well at least not in a office. "do you know archery?" I questioned him

"yeah very well, my boss used to tell me I am the best at it" he said with a smirk and continued " what about you?".

" yeah yeah, I do like it."

" really, that's great"

"But what about the sound if you're using a gun" I questioned

"sound proof, no sounds escape from this room" he said, I nodded my head and proceeded to move further to the end of the hall.

I grabbed one of the bows and looked at him. " wanna play?" he asked raising his eye brow "try me" I said playfully. He let out a giggle and picked up his bow and arrow. I picked up a bow which was hanging above on the wall, and grabbed a sheath of arrows. I don't know what but the bow attracted me at the first sight. I gripped it tightly and looked at him, he was standing 6 feet apart, keeping his focus on the target. I nock the arrow and draw and anchor the bow, I focused on the aim and saw adhi in my peripheral view. "On my count on three" he said. I nodded my head and looked at my arm position. " 1, 2, and 3" he said and I release the string. " Bulls eye" I shout in excitement. It just hit right at the centre spot. I looked at adhi and winked, he missed it just by a circle away, well not a bad try though, but a miss is miss. He stood there rooted to the ground looking at me in full of surprise. I laughed at his reaction and said "I went to archery class adhi, you are not a bad shooter either". "you're a great shooter, I mean really great" he said.

" thank you" I said and handed the bow to him. "archery mela interest eppadi vandhichu?" he asked as he collected the brow and sheath of arrows from me. " my dad, he likes archery well a good shooter too" I said and continued " it's a great bow, old and kind of rare to find this type" I said referring to the bow I used it now, it was oddly familiar in some sort of way maybe I might have seen it in my archery class, I thought and looked at him. He looked at the bow and answered "my boss gift". I nodded my head and we both exited the room and went to the room we were once before entering to the archery area.

(what brings you to learn archery?)

Who was he? A terrorist? A criminal? A normal person, well I will not consider that, he is nowhere at a point I could call him as a normal person. A undercover agent? RAW? Who is he? A million thoughts were running in my mind as I was looking around the place until a photo caught my attention. A small photo frame which was kept inside a wooden showcase. I picked it up and sat on the table hanging my legs down. I cleaned off the dust from the photo and looked at it. It was a simple photo, it was in front of a orphanage, it is the orphanage he was kept in, I think so. A bunch of kids were standing in front of it. I spotted adhi very soon. he must be in his teen age I guess, around fifteen, sixteen. And what shocked me most was the orphanage name. Stepping Stone. How can I forget this?

"Were you raised in stepping stone?" I asked shakily.

He nodded his head lightly "worse place than hell" he muttered. What happened there? I questioned him.

"the start and end of all the things happened there shalini, it was not an orphanage it was a testing lab. After my dad's arrest they admitted me in stepping stone. I felt weird, I mean the staffs, and the workers they were suspicious. I thought something was wrong in the air but I kept numb. And then I get to know about their nefarious works behind the building, organ donations, testing medicines, and what not, they used the orphanage children for their purpose. I became ruthless with those people, every night when they used to torture me to take my blood samples for testing, I fought with them and refrained them from coming near me. And the miserable life came to an end when I met Malik. He asked me to join his team, a mafia group. It's a do or die job. If I refuse I will for sure die one day here but if I join theirs my death will be procrastinate, at least for a while. It kept me alive. I was trained for it, I finished my college, and he considers me as his own son. When I joined there it was a small group, but now it's a cult, world-class mafia group. " he said and took a deep breath, and excused himself to attend a call.

My mind couldn't process all the things he said before, my blood was boiling in rage not on adhi but instead it was on rajesh. Yes, rajesh my uncle, My dad's best friend, childhood friends. Well if you ask me what is the connection between rajesh and adhi's past, I have an answer stepping stones were none other than own by anyone it is rajesh uncle who owns the orphanage. I wish I could go back to past and make adhi's life somewhat better.

When you love someone, you want to make this world look different for them. To give all the ugly stuff meaning, and amplify the good. And I did want to make rest of adhi's life better.

I looked at him, the way he is calm and composed when he talks. He gave me sympathetic look while talking over a phone, I just smiled and said it was okay and said him to carry on. it's funny how you can be so happy with someone and love them so much. it creates an underlying sense of fear in you that you never knew before them. The fear of losing them. The fear of them getting hurt. The past wounds were still afresh in his heart, I could sense that fully when his voice trembles, sometimes his eyes glisten, And his hands shakes when he talk about his past. Some people survive in chaos and that is how they grow. And some people thrive in chaos because chaos is all they know. Adhi is one of a kind, from the start of his life all he ever known was chaos.

*****

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much love,  
Ash