Maria had a glint in her eyes. "Yeah, there were only seven of us in our group. If I remember correctly, we were in the second standard."
"Yeah, Kai was a stranger to us back then. He joined our school at the second standard. We didn't trust him at first because he was very quiet and always keep talking to himself."
"Yeah", Maria added, "We had a wrong opinion about him."
Then, Sara continued, "And when he wanted to join our group, we had solemnly refused. He was so upset on hearing the refusal that he sat there on that same spot the whole evening. When I was passing by the school with my father at about 7 pm, he was still there crying bitterly, hands folded over his legs with his head down. I then realized that he was a very emotional boy and needed help."
Sara took a deep breath as she recalled the past. "Then my father had asked if he was my classmate, when he saw his school uniform. When I nodded he told me to console him." "I went towards him silently with careful steps so that I didn't startle him. Then I asked him why he was crying for such a silly reason. He suddenly lift up his head that revealed a face that would even make the devils heart melt, that is, if they do have a heart at all. I was speechless to take in such a sorrowful look all at once. He answered slowly that he had absolutely no friends in this world and no one cared about him except his parents. He said that he had noticed us together on several occasions and seeing the happiness that existed in our friendship, we wanted to join us too. He said that he was very weak in communicating with people. That's why he had summoned up every bit of courage to speak up to us. He said that he was never going to be happy. I don't remember what was going on in mind at that time but I couldn't see him sad. I caught his hand and said that he could be in our group. He was so filled with awe that his eyes sparkled and thanked me over and over again. Just then, his parents arrived at the spot in a shiny car accompanied by their private bodyguards. I hadn't imagined, seeing his face that he would belong to a rich family. His parents came running and asked the reason for being away for such a long time. He stood silently without saying a word. His parents looked kind to me and they asked him if I was his new friend. He replied that we had become friends just then. His parents had tears flowing down their cheek too. Then I realized that some tragedy must have taken place in the past. I had never seen Kai so much happy. His parents handed him the burgar which they had brought along. He instead handed it to me. I refused at first because he must have been hungry, but seeing his smile fade away I gladly accepted it.
I then realized that he was a noble boy and needed friends to take him out of this tragedy that had happened to him in the past.
I introduced him as a new member of our group the next day and we've been the best of friends since then."
Maria was sobbing when Sara finished. "That was a great reminiscence. Thanks Sara."
They finally reached their destination and parted ways. Sara's mother, Mrs. Hawkins was at the kitchen when she arrived.
She said, "Honey, fresh up and have a cup of tea. You must be tired. I'm glad you all are putting your efforts into this project."
"Thanks mom", Sara hurried to kitchen hugging her. "We'll have to go to Egypt tomorrow evening. I hope you don't mind, do you?"
"No, I really don't mind. On the other hand, Kai's parents have helped us a lot through bad times. They are very kind and so is their son. I know he'll take good care of you. Kai is a well-manered..."
"Okay, okay..." She didn't let her mom finish. "If Kai was here right now, I would have been really mad at you. He gets upset because he doesn't like being praised."
Her mom giggled. She always pestered her daughter to be more like Kai.
Sara rushed to her room to have a quick bath. After she was done, she came to the living room when she saw her father extremely happy reading something.
"Dad, what are you reading?" She approached him from behind. He was seated at the couch.
Mr. Hawkins replied, "Oh, I was just going through this leaflet that Kai wrote. It's fantastic. Sometimes I really wonder how such a young boy can think of such brilliant ideas while a much older person, like me can't even think about."
She joined her father on the couch and said, "His favorite hobby is writing and he has written quite a large number of books which has already been published worldwide. He's a great writer."
Her mother brought cups of tea and with that they had a small tea party. After sometime, Sara got up to prepare her luggage.
All of them were very excited for the trip. And the preparations lasted till midnight.
The next morning at 10 o' clock , all of them were gathered at Kai's place. They had a splendid breakfast and did a last minute check on their equipment.
They started for the airport at 3 pm. They were glad to reach there well before time. They got into the plane safely and reached Egypt at exactly 8 pm. Kai's father was on a business trip to Egypt as well and Mrs. Seto accompanied them. At Egypt they stayed at Cairo's best hotel. The manager knew Kai's father well and assured him that the children would really like the place. But the teenagers had more things in their mind. They were hoping to solve some mysteries of this renowned place. The friends stayed in one big room which was like a little palace. The room was beautifully curtained and exquisite paintings adorned the walls. They freshened up and gradually went on discussion about their plans. They had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant and departed for the night.
The next day was a big day for them. They went to see some of the huge sculptures and Pyramids. The Pyramid of Tutankhamen fascinated them the most.
They brought out their cameras and captured pictures both in mind as well as in cameras. They made it sure that nothing escaped their notice, not even a tiny bit of detail.
They explored the pyramid but found nothing that caught their attention. As they were coming out through the exit, Kai spotted something.
"Hey guys, look over there."
It was the ruins of an ancient temple like structure.
"Looks like they used it as a ritual place." Tom guessed, giving off an eerie expression on his face.
"I've read about it!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"Where?" Everyone averted their eyes towards her.
" This temple was built in honor of Queen Hatsepsuthi. They rather used it as a clock, you know sun-dials?".
"Yeah." Kai said, slowly. "It must have been so."
They took out their copy of Hieroglyphics (the ancient Egyptian language of symbols) and started to examine the symbols that were engraved on the ruins.
They closely examined it but were in vain.
After hours of research, Tom said, "I wonder why the Egyptians have made their secret so hard to trace."
Maria glared at him. "They weren't idiots like you."
Genus spoke up. "They didn't want strangers to know about their secrets."
"Strangers?" This time it was Charles. "But haven't we learnt in the universal brotherhood of mankind? Apparently, we are all creations of the same God."
Kai rubbed off the dust from his specs and explained. "What you say is also true, Charles. But it was for a greater cause. Remember the saying, 'There's no good without evil'. If their secret fell into the wrong hands, imagine what would happen?"
"Of course." Sara looked up from the earthen ware she was checking.
"Thanks for reminding us, Kai." Tom nodded.
"No problem." Kai answered.
They went through the stuff over and over again, but were unsuccessful.
Charles looked dejected. "Let's go, guys. We'll come back tomorrow. "
Tom had a sunken expression as well. "I just don't get it. We worked so hard to find any clue but no results."
They didn't want to give up but the sun was already at the horizon, signaling the end of the day.
*A/N: So are they just going to give up that easily? Find out in the following chapters. Readers, I hope the disclosure of Kai's childhood was heart touching. :)
By the way, the picture on the right is of little Kai*
**