Clambering down from the cab, Aman rushed towards the reception of the Central Government hospital.

Swiping his student card in the information register, he quickly found the ward number where his sister was currently admitted.

Swiftly making a docket and getting his visitor’s token, he made his way to the elevators.

Noticing the crowd waiting there, he took the stairs instead, taking two at a time in his haste.

He was wheezing by the time he made his way to the ward and saw his mother waiting anxiously outside the ICU.

“Ma, what happened?” he gasped out.

She wrung her hands and replied, “Everything was fine until just an hour after you left for school. She was doing her physio and then she suddenly collapsed. I immediately called the ambulance.

“Thank god you bought that sensor for her birthday, it might just have saved her life. The bureaucracy here is really horrible. Who knows how long we would have had to wait for them to assign one out of their stock for us.”

His brain was blank.

“Eh? What sensor?”

“Don’t play dumb son, the sensor hidden under the clothing in your cupboard of course. I found it this morning while arranging your room.”

He suddenly felt light headed. Various thoughts were struggling for supremacy in his mind and in the process, all of them were having a free-for-all at the bottom of his mind and nothing was coming up top.

He couldn’t think.

After a long while, he recovered and asked urgently. “Wait! Didn’t the doctors question how you got such an advanced sensor?”

His mother frowned. “Advanced? What are you talking about? It is the same level as your model. While it was on the expensive side four years ago, now, the prices have dropped significantly. They did say something about the internal amplifier structure being slightly different but that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. They said that there wouldn’t be any problem.

“Also, son, did you get it second hand? It had signs of usage.” She smoothed back his hair with a guilty expression on her face. “You went to the grey market again didn’t you? I’m sorry for being so useless.”

Ordinarily, Aman would refute her and assure her that she was doing her best but today, he was too distracted. He replied perfunctorily as various thoughts swirled around in his mind.

He had expected the model of the sensor to be advanced as an advanced expert was using it. But, if the specialness lay somewhere else and that offset the insufficiency of the model itself? The expert had probably been using it for several years, so it couldn’t have been the latest model. That was just his inertia of thought.

He had been worried about the high-tech model exposing him to the organization. That wasn’t the case.

Ordinarily, he would have gone through many twists and turns to try and get the operation done covertly… but thinking now, he wasn’t the match of those people.

In fact, his shifty actions would more than likely give him away.

Thankfully, this accident had prevented that. But… but, the sensor was now implanted in Preeti.

His chance at reversing his fortunes quickly, now gone.

He would have to go through with his initial, long-term plan.

In his mind, he wanted to give an excuse that he was worried about his sister getting involved in the mess but if he was honest with himself… for the first time in his life, he resented his sister.

He resented her for ruining his past year, he resented her for ruining his present chance at the Indian Institute of Eugenics and he resented her for now threatening to ruin his future prospects.

He didn't want to give her anything anymore.

So, he did something he would feel guilty for, for the rest of his life.

He walked up to the nurse who was preparing to enter the operation theatre and said. “The model you are using is second hand and unreliable. Mine has been working without a glitch for four years straight. I think that my sister can’t afford to have her sensor malfunction, please let her use mine. I can use the other one.”