A grey Toyota Fortuner (SUV) cruised through the city's traffic. It was followed by two other similar vehicles as they maintained a fixed distance from each other. The night scenery of this bustling city was beautiful. It was filled with vigour and vitality. This city held many profound truths within it. One of the ultimate realities that it teaches is showcasing the apparent differences between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.

The city changes every few minutes on the journey; the downtown was flicking between affluence and poverty. There are streets of upmarket stores, smooth black and glass exteriors, fancy names in fancier lettering. The kind of places with perfumed atmospheres made all the more inviting by music and well-groomed subservient staff; exchanging their tokens of upper-class life for the swipe of a credit card. While on the other side, you can notice the poverty, the run-down shops, slums. People in this part were satisfied if they could eat two meals a day.

Aditya had never known the luxurious and affluent life of the creamy layer of the society, but at the same time, he did not experience real poverty and hunger. If he had a choice, he would very much like to keep it that way. His mother was particularly caring for the poor and the hungry. Aditya remembered that she would always apportion a part of the family income to donate food at the local temple on every Saturday.

Aditya, as a child, would also accompany his mother on those days. He would help her in distributing the food parcels to the beggars and other poor people, who would gather near the temple's entrance. Aditya would hear some people criticising these beggars as people who are too lazy to work. They would state that one should not encourage them by donating food or money. When Aditya talked about this with his mother, she would smile and keep silent.

But one evening, when Aditya was resting his head on his mother's lap while gazing at stars, his mother talked about this issue. She said, "Adi, people are not homogenous. Each one has his unique story and problems. Some people may be disabled while some may be disease-ridden. Some people might be lazy as they say, but it is not our place to judge them. Because judging other's faults does not result in changing them, but it does disturb the peace in our hearts."

" So, unless you can take responsibility for their problems, you shouldn't overthink about them. Most of the people whom we meet in our lives are like those floating twigs which come together in a flowing stream. After some time, a small wave will push those twigs away from each other to their own destinies. During those small interactions, we should do what we can, for them, and forget about them."

Aditya breathing quickened when he remembered his mother. He wanted to immediately ascertain his mother's safety by calling her but did not dare to act on this whim. Aditya reined his impulsion when he thought about the possibility of knowing his mother's location if he exercised patience. It was going to take a few weeks at least before Aditya could successfully assemble the supercomputer. That too, considering Tya's help.

Aditya planned to build a set of mechanical, robotic hands for Tya to control. Then, Aditya would have an extra pair of helping hands (instead hundreds of them) for assembling the supercomputer. Of course, it was after the 'Cellular Regulation' ability was reactivated.

"Ri...Right," a mild, timid voice interrupted Aditya thoughts as he turned back. Charita shrank her neck when she saw Aditya turn back but still managed to say, "we need to take the lane in the right to reach our place."

Aditya's mouth twitched when he saw how frightened Charita seemed. Jagvi remained calm and collected, on the other hand. She was gazing at Aditya with mild interest and curiosity. Aditya sat on the front passenger seat while both women sat in the rear along with their groceries. One of Munna's subordinates was driving the vehicle. He continued on the path pointed by Charita.

Aditya wanted to drop these women at their place so that they will not have to drive the scooter with that heavy luggage and risk getting wounded again. Both of them could be said to be his friends, and he did not want to see them get hurt. Aditya had bought some band-aids, disinfecting solution and cotton swabs to treat their wounds. Both of them had taken a full course of tetanus vaccination and so, did not need to get injected after the injury.

Previously, when they heard Aditya's orders to his men, Charita and Jagvi had prepared to shout for help. But, they calmed down when Aditya divulged that he was a neighbour and friends with Ishaan, their boss. Aditya had said that Ishaan had shared the photos of his employees with him and that was the reason that he was able to recognise them as Charita and Jagvi.

Both of them believed him after he answered a few questions about Ishaan and their office. Charita and Jagvi accepted Aditya's proposition as they also felt that their scooter was in no condition to drive with its flickering headlight and screeching sounds. Aditya got one of his men to get the motorcycle repaired.

After some time, the car stopped in front of a residence. The locality was peaceful and pleasant. There was no disturbing sounds except for some dogs barking in the distance. It was rare to find such places in the city. These streets had an ancient aura around and them and were one of the untouched parts of the city. They were huge trees towering both the sides of the road and most of the houses had their own gardens.

Aditya knew that it wouldn't be long before this area was marked for development and high-rise apartments substitute these buildings. He liked the ambience of this area. It turned out that Charita and Jagvi were residing here as paying guests. Aditya was surprised to see that this place was near the garage, where he lived. The distance should not be more than a few kilometres.

Charita and Jagvi got down from the car and thanked Aditya for his help. Aditya waved his hand as he said that he would contact them after their scooter was repaired. They exchanged each other's phone numbers. Aditya asked if they needed help to carry the bags, but they refused his help, and he did not insist. The driver started the car and made way for the garage.

"Jagvi, what do you think is the background of this fellow? He looks like he is in school but is being followed and protected by a gang of bouncers," Charita said as she patted her chest. She had not recovered from the fright of being surrounded by those brawny people. Even though Aditya did not do anything improper except for frightening them with those first words, she added him to her blacklist.

Jagvi glanced at the leaving car as she said, "Charita, don't you feel that this kid feels similar to Ishaan? I think that both of them are not just neighbours."

"Ishaan? This little kid? Hmph, there is no comparison at all. My Ishaan is charming, although this kid is also handsome, his physique is nowhere near Ishaan's. Come, let us go." Charita brushed off Jagvi's words and picked the heavy bags as she made way for the elevator. Jagvi also shook her head and followed Charita.

"Charita, weren't you saying something about your elder brother's marriage?" Jagvi asked as she entered the elevator.

Charita's face became red with anger when her brother's marriage was mentioned. "Hmph! That idiot went ahead and fell in love with some girl, and now he is marrying even before me. I always wanted to pair him with you so that we could be together. Also, he did not spare a thought to his sister, me, who has been lovelorn since the past few days. Look at how I am going to play with him and his would-be."

Jagvi chuckled when she heard Charita's words. She knew that Charita was from an affluent family, unlike her. Charita preferred to live with her own earnings so that she would not have to succumb to her parents' influence in deciding her life partner. Charita wanted to take this vital decision into her own hands. Otherwise, Charita did not need to live thinking about her budget.

...

Aditya climbed out of the car with little difficulty as the vehicle stopped in front of the garage. He grabbed his school bag and told Munna's subordinates to leave. Aditya made his way into the garage as familiar sounds reached his ears. Sounds of electric drilling and sparks flying in all directions. The loud noises of faulty engines roaring, revving, clanking, and the metal on metal contact sounds would always calm Aditya's mind.

Aditya nodded at Chakri, who was busy working on an engine. It was nearing the end of the day's work, and everyone was tired and sweaty.

"White buffalo, what are you doing here?" Aditya asked when he saw Kranthi and Rahul going over some notes. Usually, Kranthi won't come to the garage during this time. Kranthi and Rahul raised their heads to see Aditya and a bright smile spread over their faces.

"Adi, just in time, come help me with this vector algebra. Calculate the angle between two vectors with these magnitudes..." Kranthi hurriedly asked. He held on to Aditya and pushed him into a chair as he shoved a few notebooks into his arms.

Aditya looked at Kranthi's anxious expression and asked, "Bro, what happened? Why have you suddenly become interested in solving mathematical problems?" They were no exams in the vicinity, according to Aditya's knowledge. Even if they had examinations, Aditya had not seen Kranthi pumped up like this, previously.

"Exactly, elder brother Aditya, I have been asking the same question. But, big brother Kranthi would not answer me," Rahul added as he curiously looked at Kranthi.

"Aditya, don't act like you don't know. Who do you think is going to come to teach mathematics from tomorrow?" Kranthi asked Aditya.

"Mathematics? Maahi... oh, so that's the reason that you are so worked up about," Aditya nodded as he looked at Kranthi with pity in his eyes.

Kranthi had many traumatic childhood experiences with Maahi, who had taken upon herself to tutor Aditya and his friends. Except for Aditya, all the other people were subjected to hours of gruelling study. The most critical aspects of this tuition were the punishments doled out by Maahi if someone failed to reach her expectations.

As her methods usually brought out astonishing results, even the students' parents were thankful and supported her. If the teachers association were to know about Maahi's punishments, Aditya was sure that she would be in trouble. The penalties were not as simple and straight forward as corporal punishment. Maahi did not like to beat children. Even Maahi's disciplining had imagination and creativity in them.

Kranthi had once failed to do homework. Maahi had left him in a room, all alone, and had him watch the 'Insidious' horror movie. Kumari had to clean her home and do all the chores for a full month. Kranthi was made to do 30 laps around the school ground once as a punishment. If Maahi spotted two girls fighting, she would tie their hair together and leave them. Even though Maahi's penalties were a little over-the-top, the kids liked her just the same. She possessed the charisma and charm, which kept the students hooked to her.

Sometimes, Maahi would let the students punish one another. Many kids who had small grudges against each other would utilise this chance to get back at their rivals. This method was a 'Divide & Rule' policy adopted by Maahi so that they will not unitedly rise against her. The tuition hours were no different than a reality game show for Maahi, where she was the 'Big Boss', and Aditya was a player with 'Complete Immunity'.

Aditya was the only one who was never punished and could do pretty much anything. This positive discrimination made him a common eyesore to every student. Many of them bore a grudge against Aditya but did not dare to touch him as they knew that Maahi was behind him.

"Aditya, are you coming for Anupama's birthday party tomorrow? Even I have been invited, thanks to you. I have never been to a birthday party of Chief Minister's daughter's birthday," Kranthi jumped with excitement along with Rahul.

Aditya nodded with a smile. Of course, he was invited. Aditya needed to go to this party as he wanted to meet the members of the Raipath family and observe them, first hand.