42 Dr Hamsa

The raindrops splashed on both the figures as Aditya looked at the woman in front of him in a daze. The woman had an angelic face which calmed anyone's heart when they saw her. But the moment Aditya saw the sadness and despair in the woman's eyes, he did not have the mood to check her out anymore as he sobered.

"Dr Hamsa, I didn't think it would be you." Aditya smiled calmly as he addressed the woman. He knew that this lady seemed to be in some trouble, looking at her eyes devoid of the gentleness she had when she took care of him in the hospital. He did not want to make her uncomfortable by poking his nose into her privacy so he maintained a pure smile on his face as if he was unaware of the bleak aura around her.

The woman who looked at Aditya with unfocused eyes first, shook when she heard him mention her name. She concentrated on the thin symmetrical young face which was swollen in some places but she couldn't remember.

"remember the anomaly who slept for 14 hours a day?" Aditya could tell from Hamsa's vacant face that she did not remember him. It was perfectly normal as she as a doctor had to meet and interact with many patients, it was not like he was the kind of handsome person who girls will drool at first sight.

"Aditya, right?" Hamsa said as she nodded lightly. She did felt this person was similar to the thin and delicate kid she had conducted a sleep test but it made it hard for her to match the two persons as the kid in front of her looked more mature and masculine. It was like this kid had changed drastically. What happened to him? How did he get injured? But one thing she observed keenly in the person who stood in front of her was that there was a bright fire in this boy's eyes which caused him surrounded by a lively and peaceful aura. It was in sharp contrast to her own state of mind.

"Oh, you remembered me." Aditya gave a small laugh as he rubbed his wet head. He had to talk a little loudly as the rain around them drowned most of the noise. Even though they were in a street, it felt like they were only the two of them in this whole world.

'it would have been such a romantic movement if she had a lovely smile on her face' Aditya thought regretfully. He remembered that this beautiful dame had a calm and gentle demeanour previously. She even a had a certain spiritual flair around her which reminded him of his mother then. This was the main reason that even if it was only one time that he had contact with her, her image was branded in his heart.

The woman who was in front of him had lost that spiritual flair. Her eyes did not possess their characteristic calmness and her face was devoid of any form of gentleness. The melancholic aura around her was apparent to his eyes. It was like she lost all her reasons to live. He could tell that this woman was suffering a lot inside. Her lonely frame getting drenched in this downpour cut a sorry figure in Aditya's eyes. But he was not aware whether there was anything he could do to alleviate her misery as he was no one to her and vice-versa.

"Doctor, my place is near, would you like to come inside until the shower ceases?" Aditya asked sincerely.

The body of Hamsa shook violently when she heard Aditya's words as her face paled with fright. She took two steps back as she viewed him with sheer fear. Her arms which tightly hugged her body exerted more power as if she was trying to protect herself from something.

Aditya's brows tightened when he saw this over-the-top reaction. It did not make him feel humiliated or ashamed but rather he felt grief in his heart when he saw her act this way. What happened to her?

Aditya took a deep breath as he smiled at Hamsa and said, "Miss, it's fine if you do not want to come, it looks like you are one of those people who liked been in the rain. I live in the penthouse of that garage so if there is any way I could help you, feel free to call me, I should be able to hear your voice."

Hamsa nodded faintly but did not look at Aditya anymore, it was clear she did not want him to stay here any more.

Aditya went back to his room as he stumbled due to pain on the way. When he was about to enter into his room, he stopped as he looked at the dark figure still partially visible in the street light. He turned and walked into his room.

Aditya first took a bath with warm water which rejuvenated him. He walked naked back into his room while wiping his body with the towel carefully avoiding the bruises. He felt that two more of such beatings and he would get used to this pain as he winced when he touched these wounds while examining them in a small mirror.

He wore warm clothes because rain in winter was a deadly combination. He took a look at outside from his window which looked onto the street to find that she was still standing there. He shook his head and opened his laptop as he drank hot chocolate milk from a cup. Since he had been bonded to Tya, Aditya found that his appetite had decreased substantially though he was not sure if those two phenomena were linked. Especially after sunset, his appetite would become void. So he usually took some liquid food in the night before he slept. Though he knew this would not help him improve his already lean physique anymore, he didn't just have the desire to eat so he couldn't help it.

Aditya was surprised to find that the chess bot that he had programmed in the morning had stably stationed itself in top ten of the month. According to his programming, he did not want his bot to be first so once it reached top ten, it lost some matches to balance its position.

'I think I should try taking up some freelancer jobs related to programming,' Aditya thought as the money earned from the garage was not sufficient anymore as he had been spending most of his money on books on programming.

When Aditya was browsing through these freelancer programming jobs, Aditya heard a car screech sound. He jumped from his bed as winced lightly due to hitting the bed with his leg right on an injured spot but he ignored the pain and ran to the window to see.

He saw a male youth figure followed by another huge figure which Aditya thought was the bodyguard as he held the umbrella for that youth.

"Tya can you increase my hearing power so that I can hear what they are talking?" Aditya asked with urgency, he was curious as to what happened to this woman.

"No, I still haven't found the way to increase the power of your sense organs, Adi" Tya cutely replied.

Just when Aditya was feeling a little disappointed, Tya added, "But frankly there is not much distance from those people and you, the only problems is that their sound waves get mixed up with other sounds like rain, pitter-patter noises, vehicle sounds, the sound of the rotating fan in your room, your breathing, even your heart sound causes interruption which drowns the target sound transmission."

"So?" Aditya asked as he was busy looking at those figures. He saw that the woman backed away many steps from that person as if she was afraid of him.

"I can filter out these sounds from interrupting you from perceiving their conversation and also mildly amplify the reception of the target sounds. With this, you should be able to hear their words." Tya replied in an adorable tone.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Aditya asked with urgency as he looked at the woman shaking her head vigorously to something.

Just when he thought there was no change, Aditya suddenly stopped hearing the noise of rain which was the largest source of noise presently. He could hear the voice of that woman crying and that youth's laughter but still he could comprehend the noise. Then he stopped hearing the noise of vehicle on the road, the music in some adjacent buildings, even voices of other people in the distance. Each sound was cut one by one like Tya was clipping some wires in his brain.

At last, even his breathing sounds and the sound of his heart pumping were also filtered leaving Aditya to hear their voices with clarity. When Aditya was marvelling at this 'noise cancelling' ability of Tya, the speech of Hamsa and that youth suddenly increased as if Tya had increased the volume in the channel if a television. It was as if they were standing by his side and talking.

'Awesome' was the only thought in Aditya's mind as he turned his attention to the conversation, he had to gift a lollipop for Tya.

"Dear Hamsa, why do you have to hurt yourself by standing in the rain all alone, your parents are worried about you, come with me, everything is going to be alright." the youth had a calm voice as he tried to persuade her.

But Aditya noticed that Hamsa's reaction was anything but calm as she shook violently as she heard the youth's voice. She concentrated on only maintaining as much distance from the youth as possible, she only moved her head from left to right as she rejected the youth's proposition.

Aditya could tell from Hamsa's reaction that this youth was not as elegant and good as he looked. Otherwise, how could he cause such an intense reaction from her?

The youth shook his head as if he was sorry as he said, "I know that I wronged you, it was an impulsive action, it was not a conscious decision on my part, why don't you accept my apology. Also, didn't you escape just in time, there was little damage done, right? I won't do such a thing against your wish ever again. You know that I love you, my dear."

Tears rolled down Hamsa's eyes when she listened to the youth's words as her lips trembled and her fingers dug into her clothes. The youth looked passively at her actions as he said, "even your parents have consented for us to get married, we are both made for each other, you shouldn't let something like what happened today get in between us. Even my father is very satisfied with you, he said that he would help your parent's four-star hotel to five-star hotel. Come let's go."

Aditya got the general gist from the youth's words, he looked silently at the grief-stricken image of a helpless woman in the rain.

When the youth looked at the motionless figure of Hamsa, his smile did not diminish in the least but a cold glint flashed through his eyes as he said," Since you don't want to come with me, I won't force you." he turned around to get back into his car which Aditya could tell that it was a red Mercedes E 250 at a glance.

When the car was about to leave, the youth lowered the side mirror as he looked at Hamsa who still refused to look back at him and said prudently, "Make sure that you come back in time, this area is not safe during midnight time." the car drove away.

if one could just ignore the reaction of Hamsa for an instance, that youth was a caring, elegant and an affectionate person but when you add the reaction of Hamsa, Aditya found these very same caring words hypocritical and nauseating.

He looked at the figure of Hamsa who crouched on the road as she buried her head in her hands. One could tell that she was crying by her trembling shoulders. As it was raining profusely, there were not many people on the street and the rain blocked most of them from noticing her. Aditya saw a few people who cared and approached her but obtained no response just like Aditya so they could only go their way.

Aditya shook his head and went back to his laptop.