107 The Fallen Flower

The sky was dark as heavy rain pounded on the glass walls of the hospital room where Aditya was recuperating from his accident in the 'Silver Stone' race track in the British Grand Prix. The Copse turn was a blind entry and an incredibly fast apex where speeds went up to 190 mph. Aditya's Red Bull RB19 car's front suspension broke at this crucial juncture and the car went out of control. He plummeted into the Beckett's complex and smashed against the boundary made of old rubber tires.

Thanks to the increased safety rules & regulations in F1 race tracks and advanced medical technologies, Aditya's two fractured ankles were saved from amputation. Not only was his injuries were not fatal, but the doctors also assured him that he would make full recovery in 4 months and that he could go back to racing.

Aditya marvelled at the breakthroughs made in the field of medical technology in 2026. The medicine that he required was especially 3D printed in the hospital itself with amounts accurate to the decimal. He also suffered a little head injury and his parents were worried that if it was dangerous. The attending doctor showed a 3D image of his brain on a screen and explained how the injury was only superficial and that he was not in any form of danger.

The medical staff was very friendly and cooperative. Aditya thought that one of the reasons was that he had won the world title in the rookie championship in Canadian GP and that he was from the 'Red Bull Racing' team from the Motor Sport valley in southern England. He was still getting adjusted to the fact that he was slowly becoming a public figure.

Aditya was pleasantly surprised that he was able to handle this physical injury and mental trauma quite well. Even the psychologist appointed for counselling him was surprised at the calmness and cheerful personality of Aditya. Aditya attributed it to the support program he had participated in the treatment of Anupama. He had picked up the habit of practising 'Mindfulness' for an hour every day and it conditioned his mind to focus on the 'present' instead of thinking about the regrets of the past and worries of the future. Aditya felt that his mother had always been in this state from how calm she was always even in the face of many hardships.

Anupama had come to visit him. Though she was divorced and alone, Aditya felt that she had grown and become strong. She brought news about Kavya and Bhadra's kid who was just born. She spoke about her newly started company where she took thousands of acres on lease and grew complete organic food. Aditya was quite interested in these topics as he was a nature lover. So Anupama briefly explained concepts about 'Zero Budget Natural Farming' and 'Permaculture'. She explained how she was employing hundreds of people to build agro-forests where only one crop was not grown but a calculated combination of crops are grown together to maximize yield and minimize risks.

Aditya's mother would bring philosophical books and read-aloud for him to listen as they would discuss the merits and demerits of these philosophies. She was not picky and would bring both western and eastern philosophies. His father would discuss breakthroughs in quantum physics and how he was on the verge of a key discovery regarding 'Dark Matter'. He would boast about how this discovery was going to be the next big thing after the discovery of the 'God Particle'(Higg's Boson). But frankly, Aditya's father Satyendranath Bose was truly somewhat of a celebrity in the physicist community.

The days passed quite uneventfully except for the pain he had to endure from his injuries. Though most of the pain was numbed through medicine, it still disturbed his sleep from time to time. He could not move as he liked which made his body numb in some places. A nurse would come to massage his muscles from time to time so that the blood circulation was not affected by long hours of inactivity. He would take some time to roam around the adjacent park, in a wheelchair, in the evening and chatted with some retired people who came to play chess in the park.

Elder sister Saira was busy with something and was coming today to visit him. Aditya was eagerly waiting as it has been more than a year since he saw her. Saira had not married and had remained alone while she worked as an instructor in the military academy. She still refused to wear an artificial limb and remained one-handed. She commanded great respect among the special ops for her strict and efficient training and the teams which were trained by her accomplished many achievements in India's fight against terrorism.

But the thing that bugged Aditya the most was that elder sister Maahi had not come to visit him. He was sure that she would rush to see him if she heard the news that he was involved in such an accident. Though they had not seen each other for so many years, their relationship had not faded even a bit or at least that was what Aditya had thought.

Elder sister Maahi was now one of the richest billionaires in India and Asia. Aditya had heard that her personal property was worth 40 billion USD not taking her company's evaluation into account. The year 2020 was heralded as the start of the Data Boom which made Data regarding humans and their activities almost as valuable as gold and oil. Because of China's firewall, India became the biggest mining centre for Zettabytes of human-related data which had become vital for the development of Data science technologies like Big Data, Data Analytics, Internet of Things and development of Artificial Technology.

After the government's new policies which encouraged Indian companies to have first preference in the utilization of these data resources, many companies had sprung like mushrooms to possess a piece of this pie. Maahi's art of business and foresight was top notch as always. So, she became an angel investor and invested in a select few companies which had the potential and visionary entrepreneurs. Her sagacity was proven as these companies turned out to be the true winners in this race, rivalling many foreign companies. This led her financial investment company to flourish.

Aditya was happy for her. Maahi had also not married, they were some rumours that tried to match her with some male celebrities but Aditya knew that it was just fake news. If Maahi had a beloved, then he would be the first to congratulate her. He hoped that she would find someone but knew that she had been single all these years.

Memories of that birthday night would prevent him from contacting her. If there was anything that he was sure about Maahi, it was that she was as stubborn as him and that she was still waiting for him. She had never disturbed him after he started avoiding her since that night. That was just who she was and it was not going to change anytime soon.

Aditya sighed when he thought about that night. He had turned 15 that day, Maahi had come into his bedroom that night, he had spoken about his feelings about Sameera and how it would be cool to have her as his girlfriend. After that Aditya still remembered the intense reaction of his elder sister as she said 'you are mine, only mine. You can have any woman you like, I will gift you, anyone, you like and throw them at your feet to serve you. But, I should always be the queen of your heart and you will be my king. No one is allowed to come between us, I will rip the heart of any woman who creates a gap between us, with my bare hands. You can have any woman but her place should always come after me, Understand? Never forget this Adi, you are mine.'

Aditya could still remember his younger self's heart tremble uncontrollably when he heard these words. These words were still imprinted on his heart which acted like a barrier he couldn't pass. He smiled bitterly as he thought how he was 15 and elder sister Maahi was just 20 at that time. Now he was approaching 26 and elder sister Maahi was 30, she was still as beautiful as ever and was termed as the most beautiful billionaire in the world by Times Magazine in 2023. Maybe he should utilise this accident as an opportunity to get back with elder sister Maahi.

Currently, he did not have any woman in his heart now so even if he had a mental barrier, Aditya wanted to at least try. He did not know if he would succeed but he would have no regrets in the future. He was mature enough to see through these societal norms, he knew that for two people to be happy together, sexual relations were only a medium and not the goal. Aditya did not have any plans of getting married anyway, he might as well stay with elder sister Maahi. They might be able to return to the untainted relation they had as kids which was something Aditya missed sorely.

But Aditya's heart had been restless for the past two days for some reason, it was not something physical, it was a feeling. Aditya felt as if something very dear to him had been taken away from him. He felt a bad premonition as if something terrible had happened. But Aditya could not point out the reason as everyone he knew was fine and he had heard no bad news of the sort. It did not change the fact that he felt agitated.

Aditya also found that his mother had red puffy eyes when she came yesterday to visit him and his father had not come. His mother had also not brought any books but left in a short while. Aditya could tell that his mother was struggling with something, she wanted to tell him something but did not reveal anything in the end.

Aditya wanted to ask but his mother went away before he could make up his mind. His Elder sister Saira was coming today, Aditya had decided to ask her about his mother's behaviour, he had not seen her like this even when he was involved in the accident. He had never seen this kind of bleak aura around his mother.

Just as Aditya was thinking about these things, the entrance door opened as a mature woman who was in her mid-thirties walked inside holding a bouquet of Jasmine flowers walked in. Aditya's eyes lit up as he said with a smile, "Elder sister, it has been such a long time." Aditya's smile slowly faded as he saw that his elder sister also had the same kind of bleak aura around her just his mother. He was now sure that something bad happened.

The person who came was his elder sister Saira who was in her mid-thirties. She was stunning beauty herself and had become a ripe mature woman with slight wrinkles forming on the corner of her eyes and on her forehead. She wore a black shirt and an empty sleeve fluttered in the air. Her stern expression softened as a smile characterized with grief appeared on her face as she walked towards him and placed the flowers in an empty vase on his bedside. She sat on an empty chair with a straight back as she asked him in a concerned voice, "Adi, how are you doing?"

Aditya observed that his elder sister's voice was hoarse. His brows wrinkled as he said, "Elder sister, something has happened and you people are hiding it from me. Tell me, I can handle it."

Saira also showed the same hesitation as his mother's before saying, "First, you recuperate completely, I will tell you when you get discharged."

Aditya's face hardened as the bad feeling in his heart deepened, "Elder sister..." he did not speak anymore but looked straight into Saira's eyes. Silence reigned the room for some time and the only noises were muffled sounds of rains drops splattering against the glass panels and clicking sounds produced by the medical equipment. Aditya clenched his fist subconsciously as he waited. The pain in his legs became remote as if it was not his legs that were injured.

Saira looked at Aditya's gaze as the grief in her heart spilt. Her voice trembled as she said, "Adi, Maahi is no more."