68 Who Are You?

"Bhadra, look at that fellow, he is actually filling his pockets with those complimentary jars, how can he be so cheap in such a place," Kavya pointed at Faizal as she looked with curiosity as to how such a person could come to such a high-end place.

"Cough, Cough… Bhadra, check out this sushi, it is very delicious," Aditya said as he began stuffing sushi into Bhadra's plate with chopsticks.

"Enough, Adi," Bhadra smiled as he took a Tempura roll and tasted it while nodding his head in appreciation of the taste.

Aditya turned his head to see a scowl on the face of Kavya as she glared at him. This was always the case when Bhadra was with Aditya. She would be forgotten and only Aditya's words would be heard. This was also the reason that Kavya was happy since the past few days but today she was reminded once again of this bitter truth. Nothing had changed.

"Kavya, why don't you also taste this sushi, it is really tasty, Bhadra why don't you share some with her?" Aditya knew what Kavya was thinking about so he tried to pacify her.

"Okay, Kavya here, have some," Bhadra offered to Kavya only to see her ignore him and start a conversation with Anupama. Bhadra looked at Aditya bewilderedly who also shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Jatin held his forehead with helplessness, both of his friends were duffers in matters of understanding a girl's heart. Aditya was right in guessing that Kavya was not happy with Bhadra giving more attention to him but he did not know that by asking Bhadra to give sushi to her and Bhadra following his words would only further aggravate her mood. It would have been totally different if Bhadra shared the sushi, given by Aditya, with Kavya on his own initiative but that would not be Bhadra if he possessed such high emotional intelligence.

"Jatin, how's the new school and also what happened with Kapil sir?" Aditya asked Jatin. Kapil sir occupied a special place in Aditya's heart as he was the only teacher who took effort to comfort him when his parents went missing and when he was dealing with the Hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness).

"I heard that Kapil sir is trying to change his profession by entering the corporate sector, I don't know if he got his desired job though. As for our new school, it's fine. Our new school was actually a school teaching only the national curriculum but it also added an international curriculum recently. It's fun interacting with those students of the national curriculum. But they have ordinary backgrounds and can be easily bullied if we want to. I heard that Karan is already trying to get a girl from the national curriculum to sleep with him, I haven't heard if he succeeded yet." Jatin described briefly as Aditya nodded.

Jatin asked back, "When are you going to join our school? isn't it better if you join early, you have a lot of syllabi to catch up." all the people including Anupama perked their ears when they heard Jatin's words.

Aditya brows pressed when he heard this question, he raised his head and asked Jatin back, "Who said that I would start going to school again? I have neither the will nor the time to go to school." Aditya shook his head decisively. Anupama looked at Aditya with clear disappointment in her eyes when she heard his words.

"Wouldn't you go even if your elder sister wants you to?" a mature female voice was heard from Aditya's behind.

Aditya whipped his head when he saw a mature woman who exuded a stern, mighty and a steady aura. She had a pair of beautiful big, dark eyes which clearly revealed a fiery temperament and a feeling of authority. She had a medium length dark brown hair which was styled into light waves and rested on her shoulders.

"Elder sister Qaima, what are you doing here? Wait, did elder sister Maahi also come?" Aditya sprang from his chair and looked in all direction but sighed in relief when he did not find her figure. He almost got scared when he thought that elder sister Maahi had come to see him. But according to his knowledge Qaima always accompanied elder sister Maahi, he turned his attention towards her who had clearly observed his reactions.

Qaima wore a brilliant red coloured solid woven dress with gorgeous shoulder straps and short sleeves which exposed her smooth and pampered arms. A slit could be seen on the flared hemline which revealed an alluring porcelain-like leg from time to time as she walked. A pair of black gen-studded triangular drop earrings matched perfectly with her red maxi dress.

"You don't have to worry about your elder sister Maahi coming to meet you, she is not interested in making you uncomfortable otherwise do you think that she would have waited till today to meet you." Qaima scoffed as she looked at Aditya.

"Oh," Aditya nodded, no one but he and Maahi elder sister knew the reason as to why the siblings who always stuck to one another suddenly became so estranged for the past two years. Even though he and elder sister Maahi did not meet, both cared for each other in their own way. Even in the 'other' world which was four years ahead of this timeline where Aditya was studying in England, he had not directly contacted with elder sister Maahi.

"Oh? Hmph, Boss is thinking about you night and day and planning your future but here you are spoiling your life and future, working in a garage, roaming around with the underworld goons with no ambition. I really don't understand why she even cares about you..." Qaima spoke with anger boiling inside her. She was not sure if this anger was due to Aditya's deeds or her envy at Aditya being cared for, by Maahi, so much.

"Underworld?" everyone on the table were shocked when they heard these words and looked at Aditya strangely. What could he do in the underworld with this physique? Only Jatin's eyes lit up when he heard these words. He knew Aditya's calculating ability and immediately applied it to firearms usage.

Aditya always knew that Qaima disliked him for some reason since she started to work for Maahi so he was not surprised at her harsh words. He just stood there looking at Qaima until she finished her words, he knew she was not the type to take time only to scold him. There must be some reason behind her visit.

Qaima calmed down after a while when she saw Aditya just stand there without refuting her. At least this fellow has not changed in this aspect. She knew that Aditya avoided getting into an argument with women as long as the argument itself was inconsequential.

One should not presume that Aditya was a good, sensible boy from this as Qaima knew enough to know that Aditya was the type of person who stayed silent and listened to everyone's words but in the end, he would do what he thought was right.

Any stranger who is new to Aditya would be thinking that he will change his ways by looking at his silent and sincere attitude when he listened to their words but only close ones knew that not one word would truly enter his mind.

Qaima calmed down after some time as she said sternly, "Boss said that Uncle Ramu wants to meet you tomorrow."

"Okay," Aditya nodded as he finally knew why Qaima came. He had changed his mobile number effectively cutting himself off from others so she had to come personally to tell him.

"Hmph, take care." Qaima glowered and walked away elegantly without talking with others. She was in no mood to socialize after scolding Aditya.

Aditya let out a huge breath and sat down to continue to eat only to find everyone looking at him weirdly. Bhadra was the one who opened his mouth first as he asked, "Are you mixing with the people from the Mafia?"

"Yup," Aditya nodded as he drank a soft drink, "But, it's not like you think, I know what I am doing."

Bhadra did not ask anymore while the others looked like they wanted to talk but gave up in the end. Anupama's eyes became more detached than ever when she looked at Aditya now.

Aditya looked at all this but did not bother explaining as he stood up and said, "it's really good to meet you guys here today, see you next time." The person he was waiting for has arrived.

He walked towards Taarini who was standing near the entrance along with Kasi and Gani. Aditya looked at them and before Taarini could introduce them, he asked, "Are you guys bought by the Mumbai Mafia Alliance (MMA)?"

"What?" both Kasi and Gani along with their followers were shocked when they heard these words. Even Taarini frowned as she did not expect Aditya to ask such a question which was highly provocative and offensive. These people were close to her elder brother that even she did not entertain such doubts.

But, before she could denounce Aditya, he smiled apologetically and bowed as he said, "Sorry, I should not have said those words, that was rude of me. The thing is I have found many moles of MMA the last few days I spent destroying small gangs, it became a force of habit to be cautious."

"Brat, if you were not with Taarini, I would have broken your limbs for just asking, Hmph" the middle-aged Kasi remonstrated as he looked at Aditya with anger. His followers also looked at Aditya indignantly.

"Kasi, calm down, the kid has already apologized for his rude behaviour. Didn't you hear that he was the one cracking down on street gangs during the past week? No wonder Taarini little miss attaches great importance to him," Elder Gani smiled genially as he looked at Aditya like how an elder appreciates an accomplished youth.

"Taarini, we will take our leave," Kasi said as he took one last look at Aditya and strode away followed by elder Gani.

Taarini looked at Aditya in a totally different light now after she had that talk with that petite woman. She had thought that she knew this person who looked honest and simple. Only after tonight's incidents did she know how naive her thinking was.

She had never asked him about his background because she thought it wouldn't make a difference in her opinion of him but it was also proven wrong today. She wanted to know everything about Aditya now. She also wanted to know if Aditya would trust her enough to reveal his background. For some unknown reason, this was what she wanted to know the most.

Aditya turned and looked seriously at Taarini as he said, "Kasi is genuine but that old fogy is a mole. I saw some moles in Kasi's gang also, you have to be careful when dealing with them. You can warn Kasi if you think it is worth otherwise I think we should just act along so as to find out their hideouts and other plans they might have for us."

Only now did Aditya discover that there was some difference in the way Taarini looked at him. He asked a little curiously, "Mentor, what happened? You seem to be a little disturbed. Did you get the contract?"

Taarini looked at Aditya icily as she asked, "Aditya, who are you?"