Chapter Five

Mom, dad, I really miss you guys. Inaya slowly read the line in the book and heaved a sigh. 'Who knew that he would write something like this? Although the start wasn't exciting, it was still good. The book is different and all, but still very interesting. This main character of his, what was his inspiration to create it?' She had been reading the book for two hours now, enjoying it. No matter how smug she was, there was no reason to ignore Aarush's skill in storytelling. He was pretty good. 'Anyways, let's see what happens next. I want to know how he will escape this stupid clan.' Just when she was going to dive right back in, a large thump occurred from somewhere nearby.

"Alright, take it in slowly. Don't break anything, or else Yunus sir will get mad." She looked up and saw the servant Bali leading a few men into the large garden-like place beside the kitchen. She got up with a bit of curiosity.

"Bali, what's going on?" The one who asked this was the mother that was speaking to Inaya before.

"Mrs, Yunus sir's family are coming to see him tomorrow after so many years." Bali spoke with excitement. "He told me to arrange this place so that his family can use it for relaxation."

"His parent's? First time I ever heard about them, he never brought them up." The mother said with a bit of curiosity.

"I can't say much or else I will get in trouble." Bali spoke apologetically. The mother nodded and went back to do her own thing. Inaya wasn't too curious so she also sat back down and continued to read. Bali continued with his work.

"Bali, how did it go?" Aarush appeared a few seconds later. He had a book in his arm and the kids were following behind him. "You guys can take a seat and eat. Bali, I'll take a look at the process, you just get these kids something to eat, alright?"

"Alright." Bali walked over and helped all the kids find their seat. "We have snacks here, but if you want something else, just tell me."

Bali got busy with the kids, while Aarush instead went into the large garden. Inaya watched from the side as he entered the place and began to give orders to the workers and was quickly getting things done. She got up and sat next to Reni. "How was it? Are you guys done already?"

"Not yet." She shook her head. "He said we can get a thirty minute break. After that, we will do a bunch of problems until it's one. He is really good at teaching. I thought that he was really good at math, but I asked him for help with some of my english questions and he explained it so well. Better than you Ina."

This time, Inaya didn't say too much. She felt frustrated by her niece, but she didn't have much to say. Just from reading one of his older books, she was already impressed by him. "Well, as long as he is good and you are learning, I think your dad will be alright with you coming here more often." She said with a sigh.

Ding Ding

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Bali, get the door."

Bali quickly ran to the entrance. Inaya watched this and was curious as to who was coming. A few minutes later, Bali was walking in with an old man. "Yunus sir, it's the chairman."

Aarush walked out of the room with a frown. "Chairman? Is there a problem?" He walked over and spoke with a plain voice, not showing any sort of courtesy that he used to show to his old hospitals chairman.

"Dr. Yunus, you wanted a day off tomorrow, but I need you for a major surgery. Is there any way you can come? We don't have anyone else to do the surgery. I will make it up to you, but we really need you to come tomorrow." The chairman was speaking in an almost begging tone. He had a clean shaved face, yet this caused his wrinkles to be more noticable.

"Charman, I told you that my family is coming tomorrow, I can't do the surgery. You have one more surgeon, have him do it. He has more experience than me, so he can handle it." Aarush showed irritation on his face as he spoke.

"If he could, I wouldn't have asked you during a day off, but he is also handling a surgery that is happening at the same time. He can't do the second one." The chairman said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, but I won't do it tomorrow." Aarush said this, but he didn't stop there. "If possible, I can get the surgery done today. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" The chairman went silent and thought for a moment before nodding his head.

"Alright, that is fine then. I can get the room ready for today. Just come to the hospital by five. It will be a long surgery, so we will begin early." Aarush spoke a little while longer with him, ignoring the people who were around him. Most of the parents present didn't really pay attention to the conversation, while Inaya and Reni were shocked.

"Reni, is he also a doctor?" Inaya asked with shock.

Reni shook her head. "I never heard about this."

"You two didn't know?" The mother that Inaya kept speaking to looked at the two of them with a smile. "Mr. Yunus owns his own clinic and also works at the hospital. I actually met him through his clinic. He is a very good doctor."

"What." The two of them spoke at the same time, feeling somewhat shocked. The mother saw this and just smiled.

Aarush didn't know that his sudden exposure came as a great shock to the two girls. Well, it wouldn't matter to him even if he knew. "Bali, see the chairman out." Aarush sighed and sat on one end of the table, closer to Inaya and Reni. He grabbed a glass of juice and sat down with a frown. In his hand was a booklet which the chairman handed to him. It contained information on the patient and so on. He quietly read the information and frowned even more. "This is going to be a tricky procedure… craniectomy." He frowned a little looking at the problem. 'This should be done right away, why are we waiting until tomorrow? It is so risky to wait.' What Aarush didn't know was that the chairman didn't have anyone to handle the surgery right away, plus the patient was still able to wait until a little while longer, atleast from what the other surgeon said.

As Aarush was deeply engulfed in his patient's case, he completely forgot about the students waiting around him. Reni saw everyone looking towards Aarush, but he didn't see them. She looked at her aunt to say something, but the latter hesitated. "Ina, if he is busy we can go home, but we should still tell him." Reni said with a sigh. If Aarush had something more important, she didn't mind cutting the lesson short, after all it was free so they didn't lose much. Inaya nodded her head.

"Umm, Mr. Yunus, if you are busy, we can stop the lesson here…" She spoke slowly, not knowing how else to say it.

Hearing her voice, Aarush snapped out of his concentration and looked at her. He then looked around and smiled bitterly. "No that's fine, we can finish up." He pulled out his phone, checking the time. "We still have a few minutes. You guys can finish eating."

"Umm, Yunus sir." Reni hesitated, but still called out to him.

"Yes Reni?" He answered with a smile. The girl was very hardworking, so he enjoyed her presence. Although she wasn't understanding everything, which was a bit frustrating at times, she was trying her very best.

"I was wondering, what kind of doctor are you?" Reni was very curious.

Aarush was a little surprised by her question but still answered. "Well, I'm two kinds. I'm an Emergency Physician and also a Neurosurgeon. Why?"

"Wow." Reni's eyes sparkled. "I want to do MBBS, do you have any advice?" This was her dream, something she wanted to do badly. Seeing a doctor in front of her, she couldn't help but ask him this question. Aarush wasn't special in that sense, Reni always asked various doctors for advice, she was passionate about this.

"Well, the most common advice I can give you is that only pursue medicine if you truly want to do it." Aarush said with a smile.

"Everyone tells me that, but what do they mean?" She asked with a curious look.

"Umm…" He hesitated a little before asking her a question. "First tell me, what kind of doctor do you want to become, any thoughts so far?"

"Surgeon." She said with no hesitation.

"Alright, do you want the nice answer or the realistic answer? The two are not the same. Remember, if you want to know why everyone says this, you have to understand what medicine holds, it's not all fun and games. It's life and death." The reason he was so serious was because he didn't wish for anyone not prepared or willing to face bad things going into such a field. Doctors could be regarded highly and were also paid a good amount, but the money was not always worth it.

"Realistic. I want to be a doctor, so I'm not scared." She said with a smug look.

"Alright, if this causes some changes in your thinking, don't worry about it, there are various fields out there which pay better and are less stressful." When he said, Reni listened carefully, so did the rest of the kids. "First thing. The shows on tv are very different from how the hospitals work. Majority of the time, you will be facing patients who are coming in for headaches, stomachaches, and alike. They will all think that it is something serious, but really, it isn't." Aarush smiled bitterly and said. "Sure, you can try and bond with a patient, but there are certain procedures you have to follow, plus you will likely not see the same patient over and over again. Sure, on a rare occurrence, you might see those major problems, but a more experienced doctor will usually handle it. Doctors have to be on their toes most of the time, not because of critical patients, but because if they do something dumb, they could get the hospital in trouble. Haha." He laughed a little.

"Have you met patients with crazy types of conditions?" Reni asked with a bit of excitement. Although she was slightly disappointed by his answer, she dind;t feel too down. Being a doctor was her dream, no matter how boring it would. Her goal was to help others, so even if it was handling stomach aches, she wouldn't mind.

"Well, my situation is a little different from the average doctor." He smiled, but didn't go into detail. "I did meet a patient with a crazy condition seven years ago. I won't say too much about him, but it was a little boy." Aarush thought back to those days and smiled a little. "The patient got surgery at my hospital and sadly, my hospital messed up and ruined the child's life, cutting his life short because of the surgery. I just had to find a way to make him live for a bit longer, but even after doing this, his life never returned to normal." He sighed. "Being a doctor means you will face tough situations which you have to handle. You can't shy away from it since this is what you signed up for."

"Wow." Reni couldn't help but say aloud. Aarush shook his head at her reply.

'She will understand later.' Aarush then got up from his seat. "Anyways, let's finish the session." He then walked away with the kids.

The session lasted another half hour before ending. Aarush began to bid the students farewell with a smile.

"Can I come back next week?" Reni asked before walking through the door.

"No problem. Also, give me your mom or dad's number so I can keep in touch with them, I want to make sure they are up to date with your studies here." Aarush was still all for the parent involvement.

"My mom doesn't understand these things too much and my dad is too busy." Reni said with a sigh. She then looked at Inaya. "Ina, you are the one who is making me study, just give him your contact number." She said with a smile. Reni had no ulterior motives.

Aarush looked at Inaya and saw her hesitation. He smiled at her plainly. "You don't have to give me your number, just an email is fine, even if it's your work one. I just want a way to contact the house."

Nodding her head, Inaya pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a number. "This is my cell number." She felt a little irritated by his smile and just handed him her number. 'What? Does he think I am so reserved that I can't even give him my number?'

"Alright. Let me send a text so you can add it to your contacts." Aarush then proceeded to just send her a text. It was a single word, his name. Inaya saved it as Yunus Tutor. "Well, thanks for coming. Reni, I will see you at school then." He finally waved them off and then closed the door. He walked to his room and began to study the case in more detail before the surgery.

"Ina, this was so great. I learned so much." Reni sat in the rickshaw, her face filled with excitement. Not only did she get more help with school work, she also learned more about the career she wished to go into.

"If it helped, then that's great." Although Inaya was a little frustrated at her own incompetence at teaching her niece, she was a reasonable person. Her niece was doing better with someone else teaching her, so why would she stop it? That would just be dumb.

"Ina, I was wondering. Where did you get that from?" As they watched the outside of the rickshaw, Reni suddenly noticed something in Inaya's hand. It was a book.

"What?" Inaya looked down and noticed the book on her lap. "This is from… Oh no!" Inaya felt a headache appear. "This is Yunus Sirs. I didn't even notice myself holding this." Raising her hand, she massaged her forehead. "Bhaiya, can you turn around and take us back?"

The driver turned his head and frowned. "Same place?"

"Yes. Don't worry, I will still pay you for this." Inaya knew what he worried about and confirmed quickly.

"Alright then." He turned the rickshaw around and drove back to the previous location.

Back in Aarush's house, Bali was massaging his forehead, looking at the garden with a frown. Aarush was in his room getting himself prepared for the surgery by studying the patient and communicating with the hospital, so Bali couldn't go and disturb him. "The designer has three designs, but I don't know which one is the best. I have to confirm it soon, before the designer gets here." He felt his head hurt just thinking about it. All three were amazing, yet he didn't know which one would be the best.

Ding Ding

"Who could be here now?" Bali looked in the direction of the door and sighed. Shaking his head he speed walked to the door and opened it up. To his surprise, it was Inaya and Reni. "Hello?" He looked at them and smiled questionably.

"Sorry, I kind of forgot I still had Yunus sirs book, so I took it with me." Inaya stepped forward and handed him the book while smiling embarrassingly. "Sorry."

"No problem at all." Bali said with a smile. "Did you enjoy it? If you would like, you can borrow it, I don't think Yunus sir will mind." Bali was confident that Aarush wouldn't mind. The latter was always happy to see others read his book, he would even lend his books out to people who wanted to borrow them because the more people that read it, the happier he would get.

Inaya looked at Bali and hesitated before asking. "Is it alright?" She was enjoying the book and the situations playing out. They weren't new, but the way it was shown was unique.

"No problem at all.." Bali smiled and gave the book back to her.

"Well, thank you then. We will be going then, sorry for disturbing." Inaya grabbed Reni's hand and was about to turn around and leave, but Bali suddenly stopped them.

"Miss, are you busy or have anywhere important to go?" Hearing his question, Inaya raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not busy, but I have to get her home, did you need something?" She was curious about why this servant was stopping her so suddenly.

"I just need a few minutes, will that be alright? I can drop the two of you home myself right after." Bali said quickly.

Thinking for a moment, Inaya nodded her head. "No problem." With that, Bali led them back into the house and back to the garden area.

"The issue is, Yunus sir's parents and siblings are coming tomorrow after seven years and I was tasked with getting this garden set up for them. I got three designs from the designer but I don't know which one to pick. I don't have great taste in this." Bali explained with a sigh.

"So, you want us to help you with this?" Inaya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. I am super lost, so help would be great." He pulled out the designs he got and began to show them carefully. "These are the three I was sent."

"Beautiful." Inaya said quietly. Reni also looked at the designs with wide eyes. They all looked so pretty and natural. "All of them are very pretty, but do you know specifics about what his family likes? Like, this first one is very detailed and pretty, but the amount of detail can maybe make some people uncomfortable. This second one is based on this single plant type, though beautiful, it might bore his family if they like variations, while the third one is the opposite, it has too many variations. So, knowing what their interests are will make this easier." Inaya wasn't new to this since during her university days, she did take a class related to interior design. It was an interesting option, plus with her major in english, she always looked into deeper meanings of various things.

Listening to her explanation, Bali sighed. "I'm not sure about what his family likes."

"Haven't you been with Yunus sir for many years?" Inaya asked with confusion. With his many years of being beside Aarush, he should know their interests, even a little bit, by now.

"That's the thing, this is his family's first time coming here. I don't even know what they look like, let alone what they like and what they don't." Bali sighed and said. "Yunus sir has been here alone for seven years, working everyday and keeping himself busy. Afterall, when his wife died seven years ago, he found working to be his only distraction."

When they heard his words, Inaya and Reni looked at him with shock. "Yunus sir's wife died?"

"Not many know this and please don't mention it to Yunus sir. He is still affected by her death which is why he has yet to remarry." Bali felt like smacking himself for accidentally mentioning something he shouldn't have. "Anyways, this is the first time he will be meeting his parents after her death."

Inaya took a deep breath and couldn't help but look towards the direction of the stairs. A sigh escaped her mouth and then she nodded. "Alright, I think that you should go with the third option. It is very pretty with the various natural colors."

"Alright, I will do this one then." As he circled the sheet, the three people suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind them.

"Bali, I'm going to leave soon…" Aarush's voice came from behind and they all turned around. Bali didn't have much of a reaction, but Inaya's face blushed furiously while Reni's face brightened. "Reni?" Aarush came down with only his pants on. A shirt was on his shoulder, soon to be worn. They noticed that on his left arm was a black tattoo. It was a large cloud band which wrapped around his muscular bicep, but that wasn't the thing that caught their eye. Rather, on his right shoulder, extending down to his elbow, was a scar. It was long, and horrific to look at.

"Yunus sir, I called them in for a bit of help, sorry. You were busy so I didn't want to disturb you." Bali quickly walked over and explained.

"That's alright." Aarush just smiled as he slowly put his shirt on. He wasn't embarrassed being seen like this, he didn't really care. Yet, when he noticed their gazes land on his scar, he knew that covering up would make them feel less awkward. "I'm going to leave for the hospital soon, do you guys want me to drop you home?" He had a long while before the surgery and the only reason he was going early was so he could get himself ready and see if there was anything he could prepare beforehand.

"That's alright, you don't have to trouble yourself Yunus sir. I can drop them off." Bali said quickly.

"No issue. They helped you, plus it would be rude to just let them go themselves." Aarush smiled at the two. "So, is that fine?"

"Sure." Reni said with a bright face. Inaya was still a little dazed from the scene, so she nodded after a second.

"Alright, I'm just going to eat before heading out. You guys can join me if you want." Aarush walked away while buttoning up his shirt. "Bali, just give me the usual meal." He sat down on his chair and said from afar. The two girls followed behind him and found their own seats as well. They weren't hungry since they had just eaten.

Without waiting for a single second, Bali ran into the kitchen and began to prepare the food.

"Yunus sir." Reni sat closer to Aarush then Inaya. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked at Aarush.

"Yes Reni?" He looked at her with a smile. She was a kid who made him think of his little sister. He had goodwill towards her because of this.

"Where did you get that scar from?" She asked so suddenly that Aarush was taken aback. Even Inaya glared at Reni for her loud mouth.

"Reni, that's rude, you can't just ask that." Inaya whispered at her with anger, but Aarush smiled bitterly seeing this.

"No problem, she is a kid, I don't mind." Aarush shook his head and then looked at Reni. "If you want to know, I'll tell you. It's no secret I'm trying to hide." Reni became excited and listened attentively. Even Inaya couldn't help but listen as well. "Seven years ago I got into a fight with this guy. He had a knife which I didn't know about, so he cut me in the arm. It was really surprising." Aarush smiled and explained. Bali was still readying the food so talking would help pass the time.

"Wow. I didn't know you got into fights." Reni said silently. "So, you're a doctor and teacher, super handsome, and even fight? Yunus sir, you're so cool." Reni said suddenly.

"Thanks." Aarush looked at her with a simple smile. "Reni, what do your parents do? I've learned so much about you, but I know nothing of your parents and family."

"Well, my dad is a chemical engineer for some company and my mom is a housewife." Reni said smilingly.

Aarush nodded his head. He then looked at Inaya. "And what about you miss Inaya? With your degree, I'm assuming you likely teach, right?"

"Nope." Inaya said blandly. "I don't have a job right now, I want to be a writer, so I just write."

"Writing?" Aarush looked at her weirdly. "Interesting."

Seeing him not seem impressed or even smile at her words, she became a little offended. 'Is writing really so bad? You did it too.' She thought this and became even more annoyed. "Do you think writing doesn't have a future?"

Aarush looked at her weirdly. "I didn't say that." Seeing her act like this once again, Aarush couldn't help but sigh. "Miss Inaya, I have a question for you."

"What is it?" She looked at him curiously.

"Do you have some sort of issue with me?" Aarush asked her with a bitter expression.

"Why would you think that?" She was taken aback by his question.

"Well, the first time I saw you, the way you acted was somewhat aggressive, and even now it seems the same. You don't seem like someone who is very aggressive, so I'm just assuming you have a problem with me." Aarush didn't think she was aggressive because of the scene he saw when he was going to the hospital that one day. She wasn't fighting back when she was being yelled at, rather she just took it, so he made this assumption.

Inaya raised her eyebrow and looked at Aarush weirdly. She then looked at Reni who was also smiling bitterly. "W-was I acting like that?"

"Yeah Ina." Reni replied in a whisper.

Inaya's face became red in embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't know I was being…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Aarush laughed. "Anyways, I don't think writing is a bad thing. I used to write a lot myself, I love it really. Rather, becoming a successful writer is harder than becoming a doctor in my opinion, which is why I find it interesting you chose this path. I hope it goes well for you." He smiled.

"Thank you." Inaya still felt embarrassed so she didn't speak too much after that. Aarush finally got his food and he ate it quickly. They then left the house. He led them into his grey car with a smile. Inaya and Reni both sat in the back.

"So, what is the address?" Aarush asked as he pulled out his phone.

"This is the address." Inaya passed Aarush a piece of paper. Typing the address into his phone, Aarush started the car and began to drive away from the house. "Yunus sir…"

"Call me Aarush. You are neither my student nor my servant, so just call me by my first name." Aarush found it weird hearing someone call him Yunus sir, especially someone who wasn't considered a junior to him.

Inaya hesitated but still did as she was told. "Aarush, I was reading one of your books and didn't finish, is it alright if I borrowed it?" She showed him the book she had in her hands. Although Bali said it was alright, the person in charge was Aarush afterall, so she wanted to confirm.

"Oh? Did you like it?" Aarush looked at her with a bit of excitement while driving. His composure was different from his previous calm. "You can borrow it, I don't mind. Still, how are you liking it? Tell me your honest opinion."

Seeing him act so excited, Inaya was taken aback a little. It was weird, but for some reason, she felt that this look suited Aarush more than his calm and serious look. "I like it, it is different."

"Great." Aarush smiled brightly as he continued to concentrate on the road. "Do you have any questions about it so far? The genre isn't really common in this area and so a lot of people get confused by it."

Thinking about it, Inaya shook her head. "It isn't confusing. You explained it well enough for me to understand what is going on." It was true, she wasn't trying to sugarcoat her words. It was explained well enough for her to understand what was going on exactly. "I do have one question. I think it could help me when I write my characters."

"Go ahead." Aarush felt excited talking about his book. Especially the one in Inaya's hands. It was one of his first books and it was written under lots of criticisms from his parents, so it was special to him. The book represented his stressful times.

"Well, why did you create this main character? What inspired it?" She had been curious about this since she started reading the book. The character was great and all, but he was also such a sad character which made her curious about the reason behind his creation.

"Why?" A bitter look came on Aarush's face suddenly. "Let's just say this character represents how I was during a certain period of my life. Really, every single character I have ever created represents a certain part of me, maybe a personality trait taken to an extreme, or how I was during a certain period of time. Does that answer the question?" Aarush had a weird smile on his face, but Inaya couldn't help but look at Aarush differently. She was reading the book, so she understood why he had such a look.

"Yes…" She answered back slowly. They didn't speak anymore for the rest of the trip. Soon enough, they got to Reni's house and the two girls began to get out. "Thank you for the lift."

"Yeah, thank you Yunus sir." Reni said with a smile as she jumped out of the car. "Amin uncle!" She suddenly screamed as she got out of the car.

"No problem." He answered back to Inaya since Reni already ran away, but he noticed that Inaya suddenly stopped moving. "Are you alright?" He noticed that her face seemed slightly pale.

Snapping out of it quickly, She nodded her head. "I'm fine. Anyways, I will take my leave."

"Wait." Aarush stopped her.

"Yes?" She looked at him with her pale face, but her expression showed puzzlement.

Taking a deep sigh, Aarush passed her a crumpled piece of paper. "Here is the number to my house. You already have my phone number, but just in case, here is my home phone number. If you have any problems, you can just give me or Bali a call." There were many reasons he was doing this. The main reason was because of what he saw occur a while back. Her brother wanted to force her into a marriage, and that left a very bad taste in his mouth. Normally he would ignore it, but he had bumped into Inaya once again and was actually related to her through Reni, so he wanted to help her if he could. The whole idea of forceful marriages made him remember Aeleya and how she felt when it happened to her. He couldn't stand seeing someone go through what his love had to go through. 'Aeleya, maybe if you didn't marry me, you might still be alive right now.' He sighed as he got to this point.

Confused by his words, Inaya nodded her head in gratification. "Thank you." Although she took his gesture, she didn't think she would ever do something like ask him for help. 'He is nice enough to offer the help, but that doesn't mean I should burden someone else with my problems, especially when he has his own.' She kept the piece of paper and walked out of the car. She didn't chase after Reni, rather she speed walked directly into the house.

Aarush saw this and raised an eyebrow. 'Why is she leaving in such a hurry?'

"You must be Mr. Yunus." Suddenly, a voice came from beside him. Aarush turned his head and saw a tall man looking through his window, smiling at him. He had a handsome face, yet Aarush got an annoying feeling from him, similar to a feeling he had in the past, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Hello, are you Reni's father?" This was the first thought he had, but it was rejected by the man shaking his head.

"Oh no, she is my little niece. I'm her mom's brother." He smiled and clarified. "Thank you for helping her with her studies. She is a smart girl, but some concepts are difficult for her to understand. Sadly, my Inaya and I aren't the best teachers."

'My?' He thought up to this point and frowned. 'Is this the person her brother wants her to marry? Well, he isn't bad, but still, forceful marriage isn't right.' Although he thought this, he wouldn't say anything. It wasn't his place to say anything, plus it was all an assumption he had. "She is a smart girl. If nurtured right, then she will definitely achieve her dreams. Anyways, I have to be somewhere, so I will talk when we meet next Mr…"

"Amin." He replied with just his name.

"Mr. Amin." Aarush nodded and then drove away.

Amin watched the car get further away and suddenly frowned. He saw that Reni was already inside and spat on the floor in anger. 'Who the fuck is this guy? If he dares to even lay a hand on my Inaya, I will teach him a lesson.' With that, he walked into the house in large strides.