V3 Chapter 4 - Grandma's Decision

After an 8-hour long drive, we finally reached home by 10 p.m. and after having dinner we rested for the day.

I still woke up near sunrise the next day, and after spending half an hour tossing and turning, I decided to get up and take a walk.

When I went out in the courtyard I found my grandmother doing yoga.

I greeted her.

"Good morning, Amma."(Ryan)

"Morning, child."(Shanti)

"Where's Grandfather?"(Ryan)

"Still asleep, tired from all the driving and how are you?"(Shanti)

"I am great. I wanted to talk about-"(Ryan)

"I see, you are in a hurry huh? Go sit there and we will talk in a minute." She said pointing me to the chairs and small table at the side of the courtyard.

I did as ordered and went down to sit, she came back 5 minutes later handed me a glass of warm milk and brought a glass of juice for herself.

"Now tell me why were you in such a hurry to come here?"(Shanti)

"Grandma, I've come back from the future," I said with a dramatic pause, she looked at me for a few seconds and when I didn't say anything she spoke

"...and, go on."(Shanti)

"That's it?!" (Ryan)

"That's your response to time travel? At least, show me some surprise!"(Ryan)

"It's always funny how you respond when someone teases you."(Shanti)

'I tried to ignore her teasing, she knows how to throw me off.'

"But you really have no questions about it?"(Ryan)

"I will reserve my questions for when you finish your story. Unlike you, I learned how to be patient."(Shanti)

"....Ugh...." I let out a groan and took a deep breath.

I looked at the glass of milk in my hands and poured it down my throat in one go and decided to continue. I knew she was just trying to mess with me to ease my tension.

"I don't remember how I came back, the last thing I remember was you were going take me somewhere, to prepare for challenges I might face in life."(Ryan)

Then I told her about the death of my parents, me starting a business, living with her here and then living in the monastery with her.

After I finished my story she spoke.

"I can infer a few things from your story. What do you plan to do?"(Shanti)

"I plan to establish my business, just like before now that I have more time to prepare."(Ryan)

"You should, you will need as much preparations as you can get to face what is coming. But, be discreet in your actions."(Shanti)

"Why?"(Ryan)

"What do you think was the cause of your parent's death?"(Shanti)

"I don't know, there might have been some kind of conspiracy but I never found out."(Ryan)

"The answer isn't that complicated child."(Shanti)

"What was it?"(Ryan)

"Human greed."(Shanti)

"What!? What could they even want, we weren't even rich?"(Ryan)

"From what I know, your parents are working on a kind of medicine that would revolutionize healing, though they are hardly successful as of now, they might have in the future, which aroused someone's greed."(Shanti)

"Then we should just leave everything behind there and move back here."(Ryan)

"Escaping isn't the answer, my child and from what I could infer from your life chart you should face it head-on."(Shanti)

"Why? From what I remember all the trouble only happens in America. We could just move here to live."(Ryan)

"No, my child. Running is never the answer. Even if you don't want to escape trouble will come after you. When the whole world turns upside down, you may find a place of solace, but there will be no place to hide."(Shanti)

'Looks like there will be trouble everywhere.'

"I see. What should I do?"(Ryan)

"Go on bravely, what can Kaal(death) do to you when Mahakaal(Absolute end-Shiva) himself is watching over you? You don't need to fear the winds when you are the storm(Rudra) itself."

"Just, be careful."

Despite all she said to encourage me, I could feel the worry in her voice and words. Seeing that I decided I would be strong so she wouldn't need to worry about me.

I won't run anymore.

I already died once, maybe twice.

Even if I die a third time, I might just come back to life.

'Peh peh, Let's not jinx myself.'

"I will Grandma."(Ryan)

"By the way, where were you hoping to take me according to my future memory?"(Ryan)

"Ah, we need to get you there huh?"(Shanti)

"Where?"(Ryan)

"I will tell you when the time comes, I will give you up to four months to get your company business on track and then I will take you there."(Shanti)

"Meanwhile I will give your parents something to come here for a holiday when their contract expires."(Shanti)

"Why don't I help them set up an independent lab?"(Ryan)

"Will you have enough funds?"(Shanti)

"From what I remember their current lab will be financially unstable somewhere end of next year, I will ask Uncle Raghu and see what we can do Maybe we can acquire something from it."(Ryan)

"Good."(Shanti)

"Now I need to acquire funds to start my business."(Ryan)

"How much do you need?"(Shanti)

"At least 10 million USD for a good start, but I will make do with what I have."(Ryan)

"I will get you about 100 crore in rupees, use that."(Shanti)

"How?!"(Ryan)

"You don't have to worry about it."(Shanti)

'Looks like Grandfather was right, my Grandma is too capable.'

"Then I will honestly follow your footsteps, Grandpa." I muttered to myself as I watched her walk away.

I felt like her back looked super chic and she was surrounded by overflowing golden light just like the background effect of a treasure chest filled with gold.

Or maybe it's just the sun playing tricks on me.

At this point, I honestly don't care.

(AN - Chapter 6 rolls the plot with the appearance of an MCU character. If someone can guess correctly and comment the name, I will post an extra chapter tomorrow. Credit to the first correct guess.I will only take the first answer in account. )