Rising emotions

"So? How was your first day of school? Did you make new friends? Were the people nice? Were the teachers good? What are you studying there? Is Divya doing good? What about-" spoke a voice from the phone placed in the middle of the table in the living room. 

"Aunty, stop - We're doing fine. School was like it always i- I mean, school was fine. The teachers are okay, and we're going to be learning basic magic theory and combat. As for Divya, you can talk to her yourself," said Alaukik, motioning to Divya, who was sitting beside Alaukik on the sofa. 

"Is she there beside you? That makes it simpler - how was school Divya? Did you have fun?"

"It … … it was fun." replied Divya, albeit with some hesitation. 

'Can I really call it fun when I couldn't even talk properly?' thought Divya, but she didn't want to disappoint Asha, and so she decided to simply lie. 

However, Asha wasn't a scientist who was only immersed in her research. She was a member of the RC, and as such had enough experience to recognise who was lying and who wasn't, especially when faced with a young girl who hadn't seen much of the world. 

"Divya … did something go wrong today?" asked Asha, with a motherly tone. 

Immediately, Divya realised that Asha had figured out her lie, but even then, she didn't want to appear weak in front of others, and so she replied with forced excitement in her voice

"No! It was great! I even made a friend!" 

"Oh? You made a friend?" asked Asha.

"Who is it? Are they a good person?"

"Mhm. She was really nice to me! She even decided to sit by me in all of our classes today!"

"Oh? What's her name? What does she look like? Did you take a picture?"

"A picture…? What is that?"

"A picture …"

"A picture is a way we can save our memories as a photo or a drawing, so that we can look at it and remember it even after a lot of time has passed," said Alaukik, noticing Asha's stuttering. 

"Now, Aunty, if you're done with your interrogation, I wanted to ask you for something."

"Fine, fine. Ask away," said Asha, begrudgingly.

"I need you to send me all the information the RC has on Angie Sirius. It would be best if you could send it by today."

"Angie Sirius? Why do you need her information?" asked Asha, immediately suspicious that something had occurred today.

"Did the USNA government try something on you? Alaukik, tell me right now if they did, don't hide anything from me. If they go too far there is no need for you to stay there, just come back here."

Letting out a sigh, she continued,

"I really don't know why I agreed to let you go to another country. I must've been out of my mind! No, this won't do. You were finally able to start living a normal life, I cannot let you stay there anymore Alaukik, you need to come back! And Divya must be suffering so much, I sent her with you thinking that it would be good for her to experience school life, but I didn't think it through at all! No, Alaukik, Divya, I'm booking you a flight back right now, you are not staying there anymore - I'm bringing you back no matter what."

Hearing this, even Alaukik let out a sigh and spoke,

"Aunty, you know I will not come back. I have something to do here, and I can't come back until I find what I want. You know that, and you also know that if you decide to bring us back, I will have to forcefully stay here. As for Divya, I was telling you from the very beginning that it would be too hard on her to suddenly start school, let alone in another country on top of that. She was barely able to spe-"

"I also don't want to leave," said Divya all of a sudden.

Twisting his head to stare at her, Alaukik furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice leaking the annoyance he was feeling.

"I don't want to go," she repeated, this time looking straight at Alaukik.

"I want to become stronger, and for that, I have to overcome my obstacles. I cannot run away simply because it was hard, or because I failed at the first try. And there is also Lisa … she is probably the first friend I've ever made in my life, so I don't want to leave so soon."

"Lisa? Are you kidding me? You have the ability to look into a person's subconscious! Don't tell me you really think she wants to be friends with you!" shouted Alaukik, his irritation over this day's events spilling over into his words. 

"She really wants to be my friend. I'm weak, not stupid," replied Divya. "And why would anyone want to fake being my frien-"

"Fine! Fine, stay. I was trying to help you, but if you're so eager to smash your own foot then go ahead!"

Hearing this, the first thought that came to Divya's mind was

'He's the one who needs me, so why is he still angry when I'm willing to stay here?'

However, she simply stayed silent, knowing that Alaukik was for some reason really irritated today, and so she didn't want to aggravate his emotions any more. After all, she had seen first hand what would happen if he lost control … and it wasn't a pretty sight.

On the other hand, Asha didn't like the way Alaukik lashed out at Divya like that,

"Alaukik! Don't talk like that to her, just like you have your own wishes, so does she, okay! Try to see things from another's perspective … which applies to me as well. Fine, Alaukik, Divya, stay there if you want. However, I want you to stay in contact with me daily okay? And no hiding stuff from me, okay? And that applies to the both of you. I know we aren't at the point where you feel free sharing everything with me, but remember that I'll always be there for the both of you okay? Anyways, it must be getting late for you guys there, so quickly go to sleep and remember to wake up on time tomorrow morning okay?"

"Fine, fine. Bye aunty."

"Bye…"

Saying so, Alaukik picked up the phone from the table and handed it to Divya, saying,

"I'm going out for a walk. Remember to keep the door locked and don't open it to strangers."

Nodding, Divya simply held onto the phone and watched as Alaukik walked out of the house, locking the door before leaving. 

'I think his condition has gotten worse,' thought Divya.

'Usually he would've simply teleported outside instead of walking out like that… And he was not like himself right now. I've never seen him get so irritated, although we've known each other for only a little while.'

------

Meanwhile, after cutting the call, Asha let out another sigh. 

"I really hope they're doing okay there. Ah, if only I could go with them! It would've been so much better."

However, as soon as she said that, her phone started to ring again. Glancing down at who was calling her, she sighed again. Lifting the call, she spoke,

"Yes Bharat. What is it now?"

A/N:

Uh... I honestly have nothing to say... I'm sorry for taking so long...? I know it's not enough, and I don't want to make any excuses or promises either... cause I've been really engrossed in irl stuff and it's hard to start writing again. 

However, that does not mean I'm abandoning the story, I will finish it, it's just I don't know how the updates will look like. I'll ensure that I post consistently for a week at least. 

Thank you Void, Nico and Ramon for the powerstones! It does mean a lot to see that there are people willing to support me~

And as always, thank you everyone for reading and have a great day ahead!