The Feel I Get (TFIG)

Chapter 5 : Run run run

I stopped near Vinay.
"I guess we made a blunder", I said.
"Tanvi isn't any techy girl. Avni told me", I continued.

"I'll call Tanvi. I have her number", Vinay smiled cunningly.
"Why do you even have her number ?" Vinay had this look on his face.
"Seriously ? Tanvi ?", I muttered.

"She isn't picking up", said Vinay.
"Keep tryin...", I said as I noticed Dad outside the college gate with his car. Everyone had gathered around it for taking photos.

He smiled as I came near him. "I just thought I would drop you.."
But, I walked off sideways, away from the crowd. But he followed me there too.
"Can you atleast tell me what's wrong ?", he asked as he stopped the car midway.

"Nothing.. and why are you even concerned ? You aren't even my real..", I was gonna say but i noticed Mom sitting in the car as well.
"Shut up ! How many times have I told you ? He's your father now. Accept it", she said.
I noticed the crowd again as the commotion continued. So I sat in the car quietly.

On the way, mom noticed the scar on my nose. "What happened to you nose, beta ?"
"Nothing maa. There's a guy. There was a misunderstanding. So he punched me", I explained.

"Why didn't you hit him back ?", Dad questioned.
"Jayesh !? Is that what you teach your son ?", Mom was shocked.

"If Omkar had taught him all this stuff when he was alive, Akshit would've been a better and tougher person like me.. but he.. he's a weakling like his dad.. I'm fed up of this kid..", Dad's personality changed all of a sudden.
"Jayesh stop ! You don't know what you are saying", mom said.

"Oh ofcourse I know Neha", Dad clenched his head and somehow got us to our home.
"Looks like your Dad is unwell", mom said as she took him to his room. I called up the doctor. Someone supposedly from REDZ Vashi.

I ran to my room and wiped my tears. I confronted myself in the mirror. Why was I like this ? Why couldn't I be like others ? Why didn't I beat Maanav back ? Am I coward ? Was my dad.. my real Dad a coward too ?
That's when my gaze went to my karate trophy. "Uncle Suraj, you knew him well, didn't you ?", I questioned as I saw an old photo. Me lifting the state karate championship with Uncle Suraj on my side.

He was my master, master of the Phoenix Flare Karate Academy and Dad's brother. How happy everyone was..

Till that Jayesh showed up. Uncle Suraj died due to mysterious circumstances. Jayesh married my mother and claimed the entire ASPEX fortune. That my dad had made.

Dad lost mom to Jayesh. I won't make the same mistake in case of Avni. I picked up my phone. "Hello Avni ?"

***

"So Akshit ? Why have you brought me here ?", Avni asked as she kept fiddling with her ring.
"I guess it's time to tell you. Maybe you already know..."

"What ? That your stupid friend Tanvi just leaked your secret project to the YORV community ?", Avni said with seriousness in her tone.

For a second or two, I couldn't feel my heart beat. "One min ? What ??!"

"Idk how she got in. She just posted it everywhere asking what is this thing ?"
"You can't be..."

RRIIINNNGGGGG !!!!!!

My phone rang. It was Tanvi.
"Akshit. They hacked....my phone. They know it's you.... They are .....krzzxzz...."
"Hang in there. I can't hear you", I replied.

The noise changed drastically into a heavy voice. "GIVE US THE STABILIZER."

My phone switched off on its own. Shit.
I threw the phone outside the window. It blasted off in midair, as I tried to cover up Avni.

Everyone in the café looked at us suspiciously.

"There they are !", she pointed out as some armed men entered the Cafe.
"Avni, Listen. I want you to get to the safety. Ok ?", I said.

"But what about you ?"
"You don't have to care about me", I said as I mixed into the panicked crowd. I found my way out, got my bike. Roared it to get their attention.
And here it starts. The chase.

I raced through the streets of the Vashi flyover as I turned the nitro on.

TINNGG TINGG
I heard the bullets hitting the metal on my bike. Uh oh.

At last, one hit my leg on the gear. And CRASHHHHH, I fell off the speeding bike.

OOWWW ! I let out a cry of pain.

I heard guns reload as all of them pointed towards me.
"Give us our tech, and we'll let you live", they demanded.

I flinched a little as I heard another reload.
"Wait !!!", I heard a voice.

"Avni, what the.."
"Akshit, listen to me. Give it to them", she approached me steadily.

I didn't respond. The guns were still on me.
"Life's too short, Akshit. Trust me. I know. We all live for a moment", she tried to console me.

I saw into her eyes. A feeling of terror and fear residing in them.
"..he's a weakling like his dad..", Jayesh's words echoed in my mind. No I'm not.

I sweep-kicked two of them. And got hold of the other's gun.
"You're wrong Avni. We die for a moment, we live all the way up to it."

The public around was running off already. All of a sudden, another truck filled with goons entered the premise.
"It will never end like this Akshit. Listen to me, you've to do..."

I reloaded the gun in my hand. I knew I wasn't trained, but there wasn't...
"Hey !! Wait !"

"You give that tech to them, or I die", Avni stood there with a gun in her hands.
"You crazy ? Shooting yourself won't.."

"Just give it."