The Vile.

Chapter 10: Valorous.

He stands up slowly. The pain is unbearable but he needs to leave anyhow. The fact that he has no clothings on his upper body strikes him finally and defeated he sits back on the bed again.

Now when no one is around, his focus lingers on the room he is currently in. A pretty much casual room. The walls are painted in a combination of light blue and light yellow, which makes the room look brighter than it originally is. The room is medium in size and has too many windows. The bed is situated at the very center, the walls are mostly covered with wooden showcases and bookshelves, there is a huge wooden table and some four chairs around it at the right hand corner of the room. The front and side walls of the table has pastle drawings pasted on it, "has to be the kids' " he thinks to himself.

Suddenly he feels someone's presence beside him and turns his face around to find the same curly haired tiny girl, whose face immediately changes from curiosity to fear, as she immediately turns around and runs away. He knows the reason, he has seen it happening many a times. They find his scar frightening and it doesn't surprise him. He slowly stands up and moves towards the door where she came from. He stands there looking down at the floor, thinking about the previous night when the small voice reaches his ears.

"He is scary, like a giant." The small voice uttered.

"Is he? But I don't find him scary. Do you want to know how I find him?" Vasudha's voice asks. But he fails to hear any response from the other end.

"I find him brave. Do you remember that story, where the lion got a scar on his face while fighting and it proved his valor and courage to his fellow lions. He was respected for that. That means a scar displays your valor, one should never fear it. Okay?" She explains, surprising Danuj. He has heard so many things about his scar, so many horrid ways of concluding what or who he is but never in his wildest dreams he expected a theory like this. This is a totally new way of describing him.

"Is he brave then?" Asks the tiny one.

"I don't know yet, but it seems to be. Now my Mira darling will go and get her breakfast done, before it gets cold, does that sound nice?" She asks.

"Yes, yes." Mira adds giggling.

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"Can I get my shirt and pant back?" He asks while devouring the soup. It has been long since he had homemade food made by someone else other than him, and to top it the soup tastes devine.

"Your shirt is still bloody, it is not yet washed, you can wear this for now and here, you can wear your pant, because we don't have any of your size here." She places a white T-shirt and his pant on the table.

"Okay." He responds.

"Fine then. You get changed and complete eating by that time I am bringing you're meds." She says smiling.

He keeps on looking at her retreating figure when she suddenly turns around and says, "I don't know how you got that wound, it must be very painful but I truly hope you get well soon." She completes and turns around to leave when his voice echoes.

"How much do I pay for your hospitality?" He says as curtly as possible.

She turns around with raised eyebrows then says, "not me, if you ever want to pay, you can help these people who stay here with anything that you can. They are going through a tough time."

Her words force him to clench jaw, he fisted his hands beside him uttering nothing at all.

"Okay, so let me bring you your medicines." She says and leaves and he knows that this is his time to escape.

¤¤¤¤¤

"He left without saying so much of a thank you? Wow, very nice way to pay someone who saves your life." Ganika uttered.

All of them were sitting in the usual library. In the morning when she came back, she found the room empty. He left and that didn't surprise her. But now when everyone of her friends are almost shouting at her for her "foolishness" she feels really bad about it. He could have at least said his name, she thinks to herself.

"Leave that, what about the next hearing?" Asks Zoya.

"Two weeks later. Don't know what'll happen. The collection till date is not enough for the purchase of another shelter for them and due to D' Imperium's involvement more of the donors are withdrawing themselves. It's tough to sort this out either way." Says Abhirup.

"And don't forget that some of us are still healing from the attack. We are still not ready for another such." Mihir points out.

"What are we gonna do then?" Asks Zoya, seemingly worried.

"We try. That's the utmost we can do Zoya. We can't stop trying." Vasudha responds.

"How many are we?" Asks Derek.

"Around one fifty, why?" Vasudha asks.

"Because we have to plan for a back up Sudha. Don't take me wrong but if we do fail, we would need another alternative." He says sincerely.

"I agree." Mihir adds.

"I guess we all do." Sudha confirms.

¤¤¤¤¤

"Why the hell should I find you inside my house Nihal?You know that you could have been killed right now. So stop sneaking into my place like this." Danuj says looking at the figure that keeps watching the t.v sitting on his couch.

The man placed the remote on the glass table infront of him and turned around only to widen his eyes in surprise.

"Fuck, what the hell are you wearing?" He asks stifling a laugh.

"What's so funny in this?" Danuj asks advancing towards the same couch a little slower than expected.

"Something is not right. Where were you last night? Maya called me asking for your whereabouts. You're hurt, aren't you?" He asks, moving towards him.

"You can say so. So you came here to check on me?" Danuj asks moving towards his bed room.

"Yes, and found nothing so decided on watching t.v for the time being." Nihal responds.

"Order something to eat then. I don't feel like cooking today." He got into his room and closed it from inside.