Chapter 69: Did you... really sit there the whole time for me?"

For a few moments, a heavy, suffocating silence hung in the room.

​Obviously, it was going to take some time for Himanshu to fully believe all this. A normal human brain doesn’t just accept such horrifying truths that easily.

​After thinking it over, and repeatedly recalling Senior Maya’s lethal fighting stances back at the cafe... he had no choice but to believe it. That wasn’t some normal martial arts. Those were the moves of someone who had learned to fight just to stay alive.

​But Himanshu still couldn’t wrap his head around how something like this could even happen. He had always read and heard that the government takes special care of orphaned kids. That there were facilities for them.

​"Senior Children’s Residential Facility..." The words just slipped out of his mouth.

​Looking into his eyes, the senior paused for a second. Then, a faint, incredibly painful smile appeared on her dry lips.

​"Maybe... if this country actually had those, we would have turned out a little different."

​Himanshu couldn’t say another word. He just lay there on the bed, shrinking into himself, feeling a mild sense of dread. He was silently thanking his own luck, while feeling nothing but a deep, aching sadness for his seniors.

​Well, not everyone gets everything in life. Some don’t get a good life, and some don’t get the right partner to make their life better.

​Just thinking about this lifted a massive weight off Himanshu’s chest. The guilt he carried since childhood about never being able to make a good partner or friend... it suddenly felt much lighter today. Because, from the very beginning, he had a Mom who loved him unconditionally and took care of him. He never had to sleep on a pavement with an empty stomach.

​Senior Maya tightly gripped the fabric of her pants resting on her knees. Her head was looking down.

​In a broken voice, she said, "We... we thought maybe we could forget that disgusting past. That we could change ourselves... and start over. But maybe we were wrong. Sorry... I was wrong. I thought if I kept a smile on my face, if I behaved nicely with everyone, I could change who I am. I could give myself a new life..."

​Maya’s voice started choking in her throat.

"But I was wrong. I am wrong."

​Her hands, resting on her knees, slowly started to tremble.

​Himanshu was slowly starting to believe that everything was sorted now. He had figured out the demon’s feelings, and after this horrifying truth, he felt even closer to his seniors. But perhaps Himanshu didn’t realize that the new life Maya had started, holding herself together for so many years... he had basically crushed it today.

​"Sorry... sorry, I didn’t know you guys were in a situation like that," Himanshu said quickly. He was hating himself for scratching at their old wounds.

​The senior squeezed her eyes shut tightly. The moisture that had been welling up in her eyes for so long finally fell to the ground as a tear.

​"It wasn’t your fault." Maya said without even looking at him. "I... I could have just said ’sorry’ and ended the matter right there."

​Saying that, she stood up with a jerk.

​And right then, her teary, wet eyes met the demon’s calm gaze. A weird silence fell over the room.

​"I don’t know... when I’ll ever be able to become like you."

​Saying this, without wasting a single second, she started walking out of the room.

​"Senior!" That was all Himanshu could say, but before he could do anything else, she had already stepped out and the door clicked shut.

​Senior Gaurav was still leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His raised eyebrows and the wrinkles on his forehead made it clear how stressed he was right now. That ’cool guy’ mask of his had completely fallen off.

​Using his good hand for support, Himanshu made an ugly face and fought through the pain to sit up on the bed.

​"Senior! Stop her... tell her she can change herself." Himanshu said, looking at Gaurav.

​Gaurav just stood there, completely silent.

​"Senior, why aren’t you saying anything? Say something!"

​Just then, the senior’s slightly heavy voice cut Himanshu off, like this time he was actually speaking as a proper ’senior’.

"Maybe... she’s right."

​Hearing this, Himanshu frowned. The frustration building up inside him finally started coming out.

​"How can you even say that? When it was entirely my fault! And another thing I don’t get... why are you all not trying to understand that anger is just an emotion! It’s not some curse that needs to be chained up, that just needs to be suppressed!"

​Himanshu’s voice started echoing in the room.

​"Our anger is what makes us human! Why don’t you guys get that? Senior, you have to tell her, you have to explain it to her! It was just... her seeing her junior getting beaten up, it was just an emotion coming out, just normal anger. Don’t link this one single thing to her new life being a failure!"

​Himanshu was breathing heavily now.

​"No! If you guys can’t even get angry... then you can never change either."

​Himanshu gritted his teeth. Gaurav’s silence was really pissing him off. He threw off the blanket with a jerk and dangled his legs off the bed. The moment he used his bandaged hand to push himself up, a sharp, terrible pain shot through the wound. His face twisted in pain, but he didn’t care.

​Ignoring the pain, he stood up unsteadily, glared straight into the senior’s eyes, and said, "Oh really? So that means you’ve failed in your new life too?" Himanshu fired back directly. "Because just now, you let your emotion out, you talked in a heavy, supportive voice almost like anger... so what are you gonna call that? Because you just broke that whole ’cool senior’ act you’ve been trying to pull off for days, the moment the situation changed!"

​Gaurav, who had stepped forward to help Himanshu when he saw him stumbling, stopped dead in his tracks hearing that. His feet just froze on the spot.

​It was a simple point, but it hit right where it was supposed to.

​"Senior, try to understand..." Himanshu’s voice softened a bit now. "I have never seen anyone change as much as she has. When she has that smile on her face, it feels like there’s a completely different person standing there. She becomes like a totally blank piece of paper... where there’s only empty space left to fill."

​Silence took over the room once again.

​Senior Gaurav stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes glued to the floor. And then he said softly,

"Maybe... maybe you’re right, Himanshu. Maybe we both can change ourselves."

​Sitting on the stool near the bed, the demon just kept watching them. Himanshu’s words—"anger is not a curse"—were echoing in her mind. Just like humans, was the anger and pain growing inside a monster not a curse either? For the first time, Himanshu’s words were somehow acting like a mirror for the demon too.

​And right then, a nurse knocked on the door and walked in talking.

"The doctor said to rest in bed for two more hours. You’ll be discharged after that."

​Everyone just stood there like statues in their spots. A heavy quiet just lingered in the room.

​Two hours later. At the time of discharge.

​Standing in front of the hospital’s main gate, Himanshu carefully supported his heavily bandaged hand as he walked down the front steps. The knife wound wasn’t too serious, but considering Himanshu’s weak body, it had taken him four hours just to recover enough to walk.

​The air outside was a little chilly. Himanshu kept glancing to his side over and over again. He wanted to see that same wet, emotion-filled face that he had seen just a few hours ago.

​But the demon was just walking next to him, holding a plastic bag of medicines with an absolutely flat, expressionless face.

​She hadn’t said a single word since he first saw her in the room. She was back in her own little ’robotic’ world.

​But even then, there was a lot of relief visible on Himanshu’s face. He probably didn’t even know himself why he was feeling so light.

​And right then, the demon’s words suddenly fell into his ears.

"Maybe... we should get a taxi."

​Himanshu just stared at her for a second without even blinking.

​"No, no. I’m fine, I can walk."

​He ran his good hand through his hair, flicking it back, and gave a light smile. "Besides, we don’t have any money anyway."

​But then Himanshu stopped in his tracks. A sudden realization hit him like lightning.

​"Wait... who paid for my hospital bill?"

​The demon kept walking and said without turning back, "Who else? The seniors did."

​Himanshu’s face twisted into an ugly expression. "Oh no man... my first monthly salary is gone!"

​And right then, the demon suddenly stuck her hand out toward the road for an approaching taxi.

​"Hey... hey, I’m fine. I told you, I can walk!" Himanshu said, getting a little panicked.

​Turning her neck, the demon looked at him again with those cold, red eyes.

"Yeah, but I can’t." She said in a completely flat voice. "My back is broken from sitting on that stool for so long."

​The taxi came to a stop right in front of them. The demon grabbed the door handle to open it.

​And right then, she realized it... like she had accidentally blurted out something she didn’t want to tell him. Her hand just froze on the handle.

​That’s when Himanshu spoke softly. A faint blush had appeared on his face, and a weird spark was clearly visible in his eyes.

​"Did you... really sit there the whole time for me?"

​The demon stood glued to the ground. Like someone had just exposed her deepest secret in front of everyone. Her hand remained resting on the taxi’s handle, she didn’t turn around. Only the tips of her ears had turned slightly red.

​For a moment, everything stopped. Like time itself had frozen.

​And then the very next second, a cool gust of wind blew, making the demon’s black hair flutter in the air. Even amidst all the noise of the street and the honking cars, to Himanshu, that one moment, that one silence, felt like the most beautiful sound in the world.