Prove It!

Carefully, Mriga measured the portions of various elements which the old man had given her before putting them together in the mixing bowl.

"This is a new medicine which I have prepared specifically for him. The ingredients were tough to find. Make sure that not even a single particle is wasted," The Vaidya had instructed her sternly.

Mixing the herbs well, she started crushing them with all her might to extract maximum juice out of it.

THUD!

Mriga heard the sound and ran back to the room. Shaurya had fallen down on the floor and was trying to sit up, holding the side of the bed.

"Argh… what are you trying to do? You will hurt yourself this way," she scolded him in a worried tone.

Squatting down in front of him, she slipped her arms underneath his armpits and helped him rise up. Their bodies were almost touching. She could see the curly eyelashes covering the half closed eyelids. A thin sheen of perspiration was visible on his forehead. She could even hear the slow hum dum of his heartbeat under her hand. Her forearm's muscles bunched up as she made him sit on the bed and then straightened up.

Shaurya looked at her through hazy eyes and croaked, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"I am y… your mentee and you are in your room. You were hurt and are currently supposed to be recuperating. Why are you out of the bed?" she asked softly.

Shaurya held her forearm and jerked her down to his eye level.

"Prove it!" he commanded in that hoarse voice.

Mriga looked at him consternation. What exactly was she supposed to prove to him???

After a moment's thought, she took his fingers and placed them at the base of his neck.

"This is where the poison was drained out from your body. The wound is fairly raw so you can't do any sudden movements. As for this being your room, if you look around, you will find many things familiar. And about me being your mentee, umm, I know that your favourite eating joint is five minutes away from the shop in the market. I also know that you are an expert at disguise and… yes, you gave me a set of kurta and pyjama as my reward for being a good student," she blabbered whatever she could think off at that moment.

Her heart had started to race uncomfortably staring at him so closely but his grip on her arm didn't loosen. Suddenly there was a flurry of footsteps and Mriga twisted her head to see Ramanujam come in. He took in the scene quickly.

"Poor lamb. You are safe now," he uttered these words and pried Mriga's arm gently from Shaurya's grip.

Motioning Mriga to move from there, he helped settle Shaurya back in the bed.

"Did he give you a fright?" Ramanujam asked her once Shaurya's eyelids had closed again.

Mriga shook her head and gave an uncertain smile. She couldn't get over the fact that Ramanujam had addressed Shaurya with such an endearment. The entire Admin team was really... weird!

Trailing him, she walked out of the room. Maybe her thoughts were written on her face because he gave her a mysterious smile but didn't offer any explanations.

"I am here now. You can go take a break," he told her.

Mriga bowed to him and walked towards the staircase only to turn back the next second.

"Uh… Guruji. The medicine is ready and kept in the kitchen. I followed the instructions given by the Vaidya, carefully. Please give it to him," she said and walked away.

He looked at her retreating back deep in thought. On her way out, Mriga ran into Saraswati and told her that since she had been relieved of the duty early by Ramanujam, she would come at dawn to replace Abhirath.

"What just happened? Did you scare the girl away?" Saraswati asked Ramanujam as he was exiting Shaurya's room.

"Why? Did she complain to you?" he asked her back.

"No, she didn't say anything but her face was drawn and she looked as if she had been bullied," she replied.

He rolled his eyes at her statement and asked, "Really? I didn't know that people had a specific expression if they had been bullied by someone."

Saraswati looked ready to argue back but he raised his hand in surrender. He was holding the empty medicine bowl in the other hand.

"I didn't do anything to her. Shaurya woke up disoriented and probably mistook her for a threat. I intervened and made him go back to sleep by using the special code. Since I didn't tell her why I used an arbitrary endearment, her mind must have been addled further. That is why she probably looked bullied to you," he theorised.

Each active agent was assigned a few special codes which had different meanings attached to them. These codes were embedded deep in the recess of an agent's subconscious mind during the rigorous training. No one apart from the handler and the agent was supposed to know the codes specific for that agent. Even Saraswati didn't know the codes for Shaurya.

"Hmph… no wonder. The poor girl. Since last night, there have been enough revelations for her to be wary and confused. Anyways, how is he now?" she asked.

"He will take a couple of days to recover. The problem is that the medicine which your father is giving him, contains opium which has strong side effects and may take longer to wean off," he said.

Saraswati tut-tutted and said, "Had he not added opium to the medicine, Shuarya would have screamed the entire place down. As per him, the poison was deadly and was meant to cause extreme pain till the time it stayed in the body."