51. Real or fake victim?

Gasps rang in the crowd. Everything was finally clear. The girl's car was speeding and hit the man. But he was so kind that even after getting almost killed he was willing to forgive them. Now the silent observers also started raising their voice, asking them to compensate him for his kindness.

Seeing that the girl had no intention of speaking up, Tanmoy came forward and addressed her in a serious tone, "Miss, overspeeding and running over is a serious crime. Please tell the truth, else you might have to spend quite a few years in prison."

Confused whispers rose behind him.

"What is he saying?"

"We can already see everything. What's he trying to prove?"

The girl slowly raised her eyes upon hearing a well-mannered, sophisticated voice in the midst of the chaotic crowd.

Tanmoy was stunned for a few seconds when he was met with a pair of brown eyes, like forest wood — standing tall, proud and strong, overcoming many adversities. The sun illuminated her ganache – like skin, which was a stark contrast to her white shirt. After a few seconds of maintaining eye contact, he faltered. Those teak wood-coloured orbs felt too intense, like she was probing his mind with them.

He thought, bemused, 'Woah, I've only seen that kind of look in my seniors in court. How come a girl that young has such an inquisitive gaze!?'

"He already said everything. I hit him with my speeding car. What's more is there to explain?" She pointed her chin at the man lying on the ground.

"I'm asking you to tell the truth." Tanmoy said.

"What truth?" The young woman raised her eyebrows.

"Sigh, the truth that you didn't hit him." Tanmoy frowned, annoyed at the fact that she was purposefully not explaining her side.

"I didn't hit him? How so? He's lying there, bleeding, right before my car. People saw it too. How can you say I didn't almost run over him? Please explain." She made a surprised face.

The other's also chimed in "Yes, mister, what are you saying? This lady clearly hurt the old man."

"He must be with those woman! Trying to deny this poor man his deserved compensation? Get lost!"

Tanmoy was confused.

'What's she trying to do?'

But he still decided to explain.

"Well, first of all he has only injured his elbow and knee on the left side, meaning he landed on them while falling. Which would not be it if a car collided with him. There would be many more injuries than that — abdomen, legs, hips, back, and so on depending the side facing the car."

The woman widened her eyes.

'He's seems to be pretty observant.'

"Secondly, he's lying too close to the car. If he was hit he would have at least been thrown five feet back. This looks more like he fell down in fright when the car suddenly came close than him getting hit. And my last thought, which also gives more weight to my second opinion weight is that he's holding his cycle which should've flung out of his hand if hit by the car."

As he finished his sentence a new wave of discussion rose among the observers. Many realised what he meant after carefully looking at the situation. They had overlooked all those things and were just shocked to see the injured man.

"Wow, you're so keen, young man."

"Right! We didn't notice so many obvious things."

"Or just didn't think much of those."

"We're so sorry young lady, we said so many things without thinking through."

Tanmoy sighed in relief that they would not call the police on the young woman, accusing her of hit and run. Just imagining was his sisters in her place, and people blindly accusing them of such a serious crime made him shudder. Thankfully the onlookers could see their mistake. He was about to say something to the crowd but was shocked by what she told them instead.

"Don't be jealous of his ability aunty, he's a lawyer. It's his job to be observant and analyse situations."

Tanmoy's jaws almost dropped but he managed to contain his surprise and hide his bewilderment behind a calm frown.

"Who told you?"

"You." The girl shrugged.

"No I didn't." Tanmoy shook his head.

"Verbally? No. But appearance wise? Yes."

'Appearance?'

He looked down at his oversized t-shirt and ripped jeans, which was polar opposite to his usual formal clothes. His hair was also in fringe up style unlike his regular slicked-back side part. It was obviously Ankita, who got him to dress this way. So it should be very difficult to guess he was a lawyer. But the young woman was so confident in her answer that Tanmoy began to think if they had met before.

Just then a ragged looking man came out of the crowd and pointing his finger at Tanmoy and shouted, "You're her accomplice! I know! Just say that you don't want to compensate this old man! No need to conjure conspiracy theories!"

He turned to the two women, "And you! You heartless creatures! He may have not been hit with full force, yeah. But admit that you almost hit him by breaking the traffic signal. I saw it! You were just an inch, I repeat, an INCH away from killing him. Luckily the break was applied right in the nick of time. And this poor man he fell down hard in fright. Do you know how long it'll take him to heal these wounds at this age? Instead of compensating him you're..."

She cut him off, "Him? He ain't worth my money or attention. These tramps utterly disgust me."

"He's an elder. Speak with respect."

The girl scoffed and tilted her head, "Yo elder! Need money for treatment?"

The onlookers began to reprimand her again. They admitted that they had wrongfully accused her but such an attitude towards an injured person was unacceptable.

The old man lowered his head and shook it. Everyone could see his trembling hands. The man helped him up.

"Grandpa, let me take you to the hospital."

"No need my child. You're a good person. May God bless you." He put his trembling hand on his head.

"Just help me pick up the cycle. I still have to go to work."

He looked at the girl and said in a choked voice, "I'm sorry miss, for disrupting your journey and staining your car with my blood. I'll compensate you. No matter what."

Suddenly the ragged man said, "Absolutely not. It's her..."

"It's getting boring. I wanna go home. Are you done?" She straightened up and turned to the car.

"Yes, ma'am. Stirring wheel function fixed." A mechanical voice rang out of the car.

"Good. Now," She strode up to the old man.

"Enough with the compensation drama."

Saying that, she ripped off the false beard and wig set.

Suddenly there was pin-drop silence followed by a loud, collective gasp. Before them stood a middle-aged man with an ugly frown.

Realising that he had been exposed, he swiftly drew out a knife and pointed at the girl, "Let me leave or else..."