"I am screwed," Risha declared as she crashed on the bed. She was at Nishat's place. It is where she and Noah meets up whenever they need to talk in private. Neither Nishat nor Grey returns home until midnight and they didn't mind having Risha and Noah crash in their house, so it was the ideal place to talk. Though it was mainly Risha complaining about things and Noah consoling and advising her.
"I mean it, Noah. That guy is not sane. I saw madness in his eyes. I bet everything I have he will never agree to help us," Risha talked anxiously, " Even if he agrees to help in exchange for our cooperation now, when everything is over and I call for the favour, he is probably going to deny it. I am sure of it."
"You might be right," Noah frowned, "That complicates everything. Forcing that mad man was out of question to begin with as it can backfire. But if things come to this..."
He paused and pondered, 'I guess the Terra research cannot wait until the end of the rebellion. You have to make him finish the work and hand it over to you as soon as possible before his mind concocts some weird scheme."
"Then what should we do now?"
"We? What do you mean?"
Noah had a mocking tone. It was something Risha never experienced before.
"What else? I and you, we got to do something."
"This is my fault. I spoiled you too much," Noah looked straight into Risha's eyes,
"Look Risha, I saved you from imminent death. Then I nourished you back to health which gave you a chance to defy fate. Then I showed you the way to save your family and brought you into the past. Then I even helped you find the man who may help you and got you into the rebel force. Correct me if I said anything wrong."
Risha didn't even breathe as she was listening. She did not like where the flow was going. But for some reason, she couldn't manage to say a single word. Noah continued with how much he helped her grow until he landed the final strike, "After all of that, if you still require my help to that one work, then what did I bring you for? To raise you into a wise human? What do I get from that?"
Risha stayed still. She had frozen due to Noah's remarks. It is not like anything that was said was lie. Risha also knew it,then why? Why did his words hurt so much? It was like suddenly waking up from your dream and realizing you are all alone.
She felt like crying but held it in. Noah was right. She was being entirely dependent on him. At this point, she was rather a burden. She cannot go on like this.
'I am a human with brain, I can definitely do something without his help.'
She said to Noah in a dry voice, "Thanks for the reminder. I will find some way to make him finish the research."
"Good, then go back to rest. I'm leaving."
With that, Noah left. Risha burst out in laughter.
"About time I got some reality check," she told herself, "Shame on you Arisha Haydar, since when did you become such a leech?"
She didn't spent much time for self loathing. She didn't have the luxury to waste time on that. She had to come up with something. Noah said touching Prof.Rahman's weakness may backfire but that was just his opinion. Even if she was not going to blackmail him, his weaknesses can still become useful. She can use it to play sympathy card or something. Anyway first of all, she had to know about him. And fortunately, she knew wouldn't have to cross oceans for that. She was in fact in the best place to know about him. She was in his nephew's place, the one he supposedly raised himself. But she needed to convince Nishat. But the idea of asking for someone's help again was hard for her right after she was insulted for it. But what other choice she had. To know him, she needed to ask people who knew him.
"Ari, get up. Nishu have to sleep."
Grey's voice brought Risha back from her thoughts to the room.
"Oh, I apologise," Risha paused as she was getting up,"Grey, can you give me a few minutes? I need to talk to Nishat."
Grey looked at Nishat and as he nodded, Grey went out.
Nishat sat at the edge of the mattress, "What is it you want to talk about? "
Risha couldn't find the right words. In fact she couldn't even open her mouth.
"Grey is not a patient one. If you keep being like this, he will come and kick you out before you utter a word. I'm getting sleepy too. I guess you should come after you make up..."
"I want to know about your uncle."
As Risha shouted hurriedly, Nishat looked at her face in a daze before chuckling.
"Wow! You got to the point so fast!" He looked at her, his eyes glimmering with amusement, " So basically you want to know about him, find some soft corner to force him or coax him to get what you need."
His smile somehow irritated Risha.
"Alright, I'll help you."
"I understand if you don't want to...Wait! What did you say?"
Risha was ready to face a rejection but he actually agreed! Risha looked at his face and he was still smiling. She carefully said, "Did you...mean it?"
Nishat slowly nodded, "But I actually don't know much about uncle's past either."
"Oh," Risha felt disappointment, "So you do not..."
"But I know someone who knows it."
"Really? " A spark of hope ignited within her her until he talked again, "But he is dead."
Just as she was feeling down, he again said,
"But he did leave something."
This time Risha didn't feel hopeful but rather annoyed. It felt like the lad was just messing with her. She looked at him and his mischievous smile confirmed it.
"You...!" She was too angry to talk.
Nishat laughed out loudly.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore," he said as he was trying to stop his laughter. He pointed at the metal plates as he was unable to move much by himself, "Remove those."
Risha did and along with a bunch of music sheets, she spotted a pair of earrings. They were in the shape of skull.
"Both of them acts as recorder and communication tool. It has storage space too. There are some records regarding my uncle. Take one of them."
"But why would you have this?" Risha asked, unable to contain her curiosity. She picked one and put it on.
"Well, you are not the only one in need of his weaknesses, you see."
Nishat's eyes looked so deep and it felt unsettling. Something was off and she couldn't figure it out. But that feeling vanished as he again smiled and cheerfully said, "I'm just a weak and lonely person, I was just trying to pass my time. Anyway It's late. Go back to the dorm."
It didn't seem like he was lying and although it was suspicious, she decided to trust his words. She was happy and grateful and left cheerfully.
It seems after all this time, Risha was still a naive teenager trusting others so easily.