Thriller The ultimate choice 26

 Episode 26

At 8 PM he was taken to a room that he had never visited earlier. This room from its mere appearance was different from most of the rooms that he had visited so far. It was pink, the colour that Rajan had never liked. The size of the room, too, seemed a bit smaller than the other rooms. There was no furniture in this room, but for a green thick mattress lying on the floor, and a basket on one corner of the room.

Unfortunately for Rajan, it was not the look that was a matter of concern, but it was the obnoxious smell that was coming from the basket. Rajan thought he knew that smell. Yes, it was the smell of semen coming from used condoms kept in the basket. The intensity of the awful smell indicated that it could not be coming from one man's semen.

Whether it was a coincidence or not was difficult to tell, but the guy who accompanied Rajan was none other than the Bengali guy whom Rajan was absolutely sure was Ranjan. Rajan was taken blindfolded to this room. So, as soon as he noticed the fact, he was going to say something. But, before Rajan could reveal his great investigative work, Ranjan said,

"Congratulations! You have guessed it right! I am indeed your classmate at the IIT, Ranjan, the gay guy. So you remember me! Do you remember what you did to me?"

"Yes Ranjan! I do remember. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have lied to the Dean. At that time I was blinded by my hate towards gays. But, now I realise that what I did was a grave mistake. I ruined your career for no fault of yours. I wholeheartedly seek your mercy for the wrongs I did to you."

Ranjan in a very surprising move, took off his mask, and put it inside his pocket. He hadn't changed much over the years; that gaunt face, that beak-like long nose, the creases on the forehead, nothing changed a bit. Very strangely he had been able to hold his age to a standstill. But, he didn't seem to be impressed by Rajan's answer. Smirking, he said,

"You are lying! You never had any compunctions about your deed. Now that you found yourself   entangled in a snare, you think that seeking pardon from me would disentangle you."

There was a moment of blush on Rajan's cheeks, because he knew what Ranjan had just said was true. But, this was a do or die situation for him. At this critical juncture, he would not hesitate to call even a donkey his father. So, he tried his best to hide his true feelings, and tried to bring some real emotions on his face. The gravity of the situation was such that it required almost no acting skill to bring an expression of deep regret on his face.

"I am really sorry brother! Your appearance might not have changed over the years, but you should be aware that people's perception changes over time. I am indeed sorry for what I did to you. I seek your mercy. Will you pardon me?"

"Indeed! You shouldn't have done that. Yes, you ruined my career. I was suspended by the IIT for 5 years. I could get my engineering degree, after 5 years. But, when I got that, I was 28 years old, and no good company was willing to recruit me even though I was no less eligible than you."

Rajan had to come up with a fake cough to resist the sudden outflow of laughter,  even at this precarious juncture, as he failed to understand how Ranjan, who was just a mediocre student, could compare himself with him, who always ranked among the top ten!

"Oh oh oh! I see you have a big objection for my comparison with you in merit. I can't deny that you always scored at least 5 percent more than me in every subject. But, do you think that the marks are the only criteria for merits? Did you know that by the time I was rusticated, which eventually was changed to 5 years of suspension on my prayer, I had 3 patents in my name?"

Rajan's jaw dropped, "What? 3 patents at that age? You never told us about that."

"Yes! I didn't tell you as I had no intention to become famous. Inventing new machines had been my passion. My father himself had been a scientist. He had lived in Switzerland for most of the time, but he had  built a big laboratory in our house. He worked like a clockwork even during his holidays with us. He always encouraged me to do innovative things. From a very early age, I have fallen in love with machines. They became my passion. I studied electrical engineering with you. But, you maybe surprised to know that I am no less eligible than a mechanical engineer or an instrumentation engineer of any premium institute of our country."

Rajan could not believe what he was listening. There was clearly a sign of disbelief in his face. Ranjan's keen eyes couldn't have missed that. He took out few papers from his pocket, and showed them to Ranjan.

"I knew you will not believe me. You are so obsessed with your mediocre achievements! Please take a look at the papers. These are the patent certificates, and I humbly submit that you could see 15 out of the 22 patents that I have in my name."

Rajan's surprise knew no bound. As he perused the papers, Rajan's eyes simply popped out. Rajan had graduated in electrical engineering, but he chose his career in software development in various MNCs. He was more interested in his own field, but as a successful engineer he had no difficulty in understanding that Ranjan had invented various sophisticated instruments, which he had never heard of.

"Impressive! Very impressive, I must say. But, what are the other 7 patents that you didn't show me?"

"From your facial expression,  I can clearly see that you haven't understood much about my inventions. To help you, I should tell you that all these 15 instruments required application of electrical, mechanical, electronics and software engineering. The other 7 inventions, which I haven't shown you, have been my best inventions, and these have been commercially very successful."

The awful smell of the room was suffocating Rajan. So, he said,

"I never knew that you have such a sharp brain. But, why are we standing in this disgusting room? Can't we have a discussion on your inventions at a better place?"

"Ha ha ha ha!" Ranjan had a hearty laugh! Rajan didn't understand what was so funny in his proposal!

Again looking at Rajan's face Ranjan mocked, "So, you found my laughter very rude? Are you so dumb to fail to understand what is going to happen to you now?"

To be continued on Wednesday night