"SHUT UP!" yelled John, standing up with anger boiling within him. His face had turned red and his hands formed fists, ready to strike anyone in his path. He was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

John immediately stormed off.

It was getting dark outside. But John lay idle on his bed, on the shabby bedsheets of his hotel room. The lights were off and he had no intention of switching them on, albeit the sky outside got darker and darker.

Mary had texted him once, asking if he was okay. But John wasn't in the mood to reply. He didn't have any energy left to deal with this problem. He felt like he had aged a few years just in the past few days.

It was clear who had poisoned Ruby, and all he had to do for Ruby's justice was find that plant in that professor's greenhouse. That professor had actually tried to kill Ruby.

But the things about Ruby he had to hear within the past four days pulled him down and ripped his soul from him. She wasn't the daughter he had raised. She was a total stranger...

John took his phone and unlocked it. His wallpaper was that of him and Ruby. Though he smiled at first, looking at their smiling faces, his smile faltered as he asked, "Who are you?"

But the girl on the screen just continued smiling at him.

Suddenly he got another text from Mary.

Hey John. I know you are upset. But now we know who poisoned her. We know she didn't take any drugs. We should be happy about that. But now we need to find that plant in Prof. Thomson's greenhouse and get him arrested. We need to go to the cops tomorrow and we need proof. Please check the name of the plant once again, just to be sure. Do reply, okay?

Though small in size, Mary was sure very nagging. John grunted in anger first, and then sighed.

Still lying on his bed, he went to his voicemail and kept the phone on loudspeaker.

"John? Doctor Wong here. I tried calling you but I couldn't connect. The test results are back. It wasn't drugs. It's a plant toxin from Oleander. Please call me back when you get this."

"OLENADER," John shouted to no one as the message ended.

"P-Pa?"

Eyes wide at the familiar voice, John sat up and looked at his phone in shock. It was a voice that he longed to hear, and did not expect to hear anytime soon. It was Ruby's voice.

"I-I tried calling you but your stupid phone wasn't connecting again. Listen to me carefully and write this down. My email id is [email protected] and my password is angel-wants-to-fly with a capital 'a', 3 for 'e', and @ for the second 'a'. Please go to my google drive and play the audio clip named as 'For Pa'. N-Now."

John couldn't comprehend what had just happened. He stared at the still lit up phone screen lying on his bed, as if something more was to follow. But nothing did.

With trembling hands, he took the phone and checked the voicemail history. April 17th. The night of her accident.

Ruby had tried to contact him that night. She had always pestered him to replace his stupid old phone. He cursed himself for not listening to her.

He listened to her voicemail once again. With trembling hands, he noted down the details, immediately logged out of his account, and logged into Ruby's. And there it was. The latest file in her account. An audio file labelled 'For Pa'. He felt like he was going to listen to a message from the beyond. He played the file.

"P-Pa. I'm doing this because I have no idea what else to do right now. I wanted to tell you in person but your stupid phone..."

John could hear horns blaring and vehicles in the background. She was driving.

"I'm driving home right now Pa. I am trying to come home but I don't think I'll make it there alive."

John could hear her crying. Tears started streaming from his eyes.

"Which is why, I want you to be strong and listen to me. Please don't freak out.

A lot of things have happened in the past two years. More than what has happened to me in my entire life. Pa, when I was home, I lived by your ideals and your rules. Which is why, when I moved away for college, I wanted to be free, live by my own will.

I made a lot of mistakes. I was friends with the wrong people first. And when I had moved on, it was even worse. Though, that may have been my fault. I had a choice, and I always took the wrong one."

John listened as Ruby spoke...

...Professor Thompson. Tom. Someone Ruby had trusted a lot. She was like a father to her. He reminded her of John. And that was why, after her break up with Lee, she didn't want to lose him. She had feared that since Sara was the one who introduced Thompson to her, they might turn him against her.

It was she who had called Thompson and told him that she wished to visit the vacation home again. Thompson had left her open invitation, for a few hours of getaway, as a means to clear her mind.

When she got there, she was happy to see that Thompson didn't care that she wasnt with Sara or the other two. She was happy that Thompson was as nice to her, as he was when she was with them.

"So, why alone today?" He asked, placing his tea cup back onto the tray.

"Actually," Ruby hesitated, "Lee and I broke up. I have sort of separated from the group."

"Oh," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Ruby lied. Lee had broken her hard earned guitar and that hurt her more than anything.

"It's just," she continued, "College is already so difficult. This on top of that, it's just-"

"-All too much. I understand."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"Your father, last time when you spoke, it seemed like he expects a lot from you."

"I have been a topper since school. I have done all that he wished because I just want him to be happy. But college is so much tougher than school. And the fees is high-"

"Are you applying for the scholarship?" Thompson asked suddenly.

"The scholarship? But I barely passed Prof. Sloan's subject last semester."

"My family is sponsoring the scholarship Ruby. We give it to those who deserve, those who promise us a bright future, not just top scorers. If you want, I can put in a word for you."

Ruby thought for a second.

"It would be nice to have a scholarship," she smiled, "But Laksh has been working really hard for it."

Thompson chuckled, "I'm not promising you the scholarship Ruby. For you and for Laksh, I'll put in a good word. We'll decide at the end."

Ruby nodded with a smile. "I'll be right back," he said as he walked away carrying the tray. Ruby looked around the living room again. It felt so homely, so cozy, that she started feeling sleepy.

As he walked back into the living room, Thompson was greeted with her yawn.

"You can rest for awhile if you want. An hour or so," he said pointing at the hallway. Ruby knew which bedroom he was talking about.

"Ah no. It's alright," she politely refused.

"I insist. Rest for a bit."

Ruby recollected how cozy the room was. She agreed with a smile.

"I'll wake you in an hour," he said.

"That's okay! I'll keep an alarm," Ruby pointed at her phone as she walked to the room.

She crashed onto the bed as soon as she walked in and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

It was a sudden regain of consciousness for her. For a second she was extremely confused. Where was she? What day is it? What time is it?

Soon her mind registered excruitiating pain. Her body was sore as if it was on fire, but even she couldn't pinpoint exactly where it hurt. She tried to sit up, but her hand slipped and she fell back.

Suddenly the door swung open and Thompson walked in, holding a tray with tea cups on it.

"Ah! Good to see that you are finally up."

Ruby sat up immediately, and pulled the blankets covering her body. She didn't expect Thompson to just walk in like that.

"You have been sleeping non stop. I didn't want to wake you," he gave her a cup from the tray and said, "Drink up. It'll give you energy."

Ruby felt weird. Just absolutely weird. Why? She couldn't understand.

After having the tea, Thompson walked her out of the house. He was his usual self. Slightly smiling, always lost a bit in thoughts. But Ruby didn't feel like walking by his side. She kept a certain distance from him as she walked.

"You should come again," he said and tapped her upper arm lightly. Or did he graze her upper arm with his hand?

First slow, and then she sped up. Getting into her car, she drove out into the main road. But something kept bothering her and she stopped the car at a side. Her phone buzzed and she checked the message she had received.

It was from Thompson and it said, I had a good time :)

Such normal simple words but Ruby felt her skin crawl. She swung open the door of her car in time, and vomited onto the side of the road.

As she sunk herself back into her seat, she noticed on her phone screen that it was Sunday. She had been asleep for a day.