Taylor dropped into the table at the diner. His right hand was still in a sling. Sanvika looked at him. There was rebellious courage on his face.

"How did you manage to vandalise the car with your hand still like that?" Sanvika asked. She was trying to act superior like her mother would have done. She still felt incredibly sorry for Taylor and guilty. But she tried not to show it.

"I had some help," He said.

"Sophie?"

"I have other friends besides Sophie."

"Hm. But it is just a car. You achieved nothing by spray painting on my car. I can just re-paint it. Change the windshield."

"Yes. I figured that." He said in mockery. "Even if I vandalise multiple times, you can just replace the glass, just re-paint it... Even get a new car. Since money is not an issue, right? Since you guys have got a hell lot of it."

"Listen, Taylor..." Sanvika tried to speak.

"You even managed to bribe my real father..." He said, "I am in awe. How did you even find him? He is in prison."Sanvika did not know about this piece of information. She knew that her mother was tying up the loose ends for the case. But she had no idea that Taylor's biological father will be bribed. "I went to him. He won't sign for the lawsuit. And what lawsuit," He guffawed. "Even the security camera footage has all disappeared."

"Money must be such a good thing," He continued in sarcasm. "Can easily close mouths and magically make pieces of evidence disappear."

Sanvika felt ashamed and bad. But she had to fight for herself. "Listen, it was an accident. I did not mean to hit you... You came out of nowhere and.... I am sorry."

"Well, your apology does not give me back my shoulder and arm, right?" There were traces of tears in his eyes.

"Taylor," She felt really bad for him. Genuinely bad.

"No, you listen. Ms Singhnia," He snapped, "You listen... I really really love lacrosse, okay? It's not just a spot for me. It is not just my ticket to college. I did not start playing lacrosse to get my extracurricular activities scores up; or to get a sports quota admission. I started it because I really loved the game. I loved playing it. It was the only time when I felt like I had power." His brown eyes twinkled when he talked about lacrosse. "The only time I could breathe freely." He whispered. "You took that away from me. You can say that it was an accident – you did not mean to. But the truth is that you took what is most important in my life from me. You may think that it is fine as long as I am alive and did not sustain any serious damage. But no... You killed me that night in the road, Ms Singhania. You took my life, my future, my entire hope from me."

Sanvika's eyes filled with tears. She did not want to be the cause of so much pain for someone. But she was, and she could not deal with it.

"Why are you crying?" Taylor's tone shifted to confused and troubled.

"What am I supposed to do Taylor?" She looked up at him. "What should I do to compensate for what I did? How can I make your life better?"

Taylor's expression softened and he sat back. "Ms Singhania..."

"Sanvika is fine," she said.

"San-vi-ka," he had a difficult time pronouncing her name. Then he shortened it, "San. Is San fine?" Sanvika nodded. "Okay, so, San... There is no way you can bring back my hand or Lacrosse." He sat back. "But I really want to go to college. That is out of the picture now."

"No. We can pay for it. I mean, my Ma can."

"How? If you transfer the money to my foster parents, they will never give it to me. You should pay me. Not them."

"I will. After two years, we will."

"How can I be sure of that?"

"I can promise you..."

"Promises get broken..."

"We can sign a bond with you..."

"Without a parent?" He raised his eyebrow.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Pay me in cash. Now." He said. Sanvika cannot deny that there was some amount of greed on Taylor's face. "Not two years later. Now." He added. "And twice of what you paid the Emmersons."

"How much?" Sanvika asked, her eyes bulging.

"I am the one who got the direct impact of your actions. And I thought you want to make it up to me."

"I do want to make it up to you. But I cannot just hand out 2 million dollars to a 16-year-old. That too in cash." She thought his demand is way too absurd. But she saw Taylor's expression fade to worry. "I am sure I will be able to do something two years later. I promise you."

"I don't trust you." He said.

"You have my phone number. You can call me if you ever need something." She said.

"I still do not trust you." He said. "Listen," he sat forward, "You destroyed my life. It is okay even if you do not pay me. You just have destroyed my life forever. It is not even about college. I cannot do the thing that I love so much. And you know what mistake you did. You went and contacted that junkie – my father. He gets out next month. " There was lines of worry and fear on Taylor's face.

"What about him?" Sanvika asked.

"Nothing." He said. "But I may really need the money. It's okay even if it is not 2 million."

"I will see what I can do," Sanvika said.

"Okay. Good." He said, already getting up.

Nirmala refused to pay the boy. "We already paid both of his parents," she said. "And in cash? That is bonkers."

"But Ma..."

"You cannot agree to anything a 16-year-old asks." She snapped. "Now, don't you get involved in all these! I will deal with the boy directly."

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell him that he cannot blackmail us with his tiny accident forever. We have paid the necessary compensation."

Sanvika was tensed and always in a bad mood and reclusive. She did not know what the right thing to do was. Vivaan could see something is wrong and asked her about it. She told him everything is okay. She and Kyle were having frequent arguments and Vivaan decided that it is because of that Sanvika is sad.

But Kyle was in support of her mother. Kyle thought she should not pay Taylor. It was insane to pay that big of an amount to a kid, he said. He cannot do anything to her anyway. She need not feel guilty about the kid, because his accident was not entirely Sanvika's fault. Taylor did not pay attention either.

Sanvika got angry that Kyle pretended that he knew what the right thing is. And did not understand her mental state. She was so indulged in her guilt that she did not see the right from the wrong.

She had frequent visits to Taylor at his High School.

Taylor always sat at the bleachers and watched the lacrosse practice. "Even a hundred thousand dollars is fine, you know," Taylor told Sanvika as she sat near him at the bleachers. His hand was now out of the caste.

"I will pay you." Sanvika said, "I just need some time to arrange that much money."

"That was an easy goal," Taylor shouted to the field. The guys looked at him with anger. "Fuck off, Tucker." One of them screamed at him.

"You Fuck off..." Taylor yelled back at him.

The coach blew the whistle and ran to Taylor. "Tucker..."

"Yes, Coach."

"Look, boy... You were a really nice player. But you are no longer in the team. So please do not disturb the practice and go do your homework or something. Do not come here from tomorrow onwards."

Taylor's energy faded away and he looked like the coach just slapped him. But he silently nodded and turned around and began to walk out of the bleachers. Sanvika followed. She could see Taylor look back at the lacrosse field with envy filled eyes.

"I will drop you home." She ran to catch up with him.

"I have to go to Sophie's house to do a school project together."

"Project or makeout?" Sanvika teased him. Taylor ruffled his hair shyly.

"I'll drop you at Sophie's house then. Come on." She said.

When she dropped Taylor in front of Sophie's house, Taylor leaned down to the window, "You know what, San...?" He said, "You are not so bad."

She smiled at him. He turned around and walked to Sophie's house. And Sanvika saw that the kid's school bag was so worn out and even had a tear in a place. She felt so bad. "We paid one fucking million to the foster parents and they cannot afford a bag for the kid?" She asked herself. She decided to pay Taylor as soon as she can.

Next Sunday Sanvika called Taylor. "You owe me..."

"What?"

"Come to the diner near your house."

When he was there at the diner, she pushed a huge travel bag to him. He looked up excited. "Is this what I think it is?" He asked.

She nodded, smiling at the kid's excitement.

He opened the zipper of the bag, to reveal a wad of cash inside it. "How much?" He looked up.

"$250,000," Sanvika smiled.

"San..." Taylor looked thrilled.

"Keep it safe," She said. "I don't want you to get into any trouble with it." She said.

"Okay..."

"And one more thing," she said. She took out a school bag from under the table. "I was not sure what boys of your age like. So I just got grey. Hope that is fine..." She extended the new school bag to Taylor. Taylor was confused. "Your bag is old. So... Gift." She said.

Taylor's eyes watered. He smiled through it taking the bag from her. "Thanks... Thank you, San." He gave her a half hug. "I will never forget you."

"Hey... is this the end of us. I can keep annoying you, right?" Sanvika asked. "We can still be friends, right?"

"Eh...."

"What?"

"We are not exactly friends."

"What?"

"You are more like a sister."

"Huh?"

"An annoying sister." He added.

Sanvika frowned. He laughed. "Joking, San. Of course, we can be friends." He said. "Buddy," he awkwardly added. Sanvika laughed and they both laughed. She dropped him home after that. And he waved by to her.

"That was the last I saw of him," Sanvika finished telling her story in the small room on top of San's restaurant. "The next day Taylor took the money I gave and ran away from the house. He may have been planning for that for a while. He did not want to stay with his foster parents anymore. And his biological father was out of prison and he had come to see him according to Sophie. But even she does not know what went down between Taylor and his father. She just said that Taylor was extremely unsettled after the meeting."

"So the kid just left?" Mukesh asked Sanvika.

She nodded. "He fled the state."

"Well, couldn't the police find him?"

"No. Ma made sure they do not find him."

"What?" Mukesh asked. "Why would she do that?"

"Because it is illegal to give a minor $250,000 in cash. Also, if they try to trace the bills, it will lead to investigations about the black money involved in our business. So mom scolded me a lot for giving him the money and made the police close the case forever. And so that was the end of Taylor Tucker. He did not complete High School, he did not fulfil his lacrosse dream. And vanished from the face of the earth, with no one even searching for him. All because of me."

She looked down.

"Oh, my child... It is not your fault." Mukesh was by Sanvika's side and hugged her.

She shook her head, "If I had not given him the money, he would not have left like that."

"Maybe he is living somewhere happily," He said.

"Maybe..." Sanvika said. "But I should not have given him that money."

"But you did not know that he will leave like that."

"I still should not have given him the money." Sanvika wiped her tears. "I destroyed his life. If I had not come to his life like that... his life would have been different. He would have been in University now, playing in a lacrosse team, doing the thing he loves the most."

"Is that why you left us?" Mukesh asked.

"After that incident, I really could not stand the sight of money. Or the fact that we have so much of it. So much that a boy wandering alone in the streets can be made into nobody's business. So much so that his foster parents are now leading a life of luxury. So much that there still was no repercussions on me. When Taylor's life had turned upside down."

Mukesh moved his hand through Sanvika's hair. Vivaan was looking thoughtful and stayed silent.

"I will have a word with your mother," Mukesh said.

"Don't," Sanvika said. "It's not her fault either. She was just protecting her child."

"Then what do you want us to do?" He asked

"Let me stay here. Trust me, Papa, I am happy here. Being here, being an ordinary human without money, repenting like this, gives me so much relief. I would suffocate in the rich world. I cannot stand the sight of luxury anymore. It makes me feel disgusted."

Mukesh looked at her for a while. He then nodded. "As you wish, Sonu." He said. "I just want your happiness."

Sanvika smiled and hugged him. And then she yawned.

"Take some rest. You look tired." He said to her. She nodded. "Let's go Vivaan," Mukesh turned to Vivaan. Vivaan nodded and stood up to leave.

As Mukesh and Vivaan walked out, Mukesh gave a big sigh sad that his daughter had to go through something like that. He looked up at the sky.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking, uncle?" Vivaan asked.

"What?" Mukesh asked. "What are you thinking?"

"We need to find him, right? That Taylor kid... We need to find him."

Mukesh nodded, thoughtfully. Vivaan smiled. "We will find him."