~♡AUTHOR'S POV♡~
Campus discussion room
Five students from different sections were grouped for an upcoming inter-college legal fest.
The task given was to prepare a joint argument for a mock courtroom battle.
Kaushiki, with her usual calm and strategic approach, sat poised, her pen tapping against the notebook as if every word had to be carefully weighed before spoken.
Across from her, Taraksha leaned forward in her chair, eyes bright with that unflinching assertiveness that always carried the air of challenge.
They were meant to be working together.
Along with them were three other students Srishti, Anamika, and Deepika who had, by cruel twist of fate, been grouped into this circle.
The three sat like unwilling witnesses at a ringside seat to a brewing storm, exchanging wary glances every time Kaushiki’s measured tone met Taraksha’s sharp rebuttal.
It was oil and water, fire and earth ;two women cut from strong cloth but stitched in opposite patterns.
Deepika said tentatively
"So... should we divide the sections or brainstorm first?"
Kaushiki replied opening her files.
"We'll need a strong factual timeline and layered arguments's lay down the case law precede before we split up".
Taraksha said leaning back in her seat
"Or we could just get the skeleton done and then build flair around it. Legal fests are won by voice, not footnotes."
"Flair without foundation collapses. This isn't theatre." Kaushiki said blinking once.
Taraksha replied with a smirk on her face.
"Oh, but it is, darling. Have you ever seen judges react to boring citations? They yawn. I plan to make them sit up.
Kaushiki’s pen stilled. She looked up, gaze steady, voice calm but edged like glass.
“And I plan to make them agree. Not just sit, clap, and then dismiss it as noise thinking it was a useless point shouted loud enough to look important.”
The words landed clean, quiet, but sharp enough to draw a low whistle from one of the bystanders.
Srishti scribbled furiously in her notebook as if taking real notes would make her invisible.
Anamika looked like she wanted to melt into the chair, while Deepika mouthed a silent Oh shit.
Taraksha narrowed her eyes, tilting her head, the smirk refusing to leave. “Careful, Kaushiki. You almost sound like you think you’re better than me.”
Kaushiki’s lips curved, faint but deliberate. “No, I don’t think so. I just know shouting doesn’t win cases. Arguments do.”
The silence stretched, electric, as if even the ceiling fan was holding its breath.
Srishti exchanged a glance with Anamika, mouthing 'not again'.
The tension felt like pre-lightning air.
Taraksha tried putting her point again.
"Look, we can't waste time rehearsing fifty footnotes when confidence can carry a shaky structure."
Kaushiki replied coldly this time done with the conversation already.
"Confidence without competence is just noise pollution."
"Wow. Tell me again how you manage to make 'logic' sound like an insult?" Taraksha scoffed.
"Only when it's misused."
Anamika said half whispering to Srishti."If die today, tell my parents it was an honour watching this verbal fencing match.
Taraksha sighed then crossed her arms and said.
"Fine.
You build your fact fortress. I'll work on the opening and closing arguments -you know, the things that actually hook the judges."
Kaushiki said without missing a beat.
"As long as you don't improvise like a talk show host, sure."
Srishti added this time laughing nervously.
"Girls, we do want to Win, right?"
"That's exactly what we are preparing for."
They said together. In a synchronized manner.
Their was a brief silence. Then Deepika mutters, half amused, half terrified.
"TWO lionesses, one den. I hope the judges survive.
Everyone chuckles except Kaushiki and Taraksha, who are already flipping pages and typing fiercely, each working on their own part.
Unknowingly and unwillingly building something beautiful
together.
◇◇◇
Same day in Law college's library, 7:47 PM.
The place was sparsely occupied.
The overhead lights buzz quietly, casting a sleepy yellow hue. Papers rustle, pens scratch, and the fan hums in rhythm.
Kaushiki sits cross-legged at her corner desk, head bowed over a thick criminal law digest, pencil tucked behind her ear.
A thermos Of black coffee and a half-eaten granola bar sit beside her.
Taraksha walks inside the library.
Her boots thud louder than necessary, making people glance up and immediately look away again.
Taraksha says with mock surprise. "Well, well. Kaushiki the Great, burning the midnight oil. Should alert the gods? Or the hostel warden?"
Kaushiki mutters without even looking up.
" If you're done with your entrance, the stage is all yours."
Taraksha says plopping on the chair beside her.
"Oh please. YOU act like you own this table."
Kaushiki deadpanned.
"I claimed it with blood, sweat, and passive-aggressive sticky notes. You may proceed at your own risk"
Taraksha said smirking, pulling out a pile of handwritten notes.
"Wow. Such violence. You sure you're not in the wrong stream?
Kaushiki said murmuring.
"Says the one who threw a three-minute tantrum in moot court last week because someone stole your stapler."
Taraksha said pointing accusingly a finger at her.
"It was a special stapler. It sparkled."
Kaushiki finally looks up, unimpressed "It had glitter glue on it."
Taraksha says shamelessly
"Exactly. It was iconic. YOU people have no taste."
There was a pause. A silence filled with comfort.
They both shake their heads slightly, Kaushiki going back to underlining a section. Taraksha leans back with a groan, rubbing her forehead.
"You've been pushing yourself too hard. Says Kaushiki without looking up.
"What is this, an intervention?"
"No. Just an observation. You've been sleep-deprived, crankier than usual, and chewing gum like it owes you money."
"Charming, aren't you? Kaush darling."
"Depends on the lighting,angle and camera."
Again there was a beat of silence.
"I mean it. You okay?" This time Kaushiki says softly.
Taraksha simply shrugs, flipping through her notes then adds very slowly as if talking to herself not someone else.
"Yeah. Just tired. Just... law school,it makes you question almost everything you believed till now. You know?"
"I do. But this... this isn't just burnout. This feels like you're trying to outrun something."
"Maybe l am. Maybe l just like being busy. Keeps the thoughts quiet."
Kaushiki's hand stills on the page. She watches Taraksha carefully.
Something shifts in her gaze a flash of recognition, maybe understanding.
Then she sighes and adds.
"Some of us journal. Some of us overwork.Some of us use voilence. Some of us just talk or share it with someone close to us.Some of us even rescue people who don't ask for it." She adds the last line teasingly.
Taraksha blinks once then says dramatically as if she called her a witch.
"Is that your roundabout way of calling yourself a savior complex nartyr?"
"I prefer the term 'benevolent goddess with trust issues." Kaushiki plays along with her dramatic flair wanting to change the topic.
"Wow. Sounds very lonely."
Kaushiki doesn't reply immediately.
Instead, she uncaps her thermos and silently pushes toward Taraksha.
"Here. You look like you could use caffeine."
Taraksha eyes it suspiciously.
"You drug your enemies now, Kaush darling?"
"Only the stubborn ones who don't sleep, taru darling.
"Thanks.... for hearing me even when you didn’t have to and even for this." Eyeing the thermos with a smile on her face.
She sips. Then Winces.
"Ugh. Black coffee? Are you okay?
Kaush darling. Now i am worried about you."
"NO. But managing."
Kaushiki says this with a deadpanned look on her face rolling her eyes.
A longer silence follows.
Kaushiki gets back to her notes.
Taraksha's eyes flicker across the room, then quietly settle on her.
"You don't share clothes, do you?" Taraksha asks.
Kaushiki was thrown off guard for a second with her question but she understood that she wanted to talk without saying I wanna talk. Typical Taraksha.
"I care about hygiene. Everyone does and no i don't have ocd." She said
rolling her eyes at anyone maintaining hygiene is considered a person with ocd nowadays without understanding the depth of it.
"Tsk, maybe you have and you are in your denial phase. You know like every criminal refuses to accept that they are the criminal" teased Taraksha.
"Oh please. I know it don't have ocd it's just that I don't like to share my clothes who can't value it and keep it with same cleanliness and care as i keep. That’s all. People have a habit of ruining things which are not theirs." Kaushiki added with a scoff.
Taraksha laughed at her irritated expression then added softly.
"You're not what I thought you were."
"You neither."
"I thought you were this calm, boring perfectionist who acts like she's above all around her"
"And I thought you were this loud, aggressive chaos-machine who needs constant attention."
"Still true" said Taraksha tilting her head slightly.
"Still true" Kaushiki agreed nodding with a thumps up sign.
They exchange a smirk.
"But maybe... we're both just people trying to stay afloat."
"Maybe that's what makes us dangerous. We see too much in each other" said Kaushiki her voice light and soft.
"Yeah. And That's the scariest part." Taraksha said looking down.
Their eyes meet just for a second. No snark comment, no sarcasm. Just quiet mutual recognition.
THE NEXT DAY
In Campus lawns on a Saturday morning.
The air is crisp, sun filtered through neem trees, and most students are either at the café or sleeping off the stress of the week.
Kaushiki sits on a stone bench, her book open but unread. Her phone buzzes beside her a song already playing usually she uses earphones but today she forget it at her hostel room.
She didn’t really like people knowing what songs she preferred music was too close to her heart, too much like a diary she never shared.
Taraksha walks across the path in her classic denim jacket and combat boots, a coffee cup in one hand and her journal in the other.
She notices Kaushiki, pauses, and instead of walking past as she might have earlier.
She takes a detour and plops down beside her.
"This bench taken? Or is this part of your healing aura zone. Hmm?"
Kaushiki said glancing sideways at Taraksha.
"I charge extra for sarcasm detox. But fine, sit."
"How generous of you kaush."
A moment passes.
Neither of them say anything. They sit in companionable silence, the kind that wouldn't have been possible a week ago.
Deewarein oonchi hain galiyain hain tang
Deewarein oonchi hai, galiyaan hai tang
Lambi dagar hai par himmat hai sang
Paaon pe chhaale hai, saansein buland
Ladne chali hoon aazaadi ki jung
Bekhauf aazaad hai jeena mujhe
Bekhauf aazaad hai rehna mujhe
The song drifted through the air raw, unflinching, echoing with the song.
Kaushiki sat still, soaking it in, her eyes on the horizon but her mind elsewhere.
Taraksha plopped beside her, folding her arms. She didn’t look at Kaushiki at first just listened. Then, with fire in her tone, she said
“You know what I think when I hear this?”
Kaushiki turned her head slightly.
“What?”
“That men think they own us. Like they’re our masters. That’s why they still feel entitled to allow or forbid us, as if we need their permission to breathe.” Her jaw tightened, her eyes sharp.
Kaushiki’s calm voice didn’t falter.
“Even I know this. Patriarchy is so deeply engraved that superiority feels like their birthright. And it’s not just men women are also blinded in the name of tradition or culture, feed the same poison forward.”
“Exactly!” Taraksha’s fist clenched against her knee. “This is why I hate men. No matter what, it’s always them their fragile masculinity, their wrongs, their violence.”
Kaushiki’s gaze sharpened.
Her voice was still steady, but it burned with something fierce.
“I used to hate men the same way. Because whether it’s all or not, it’s always the man who silences, belittles, or objectifies. And then they dare call themselves protectors
forgetting they came from a woman. Protecting means stopping the ones who mock women’s sacrifices, who laugh at their strength, who refuse to share the load whether in boardrooms or in kitchens. If you can’t do any of that, you’re no protector.”
Her tone deepened, like molten steel.
“My best friend once told me hate harms you more than them. Better than hate is indifference. But when they cross the line? Break their shallow egos. Shut their mouths. Kick them till they’re half-dead if that’s what it takes. Be Maa Kaali and Maa Durga when people don’t deserve your Parvati form.”
For the first time, Taraksha blinked caught off guard by the ferocity beneath Kaushiki’s calm exterior.
Then slowly, a smile spread across her lips.
“You’re right. But I still don’t think I can get rid of this hate.”
Kaushiki allowed herself a small smile, tilting her head.
“You don’t have to. Just stop giving their opinions the power they don’t deserve. Got it?”
Taraksha raised her thumb in mock salute, mimicking Kaushiki’s earlier gesture. “Got it, madam.”
This time, Kaushiki’s laugh was quiet but it lingered.
A long pause.
Taraksha’s voice came careful, low.
“I googled that case you were studying last night. The one about marital abuse and psychological violence.”
Kaushiki froze for a fraction of a second, then nodded slowly.
“Yeah. It’s an ugly one. Precedent’s messy, too.”
Taraksha tilted her head, voice soft but unflinching.
“It hit a little close, didn’t it?”
Kaushiki didn’t answer. Instead, she flipped to a page she clearly wasn’t reading.
Taraksha didn’t push. She only said, quietly,
“You talk like someone who’s walked through fire and didn’t come out untouched. Still carrying the heat.”
Kaushiki’s reply was flat, stripped of any invitation.
“I don’t do sob stories.”
“Good,” Taraksha said, smiling faintly. “And I don’t do pity. But I can definitely lend you my shoulders if you want to cry. Strong ones, by the way. Gym-approved.”
A moment passed. Nobody spoke. And Kaushiki couldn’t help a small smile which appeared on her face.
Then Kaushiki exhaled, almost against her will.
“It wasn’t my fire. It was my mother’s. I just… stood too close to the flames.”
Taraksha nodded once. No sympathy. Just recognition. The rawness lingered in the air a beat too long.
And then, with perfect timing.
Taraksha smirked.
“And here I thought you were just allergic to joy.”
Kaushiki’s lips tugged upward. “Only when it’s fake. Manufactured. Not the real thing.”
This time, they both smiled. Not sharp. Not guarded. An actual smile.
“You know…” Taraksha leaned back. “I was wrong about you, Kaush.”
“Oh, my Taru, even I was wrong about you,” Kaushiki said, flinging her arms open dramatically like she was about to embrace the heavens.
“I’m also talent and unfiltered brilliance, but yes, thank you,” Taraksha quipped.
“Of course. How stupid of me to miss that.” Kaushiki slapped her forehead in mock regret.
Taraksha grinned and extended her hand.
“So… truce?”
Kaushiki studied it theatrically.
“Hmm. A cautious ceasefire. With sarcastic privileges intact.”
“Deal. But I reserve the right to yell at you during debates.”
“Only if you can handle me destroying your logic with cold, hard facts, Taru.”
“Facts can be bent. You just haven’t met the right rebel yet.”
Kaushiki sighed skyward. “Bholenath help me, I think I just made a friend.”
She even tilted her head back as if waiting for divine applause.
They sat back, silence returning. But this time, it was warm. No claws. Just understanding.
Across the lawn, Srishti and Anamika spotted them.
“Wait… are they actually talking?” Srishti whispered. “Or have I started hallucinating?”
“Nope,” Anamika whispered back, wide-eyed. “It’s happening. Omg. Apocalypse confirmed. The lionesses have… bonded.”
Srishti groaned, throwing her hands up.
“And that, my friend, is why we say: no one knows what the future holds.”
◇◇◇
So how was the chapter??
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THANKS FOR READING 📚
YOUR AUTHOR ♡KAUSHI ♡
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