UNRAVELLING

Part 1

"Did you just call me a thief?"

"Art is an artist's soul and those who snatch souls are grim reapers not thieves."

"How dare you, you-"

"Riddhima! It's time for our practice session." Soumya Bisht called out to the queen bee as she saved Gauri from bursting in anger and getting herself expelled yet again.

"Got it fatass!" Riddhima huffed giving Gauri a final glare before strutting back into the auditorium ready to boss over her minions to relieve her insecurities.

"Why is she being rude to you?" Gauri asked Soumya as she interlinked their arms and started walking ahead before her infamous temper could make her burst Riddhima's definitely not natural straight nose.

"I broke up with Rudra."

"Why???"

"I just realised that staying with a man who puts you down, even if it's for fun is not okay."

"Did he call you names? I swear on Shankarji, give me his number. I'll call him to a haveli and knock his teeth out. Let's see how many girls want him after that!"

"He isn't a bad guy, Ri. He is just very naive and confident. He thinks that just like his critics don't matter to him, his comments wouldn't matter to me too. It's my fault for taking his little comments seriously and not having enough self esteem."

"Bull-fucking-shit. If your boyfriend doesn't even care about how what he says affects you, how does he even say he loves you?"

"That's your problem, Ri. You paint the whole world black or white. You can't always blame one person. Most times, everyone involved makes mistakes and commits sins."

"Yeah, because you wanting respect is a crime and him not knowing how hurtful his words are is innocence." Gauri rolled her eyes, huffing with the effort it took to not slam that rich jerk into a pile of garbage where he belonged. Oberois sure knew how to invite trouble from her.

"Leave this and tell me, why were you so stupidly calling Riddhima names? Do you want to get expelled in your final year?"

Gauri huffed out a laugh as she sped up, dragging Soumya along with her. "I was hoping she wouldn't notice."

"She just likes to rile you up because you're a better dancer than her. She kind of takes pride in being the queen bee when it comes to dancing."

"I know. But why must she bring up my mother every time? And it's not like I even dance. I am perfectly fine with my sitar."

"Still. You need to control your temper. What if they take away your musical scholarship?"

"Then I wouldn't have to study a course I don't want to study. That would be the best thing to happen to me all day!"

Soumya flicked Gauri's forehead as she laughed. "Pagal chiraiyaa."

Gauri smirked as she unlinked their arms at the gate. "Don't be too sad. And if you get drunk, call me, not my ex sautan."

"I am over it, Ri. I'll get over him soon enough."

***

Gauri tried not to smile when she felt a hand sneak into her back pockets. The perfect way to release her stress. Beat up a perverted creep.

But just as she was about to shove her elbow into the creep's thin ribs and crush his toes with her three inch high heels, a man's voice alerted the passengers waiting on the platform for a local.

"Hey! Get off her!"

Gauri rolled her eyes, taking her poised elbow back to rest against her side as she turned to give the wannabe knight in shining armour an irritated look.