Flawless Silence

Chapter 01

Blinking her lashes repeatedly attempting to have her suspicions true, she sat contemplating whether her classmates were sane or not. One of her female classmates had uploaded a snap of their young law of torts professor on social media with several red and black heart emojis. She was stunned and amazed at the same time reckoning how their professor had manipulated to grab the pursuit of each individual in the class. According to her friend, Siri, he was just a couple of years older than them. Despite that, he had overcome being a male student's to-go person, whether it be in academics or men's things and he was always a reliable source. Remarkably, he was the college infatuation of every girl.

And she couldn't understand how he managed to make that possible.

"Ms Tripati." She snapped her head and endeavoured to centralize her thoughts on the ongoing class. Raising her head she straight looked into his eyes and stood up.

"What was I speaking about ma'am?" Her law of torts professor inquired of as he folded his cuffs making them roll till his elbows and then glimpsed at her.

"Annika." She acknowledged not wanting to be called in such a formal manner. He raised his left brow and stared at her before proceeding with his questions about the latest chapter. "Can you repeat it, please?"

"I was asking, Mr Reddy about the distinction between necessity and private defence. Could you please explain this to your classmates? They need to be enlightened." He smirked looking at the astonishing expressions I'm running through her face.

"Sir-" Annika initiated as she licked her chapel lips, "in Necessity the injury is caused to the innocent person in the process of stopping greater evil. However, in private defence, the damage is done to the wrongdoer."

"Any example that could be added to this?" He asked leaning toward the table to flip the pages of his reference book.

"Not that I recall correctly." She mumbled.

"Okay please sit and follow." He motioned to Annika to have a seat. "Let's say in a hypothetical situation, a trolley has its brake failed and there are six people in it, including the driver. The driver has two possibilities one, to divert and go towards Ramji Nagar where a toddler is playing. If that does happen, it does slam into the kid. The second option is to let the five die while saving the kid. What would you do?"

"I would save the five men rather than a kid." Karthik, another student answered while swirling his pen between his fingers.

"Imagine the men were rapists and were criminals. What now?" The professor raised his brows as he staggered against the wall, adjoining the smart board.

The discussion was followed by arguments in favour of the kid and against the kid. The professor sought and blew his warm breath on his cuticles of nails. Asking the class to remain silent he looked at Annika who anticipated speaking about this.

"Yes, please." He told loud and clear enough to be heard by backbenchers. "Like I previously declared that I would treat you all as friends if at all you pursue your duties and allow me to do so. Ms Tripati has something to speak with in this regard. Let's hear what she has to offer us."

"Sir, if at all I was in the driver's place I would have protected the kid. That is because of two reasons. One, I'm sure helping the five men in surviving is devastation. It's no help to keep company with them. Second, the kid is more important that's because he or she has a potential future. He may or may not be the president later. Who knows." Annika stood out and explained her viewpoint.

"I need specialized terms to help your answers. Please be comprehensive." He instructed in a cold tone making her shiver with intensity.

"I have a pure science degree and I'm new to this, I will try next time," Annika mumbled as she felt several gazes which included the professor that stayed looking for her validity.