Closer than we knew

Chapter 4

Sitara and Salar sat side by side in the classroom, surrounded by books and notes as they quietly worked on their moot court files. Sitting together was Salar's idea, as he felt that they would get more time to discuss case strategies and arguments. They were almost done with the drafting; the only thing left was the compendium of case laws. They were discussing the most important to least important cases they would use during different rounds of the competition.

Salar glanced at Sitara out of the corner of his eye. She looked focused while making short sticky notes. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked while doing as simple things as making notes. A smile appeared on his face. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms when a shadow fell over their desk.

"Uhmm, Sitara?" She heard someone say in the lowest voice.

Sitara looked up to see Salman, a classmate of theirs, standing awkwardly in front of her.
Salman was the one who was least interested in the law field but was forced to take admission because of his father. He never really understood legal concepts and frequently asked for help from his batchmates, especially Sitara, who was always ready to help and was patient in explaining things.

"Hey, Salman. What's up?" Sitara asked, offering him a smile.

Salar gave her a side look, now why is she smiling? He thought.

Salman looked hesitant as he spoke, "uhmm I know you are busy right now but I was hoping if you could help me with something. I've been trying to figure out the difference between murder and culpable homicide for my project, but, uh... it's kind of confusing, I am so sorry to disturb you guys." He said while running his hand through his hair.

Salar's eyes flicked up at mention of help. He didn't say anything but his expressions were enough to tell that he was'nt enjoying Salman's presence right now.

Sitara nodded. "Anytime Salman, and no need to say sorry. We are almost done anyway." she said smilingly.

Before she could begin, Salar interrupted, "You've been in law school for how long now, Salman? And you still are struggling between murder and culpable homicide"

Salman looked a little uncomfortable, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, I mean, I kind of get it, but it's just a bit confusing for me."

Sitara shot Salar a look, "Salar, not everyone gets these concepts right away," she said.

Salar shrugged, "Fine, I was just saying, it's basic stuff." He said rolling his eyes and turned to look outside the window.

Salman says hesitantly, "Its ok, Sitara, I....I can ask someone else if you're busy—"

"No, it's fine," Sitara interrupted, turning her attention back to Salman. "Come, Have a seat." She gestured Salman to take a seat infront of her. Salman can sense Salar eyeing him as he took seat opposite Sitara but he choose to ignore it and focus on what she has to say for now. "Murder and culpable homicide can be confusing because they're both forms of killing, but the key difference lies in the intention." Sitara began.

Salar turned his gaze back to them, folding his arms across his chest, pretending to be disinterested, but his eyes remained fixed on Sitara. As she explained the topic to Salman, Salar could'nt help but feel a weird thing in his chest everytime she looked at him. He didn't understand why Salman had to come to 'her' for help, like can't he see 47 other students present in classroom🙄🙄.

"Okay, so culpable homicide is when someone causes death, but without the intention to cause death," Sitara explained patiently. "It's covered under Section 299 of the PPC. It becomes murder, when the person who caused the death had to intention to kill or knew that his actions were likely to cause death—like under Section 300 of the PPC."