"I had expected Sameer to fall into the trap. We already had evidence of the mother-in-law's violent tendencies in the CCTV footage we got from Di's cabin. If he had flipped and supported his mother's stand, both would be behind the bars," Arjun stated, leaning casually against his car's bonnet.

Avantika had reached the police station to carry out the preliminary paperwork of their case. She found it tough to get on board with the plan when Arjun had suggested it, because it exposed a vulnerable Madhuri to the jibes of her vile mother-in-law. However, she couldn't help but suppress a smirk when she saw Jaya confined behind bars, held accountable for her actions.

"But criminal conspiracy? I don't think I fully understand why we included that as one of our charges," said Avantika, arching her eyebrow at him.

Arjun smirked and uncrossed the arms against his chest as he pushed them into his side pockets. "There's nothing much for the defense lawyer to argue on the rest of charges. This is one charge they can get the honorable judge to drop, so I wanted to give their lawyer something to focus on and make the rest easier for us."

A surprised chuckle escaped Avantika's lips as her admiration swirling in her widened eyes. "That's... a smart move."

Her remark widened Arjun's smirk. "I know. But there's something off about this Sameer. He looked almost ready to surrender and guilty. I wouldn't have imagined that coming from a man Madhuri had described."

Avantika's eyes narrowed, and she looked at the confused woman from the corner of her eyes as she stood with Anupriya at a distance from the two advocates. "A conscience, and a guilty one at that. Interesting. Maybe he was just scared of the consequences after seeing the police."

Arjun shook his head in negative and looked at the white clouds against the rather clear sky. "He tried to stop his mother from hitting Madhuri and tried to deescalate the situation. There's a detail we are missing, and I want us to find that, Avantika. I don't want something coming to bite us in the ass in the court," he said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Avantika nodded in understanding. "I'll dig deeper, sir."

Arjun looked at the sky, which appeared as though a naughty kid had spilt the milk. The clouds had covered the blazing sun behind themselves. He hoped that the truth wasn't similarly concealed in plain sight.

****

"Domestic violence? I just wanted a divorce. Remember how Rama mausi's mother-in-law hit her every other day? It was a one off..."

"Madhuri, you shouldn't be justifying what she did to you. She showed no remorse for her actions, and she was prepared to assault you again today. Her behavior falls squarely under the definition of domestic violence," Anupriya insisted, placing a comforting hand on Madhuri's.

"Maybe I couldn't win her trust or didn't react well enough..."

"Madhuri! Stop! There's no reason someone should resort to physical violence to get their point across. That's just a tactic used by insecure people who are on the losing side. They hate their vulnerability and try to make others vulnerable. She's wrong, and there's no justification for what she did," said Anupriya, shaking her head in dismaying and huffing in disbelief.

"Amma, why does she hit Rama mausi every day? She's in so much pain," asked a tiny Madhuri, tugging at the saree of her mother, Sangeeta.

Sangeeta squirmed under the curious gaze of her daughter. "Kaki is doing it for her own good. Rama gossips away her time and wastes her productive time. It's her fault. If the sculptor doesn't subject the stone to pain by chopping away the unnecessary parts, how will a beautiful sculpture emerge from a mere rock? Kaki is the sculptor here."

Madhuri bobbed her head sideways, looking at the sobbing Rama. "But hurting someone is bad! Hurt is bad!"

Sangeeta dragged her daughter away from the window and thrust her notebooks into her tiny palms. "Unless there's fear, people wander away and lose their path. Kaki is making sure no one can find a reason to point fingers at Rama. She should be thankful for the guidance she's receiving from Kaki!"

Sangeeta humphed and walked away towards the kitchen to prepare for dinner, but the turbulent mind of Madhuri kept wandering towards her poor mausi every time her wails intensified.

The chirping of the birds returning to their nests brought Madhuri back to the present from the memories floating around in her tempestuous mind. A morose smile stretched itself upon her chapped lips as she recalled the innocent questions of the curious mind in her childhood.

And there she was. A shadow of her own mother, the one she had disagreed with and did not understand in the past. It had taken years of brainwashing, months of living in fear, hundreds of suppressed sobs, and thousands of forced smiles, but there she was.

Madhuri let out the breath she had held without realizing. "You're right. Hurting someone is bad."

****

"Delhi? Why do you want to go to Delhi?" asked Sangeeta, casting an incredulous glare at her son.

Aditya continued packing without paying heed to his mother. Sangeeta held his hand and stopped him from stuffing his backpack with the rest of his clothes.

"You can break all ties with Madhuri. I can't. She's still my sister, and I will help her in any way I can," he said, pulling his hand away from his mother's grasp.

"You'll get ruined if you go to Delhi. Just like how her mentality got spoiled in that city! Instead of learning to adjust..."

"Enough, Amma! Your words led her to attempt suicide, and you're still blaming her? Do you even care about her?" Aditya demanded, arms crossed over his chest, his glare fixed on his mother.

Sangeeta gaped at her son like a fish out of water. Tears stung in her eyes, and her breathing became irregular. "Of course, I care for her. How will she survive in this world with the support of a man? She can't even cross a road on her own. How will she cross the sea of experiences waiting for her in the outside world?"

"And whose fault is that? All her life you kept telling her 'You don't need to learn this' or 'your husband will take care of you'. Instead of treating her as someone's future wife and someone's future daughter-in-law, if you had treated her as your child, she would have learnt them, just like I did."

"Aditya, you don't know what you are saying!" Sangeeta exclaimed, placing her hand over his biceps when he pulled away and moved away from her reach.

"That's more applicable to you, Amma! Pankh kaat diye aapne uske, pinjre ko uska duniya bana daala, aur ab bol rahe ho ki usse udaan bharni nahi aati? Aur udaan bharni nahi aati, toh usi pinjre ko uski zindagi maan kar chale? She has had enough of this torment, Amma! I will go to Delhi, no matter who it displeases!"

Translation:

Pankh kaat diye aapne uske, pinjre ko uska duniya bana daala, aur ab bol rahe ho ki usse udaan bharni nahi aati? Aur udaan bharni nahi aati, toh usi pinjre ko uski zindagi maan kar chale?

You broke her wings, and made her live in a cage like her entire world, and now you dare say she doesn't know how to fly? And because she doesn't know how to fly, she should live her entire life in the cage?

I had the utter misfortune of seeing someone saying Sangeeta's dialogues to young Madhuri as part of a Quora answer. It was about husbands disciplining their wives because they want them to be perfect and not let anyone have any chance to point fingers at them, and I think I lost a couple of brain cells after reading that answer. Unfortunately, way too many people share Sangeeta's sentiments, and it is women who bring down women many times, which is so painful to see.