Page 31 of Born in Sin

“Come up to the board and solve this problem.”

Mohan Sir’s flat stare, his eyes darting between Virat and her, made her uneasy but she moved to respond. Virat’s hand shotout under the table, grabbing the hem of her uniform skirt and holding her in place. She stared at him in surprise, trying to untangle his fingers from her skirt beneath the cover of the desk. With one last tug, she got free, ignoring the burning stare from the Math teacher at her delay in approaching the board.

She took the chalk from Mohan Sir’s hand and turned towards the quadratic equation sum written out on the board. The chalk squeaked in her hand as she started to write, keenly aware of Mohan Sir standing right behind her and watching. She worked as fast as she could, but she got stuck on the last step.

“What is the problem?”

Celina’s hand froze on the ‘x’ she’d just written, her brain struggling to put the next step together.

“Divide both sides by 4.” Virat’s voice came from the back.

Mohan Sir swung around to face him. “Did someone ask for your opinion, Jha?”

There was a menace in the teacher’s voice that had Celina’s blood chilling. She glanced at the man’s profile before turning to stare to Virat.

“Sir, he-“ she began but Virat shook his head slightly and she came to a faltering stop.

The bell rang, a loud blaring sound that overrode the thrum of her pulse in her ears. The rest of the class got to their feet and filed out of the room. Celina moved to go to her desk, but Mohan Sir caught her by the arm and stopped her.

Virat stood slowly, his eyes burning into the grip their teacher had on her arm.

“Do you have a problem, Jha?” Mohan Sir asked softly, as Virat approached them.

Celina watched the shutters come down on Virat’s gaze.

“No, Sir.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I interrupted earlier. I don’t know what I was thinking.” His stony gaze went to where the Master still had his hand clenched around Celina’s arm. “I guess I was still thinking about the assignment Mrs. Fernandez had given me.”

Celina frowned. As far as she knew, her mother hadn’t assigned any work to their class. Mohan Sir’s fingers slowly unclenched from around her arm as he stepped between her and Virat.

“You don’t have a problem, Jha,” Mohan Sir said, his voice lethally vicious. “You are the problem.”

Virat, who was almost the same height as the teacher already, stared at him, his eyes calm and level. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Sir.”

“You don’t know the meaning of being sorry. Not yet. We will finish this conversation in my office, later this evening.”

Celina saw the miniscule slump in Virat’s shoulders, anxiety flaring in her chest at the defeated expression on his face.

“Should I come as well?” she asked. “To your office?”

Mohan Sir turned to her, looking surprised, almost like he’d forgotten she was there.

“No,” he said briefly, turning towards his desk and starting to pack his bag.

“Why not?” Celina moved to stand beside a motionless Virat. “Virat was only helping me. If you’re going to punish him, punish me also.”

“Celi, no,” Virat hissed. “What are you doing?”

Mohan Sir turned slowly to face them, anger turning his face puce red. “Don’t push your luck,” he told Celina. “Don’t make me call your mother.”

“Call her,” Celina dared him, her own temper rising to meet his.

For a long second, the teacher said nothing. And then, he snarled, “Leave now. I’ll finish talking to Jha alone.”

“No.”

The single word landed like dynamite in a crowded room.

“Celi.” Virat stepped in front of her, blocking Mohan Sir’s view of her. “You need to leave now.”