ARIS
“Michela, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?”
“Woman, you are the talk of the town. Someone saw you and Mr. Mehta working in the lab yesterday.”
“Working? He was just looking over my model, just like the other students.”
“Oh sweetie, when the students left and it was just you two, the obvious human behavior is that people think there is something going on.” Michela smirked and rested her back against my couch.
“Michela, you don’t understand the conversation that happened. You know that from the start this has only been pure challenge and professional work.” I paused. “Just because there was a slightly intense conversation doesn’t mean something is going on.”
“Intense?” Michela leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Tell me more.”
“Oh God, okay. You know we have been disagreeing on one topic since the panel, so to challenge that, I created a module that would prove him wrong. But in the recent lecture, he said that predictability creates pressure. My mind went into a dilemma about whether I was right or wrong, and with a slight deviation change, there were three outcomes.”
I folded my hands tighter without noticing.
“Let’s just say there was an argument where he said I was testing whether control was necessary, and I told him the module was still stable.”
MICHELA
“Okay, but why are you sounding so distressed as if something happened? It’s just a technical fault. I’m sure you’ll solve it and prove him wrong. Unless?”
ARIS
“Unless what?”
MICHELA
“Was there a spark between you two? Do you feel something for each other? From the start, you’ve just challenged each other. And he volunteered just so he could observe you.”
ARIS
“Okay, it’s official. You’re out of your mind.”
MICHELA
“Oh really? So there was no eye contact? No noticing each other? No kick while talking to him?”
ARIS
“What? No!”
MICHELA
“Oh, okay. And what was he wearing in the lab the other day?”
ARIS
“Maroon shirt. Burgundy glasses. Beige pants.”
I stopped.
“Those hazel eyes were… working that day.”
I blinked and looked at her.
MICHELA
“And there is nothing going on… Good for you, Miss Laurent.”
She left with that smirk still intact.
The room felt unusually quiet after.
KABIR
Who would have thought that a tech girl with swift deep brown eyes, soft pink lips, and silky wavy hair framing her oval face would occupy so much of my mind that everything else blurred around it?
I tried reviewing my notes.
Failed.
I reopened the module feedback.
Closed it again.
One thing about her unsettles me — the way she approaches everything like it can be structured, optimized, contained.
She doesn’t argue emotionally.
She aligns logic.
She tightens her jaw.
She recalculates.
It was almost impressive how quickly she replaces reaction with analysis.
But life doesn’t always wait for recalibration.
How do you calculate the strength a mother finds when her child is trapped beneath a car?
How do you compute the decision you make when someone you love needs you in a crisis?
You don’t.
You act.
And maybe that’s what she refuses to accept.
ARIS AND KABIR
Late afternoon. The lab is largely vacant once more — but this time, it isn’t accidental.
Aris stays back deliberately.
Not to evaluate the model.
To evaluate the claim.
Her screen is open, but her fingers hover above the keyboard without typing.
The sentence from the drive home replays in her mind:
What if my desire to win is compromising my integrity?
She rereads the output report again.
Then again.
Footsteps echo softly across the lab floor.
Kabir doesn’t ask why she’s still there.
He already knows.
LEVEL 1: Surface Subject
They begin reviewing module authorship.
When a predictive system adapts, who owns it?
If it evolves beyond original coding, is the creator still the author?
“Are you still its author if the system changes based on user response?” Kabir asks.
Her grip tightens around the edge of the desk.
LEVEL 2: Transition
“Definition is necessary for authorship,” she replies evenly. “Otherwise, it turns into collective noise.”
He leans back.
“Or cooperative development.”
Her jaw shifts slightly.
Growth means loss of containment.
LEVEL 3: The shift
ARIS
“Love is a matter of interpretation. Language is necessary for interpretation.”
She says it as theory, not confession.
KABIR
“Or perhaps presence is necessary.”
He doesn’t smile when he says it.
ARIS
“If I don’t define it, it could mean anything.”
The word anything lingers.
KABIR
“Or it might simply refer to us.”
The room stills.
Not softly.
He doesn’t retract the statement.
She doesn’t respond immediately.
The cursor on her screen keeps blinking.
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
She closes the laptop.
“Ambiguity is inefficient.”
But she doesn’t walk away.
He notices.
And for the first time, neither of them moves to win.
Leave a Reply