As Taylor exited the lecture hall, she caught sight of a short Indian girl pacing near the building’s entrance, phone pressed tightly to her ear. Even without hearing her voice clearly, the tension in her posture was obvious.
Intrigued, Taylor slowed her pace. She recognized the girl vaguely—Ayushi, a senior, known for her strict dedication to academics. She always carried herself with an air of composed ambition, her outfits impeccably styled, her jet-black hair always smooth and in place. Though she was on the heavier side for her short height, her confidence made her presence notable.
As Taylor passed, she picked up snippets of the conversation:
"—not throwing everything away just because you think—"
"—we agreed I’d get my degree first—"
"—No, I don’t care how many daughters in our family did it that way, I—"
Taylor smirked and casually flipped open her notebook. With a quick scribble—"I can hear both sides of Ayushi’s phone conversation"—the second voice on the call suddenly became as clear as if the woman were standing right next to her.
"Ayushi, enough. You are already twenty-two. We gave you freedom for too long. This obsession with chemistry is childish—"
"It’s not an obsession, Mom! It’s my career! I have a plan—grad school, a job at Karthik Industries—"
"You don’t need a job. You need a husband. We already have excellent options, and if you weren’t so stubborn, you could already be married and expecting by now. That is what a good daughter does—"
Taylor raised an eyebrow. Oh. Now this was interesting.
She stopped near a bench and, leaning casually against it, decided to learn more. She jotted down: "I know everything about Ayushi’s argument with her parents."
A rush of understanding filled her mind, as this was not a new argument.
After graduating high school, Ayushi had fought hard for her independence. She had always been the determined, hardworking type—the kind of girl who color-coded her notes, stayed up until sunrise studying, and refused to accept anything less than perfect grades. Chemistry had been her passion, and she had mapped out her entire future down to the exact company she wanted to work for after earning her graduate degree.
Her parents, however, had entirely different expectations. To them, Ayushi’s education had only been a temporary indulgence, a short-lived phase before she took her real place in the world as a devoted wife and mother. They had already lined up marriage prospects, expecting her to choose one and start a family immediately. They held the belief that Ayushi should remain entirely focused on having and caring for her kids.
Taylor tapped her pen against her notebook, considering all of this.