The room was silent, the tension between four queens and one king standing right infront of them was enough for them to be silent.
Not because nobody wished to speak.
But because everyone suddenly found themselves with far too many thoughts... and absolutely no safe way to say any of them aloud.
Ram stood just inside the office.
The door behind him closed with a soft click.
That insignificant sound echoed through the conference room like the announcement of a battle.
The city stretched behind him through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the afternoon sun painting long shadows across the polished floor.
He neither moved nor hurried.
One hand rested inside the pocket of his grey coat while the other hung naturally by his side.
Calm.
Straight.
Composed.
The kind of composure that wasn't practiced.
It was simply... him.
Across from him...
Four women stood around the conference table.The queens moved from Sia's office to wait for braves but here they were standing right infront of a team leaders who they didn't know existed.
The Queens.
Not one of them spoke.
Not one of them looked away.
For a moment...
It truly looked like the meeting between two powerful teams everyone in the city had been waiting for.
Professional.
Cold.
Measured.
Then...
Radhika looked at Sia.
Only for a second.
That second was enough.
Sia wasn't looking at Ram as if he were the leader of another team.
She was looking at him exactly the same way she had looked that day.
Across a small café.
Across Table Number Three.
Radhika blinked once.
Twice.
A memory surfaced.
A certain café.
A certain conversation.
A certain coffee.
A certain girl who had claimed...
"He's just some stranger."
Very slowly...
The corner of Radhika's lips betrayed her.
A smile.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
Unfortunately...
Sia knew her far too well.
Without moving anything except her eyes...
She looked directly at Radhika.
Radha, not now.
Radhika's smile grew.
Barely.
But enough.
Too late.
Durga frowned.
She looked at Radhika.
Then at Sia.
Then followed the invisible line connecting the two.
Her eyes finally stopped on Ram.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Her eyebrows rose.
"Oh."
One word.
Soft.
Yet somehow louder than anything else spoken so far.
Sia inhaled slowly.
"Durga."
"I didn't say anything."
"You realised something."
"I did."
"Keep it to yourself."
"I'll try."
There wasn't the slightest confidence in her answer.
Saraswati looked between all three of them.
"What?"
Nobody answered.
"What happened?"
Still nothing.
She hated being left behind.
"What?"
Radhika slowly turned toward her.
"You remember cafe?"
"The café?"
Saraswati nodded.
"The coffee?"
Another nod.
"The stranger?"
A third nod.
Radhika tilted her head ever so slightly toward Ram.
Silence.
Saraswati stared.
Her eyes widened.
Then widened some more.
The coffee mug in her hand almost slipped.
"No..."
Radhika nodded sympathetically.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Saraswati bit her lower lip.
She tried.
She genuinely tried.
She pressed her lips together.
Looked toward the ceiling.
Looked at the table.
Looked literally anywhere except Sia.
Because she knew...
The moment she looked at Sia...
She would lose.
She looked.
That was the mistake.
Sia was still standing there.
Trying.
Trying so desperately to look like nothing had happened.
Trying to maintain the image of the city's most feared strategist.
Trying to pretend the man standing in front of her wasn't...
Mr. Table Number Three.
Saraswati exploded.
A loud laugh escaped before she could stop herself.
She immediately covered her mouth.
"I'm sorry..."
Another laugh.
"I'm really..."
She failed again.
Durga lasted exactly three more seconds.
Then she turned away completely, placing one hand over her face.
"No..."
She whispered between laughs.
"This cannot be happening."
Radhika remained perfectly composed.
Or at least she looked that way.
Until her shoulders began shaking.
She quietly lowered her head,
pretending to adjust her laptop.
In reality...
She was laughing just as hard as the other two.
The room that had looked ready for a diplomatic negotiation...
Collapsed.
Ram watched everything unfold without interrupting.
Without asking questions.
Without reacting.
His gaze moved calmly from one Queen to another.
Observing.
Learning.
The silence from his side somehow made the scene even more embarrassing.
Because there he stood...
Completely composed.
While the famous Queens were falling apart for reasons he didn't yet understand or maybe he knew and was just enjoying Sia being teased by her team and that frustrated look she had on her face.
Sia finally closed her eyes.
Very slowly.
She counted.
One...
Two...
Three...
When she opened them again...
Her expression had become dangerously calm.
"Finished?"
Nobody answered.
Durga was still looking in the opposite direction.
Saraswati had surrendered completely, leaning against the conference table while trying to breathe.
Radhika had finally lifted her head.
A dangerous mistake.
The moment she met Sia's eyes...
She remembered.
Table Number Three.
That was enough.
Another laugh escaped.
Short.
But fatal.
Sia folded her arms.
"I see."
Radhika immediately straightened.
"I can explain."
"I'm sure you can."
"Well, it's not our fault that your wrong date turned out to be the leader of one of the teams."
"I know."
Sia's smile was frighteningly calm.
"It's worse."
Durga finally managed to speak.
"No..."
She took a deep breath.
"This..."
Another laugh interrupted her.
"...this is too unfair."
"What exactly is unfair?" Sia asked.
Durga looked at her as though the answer were obvious.
"You."
"Me?"
"Do you realise what you've done?"
"I had coffee."
"Exactly."
Saraswati nodded dramatically.
"Do you understand what this means?"
Sia already knew.
She knew far too well.
For years...
Whenever any one of the four made even the smallest mistake...
The other three preserved it forever.
Forever.
Durga still hadn't been allowed to forget the day she walked confidently into the men's restroom.
Saraswati still received birthday cards addressed to "Professional Sleeper" after falling asleep during an important meeting.
Radhika was still occasionally greeted with,
"Laptop first. Human later."
Because once, years ago, she'd caught her laptop before herself while slipping on wet stairs.
Nothing...
Nothing ever died among the four of them.
And now...
She had voluntarily gifted them something infinitely worse.
A mystery man.
A café.
Coffee.
Table Number Three.
She was finished.
For months.
Maybe years.
Durga wiped the corner of her eye.
"I would just like to thank destiny."
Sia stared.
"For?"
"For loving us equally."
Saraswati nodded.
"We've all embarrassed ourselves before."
Radhika added quietly,
"But this..."
She looked toward Ram.
Then back at Sia.
"...this is premium content."
Even Ram had to lower his gaze for a brief second. Well Ram was expecting some serious conversation but what he saw was completely opposite. The famous new comers who shocked the entire city right now laughing at their own leader, somewhere shocked Ram cause its very rare to see such team mates in this world.
This world was too dark to hold bonds. Here, teamates kill each other to get in the higher position, here teams are not made on trust it's made on convenience.
But Ram saw the bond between the queens were same like between him and his brothers i.e team mates. But it was too fast to judge.
So he kept silent and observed and enjoyed too.
Not because he understood everything.
But because their friendship was impossible to miss.
They weren't laughing at Sia.
They were laughing because she was one of them.
And that meant...
Nothing would ever be forgotten.
Sia looked at the three women in front of her.
Then at the clock.
Then back at them.
Her voice became perfectly calm.
"So."
A dangerous pause.
"Since none of you appear capable of behaving like responsible adults..."
All three Queens stood straight immediately.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Get."
Nobody moved.
"Out."
The smiles disappeared.
For approximately half a second.
Then Radhika glanced toward Saraswati.
Saraswati looked at Durga.
Durga looked back at Radhika.
The three exchanged one final look.
One silent promise.
This story will never die.
Sia recognised that look instantly.
And realised...
Throwing them out wasn't going to save her.
It was only going to give them a private place to discuss it.