Vijay coaching Kiara through her date above.

querencia

(n.) a favourite place

The cast entered onto stage one after the other when the interviewer announced their names. Cameras flashed as fans and reporters clamoured and cheered, growing impossibly loud when Kiara stepped out. She folded her hands in Namaste then placed a hand over her heart and blew a kiss out to the audience before taking her place beside Emilia. They settled into their seats as the interview commenced initially with questions regarding the show and later focusing on each of the cast members individually before eventually opening the microphone to the public.

The first reporter stepped up, "Kiara, first of all, I'm a huge fan so this is amazing to see you in person. Both your career and social work are legendary."

The rest of the cast hid their smiles, knowing full well how much Kiara loathed being complimented as she awkwardly brushed off his praise.

The reporter continued, "You're well known for your candour so why don't you ever talk about your love life?"

She pouted jokingly, "Well that was underwhelming. All that build up about my career and social work only to ask about my love life, huh?"

He looked down ashamedly so she eased back, feeling bad for putting him on the spot, "I don't talk about my love life because there's nothing to talk about," she shrugged her shoulders and laughed; "I suppose that's something I have in common with Sakshi. We both couldn't flirt to save our lives."

The audience laughed as a fan took the stand, "Since Kiara already answered my question, I'll address the rest of the cast. Do you share any common traits with your characters?"

Jeffrey answered first, "Well, I think the one thing I related most to was James' fatherly instinct to protect his daughter."

Poorna smiled, "I could say the whole motherly instinct thing too but Jeff's already gotten all the brownie points for that answer. So I'll say... Preethi's independence is something I share."

Henry thought for a second then responded, "For me I think it's Sam's silent strength. He doesn't say much but chooses to show his intentions through actions."

Emilia perked up, "It's definitely Delilah's positivity for me. To be able to cheer up those around you and see the silver lining in everything."

Kiara grinned as she craned her neck to peer over Vijay's head and blow a kiss at Emilia. Everyone turned to look at him, waiting expectantly for an answer, but he remained slumped in his seat with arms crossed over his chest and feet kicked up. Jeffrey hid his amusement as Poorna rolled her eyes.

Kiara roughly elbowed Vijay as he startled awake and repositioned himself to sit up straight, "Huh? Oh... yeah, no. I've got absolutely nothing in common with Ben apart from our good looks. Thank whatever greater force there is for that. Could you imagine being that boring?"

Hadley coughed loudly to shut Vijay up as the audience members chuckled. Emilia snorted and subtly gestured at the audience to Kiara as they noticed majority of his female fans occupied with tugging their shirts lower to expose their cleavage in hopes of catching his attention. 

They quietened down as another reporter took to the microphone, "Vijay, you and Kiara have been close friends–"

Interrupting the reporter, Vijay interjected, "Best friends!"

She raised a brow at him to which he stubbornly mouthed, "What? There's a difference."

The audience laughed as the reporter tried again, "Right, you and Kiara have been best friends for a long time but did you ever try being more than friends?"

The room fell silent as everyone waited in suspense for Vijay's response.

Kicking his feet off the table, he suddenly became serious, "Alright, pause," he could barely restrain his anger at the reporter's implication but smiled darkly as he continued; "And never resume."

The conference came to an awkward stop as everyone remained unsure of whether Vijay was genuinely upset or simply messing around. Kiara could see Hadley's gaze flitting around stressfully as she gauged the potential damage while Nicole worked relentlessly backstage in preparation for any scandals. 

In an attempt to alleviate the tense situation she chirpily added, "Would you like to have another go? Surely you could come up with something more creative than that?"

The man gaped, opening and closing his mouth in surprise as he remained speechless, but Vijay returned to his natural carefree form, "What was your question again? Entanglements?"

Raucous laughter erupted from the audience as the cast members and staff relaxed, having bypassed a potential argument. 

Blushing, the reporter tried to recover, "Yeah, could you elaborate on your opinions regarding entanglements?

Vijay jabbed, "As in affairs?"

"Affairs, rel–"

"Cheating."

He stunned the reporter into silence, "This is fun for you, isn't it?"

The audience laughed as the man tried to provoke him, "No, Kiara discusses your entanglements in the trailer so I just wondered."

She looked up in alarm as Vijay snorted, "Entanglements? With whom?"

The reporter clarified, "On the show, not in real life!"

"Oh, regarding the show, I guess you'll find out this week. If you're concerned with real life," he smirked, craning his neck to make eye-contact with his castmates; "I think you'd get a better answer from Emilia."

Emilia whipped around at his incredulous response, "What? Why?"

He immediately burst out laughing while Kiara gave her a comforting hug as she rebuked, "Let's keep it to Enlightenment questions please!"

As soon as the next reporter stood at the microphone, Kiara could tell he was argumentative. If the stubborn frown his face was any indication of his nature, it was clear the cast would have to be cautious when answering his questions.

He directed his question to her, "Kiara, you recently took a stand against the largest ruling political party in India for the victims of the building collapse;" the audience erupted in applause and cheers as her colleagues smiled proudly, "and while that is greatly admirable, most of the facts you presented were unproven."

She raised a challenging brow and smiled, "Not unproven. Unreported."

He smirked, "What's the difference?"

Refusing to back down, she simply stated, "Corruption. But I suppose for a country so embroiled in it, the absence of corruption is difficult to imagine."

Vijay cut the tension, comically pointing at the reporter as he shouted, "Ooh burnnn!"

Kiara laughed and playfully shoved Vijay before, once again, redirecting the focus to their series. Various reporters took turns asking the cast questions for the remaining hour as the event slowly came to an end and the cast thanked everyone before leaving.

Jeffrey plopped onto the couch backstage and teased, "I don't believe that you can't flirt. You practically have men following you around all the time."

She crossed her arms, "I don't lie and what men?"

Vijay tossed his arm around her shoulder, "Last time she had to phone a friend."

He widened his eyes, "No shit!"

Vijay shrugged, "Shit."

Poorna frowned, "Who'd you call?"

Kiara buried her face in her hands and mumbled, "Jay."

Henry perked up, "Now I'm interested. What exactly did his coaching entail?"

Vijay smiled smugly as he recounted the incident.

Kiara stood under the shade of a tree, surveying the crowd and looking for Leon.

She answered Vijay's phone call, "Yellow."

"Blue. How's it going?"

She looked around inconspicuously and smiled, "Good, he's just arrived!"

"Don't look stressed, sweetheart."

She laughed, "Don't worry, I'm so relaxed that I can't stop laughing."

Turning away, she harshly whispered, "You said my smile was beautiful, right?"

Leon caught her eye from the other side of the field, doing a double take as he took in Kiara's appearance. She was dressed in a neon crop top and high-waisted jeans under strict orders from Vijay after he came over earlier to help style her.

By the looks of it, his advice had worked and she perked up instantly, "He's seen me."

He quickly reminded, "Okay, now stop smiling or you'll look like an idiot."

Her smile dropped as she turned back, seeking Leon, "Where did he go?"

Vijay chipped in, "He's talking to a woman near the cotton candy stand."

She frowned upon finding Leon exactly where Vijay said he'd be, "Hold on, how did you– I don't believe it, you're here!"

Kiara craned her neck, looking around, before finally spotting Vijay as he leaned out from his hiding spot behind a tree and wiggled his fingers. She gasped and waved as he gave her a thumbs-up and gestured for her to calm down.

She smiled, "I thought you wouldn't come."

He tipped his head, "You didn't think I'd miss this entertainment, right?"

She scolded, "Don't be mean!"

He laughed before turning to watch Leon, "He's looking at you now so don't look back."

She instinctively looked over at Leon as Vijay raised his voice, "I said don't look! Why'd you look?"

She flinched and quickly turned away, "It was a reflex!"

"If I say don't look, don't look!"

"Okay, don't yell at me!"

"Now turn around and look."

"Huh?"

"Go on."

"But you said don't look."

"Just do what I say."

She rolled her eyes and huffed as he continued to instruct, "Make eye-contact with him for five seconds."

Looking back and forth between the two, he added, "Don't look too cold or too sincere."

Making eye-contact with Leon, Kiara smiled and played with the ends of her hair as she counted down five seconds. He abruptly ended his conversation with the woman and started walking towards her.

Vijay urged, "Okay now walk away. Quickly!"

"Wait but he's coming here. Didn't I look at him for that?"

He moved his arms around animatedly, "Sweetheart, you know what 'playing hard to get' is, don't you?"

She smiled and brushed her hair off her shoulder before moving, "Of course I do. I'm on the move."

Kiara walked past Leon as he watched longingly and followed her.

She excitedly asked, "Is he following me?"

Vijay smirked, "Damn right he is."

She ruffled her hair and giggled, "You're amazing!"

She kept walking away as Leon hurriedly scrambled to catch up and Vijay teased, "Admit it, no one's chased after you before, right?"

"You really don't know what to do when someone compliments you, huh? You just make a stupid joke."

Getting back on task, he guided, "Okay, now stop. Let him talk to you."

"What should I say?"

"He's probably going to say he was so busy that he couldn't call you so you'll ask him why he would call you."

"But I said we should meet up sometime, that's why he'd call."

"Yeah back when you acted like an idiot and we want him to forget that."

"Okay but he'll think I'm forgetful."

"Sweetheart, you can be sure that men prefer forgetful women since women usually tend to remember things for years then bring it up later in arguments."

She glared at the tree he hid behind and retorted, "I don't think that applies to you. Your longest relationship must've lasted less than twenty-four hours."

"How did you know? And I was sober for only six hours of it."

She plastered on a fake smile and sighed, "I can't believe I'm getting tactics from you."

"Sweetheart, I wonder if you'll still feel that way when Leon asks you to be his girlfriend."

Receiving some final tips from her self-proclaimed relationship coach, Kiara fixed her shirt and pretended to be deep in thought as she waited expectantly for Leon to address her.

He called out from behind and she acted surprised, "Hey! Liam, isn't it?"

"It's Leon," he corrected.

"Sorry! Nice to see you again, Leon."

Vijay watched from his spot behind a tree, slowly scanning the area and waving cheekily as he noticed two women looking over.

Leon smiled as he gestured at Kiara, "I was going to ask you how you were but from the looks of it, you're great."

She laughed, "Thank you."

"By the way, sorry I didn't call you but this week was really busy."

Kiara smiled to herself, having learnt not to be surprised at this point by Vijay's ability to predict Leon's actions.

She nonchalantly ran her fingers through her hair, "Why would you call me?"

He frowned, "Well you said we should meet up and told me to call sometime."

"Oh, did I say that?"

"Yeah."

"I forgot."

She smiled politely and brushed his arm as she walked away, "I should go, I think I see my friends. It was nice catching up!"

Confidently sauntering away, aware of Leon watching her, Kiara paused beside Vijay as she spotted him flirting with two women. He looked over and raised his brows in question so she gave him a thumbs-up before continuing to walk away.

The group were now seated around Vijay as they listened intently. Emilia and Henry covered their mouths as they tried to hide their smiles when Kiara turned her angry gaze to them.

Keeling over with laughter, Jeffrey questioned between desperate gasps of breath, "Did it work?"

The atmosphere grew slightly tense as they noticed Kiara remained silent, simply turning to give Vijay a meaningful look.

She scratched the back of her neck before answering, "Yeah."

Emilia raised a brow, "Oh really? Where is he now?"

He snorted and interjected, "In the depths of hell. Why, you planning on visiting anytime soon?"

"Yeah, thought I'd stop by your place," she retorted.

They burst out laughing and moved on, understanding Leon was a topic Kiara was uncomfortable with discussing. While it had been years since she last spoke to him, she knew her involvement in 'Enlightenment' would automatically increase the likelihood of them intersecting, given his successful career as an actor in the Hollywood industry. She could only hope the cast wasn't there when the two reunited as they would most definitely put the pieces together.

After a long day of press conferences and promotional events, the group finally retired to their hotel rooms to relax. Kiara quickly freshened up and changed, deciding to visit the local children's centre for some much needed morale-boosting. She had been a volunteer since high school so was well-known and loved amongst both staff and residents within the organisation. 

It was the place she went to when she felt the sudden need to unwind. Being around those children reminded her of the simpler things in life and allowed her to escape her troubles, even for just a few hours. Her familiarity with them were also the reason why she immediately noticed the signs of abuse and neglect in Vijay. While Jimmy knew she preferred to be alone whenever she volunteered, he accompanied her anyway so he wouldn't have to worry about her safety.

Kiara settled on the carpet as the kids rushed to circle around her. One of the boys she was particularly fond of, Orion, snuggled into her lap as she spread the picture books around her.

The children curiously inched closer while she explained, "Okay, I'm going to hand out these books and I want you all to read them."

They began cheering as she tried to speak over the commotion, "Then we'll trade books with each other, okay?"

They nodded earnestly, excitedly grabbing at the books as she laughed, "Careful, don't drop them."

Orion looked up at her, widening his brown eyes pleadingly, "Can we play a game later?"

"Of course we can."

The children began clinging to her as they whined, "Kiara, can you stay with us forever?"

Unable to refuse their adorable pleas, Kiara managed to compromise by agreeing to stay the whole day. Even the ever-professional Jimmy, who stood dutifully at the door, could barely repress his smile as he watched her read the storybook to a group of children. Upon finishing their books, she brought out some coloured paper and taught the children to fold paper planes as they organised a competition to see who's plane flew the furthest. She noticed a few other volunteer workers surrounding them so reached out and grabbed their hands, encouraging them to join the fun. But they remained gaping in shock, unable to believe Kiara Mathew was interacting so freely with them. 

Perhaps it was her ability to make anyone feel at ease around her that made Kiara so popular amongst the public. They recognised her sincerity, appreciating the simplicity with which she perceived society. In her mind, there was no discrimination based off superficial factors like status, race, education or family. She only valued one thing– strength of character.

Seventh chapter doneeee! Please don't forget to vote and comment.