Next Morning

Chairman's Office, Ruhi's Apartment Building

Kavya and Ruhi lower their gaze as an elderly, bald man in his late fifties, stares at them with a deadpan expression.

The stressful silence in the air increases their nervousness, but they don't utter a word and remain seated on the chairs for his response.

The man leans back in his chair and asks Ruhi, who is sitting across the table, "So, you have recently shifted in this building?"

Ruhi faces him, before nodding in positive and he shifts his gaze to Kavya, sitting beside Ruhi.

He demands, "You are her friend?"

Kavya nods in confirmation after meeting his gaze and he asks, "And you both want to start a self-defence training institute for females in the apartment."

The girls nod with a hint of fear in their eyes and Ruhi assures, "Only if you allow us, Mr. Talwar."

He frowns, while processing the information in his mind and the girls fail to read his body language.

Suddenly grabs his phone to dial a number and orders on the phone, "Mr. Pillai, please come to my office, and bring Mr. Desai, Mr. Singh and Mr. Joshi as well. It is urgent."

Ruhi and Kavya face each other, confused with his call and unreadable expression, which didn't give any hint of his intention.

Ruhi whispers, "Why did he call other people?"

Kavya whispers, "I don't know, maybe he will reject our proposal and even throw you out of your apartment."

Ruhi glares at her and whispers, "Your words are not helping, do you realise that?"

Kavya glares back and whispers, "I am not habitual to experience such situation, do you realise that!"

Ruhi sighs dramatically and turns to face the chairman. But she doesn't get a chance to speak as he raises his hand, gesturing to wait.

The fear of rejection engulfs their heart as silence again fills the air. Only negative assumptions were clouding their mind, killing their confidence to start the institute for being independent.

However, Kavya's fear increases ten-fold as the question of her survival halts her heart and mind. It brings along Armaan's disowning declaration and her incapability of performing any other productive work.

This makes her feel as a liability and she fears to break the shocking news on her parents, before anticipated time.

Ruhi senses Kavya's concern and holds her hand, under the table to grab her attention. Ruhi squeezes it gently to provide support and gestures her to calm down.

Kavya nods and the girls wait for some time, holding hands till three men enter the office. Two of them, ageing in their mid-thirties and another in his late forties.

The men stare at the girls with a confused frown and Mr. Singh approaches Mr. Talwar to ask, "Why did you call us on urgent basis, so early in the morning?"

Mr. Talwar gestures towards the girls with his eyes and shares, "Apartment number 302 is purchased by Ms. Ruhi, where she wants to start a self-defence training institute for females with her friend Kavya."

The three men face the girls again, then shift their gaze back to Mr. Talwar. They nod amongst themselves with an unknown expression, confusing the girls further.

But before they can voice their doubt, Mr. Talwar informs, "We will allow to start the institute on one condition."

Kavya enquires with a hint of doubt in her voice, "What condition?"

Mr. Pillai announces, "You need to train our wives and daughters."

Confusion clouds Kavya and Ruhi's mind with his words, subsiding the nervousness and they face each other with a frown.

Ruhi turns to face him and voices their doubt, "What do you mean?"

Mr. Desai explains in detail, "From last 4-5 weeks, the females of our building are facing chain snatching problem in this area. My wife lost her gold chain and Mr. Talwar's daughter-in-law lost her Mangalsutra."

Mr. Singh shares, "And my daughter has to travel far for her job, she returns home late in the night, that makes me worried."

The girls nod in understanding and Mr. Talwar demands, "So, you have to train our wives and daughters. We want them to learn, how to protect themselves and their belongings."

Mr. Pillai adds, "We will even circulate a notice among other members of the building, if they are interested to join your institute. We don't want further such cases to happen, so do you agree?"

Ruhi nods in positive, happy with their approval and even for getting students in-house. This progress killed every nervousness and fear from earlier, now her heart is filling with joy and confidence.

But Kavya continues stare at them with surprise, unable to believe, the permission is granted to start the training institute in Ruhi's apartment.

After experiencing failure in her love life and marriage, her cautious heart stopped her to believe in any positive achievement.

Though she believes this achievement will not harm her, in fact, it will heal her broken heart. It will help her to survive alone without relying on the person, responsible of the tears she has shredded in the past days.

Her eyes moisten with happy tears and she faces a happy Ruhi, whose smile drops, witnessing her tears.

Ruhi thinks, 'Armaan Raichand, I will not spare you for killing my Kavy's self-confidence.'

She leans towards Kavya and whispers, "Kavy, first step to success, you need to smile, alright?"

Kavya nods, wiping the corners of her eyes and smiles, making Ruhi nod in approval.

They turn to face the men and Mr. Desai enquires for the details of the course, while grabbing a paper. Kavya explains the same and he writes to make a notice for circulation in the building. She even shares her and Ruhi's numbers to call for further enquiry.

The girls leave the office after the notice is drafted. They rush to the NGO for their first day of work.

Later in the Night

Bedroom, Ruhi's Apartment

Mary, Ruhi and Kavya sit on the bed in circle with money and duly filled admission forms.

These forms were arranged by Mary, along with the leaflets, which will be distributed with the newspapers in the neighbourhood tomorrow.

The girls got 8 students from the building and 3 from the friend's circle of the building members. They have even received full fees in advance and were likely to start the class from tomorrow.

Kavya states, while chewing the chocolate bar, "We have 11 students, 4 want the morning batch, 5 want the evening batch and 2 want late evening."

Ruhi adds, "Our NGO job starts at 9 am and ends at 4 pm."

Kavya nods and suggests, "I think, we can adjust 3 batches. One from 6:30 am to 8:30 am. Second from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm and last from 7 pm to 9 pm."

Before Ruhi can react, Mary jumps in the discussion, "Sorry to interrupt, but 3 batches will exhaust the two of you."

Ruhi sighs and explains, "We know Mary, but we need to have 3 batches, so we can survive."

Kavya agrees with a nod, "And we have to start online promotions as well to fill the batches. We can take 8 females, per batch."

Mary nods in understanding, though Kavya reads the concern, reflecting in her eyes and gives her ageing hand a gentle squeeze to assure.

Ruhi sends messages to the females for the class timing and Kavya grabs the money to divide in half. They earned INR 1,10,000 in total, INR 10,000 per female and each girl will get 50% share, which is INR 55,000.

But Ruhi stops her, setting her phone aside and instructs, "You take 75%."

Kavya asks in confusion, "Why?"

Ruhi reasons, "You have to pay room rent and food charges, plus travelling is long from the Mansion till here."

Kavya questions, "So?"

Ruhi rolls her eyes and states, "So, you need more money, silly."

Kavya smiles and shifts closer to ask, "And let your dream of being independent stay unfulfilled?"

Mary frowns in confusion as Ruhi avoids Kavya's knowing gaze as she continues, "Though I was disturbed with the mishap, I didn't ignore how the idea of training institute entered your head."

She grips Ruhi's chin to lift her face and meet their gaze before continuing, "I know, you love the care, attention and gifts, Mamma and Papa give you. But somewhere, you wanted to be independent and was finding an opportunity. Right?"

Ruhi justifies as her eyes wells with tears, "I didn't want to hurt you or your parents or Myra. It was just an innocent wish."

Kavya pulls her for a hug and assures, "Which is absolutely fine and now, we will together work to survive alone without even relying on Papa for your extra expenses."

Ruhi asks with doubt, "Are you sure? Paying rent will be expensive and food, travelling..."

Kavya interrupts, "We will get more students, so it will be manageable. Now divide in two and give me my share, so I can pay for the food to Mary, which I ate till now."

Ruhi nods with excitement and divides in half, while pointing a fact, "Again we are starting something together."

Kavya nods and turns to inform Mary, "We have done most of the things together."

Ruhi informs playfully, "I didn't marry a selfish pig."

Kavya sighs dramatically and comments, "I know, I am stupid."

Ruhi comments with a mischievous smirk, "Happy realisation."

Kavya pounces on her to tickle, making her hilarious giggles fill the empty room, and her laughter joins soon as Ruhi tickles back.

Mary stares at the happy girls with a sad smile as Armaan's thought bothers her.

She thinks, 'You didn't play with an innocent heart, Armaan. You have played with your own life by disowning Kavya. I hope you realise your mistake and regret, so you can understand what you have lost.'

Mary watches the girls wrapped in each other's arms as their giggles slowly fade in the air.

Four Days Later

India

Four days have been passed since Kavya and Ruhi started a self-defence training institute.

After social media marketing and distribution of leaflets, they received many more enquiries for admission.

Now they have 21 students, which earned them INR 2,10,000 and each girl got INR 1,05,000.

Though the late evening batch lacks 3 students to fill the batch, the girls were happy with the 21 students and trained them with complete dedication.

They continued promotions through social networking websites and leaflets to get admissions for the upcoming month.

Working in NGO and training the girls, distracted Kavya from her pain and sorrow. She had pushed Armaan away from her mind and heart to stay strong.

This made Ruhi happy, as she could feel Kavya's confidence building and even saw humour, mischief and concern returning in her nature.

In these days, Myra was constantly in touch with Kavya, providing her support and motivation. A part of her, was relieved as Kavya had successfully moved on. But another part, still felt disheartened thinking about her feelings.

She knew Kavya loves Armaan, which scared her, thinking how long will Kavya survive staying in this situation. She prayed for Kavya to remain strong and unaffected when Armaan returns from his business trip.

Kavya regularly talked with her parents, sharing her positive whereabouts.

Though, they were still disappointed with Armaan for leaving Kavya alone within a week of their wedding. But she assured them by informing she is fine and lying about receiving Armaan's regular calls of concern and apologies.

Her parents trusted her and didn't stretch the topic further. This made Kavya sad for fooling her parents, but she knew, this is for their own benefit.

Although, at the same time, her anger and hatred for Armaan developed. She hated him for ruining her life and playing with her and her family's feelings.

She had determined to never forgive him and teach him a lesson after Myra's marriage.

Los Angeles

During his days in LA, Armaan was busy in attending meetings. He worked day and night for this project and became successful in impressing his clients for long-term work.

However, not for once, Armaan thought about Kavya or called her to take updates. His anger was subsided due to work, but his arrogance, didn't allow him to bend.

Armaan received many calls from Yash and Sonia, but didn't answer any of them. He knew they must be aware of his business trip. So, he decided to avoid them.

Whereas his behaviour with Rihan was neutral, they only communicated for work. Other than that, Rihan avoided talking to Armaan and buried his free time in files, which didn't go unnoticed by the arrogant.

5 pm

Rihan's Room, Suite Room

Rihan is selecting his clothes for the meeting, they have now. But his attention gets diverted, when the door of his room opens and he finds Armaan entering.

Rihan asks in a flat, formal tone, "Need anything boss?"

Armaan sighs in frustration and moves closer, eyeing Rihan's rigid posture. He opens his mouth, but shuts back and pinches the bridge of his nose, before exhaling deeply.

Armaan faces Rihan and demands in a surprisingly soft tone, "Are you going to remain upset with me for the rest of your life?"

Rihan looks away to stare at the floor aimlessly and offers, "I have crossed a line as an employee, so I think you can shout at me, fire me and even take back the penthouse. I have only paid 65% of the cost yet."

This makes the arrogant sigh in frustration, as he remembers the argument over the penthouse.

Armaan wished it to remain as a gift, but Rihan's self-respect didn't allow him to accept such an expensive thing. So, after a huge argument, they decided to cut a certain percentage of Rihan's salary every month and transfer in Armaan's personal account.

This somewhere made Armaan unhappy, but he respected Rihan's feelings and never argued on this matter again.

Armaan watches, Rihan's eyes is fixed on the floor and moves a step closer before apologising, "Sorry."

Rihan faces him with raised eyebrows and a lopsided, amused smile, slowly lacing his lips.

His reaction makes Armaan angry again and he orders in his usual tone, "Accept it, you don't have any other option."

Rihan rolls his eyes and asks, "Ever heard of the term politeness?"

Armaan glares at him and orders, "I misbehaved with you, so apologised, now accept it and end this topic."

Rihan chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief. Though he still nods, showing his acceptance as even thinking to apologise is a big task for Armaan. He wasn't the person to apologise for his mistake, on his own.

Armaan smiles in response and turns to leave, before instructing, "Get ready, we have an important meeting in an hour."

But Rihan's words, stops him, "Will you apologize to Kavya as well?"

Armaan stays frozen in his spot and Rihan continues, "If you were at her place and someone would have used you for their benefit. Would you be able to forgive? Won't you be angry?"

Armaan frowns at his words and Rihan walks around to stand in front of Armaan, facing him.

Rihan explains, "Armaan, when a girl agrees to marry someone, she accepts her groom from that moment itself. Similarly, Kavya accepted you when she agreed to marry you."

Armaan lower his gaze, while processing his words and Rihan continues, "But what her groom did? He declared their marriage means nothing to him and will not consider her as his wife, on the next day of marriage."

Rihan challenges him, "If we reverse this situation and think, if Kavya would have done the same with you. Won't you become angry and blame her?"

Rihan places a hand on Armaan's shoulder, drawing his gaze to him and explains, "I know somewhere you were helpless, but Armaan you could have given this relationship a chance. I know you were not ready for the marriage, you were forced. But sometimes we have to act as per the situation."

Rihan takes his hand back and requests, "Armaan, we will return on Sunday. So, stay at home and talk with her, listen to what she has to say and come up with a solution. If you can't consider her as your wife, but you can at least consider her as your friend."

Rihan pleads, "Don't hurt her more Armaan, please."

Armaan informs, after mentally processing Rihan's words, "I will think about it."

Rihan nods in response and Armaan turns to leave the room, carrying his thoughts with him.

6.30 am, India

Kitchen, Armaan's Mansion

Kavya enters the kitchen, wearing a blue long top and black pants. Her hairs were set in a ponytail and a large handbag, hanging in her arm as she seems ready for DID and NGO work.

She takes her seat on the kitchen stool, while placing her handbag on the table. She greets Mary, who greets back and places a plate of freshly made pancakes with a cup of coffee, in front of her.

Kavya smiles and grabs her wallet from her handbag to pay for the meal.

She has made a practice to pay for each meal, before even eating as she has determined to pay for everything and not depend on Armaan for anything.

Although, Mary had attempted to stop her again on Sonia's instructions, when she shared about DID and Kavya's decision.

But no amount of convincing, changed Kavya's decision and Sonia allowed her to do what she thinks is right.

Kavya starts eating, which makes Mary's eyes fall on her bruised knuckles. It is the result of training females in DID.

Mary reaches to hold her hand and caresses them gently with her fingers, before asking in a defeated tone, "Doesn't it hurt dear?"

Kavya smiles, eyeing the purplish shade of her knuckles and comments, "It does, but this is the assuring pain."

Mary frowns and Kavya explains, "Papa always said no struggle will promise you success, unless you don't go through this pain."

She smiles, remembering the time, when her father explained the same and continues, "And this pain is an assurance, I will achieve the desired goals. So, instead of mourning, I will welcome it with a smile because it will surely bring positive results."

Mary smiles with amusement to see the courage of the young girl, who is handling the sensitive issue of her life with maturity.

She reaches to place her hand over Kavya's shoulder and smiles when their gaze meets.

Kavya states, "Now please calculate the rent of my room, Mary. I am merely a step away from getting success in being independent."

Mary promises with a nod, "I will."

Kavya smiles and finishes her breakfast quickly. She gives a hug to Mary and bids bye after informing, she will return by 9.30 pm.

Kavya leaves for Ruhi's apartment to train in DID.

************

That's all for now.....will update next part as soon as possible.....hope you liked this part, do give your reviews...till then Keep Smiling and Take Care

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