18 Her Admission

Neha couldn't sleep last night from what she saw.

Every time she would close her eyes and slip into slumber, things would start to replay in her head and she would wake up sweating and searching for air to breathe.

But after few hours, she slept and woke up early in the morning.

She got ready, packed her suitcase and scrolled through her phone.

She had hundreds of messages to reply to, but she ignored them all, except one; a single text from Vivek.

"Hey, how are you? ("

"Hey Vivek, I'm fine…You?"  she replied.

She wasn't fine, obviously, but how could she tell him?

  She chose this life for her selves.

Then she remembered the video from last night.

Decreasing the volume down, she played the video.

As she replayed the video, the feelings and emotions from last night also repeated.

Her eyes were on the video but her mind somewhere else.

Armaan entered the room, making her jump out of her thoughts.

She hurriedly exited the video as he came near her.

"What was that?" He asked, suspicious.

Neha got awkward "What?" she said, as if nothing happened.

Armaan didn't care much "Nothing…" he said.  Armaan looked at her up to down "You seem ready. Let's go then. Come down in five." He said, before leaving the room.

As he left, Neha took a deep sigh of relief.

After sometime, the driver came in, to take away their suitcases.

He greeted Neha with a smile and left.

Before leaving the room, she took one last look at the living room. The carpet on the floor reminded her of what happened and her breath quickened.

Armaan gave her anxiety, she was scared of things that she never thought she would be scared of.

She left the room and they check out of the hotel.

"Hope you had a great time here" A receptionist smiled at them.

"Of course" Armaan said and looked at Neha with an ungodly smile.

As they sat in the car, Armaan and Neha both glanced at the hotel one last time.

"I hope you'll never forget the experience you got from here…" He said to Neha.

Neha couldn't believe the fact that he felt zero guilt about what he did to her.

She looked away from him and tears filled her eyes.

They reached the airport and they took a plane to Calgary.

All this time, Armaan smiled on his phone, texting someone.

Instantly, Neha knew it was Holland.

She took out her phone to find a text from Vivek, "I'm fine. Going to get to a hospital in US soon, for practice…Heard you decided to take up new course."

"The US?" Neha was surprised….

 "I can't tell him I'm here, or he'll try to come meet me and if he does, he'll know what Armaan does to me and then…. No I can't" Neha was devastated.

"Yes, oncology Where in US are you going to go?" Neha asked, hoping for a different answer.

"harvard medical collage "

Neha gasped for breath, cupping her mouth with her hands.

Armaan looked at her, hearing the voice of her taking breath.

Neha quickly exited her texting app to a different app.

Armaan looked back to his phone.

"What the hell!" She clearly recalls not telling Vivek, Anjali or anyone.

She decided not to respond to his text.

They reached Boston and went to their new house.

It was a 10 floor apartment. A stylish, cozy and posh flat.

She entered the house and the apartment reminded her of the hotel room, but much more house like.

The entrance door faces a large sliding glass door, which opens to a balcony.

There were three bedrooms in the apartment.

"I'll take that room" he said pointing towards the right side. "And that room…" he said pointing towards his left, "That's going to be my store room. So you can take that room"

So Neha's room was just beside Armaan's

Neha couldn't believe her ears that he was giving her a separate room to stay. She was delighted.

"You have a room to yourself, that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Rules are still going to be mine" He bought his face closer to her.

"You are NOT allowed to lock your room." He claimed.

Neha's heart skipped a beat, smelling his intentions. At least she has some freedom.

"Don't you have an interview at university today?"

Neha nodded.

Armaan groaned, "Why the hell does dad wants you to go to a college, like…" He groaned again "Whatever." He said.

"Let's go, the driver is already waiting." He said before leaving.

"How many drivers does he have" She thought.

They got out of the apartment and walked towards the car.

"Good day sir" the driver greeted and paused to look at Neha "Good day madam!" Neha smiled and nodded.

"Good day!" Armaan said with a straight face, "to Harvard University" he commanded.

"Yes sir!" The driver said, opening the door of Armaan and Neha.

Neha sat closer to the window, looking at the magnificent building and beautiful roads.

It took only 15 minutes for them to reach the university.

Entering the large gates of the black glass building, she was stunned at the beauty the campus held.

She stared at the surroundings in awe.

She was excited and her face lit up.

They parked the car and got out of it.

They both walked up the stairs and towards the reception "Hey, we had an interview with the Principal." Armaan said.

The receptionist looked at him from her papers and scanned him from her small grey eyes "Name?"

"Neha" Armaan said and looked at Neha.

The receptionist eyes Neha and dialed numbers on her office telephone. "Sir, you had an interview with Ms. Neha?" she paused "Yes sir," She said and hung up the phone.

 "Go straight then to left and at the end of the hall is the principal's cabin. He's waiting"

"Thankyou." Armaan smiled and walked towards the direction,

Armaan "nice big campus, right?"

Neha looked at Armaan.

"New life, New people, freedom?" He asked, looking around and back at her again.

Neha walked ahead of him, ignoring.

Armaan held her by her arms, and stopped in the middle of empty hallways

"Don't be so ignorant" he smiled and said, grinding his teeth.

"You can't and you won't have the freedom that you are imagining that you'll have. I'll make sure about it" He said.

Neha looked at him and sighed, she was fed up from his bullshit "I know Armaan. I know you and all your dirty ways and I don't care" She replied.

Armaan looked at her in fury, that's when he heard someone open the door.

A tall man in his mid-forties, suited up, smart with big framed on his eyes, looked down at them. He came out of the office, bearing someone talk.

Armaan quickly moved his hands from her.

He walked towards Armaan and Neha.

"Yes? How can I help you?" He asked.

This time Neha spoke, before Armaan could.

"Good morning sir, I'm Neha, I had an interview here today."

"Oh Ya Neha, come in" He said and led them towards his office.

His office was a large white room with yellow shades due to lights.

His room was filled with trophies, certificates, books and beautiful flower pots.

On one side of the room, there was an aquarium and the table was decked with papers.

"Jeff Sanders" he said smiling, "the principal of course"

Neha smiled back.

"Ms. Neha, who's this with you?" He asked, looking at Armaan.

Neha really didn't want to introduce him as her husband, so she kept mum.

After 2 seconds of awkward silence, Armaan said "Neha's Husband, Armaan oberoi"

"Husband? Wow, you are married. Not to be racist, but I've heard Indians don't let their wives and daughters after marriage, to study or go for work. In that case Ms. Neha, you are very lucky" Mr. Sanders said, bit ashamed.

Neha was a bit offended by it. She knew she was here not because of Armaan, but because she asked Mr. Oberoi that she wants to study more.

It was because of her and Mr. oberoi, that she was going to this university

 "Well sir, that only consists of a few very backward minded people." Neha said, looking at Armaan.

Armaan knew why she looked at him.

"India is surely rich in its culture and way better than most of the countries, and trust me, not to brag. Not only strong and empowering women like Anu Aga, GeetaDharmajan and the councillor ManjulaSood, the younger females are too coming up with their willpower." She paused and grinned, "bringing my attention to the newest Vice President of the US, Kamala Harris, is an Indian herself. Basically what I'm trying to say is, Indian women are not defined by their family or background or anything else. She is defined by her will power, attitude and personality. She shapes her future and life her selves and she doesn't need anybody's help. Indian women set an example of women all across the world, because they have to pave their way towards success, with their hard work because as I said before, she has to fight all those 'few' backward minded people." Neha finished, feeling empowered herself.

Armaan and Mr. Jeff both looked at Neha astound.

Mr. Jeff was clearly impressed.

"I'm very impressed. You too are clearly an example of a strong woman. We are very happy to have you here Ms. Neha." Mr. Jeff said, adjusting his frames.

Armaan felt like it was a slap on his face from her.

Armaan was left quiet and moved by Neha.

He didn't know what to feel, he felt ashamed and he didn't like the feeling.

Armaan kept quiet the whole time, while Neha and Mr. Jeff talked things about the university.

"Thank you, sir!" Neha smiled.

"See you soon Ms. Neha" He smiled at them and they got out.

Armaan was silent the whole time while they walked towards the hallway towards the car.

Neha felt victory after so many defeats.

She felt good.

Little did she knew, Armaan has planned her defeat, again.