The girls gathered around her one by one, their eyes shining with disbelief and awe as they looked at Lucy as if they were seeing her for the very first time.

Riya had already pulled the officer and Meera slightly to the side, speaking in a low, steady voice as she recounted the events of the evening, trying to downplay Lucy’s actions as much as possible. Once Lucy came under the radar of the police, hiding her anomaly would become very difficult.

She even brought up her father’s name, pressing the officer to take action against the kidnappers as soon as possible. She had already handed over the license plate number.

Meanwhile Lucy had been left standing in the middle of the remaining girls with nowhere to go.

"How are you so strong?" Khushi demanded, stepping forward first, her eyes wide with awe. "You are so tiny. How did that man fly like that from a single kick?"

"Did you learn martial arts?" Sneha asked from her other side. "You have to train us too. That was something straight out of a T.V. scene."

"You must have trained for years, right?" Meghna pressed, leaning in. "Who was your trainer? Because whoever it is, I want their number."

Which girl wouldn’t dream of being able to fight like that?

"You completely fooled us," Khushi continued, throwing her hands up. "This entire night I was sitting next to you thinking you were the quietest, shyest girl I had ever met in my life. You barely said ten words at dinner, and now you..." She made a sweeping gesture with her arm that loosely imitated a kick. "Like it was nothing. I want to learn it!"

All of them talking at once, their voices overlapping, their faces crowding closer.

Lucy stood in the middle of it all and her face turned bright red.

She hadn’t expected this kind of attention at all. The enthusiastic girls surrounded her from all sides, firing questions one after another. Their eyes were full of curiosity and admiration, but the sudden spotlight made her extremely uncomfortable.

She could handle five armed men in a dark street without breaking a sweat.

She could not handle five excited women asking her questions at the same time.

Her eyes darted left and right, finding no escape. A flush crept up her neck.

"I... I just learned a little," she said softly, almost whispering. "It’s nothing special..."

But the girls weren’t satisfied.

"Nothing special? You just beat five men by yourself!" Sana exclaimed. "Come on, don’t be so modest. Tell us the truth!"

"Yes, yes! Who trained you?" Khushi pressed excitedly. "Was it some famous master? Or did you train abroad?"

She opened her mouth once, closed it, then seemed to give up on words entirely and simply dropped her chin toward her chest, staring at the ground, wishing it would swallow her whole.

Just as she had completely run out of ideas, a hand closed around her wrist.

Riya had finished speaking with the officer and walked back toward the group. She took one look at Lucy’s expression and understood immediately.

"Alright, girls," Riya said smoothly, stepping in and taking Lucy’s hand. "It’s been a long night and we’ve all had enough excitement. Lucy is tired. We should head home now."

The girls protested almost immediately.

"Wait, just five more minutes!"

"At least teach us one move!"

Riya smiled politely but firmly. "Another day. I promise. Right now we really need to go. Thank you all for tonight. Drive safe."

"Just one more —"

But Riya did not stop, and the voices faded behind them as she steered Lucy toward the road, one hand raised to flag down a cab.

Lucy glanced back once at the group still standing on the pavement, waving at her. She waved back.

------------------

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of an underground parking lot not far from Zenith, the black van’s driver had just arrived, sweating profusely.

He found Rahul waiting impatiently inside a luxury SUV, his fat face already twisted with expectation. The moment the driver stepped out and started recounting what happened, Rahul’s expression began to darken.

"Boss... it was a disaster," the driver said, voice shaking. "We almost had the actress. Everything was going perfectly according to plan. But then... that girl appeared. The one who was with them. She... she took down all five of our men by herself. In seconds. We couldn’t do anything."

Rahul stared at him, his small eyes narrowing dangerously.

"What did you say?" he asked slowly, voice low.

The driver swallowed hard and repeated everything in detail — how the petite girl in the burgundy dress had kicked one man flying, how she had dismantled the rest one after another with terrifying skill, and how even the man with the knife had been disarmed and knocked out.

Rahul’s face turned uglier with every word. His hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles turned white.

Useless

Such a great opportunity and they had lost it because of one girl?

Slap!

"Useless! All of you are completely useless!" Rahul roared, spit flying from his mouth. "A golden opportunity like this, and you got beaten by a single girl?! Not even a man ...a fucking girl!"

The driver kept his head lowered, not daring to speak.

Rahul was breathing heavily, his massive belly rising and falling. The rage inside him was boiling over. He had been so close to finally having Meera in his grasp, to breaking that proud woman once and for all. And now it was all gone again.

Just then, the sound of police sirens echoed faintly from the direction of Zenith Club. Another one of Rahul’s men came running, face pale.

"Boss! Police! They’ve arrived in large numbers. We need to leave right now!"

Rahul’s face became even uglier, twisted with frustration and hatred. For a moment, he looked like he wanted to beat the man in front of him to death.

His hand rose once agin as if searching for somethinng, but he stopped himself at the last second.

"Drive," he snarled. "Get us out of here from the back exit. Now!"

The SUV roared to life and quickly disappeared into the darkness of the underground parking, leaving behind another failed plan and a seething, obsessed Rahul who was now angrier than ever.