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"Will you be joining us for training?" The dark haired man who was sat opposite her asked as he placed his plate on top of another now that he had finished eating.
"Training?" Saylor wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to Carlton looking for an answer.
"Thank you Ryan for bringing that up." Carlton commented sarcastically, he hadn't gotten round to filling Saylor in on what they had planned for the day. They had spent all their time tighter dying her hair and having pointless conversations. "We train on our days of, to keep up our stamina and practice our skills."
"Like combat training?" Saylor raised an eyebrow intrigued as she placed her own plate on top of Ryan's.
"Exactly like that." Ryan confirmed pushing his chair back and standing to his feet. "What do you say? You wanna learn how to fight Miss Routledge?"
She felt a fire ignite in her chest at his words. The urge to be able to defend herself and not have to rely on another to keep herself. To prove to not only everyone else but to herself that she could get herself out of harms way if needed to and to help protect others that couldn't protect themselves.
Saylor placed both of her hands firmly on the oak table and used them to push herself to get feet. "Teach me how to fight."
All the men in the room starting clapping and cheering for her in support. She felt powerful knowing she was going to one day be able to protect herself and she felt empowered by knowing she had a support system of people rooting for her.
☘︎︎
Too say her entire body was aching would be the understatement of the century. Every muscle was tense and felt as if it was being pulled to the point they were about to snap and sweat was dripping down her back.
They had been training for 4 hours and despite it only being her first session none of Singhs men (who she now knew all the names of) had not taken it easy on her.
Each of them had shown her their signature move which ranged from either a fighting style or a self defence move. She had been flung on her back and shoved more times then she would care to admit but she knew it was worth it because by the end of the session she could successively perform the moves herself.
"It was looking a bit ropey for a while." Ryan who seemed to be the individual that had taken the most interest in the Routledge girl commented as he held out his hand for her. "Like watching Bambi on ice." He joked and they all laughed, including Saylor. "That being said... you did good Kid."
'You did good kid'
Saylor felt tears prick in her eyes. Ryan, a man who she had known all of 6 hours had given her the very thing she had been yearning for from her father her entire life.
He had acknowledged her efforts but not only had he acknowledged her he positively commented on them rather than looking for a fault or something to critique her on.
Why was it so hard for her own father to do something a stranger had done in 4 words?
"Thank you." Saylors voice came out as a whisper as she took his outstretched hand before he pulled her to her feet.
It was clear to everyone in the room how much those words meant to the young girl and they shared a look. A look of understanding and compassion.
Not a single one of them had grown up with the intention of working for Singh, but that's where they found themselves. They were there because they had no other option, no one outside of that house that cared for them.
They had found a family the second they started working together. They understood the conflict that swelled behind her honey brown eyes.
She was torn between feeling pride for the skills she had just learnt, happiness for the words she was just told and pain for the lack of love she had received her entire life.
Not to mention the anger she held towards those that never treated her the way she had deserved. It was easy, Ryan and the others had proved that. It wasn't a hard task to show appreciation and respect. It was a choice, and her so called 'friends' and 'family' had made the wrong one.
"Mr Singh wishes to Speak to Miss Routledge in his office within the next hour." Martha, one of the house maids announced as she spoke into the Gym.
"Of course." Saylor nodded her head making sure to keep her head to the ground now overly aware that everyone had seen how emotion she had gotten. She pulled her hand out of Ryan's and grabbed her water bottle from the floor before leaving and rushing to her room despite the burning in her legs.
Locking the door behind her she placed her back against the solid wood door and took a moment to breath. The way she saw it she had two options.
1) She could let her sadness and anger fester and torture herself with the reminder of just how badly she was treated by her friends and how blinded by her own love for them she was to not notice.
Or
2) She could move on and accept the support that was being offered to her by the new people in her life and learn how to love and live for herself.
The second option sounded much more appealing but she reminded herself that she couldn't completely forget the actions of the Pogues because she didn't want to allow them back in her life if they weren't willing to change their behaviour.
Saylor Routledge was beginning to realise her worth and notice the lack of respect she had for herself before hand.
Progress, she was making progress and she was willing to fight to ensure she didn't let that slip.
.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.
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