Eclipsed

Chapter 14

Trigger warning: Panic attack

Hazel suffers from a panic attack. If you ever had one or have anxiety or are sensitive, just skip over the marked part. You won't miss anything. I have anxiety and just writing and even just mildly describing it kind of made me fidgety as I relived every moment and it's not the best feeling. But, I felt like I needed to write it, despite how it made me feel. 

♥    

"Turn your right heel, Tate! Now, throw that uppercut!" Coach Rico shouts at me. 

I rotate my hips and turn my right heel slightly upwards, throwing a right uppercut on Christelle, aiming at her chin, my kickboxing partner. I have been practising kickboxing for nearly five weeks now. Aidan talked to Rico, a member of his clan, who is also the gym instructor at the university. Despite knowing that I am his King's girlfriend, he never goes easy on me. His gruff voice and Mammoth body still intimidate me as they did the first time I met him. The fact that I have been barely doing any exercise since I moved to Maine, the initial few classes were tough as Rico made me do a lot of cardio. 

"Ouch!" I cry out as I stumble backwards when Christelle punches me on my left cheek. 

"Sorry!" Christelle grimaces. 

"Easy now!" The coach reprimands. 
"You hurt, Tate?"

Fear and concern mask Rico's face, much like every time that I am punched or get injured because he is answerable to Aidan if anything happens to me. Aidan made him promise that when he undertook the responsibility to train me. I shake my head in negative. It really did not hurt too much but during my classes, I realised that I bruise like a peach and have an extremely low tolerance of pain. Aidan is still reluctant about taking kickboxing classes because I sometimes return home with a red cheek like I am about to today, again due to my own clumsiness.

"You left your face open for the opponent to strike! What else d'you expect? Always cover your face with your other hand when delivering a punch!" Coach Rico admonishes me. 

Albeit I quite enjoy kickboxing because it has proven to be a way to release bodily stress I didn't even know existed in me, I sometimes think that I am inept in all sports, except swimming. 

"That's it for today! Dismissed! I'll see y'all next semester. Happy holidays everyone!" Coach Rico yells.

The university is closing for the Christmas holidays. We already had our exams and it had been two weeks of torture with Jake, Tasha and I refuging in the library, crammed with a hundred other students. 

Taking off my gloves, I walk towards the bench and swallow a few gulps of water. 

"You sure you're okay?" Nate, one of the training instructors, asks me. 
"Your cheek is red."

"I'm fine. I just bruise like a peach! You should know that by now." 

He chuckles, displaying his dimples. Nate became a friend during these past few weeks, much to Aidan's displeasure. But then, he asked me out during our third kickboxing class and I humbly declined, telling him I have a boyfriend. 

I never told Aidan anything but somehow he came to know about it. He even told me to quit the classes and we had a huge fight. I put my foot down, saying that I need to do this. Kickboxing is not just about my security anymore but it is almost cathartic now. I suspect that he told Coach Rico not to pair us up anymore because Nate and I never get to be partners since that day.

Among many other things, I learnt that vampires are possessive about their partners. Aidan gets easily jealous and is always on his guard whenever Jake or any other male is around me. At first, I found it cute that he is concerned about me, but it became infuriating with him always interrupting the time I share with my friends or when I go out alone or even meet new people. It seems he is haunted by insecurity more than protectiveness when I should be the insecure one as he is a living embodiment of Adonis.