Wildfire

Eight

  Perfectly sanitizing all his equipment from each handle to each seat, Eli licked the pointy tip of the front of his upper lip as he bent down to clean all his gym properties. Both he and Amina co-owned their own gym in Jamson. Eli also did personal training while Amina hosted yoga classes.
  His mind became preoccupied like Elixander's. There was too much to worry about than to just focus on their regular life. Someone from their past just came back fifteen years later...alive! He thought that the woman was dead, but she wasn't. Him and the other four must be going through a lot at the moment.
  Switching away from the gym office, Amina returned to the front area of the building to passionately hug her openly true love. Eli withdrew from sterilizing his equipment, standing up with open arms for his fiancée.
  "You feeling alright babe," worriedly hanging onto Eli by his neck, "you've been iffy since that birthday event last night."
  How could Eli explain it all to Amina? He didn't want her involved in his fifteen-year-old mess that came back to haunt him and four others.
  "You didn't even talk to me last night," she extracted, releasing herself from dangling onto his neck like an iced-out necklace, "you went to sleep without saying anything. What's going on with you, Eli?"
  He glared into Amina's hazelnut eyes, still with a zipped mouth as a response. There was so much that she didn't know, and he thought it should remain that way. He didn't want to get her involved in it and he definitely didn't want to hurt her with all the information that he's been holding back from her.
  There's so much that I want to tell you, but it's best that you don't know any of it, Eli stressed in his throbbing head as he emotionally stared into his fiancée's clueless eyes.
  A distressing collision at the door concluded their worrisome glares with at each other. Distraught by the sound, Eli's head shifted towards the door to see a waving African-American woman waving through the transparent doors. That waving woman was no one other than Aija Williams, who Eli knew as Cabrina Nelson. Things just continued getting worse for him.
  Going towards the inaccessible gym doors, Eli positioned his unhinged hands in pockets so that not only Aija wouldn't notice them, but his fiancée as well. Amina trailed right behind him with a genuine smile on her face to greet her.
  "I-I'm sorry, but we're closed." he honestly stuttered to Aija from behind the closed doors.
  As if he didn't have any home training or just being plain rude to customers, Amina shamefully and lightly slapped Eli's face with her hand, hoping that his right mind returned back quickly. She unlocked the door, allowing the pregnant woman into the building without getting her fiancé's permission...as if she needed due to her owning the building as well. 
  "Sorry for Eli, you can come on in," she smiled in the woman's face as she closed the door behind her, "but yes we are closed, but that doesn't stop us from helping you with whatever you need. Would you like to know information about our yoga classes or personal training with Eli?"
  With a patient touch in her round, bulging belly, Aija grew a sincere smile as she looked around at the huge area of Amina and Eli's workplace.
  As a pregnant woman, Aija was looking for areas to be clean and safe for her to use. She didn't want to put any harm in her or her baby's way. After doing her own evaluation on the whole building, she grew pleased on the observations she made in her head. She finally had a decision to make in front of the engaged couple.
  "How much are your yoga clases?" Aija eyed Amina while standing beside Eli.
  With the corner of his eyes bulging after sighting Aija's location, Eli nervously slid his behind closer to his fiancée. Aija really tried to make things so uncomfortable for Eli, even in front of his fiancée.
  He grabbed ahold to Amina, rubbing her waist so smoothly so Aija could se where his heart really was connected to.
  "My yoga classes are an hour long and they are fifty dollars. I also do personal one-on-one yoga sessions."
  Excluded, alone while the couple remained knitted to their sides, Aija smiled as she walked back towards the door. In her head, she was going back and forth on whether to choose the personal training with Eli or the yoga sessions with Amina.
  "That sounds nice," she grew pleased, "I would like to do the private sessions for yoga."
  "That's amazing," Amina enjoyed having another client, "just come back when the gym opens to schedule your appointment, or I could give you my business so that you could contact my phone or email during business hours."
  Quickly, Amina ran to her office to get her card while Aija and Eli remained in the front of the gym. Aija's back rested on the door handle as she looked over at Eli with a devious grin. There was something up her sleeve, but Eli had no clue what she was planning for the five's demise. Purposely antagonizing him, Aija blew a harmless kiss towards his direction, but he didn't catch it—even if he was in an open relationship with his fiancée. He straight up didn't want to have a thing to do with Aija or her antics.
  Amina arrived back to the main entrance of the gym with her business card. She gave Aija a tight hug before speaking to her.
  "So, if you don't feel like getting out of bed to schedule your appointment, just give me a call or email and I will respond."
  Before leaving, Aija thanked both Amina and Eli for their sincere gratitude for allowing her into the workspace while it was still closed. Only Amina responded while Eli stood behind her with his agitated hands still buried deeply into his pockets that seemed like a grave. He planted there still, wordless and emotionless. Aija took away his ability to speak and move. This woman really had him, and the rest of the group shook, but why did she keep them on their toes? What was the huge, buried secret that caused them to blank out without a thought in mind? What did Elixander mean when he and the other four murdered her?