Her Five Protectors

SIX

"Umm." Athena just stares at him and he raises his brow by continuously staring back at her. After a short awkward moment, he decides to cut off this annoying staring contest.

"Ariana! What did I just say to you! Do it now." He says sternly. Athena stares at the floor below her and frowns. Alexander lets out an exasperated sigh. His head has began to hurt.

"What's the matter? You are just looking at me or at the floor like a fool and not even speaking anything!" He yells at her. He feels a little bad when she flinches back in fear and tears are already gathered in her eyes.

"You can go, Alexander." Athena hears Vincenzo's voice and there he is standing at the door wearing workout clothes.

"She's so difficult, I swear to God-" Alexander mutters while storming out of the gym. Athena looks down again when Vincenzo's gaze meets her.

"Ariana...Come here." He calls her. She hesitantly comes out from the corner.

"I am going to demonstrate it to you and you will follow what I am doing." She slightly nods her head. He gets down on the floor and does five push ups. Athena tries to follow his lead looking confused. He looks back at her and stands up.

"Ok. I see that you completely forget everything in the span of one year. So I am going to instruct you now. Begin with your chest and stomach flat on the floor. Your legs should be straight out behind you." He takes notice of the tremble of her arms but does not comment.

"Keep your palms at chest level and bend your arms at a 45°degree angle."

"Not like that, Ariana." Athena shakes slightly as he grabs her arms and bends them in the correct position.

"Now exhale and push your body from your hands and heels." He instructs her.

"Good! But only bring your torso, chest and thighs off the ground." She tries to follow his instruction but she was not able to hold the position for long and she falls right down on her belly.

Her cheeks turns beet red and a tear of grievance manages to roll down her cheek again.

"Get yourself together, Ariana and get back in the position." He commands. He does not sound angry nor does he sound annoyed. He is just calm. Emotionlessly calm.

Ariana tries to do it again but everytime she manages to fall. It feels like her body has no strength.

"Can't." She whispers. She does not even try to hide the fact that she is about to start crying any next second.

"You can, Ariana. Try again." He says in the same tone again. With the next few minutes of failure, she finally learns to hold her balance. But it was only for five seconds.

"That's an improvement. Just keep trying." She nods her head and keeps trying. He sounds a little impressed. It is a good sign that he would not kill her after getting angry. It takes her complete twenty minutes to hold herself in the position for at least twenty seconds.

"Now pause for a second in this position and then inhale as you slowly lower back to your starting position." Athena is confused. If it is only for a second so why was he making her hold the position for twenty seconds. She follows his words but this time quickly. It does not feel much difficult now.

"Very good, Ariana! Now do ten push-ups and we are done here." She manages to do it and stands up. Her arms and shoulders are hurting badly and it feels like electric current is flowing in them. It feels weird.

"Now...Relax your mind for a bit and get on the treadmill for 15 minutes."

****************

The three hours are finally over. Ariana slams her body down on the bed completely sweaty and exhausted. She does not even notice when sleep takes over her tired senses.