Together (Sequel of 'Broken Hearts')

Chapter 20: Ante

At the end of today's session with Ethan, I felt exhausted both mentally and physically but I felt like we made some progress. It seemed like he understood where I was coming from even if it was clear he remained suspicious and claimed that he never wanted to love someone. I knew nothing I could say could change his mind, at least not right now, and I needed to take it one step at a time. 

Ethan went in his room to play with legos and I went downstairs, wondering what Nazar was doing. I saw him laying on the sofa and I walked closer, a soft smile on my lips. "How did it go?" He asked as I sat on the armrest of the couch.

His head was within arm reach and I took this opportunity to pass a hand in his short blond hair as I answered. "It went well. Things won't go back to the way they were right away but I'm pretty sure he understood what I explained."

"Can you stop touching the few hair I have left?"

"When will you understand that just because your hair has been slightly thinning with the years, it doesn't mean you will end up bald? You still have plenty of it." I answered with a slight chuckle as I continued to play with his hair.

"I will believe it when I see it." He answered back and I could see he was trying to fight off a smile from appearing.

I shook my head slightly, moving my hand from his hair to his cheek to stroke it for a few seconds before getting up. "Come on, get up and let's work out a little."

"Are you calling me fat now? What a day to be alive." He sighed but got up anyway.

I took his hands into mine and walked toward the center of the living room, where there was enough place to move without hurting ourselves. "Let's start with some push ups? Then we can do crunches."

He nodded and we started working out in silence. After a while, we switched to crunches and I held his legs while he was working out. "I-... I can't anymore..." He said, breathing between each words.

"Come on, just two more and you finished your serie!" I encouraged him, watching his face flushed with effort. Struggling, he managed to do two more and pulled me on the ground next to him just as I released his legs. "What are you doing?" I asked with a slight chuckle.

"Resting. I always tell myself I should exercice more often but I don't do it regularly enough and then I regret it when I do work out." 

I kissed his cheek before sitting back up. I caught a figure looking at us from the corner of my eyes and saw that it was Ethan. I sent a smile in his direction and mentionned him to come over. "Do you want to work out with us? Well, with me. Nazar just gave up as you can see." He smiled slightly and I could see his eyes switching between me and Nazar. "Have you ever tried to do push ups or crunches?"

He shook his head, not moving from where he was. "Ante will show you. I'm done for today." Nazar said, not making any effort to get up or move.

"Come, I will show you. It's not that hard, I promise." I said, smiling at him. I could see the struggle in his eyes between staying where he was or coming with us to try. After a minute of hesitation, he stepped into the living room and stopped a few feet away from us. I positioned myself and showed him how to do some push ups. "Your turn." I told him and I watched him get in position before reproducing what I had just done. "Looks like you have done this all your life."

He stopped after two mostly well-done push ups and gave me a small smile. I then showed him the crunches and he tried after me. I could see he was having more trouble with this one but it didn't really matter. "It's not easy." He said once he stopped.

"It's not easy for anyone except Ante. And that's because he goes to the gym almost every day." Nazar said with a slight chuckle.

Ethan smiled slightly at this but didn't answer. I really hoped things would get better between him and Nazar soon; they used to get along so well and Ethan always loved Nazar's sense of humor.