𝚂𝚎𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 #1: 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡

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TAMMY:
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"Okay." I told myself.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, briefly. Smiling at the outfit I wore, it was rather simple, the way I wanted it to be. I had on a big white tee, a ragged boyfriend jeans and a pair of white shimmery sandals. Taking a last glance at my reflection, I walked away from the mirror and towards my bed where I placed some items.

I stuffed my things into my tote bag; My Gi, bottles of water, a handkerchief and a perfume can.

I hung the bag on my shoulder, shoving my phone in my pocket and walked out of my room door, down the staircase and into the living room.

It was a Friday evening, Mum and Dad hadn't come back from work yet, so Ifeoluwa and I were the only ones home, excluding some of the workers.

Ifeoluwa sat in the dining room, slowly eating his rice and stew, stopping at intervals to do a thing or two on his phone. I decided to seize that opportunity to move quietly out of the house.

I had almost gotten to the door when Ifeoluwa's voice stopped me.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

I sighed in frustration, turning around slowly to meet his gaze, a brow of his arched upwards. "To Mandel's. She's been really down lately, you know, acting unusual. I'm going to go see her."

I turned around and placed my hand on the door knob but turned again. "If Mum and Dad gets back early, just tell them I went to see Mandel, okay?"

Ifeoluwa nodded and waved. "Bye."

I walked passed the gate and out of my house, moved to a place I could get public transport and went to 'Joe's Dojo' with an Uber.

When I got there, I exchanged greetings with the Sensei Yusuf and walked into the dressing room to change into my Gi.

I walked out of the dressing room minutes later, towards the end of the wide room to begin my regular warm-ups. Sensei Yusuf didn't utter a word to me as he sat at one of the bench, tapping away on his phone.

"Otamayomi." He called. "Just fifteen minutes, remember, let me know when you're done."

I nodded. "Okay, Sensei."

I walked towards the punching bag and took a stance when I was some inches in front of it. I brought my right leg forward and took my left, back, then, brought up my both hands to my nose level, balling my hands into fists.

I glared at the punching bag for a moment and threw a hard jab at it, the force causing it to toss the opposite direction. I threw another with my left hand, tossing it again. Next, I threw two punches with my right hand, and three with my left, each punching exerting great force on the punching bag, tossing it to different directions.

I punched it one last time and took a step back, bending my upper body to a side and bringing one of the my legs up to do a side kick. Kicking the swaying punching bag forcefully. I threw another with the same leg, and two more.

Then, I lowered my leg and held the punching back in place. I took another step back, took a stance again, clenching my feet, and threw a really neat round-house kick at the punching bag, making it to toss even higher.

I did these things for the next five minutes, as sweat continued to trickle down the sides of my face and my neck.

Why Sensei Yusuf hadn't just let me do normal warm-up routines like jogging or stretching each time I came for karate lessons puzzled and annoyed me.

I paused, resting my arms on my knees as I exhaled loudly a little out of breath.

"Catch." I heard, and next, a bottled water was being thrown at me which I grabbed swiftly and gulped some of it's content happily, letting the rest seep out of its container and onto my face.