My One and Only Rival

Chapter 7

MONDAY

I was present in the classroom but my mind was somewhere else

The scenario from two days ago kept playing before my eyes

The bruises on Ares's body, the pain in his eyes, I couldn't get it out of my head

Rival or not, I needed to help him and I knew how so I didn't hesitate with giving him a way out

And today, is the first day of his new journey

I stayed up late last night and eventually found out that a special boxing competition will be held in a city not far from us in a little more than 2 months

The prize is 50.000 dollars

Ares didn't really entrust me how much debt he has but once I told him about the competition, he said it would be more than enough

But there was still one thing, my uncle

I talked to him about Ares on our dinner on saturday but it didn't exactly go great

SATURDAY, AT THE RESTAURANT

"so if I understand this correctly, you want me to train that boy?" my uncle asked

"yes"

"Olivia, is no good to get involved with those people"

"it's not his fault he had to resort to illegal boxing"

"are you sure he's telling the truth and not just playing some game with you Olivia?"

"uncle Sam I saw his beaten body, he's not lying"

A sceptical look remained on his face

"is he any good?"

"I don't know, but you can find out" I said, hinting to bring him into my uncle's gym

"I won't be having any illegal boxers in my gym Olivia, you know that"

"he'll quit and focus on winning only legal matches from now on"

"and you already promised to help him?"

"I did yeah"

He let out a frustrated sigh

"I can't focus all my attention on him, I've got other boys as well"

A small smile appeared on my face at the realisation he just gave in

"it's okay, I'll help him practice"

"then I'm certain he'll do good. He'll be in good hands after all"

"so does that mean we can use your gym?"

A pause followed after my question

I didn't break eye contact, patiently waiting for an answer

"bring him around on monday"

BACK TO PRESENT

It's safe to say I'm still nervous

My uncle still hasn't agreed on letting us use his gym yet

I glanced at the clock

10 minutes left of geography class

The next class is english and will also be the first class in which I'll see Ares today

I haven't seen him since saturday