𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

The Wedding Bells A-ringin'.

𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐨

"Now Andrès, when you're blocking an attack it's important to protect your head and vital organs. These are the places where a person can inflict the most damage," I explained. "If a person hits your temples you can black out instantly. The same for the back of your head. To prevent someone from hitting your head you place your arms in front of you. Like this."

I paused to demonstrate the action so he could see. "The next place to protect is your midsection where your stomach, kidneys, liver, spleen and pancreas is. Blunt trauma to the abdomen such as kicks, punches and assault with weapons may cause internal bleeding. And that can be fatal."

Andrès nodded understandingly and picked up his water to take a sip. For the past two hours I've been training him he's been very attentive and observant. So far I taught him how to block attacks and ways to protect himself while fighting. Now it was time to put what he learnt into practice.

Taking on a stance I motioned for him to come at me and he did so unhesitatingly. Like his sister when I first started training her he fell flat on his back on the first try. Undeterred by the setback he pushed on, landing blow after blow while keeping his form. After a couple tries he managed to land a successful hit to my chest, briefly throwing me off balance.

"Very good. You're a fast learner," I commended. "Let's stop here for today. Now here's what I want you to do. Everyday after you're finished studying I want you to come to the gym and workout for an hour. Use the treadmill, lift weights and practice doing sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. This will help build stamina and muscle mass. And be sure warm up before every workout. Otherwise you can pull a muscle, tear a ligament or a hamstring."

"Okay," he said as he picked up his water bottle and followed me out of the gym. "Thanks for the lesson Valentino."
"Anytime," I said as I ruffled his hair and walked out of the gym with him falling into step behind me. Removing the towel from around my neck I headed to my room to take a shower.

The water was cold when I stepped under and the slight ache that was developing in my neck seemed to disappear almost instantly. After five minutes of letting the water beat down on my brains I began to actually shower, even taking an extra minute or two to wash my hair. Once finished I wrapped my towel around myself and stepped out of the bathroom.

When I entered the bedroom I saw Jasmine lying on the bed, reading a book while eating some grapes. When she saw me standing there she smiled and set the book down. "How did it go?"
"Better than I expected," I said as I walked across the room to the walk-in closet to take out my clothes. "I taught him the basics, let him have a little sparring match with me and told him to start exercising for an hour a day in the gym."

Changing into a pair of jeans and a turtleneck sweater I walked out of the closet while drying my hair with a towel. "It'll be a good thing if your mother agrees to let him attend Richard's academy. There he can live up to his potential. He can learn new skills, train and hone his abilities."

Jasmine crawled to the edge of the bed where I sat to take over the task of drying my hair. "I think the same. Hopefully Mom will too. It'll probably be easier to convince her if she sees the academy for herself. She'll be more at ease if she knows Andrès will be safe and happy there."

When she finished drying my hair she got up to drop the towel in the laundry basket. Leaning back against the pillows I opened up my arms for her to lie with me. She did so all too willingly and snuggled up next to me with the book in her hands; Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

"I simply love Jane Austen's works. She's one of my favorite female authors," she said as she opened the book to chapter three. "I also love Charlotte Brontë. Her book Jane Eyre is another favorite of mine. I especially loved the movie."