The Russian Selection

Chapter 3

It has been two months since the Selection has started. Everyday seems like the same; wake up, breakfast, lesson with Kirova, lunch, sit around in Belikova Room, dinner, someone has a date with Dimitri, bedtime. Then it starts all over again.

Everyday though, I have been able to spend a few minutes with Dimitri. We have been on four "dates" but we just walked around the gardens and talked. Sometime he will come up to my room after dinner to talk or we will chat in between the days. Right after my first date, Gwendolyn, Arianna and Tasha were also able to score dates. Tasha couldn't stop bragging about it for days. Finally, after taking so much, I had to remind her that she was fourth to get a date so the three of us were more important to Dimitri. That shut her up for awhile, but earned me death glares from other girls.

The stress of being here, trying to compete for a guy, and being away from home has gotten too much at times. After exploring, I was happy to find a huge workout gym with state of the art equipment as well as a mini track. So every morning I made Mia wake me up earlier then the other girls so I could go down and workout.

Back in Turkey, Baba created a huge gym for us to workout in with our trainers who were also bodyguards. He said that we could never be too protected and being able to protect ourselves was a good skill. Plus, being able to wear shorts, a t-shirt, sports bra, and running shoes felt like heaven. I hated wearing dresses and fancy shoes all the time.

After running several laps and lifting weights, I was finishing my workout by stretching when I heard the door open. I was confused because normally it is me in here, no one ever came in except Mason who works out with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today though I got here later then I normally do because I just didn't want to get out of bed. However, to my surprise, I saw Dimitri standing there in just shorts and a bare chest since he just took off his shirt.

I quickly stood up and I couldn't help but stare at him. He was gorgeous; he had a nice 6-pack and his muscles were well defined. Such a hot God. While I was staring at him, he was staring at me running his eyes up and down my body. Sweat glistening off my skin and instead of t-shirt, I wore just a tank top that showed off all of my curves.

I felt myself starting to blush under his gaze, so of course I ruined the moment. "See something you like Comrade?" I asked confidently. When I said that though, it broke his trance and he quickly put his shirt on much to my disappointment.

"This is my gym." He said putting up his mask again. I started thinking of it like a guardian mask, like he was guarding his emotions.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was using it." I said quickly gathering my stuff. "I came across it awhile ago and it helped me relieve-" I was mumbling this all out as I tried to get out of there quickly as I felt suddenly embarrassed.

However, as I was walking past him, he reached out and grabbed onto my arm. "I didn't say you had to leave Roza." There it was again, Roza. I loved it when he said my name like this. "No one uses this gym except for a few of my friends. I was just shocked to see a Princess in here."

For some reason, that just made me angry causing me to drop my stuff. "You know what Dimitri," I said feeling myself seething, almost as if darkness was consuming me. "Just because I am a Princess, does not mean I have to be weak. Unlike almost every Princess in this world, I actually like to do something for myself. So stop thinking of me like every single other girl here. I am different from them." Then I just stormed out without looking back.

I know that I wasn't just angry with him for saying that. I was angry at so many things. I was angry for having to be in a Selection, angry at my parents for agreeing to this and not fighting for a marriage for me, angry at my past, angry that I was starting to have deep feelings for Dimitri but I have to share him with the other girls.