Winter Hearts

The Proposal

Siana shut the door behind her and took off all her outer layers, heading to her bathroom for another shower.

It was close to 7 now, and she knew that her dad would be hankering to catch up with her or go out for a meal together. She texted him and asked if he wanted to go out, or if he had already eaten, then dropped her phone onto the bed and peeled off all her clothes.

She jumped into the shower, ready for the hot water to heat up her body which felt cold and sticky from drying perspiration. She lathered up and washed her hair again, loving the clean feeling it gave her scalp.

What an eventful day. Playing basketball with the boys had certainly relaxed her after the initial shocking introduction she had had to them. She felt more at ease, even before the Leo accident that made it impossible for her to keep her distance or remain shy.

Because of it, she had the opportunity to show concern for Leo, whom she had decked so unceremoniously on the town council basketball court. And Hongbin... gentlemanly Hongbin had clearly attempted to smooth things over when it had looked like Leo was very put out by the whole incident.

She remembered the moment Leo had seemed to recoil from her when she tried to touch his arm out of concern, and then his subsequent effort to put her at ease and convince her that he wasn't upset.

She surmised that his initial surliness had been a very strong reaction of embarrassment rather than contempt for her clumsiness.

And that realisation made her coo over his self-conscious soul. She didn't think she could adore him more than in that instant that she realised that he was vulnerable and had his own set of fears just like everyone else.

Well, maybe when he grabbed her finger and made fun of her. She had looked into those momentarily serious eyes as they had turned naughty and curved into laugh lines when he made fun of her despair at missing their concert, and had felt something she hadn't felt ever: the urge to kill someone absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

She had tried so hard to be casual, relaxed, at ease - for his sake. She wanted him to forget what had happened on the court. She knew that moments like that could keep appearing in a self-conscious person's thoughts, bugging them and making them cringe at themselves. Distraction, relaxation and conversation was what she thought would best suit their brief time together at Miami. So she had yacked on and on in an effort to give him time to get comfortable.

And she was making such headway until he found out she knew about their concert and was going to miss it. Then he showed his evil side. His rub-it-in sense of humour. His kick-a-person-while-they-were down sensibility.

She loved it. And she gave back as good as she got.

She rinsed the shampoo from her hair and slathered on some conditioner as she tended to the rest of her body with soap. She was proud of the strength her body had. Of course, her muscles were toned from dancing, but it was her physical strength that made her happy. She felt good to be able to keep up with others better and faster than her. She felt good that her body served her well.

Her hands slowed as they reached her belly. She had considered a navel piercing but wasn't the type to show off her midriff. Although she wasn't self-conscious or prudish about showing her skin, she didn't feel the need to, and didn't want to unless it was for the benefit of a show. She told herself it was because then she had control over how people thought about her.

She laughed at herself. What did it matter anyway? She would twerk at the drop of a hat in a dance studio. That didn't leave much to the imagination. Then again, she wouldn't do it on the dance floor unless it was for laughs or for work. The kind of twerking that was for the sole purpose of attracting male attention was for other girls, with a larger sense of personal bravado, to do. Which was cool with her, but she simply didn't operate that way.