Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Does it hurt?" You ask as you take her ankle into your hands as gently as you can.
"Just a little bit," Hope lied, her face hardly betraying just how much she's hurt herself.
You were training together - throwing some punches, lifting weights, anything she could help you with. You weren't sure exactly when, but it had become almost a game of tag in the basement there.
Hope had been giggling in this uncharacteristically light way, and you were beside yourself hearing something so sweet come out of her. It wasn't that she was mean to you - quite the opposite. She just seemed to always know how to be professional. Maybe she could turn that on and off better than you.
It was when she was laughing hardest that she twisted her ankle, and it was when she went to look at it that she fell down hard onto it.
You'd rushed over to help her straight away but her wincing and sharp intakes of breath frightened you. You'd never seen her so vulnerable. Of course, you'd helped her on to the weightlifting bench - the nearest place to sit where you could elevate her foot properly.
"I can't help but feel slightly responsible," You admit as you run your fingertips over the bone of her ankle and either side of it.
Hope is struggling to contain the cries of pain you're sure would come out of you if you'd fallen as harshly as she had. The way you're behaving though - the fact that you're being so careful with her - visibly moves her.
"It's not your fault," She lifts your chin with a finger. "We were just having fun."
