Forever Enigmatic

Chapter 8

AFTER A WEEK OF working out with Kyle, as a friend and not as a trainer, Sierra was walking on air, for a little while. Then she'd go home and get hit by a wave of anxiety, but that wasn't the point. Now she barely had time to think at home because she was working nonstop from morning to night, and she released her tensions at the gym until almost midnight. Slowly, but surely, she was raising money, but it was yet to be reflected in her bank account.

However, that wasn't the best part. No, cracking Kyle Oshiro was.

Every time she laid down at one of the mats to warm up, he came in and joined her. He greeted her as he walked in, and sometimes they'd share lots of moments cracking jokes and slipping into sarcasm. Then he'd go quiet and work out beside her without a glance her way.

He was odd that way.

She wondered what went through his mind. Sometimes she thought he was thinking of a strategy to work out the best. He was a trainer after all. But there were times when she thought maybe he was part of a secret mafia where he was trying to lay low for a while and was planning his future escapade away to a new city with a new name, and it all tied up to why he was so ruthless and cold to begin with.

She wanted to know why he was so distant, but she knew better than to intrude into his personal space. There were times where she did that herself because she needed to get out of her own head before going back into the real world. It was hard when the rabbit hole was deeper than expected and she'd be lost too long that it clashed with her life. And if someone were to come to let her know she was going in the wrong direction, she'd get too frustrated and get lost even more. She didn't want to cause that same frustration on Kyle.

That was why she opted to stay quiet that evening as they both worked out side by side. He was immersed in his weight lifting, panting and sweating, and never made eye contact with her since he got there. She tried not to mind, she didn't need another reason to stress herself out, and followed his lead. She lifted weights as best as she could, feeling the burn in her arms, going up and down.

She closed her eyes, focusing her full attention on the pain. She continued lifting the weights in a repeated motion. Her arms were growing heavy as the minutes passed, but she didn't stop. It was becoming excruciating, and that excited her. Her mind only noticed the pain. It was so relieving.

"Are you trying to rip your arms off?" Kyle asked, right behind her.

She dropped the weights and yelped. He chuckled as she covered her mouth, eyes wide. He picked up the weights, putting them back on the rack, and didn't bother to ask if she was done, but she was too shocked to fight him.

"What if I dropped those on my feet?" She crossed her arms.

"I'd take you to the hospital."

"Do you have any idea how much that would cost me?" She retorted. Her chest heaved as her imaginary scenario played out in her head. If she had injured herself enough to need to go to the emergency room, she expected thousands of dollars down the drain because of something that could've been avoided. She thanked God above that nothing happened in reality.

Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You were gonna end up in the hospital if you continued lifting those weights anyway. I did you a favor."

"You don't know that."

"I saw your arms trembling for ten minutes. You had enough, but you kept going. That's a good way to get an injury, even more so when your weakest point are your arms. Plus, something tells me you need your arms to be a barista."

She pouted knowing he was right. The next day was going to be hell on Earth serving all those drinks, picking up the blender many times, and even unloading the boxes. She could have made things worse on herself without noticing.