Detached

CHAPTER 17

*MEERA'S POINT OF VIEW*

My run started out at a gentle jog but, as usual, quickly changed into something else entirely. Running was my thing. Running made my body ache and gave me something to focus on when I was struggling to keep myself sane everyday. I gritted my teeth as my legs burned from the effort of running at a flat out sprint for over twenty minutes. I was going to have to stop soon.

Wanting to enjoy thinking about nothing other than the physical pain for a few minutes more, I cranked up the speed even faster. I was running so fast that I could barely keep up. I could only run for another couple of minutes before I started to get a little light-headed and my hands started to tingle, so I slowed it down until I could stop.

As soon as I stopped, my legs refused to support me any longer. I slumped to the floor gasping for breath as I put my head between my knees, listening to the lyrics of the Usher song I had blasting through my iPod. When the tingles had subsided from my fingers and I no longer wanted to vomit, I flopped back onto my back and closed my eyes.

Suddenly my earphones were pulled from my ears. Shocked because I hadn’t realised someone else was here, I opened my eyes to see Riyansh standing over me, frowning. “Why do you do that to yourself? Shit, Meera, I watched you run as fast as you could for fifteen minutes and you were already sprinting when I came in!” he cried incredulously.

I gritted my teeth, ignoring his obvious agitation, and pushed myself up to sitting. “Whatever,” I dismissed. “Want to show me how you keep blocking my hits all the time?”

“You want me to fight you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow in disbelief.

“I don’t want you to hit me if that’s what you’re thinking, but I actually thought I was pretty good at self-defence until I met you,” I admitted.

He shook his head. “Meera, I think you need to rest, surely you’ve done enough for today,” he countered, his expression turning hard.

I stood up; my legs wobbled and threatened to give out on me. “Riyansh, this is my routine, usually it’s a morning routine but I had somewhere to be this morning, so I’m doing it now instead. I always run then have a few minutes with the punch bag. If you want to help me then great, if you don’t then just get out and stop interrupting me before I cool down,” I growled as I pushed past him, grabbing the training gloves from the side and putting them on. I then proceeded to punch and kick the stuffing out of the punch bag.

He sighed. “I’ll show you a few things if you want. But you need to stop this. This isn’t good for you, you shouldn’t train like this. It’s crazy,” he replied sharply.

I huffed and turned around to face him. He wasn’t dressed for training; he was still wearing the jeans and T-shirt he’d worn to the lake. He took off his shoes and socks, and then his T-shirt and belt so he was just wearing his jeans.

He looked at me cockily. “Take your shoes off then, we’re only practicing, I don’t wanna get hurt.”

I smiled, knowing that he didn’t think I was going to be able to hit him. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t. I’d tried three times already and hadn’t gotten anywhere near him. I slipped off my shoes and walked over to the training mats.

I turned back to Riyansh, who was standing there looking like a cocky, arrogant Greek God. “I’m gonna attack you and I want you to fight me off. You can really hit me, it’s fine. After, I’ll tell you where you can improve, okay?” he instructed, looking like he genuinely didn’t want to do this.

I nodded and waited for him to approach. When he moved towards me, I quickly ducked out of the way, kicking my leg out towards his stomach. His hand wrapped around my ankle, holding it still as he swept my other leg out from under me. I slammed back into the padded mat with him on top of me.

“Holy shit!” I gasped, trying to get the air back into my lungs. That was freaking awesome!

“You okay?” he asked, looking a bit concerned as he hovered above me.

I nodded. “Again,” I instructed, pushing him up. He shook his head, frowning, but helped me to my feet regardless of his noticeable unwillingness to do this.

Within a minute I was on the floor again. I groaned as I rolled onto my side and pushed myself to my feet.I faced him, watching as he winced. “Again,” I barked, bringing my arms up to protect my face. He sighed heavily and moved to attack me.

After the fifth time of landing flat on my back, he pinned me to the floor, his body pressing into mine. “Enough now,” he said sternly. He wasn’t even slightly out of breath, whereas I was panting and sweating like a pig.

“No, not yet,” I whined, struggling to talk through my wheezy breath.

“That’s enough for today, Meera. I can’t do this. Look at you! If you want, I’ll teach you, but you need to slow down, you can’t keep doing this to yourself,” he protested.

“Just one more time. Please?” I begged, trying to wriggle my arms free.

“Okay, one more, if you’ll tell me why you do this to your body. Why do you train so hard?” he bargained, frowning.