Billionaire Obsession

Chapter 8

Alessia's POV: 

I didn't want to stay home that night, it felt unsafe. My heart jumped every time I heard footsteps on the corridor. I sat on the couch after making sure-thrice-that all my windows were locked. My eyes stayed on the door as I hugged myself, the gun gripped tightly in my hands. 

I wanted to go to the police station but Nicholas' words came to my mind and he was right, they would file a restraining order against him. And that guy would just send someone else to come get me.

I didn't feel safe that night.
    I hated how I flinched whenever I heard footsteps from the corridor. I hated how my heart skipped a beat when I heard the water drip from the half-open tap. I hated how unsafe and paranoid I felt. I hated to see the black blue bruise forming on my forearm because of the intruders tight grip.
     I hated how weak I felt.

I bit my lip, a nervous habit, as I thought about what would have happened if Nicholas didn't show up.
   
I didn't want to depend on him for my safety- I wanted to feel safe without anyone. I wanted to trust myself to fight my way out of any hostage situation. I didn't want to feel like the weak girl I was fifteen years ago.

I want to be able to defend myself. I want to be able to feel safe when I sat at home alone. I did not want to have to overthink every time I heard footsteps outside my apartment.

And that's when I made up my mind, I would take self-defense classes.
        No matter how hard it is and no matter how costly it is, I was going to learn how to defend myself.

And that's how on a Sunday morning, I found myself standing in front of the Gym center called Fitness Arena situated, a few blocks from my apartment. I took in a deep breath as I stared at the advertisement stuck on the door: 

"COME TRAIN WITH US! Our services: Personal Training. Fitness Programmes. Self-defense classes. Diet guidelines. Yoga."

It had the numbers, website and email details also printed out.

This is just what I need. 

With that thought in mind, I make my way inside the building.

As I enter, I see a female receptionist talking on the phone. She has her blonde hair pinned to a bun with a black hairnet and she is dressed in a red shirt with a black blazer. Her red lipstick is prominent as I approach her.
Her face morphs into a smile as she nods at me and continues talking to the person at the other end of the line.

I smile back politely as I glance at the posters of shirtless men and woman with a physique that seemed impossible to attain.

As I looked at all the exercise routines given in a pamphlet, I realise how much I hate exercising. I rarely run, I had zero stamina. The very thought of running and burning calories through exercise made me lurch.

What am I doing here?

I'm pulled out of my cold feet thoughts when a female voice calls out, "Ma'am? Can I help you with anything?"

I look at the receptionist and clear my throat, "Uh yes."

She smiles a tight-lipped smile, and I continue, "I'd like to enroll for the self-defense classes."

She nods her head, "Will that be the group classes, or would you prefer a personal session?"

"Uh, which one is more effective?" I ask. The sooner I learn to defend myself, the better.

"It really depends ma'am." She says.

"Call me Alessia," I say as I look at her name tag that reads, Mindy.