Chapter 11 - An impressive physical transformation (Part 1)

Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.

Brynhild's P.O.V.

She could not help but think about what her younger cousin told her, and how different he seemed. She felt that something changed in him. 'He seems more... determined? Reliable, maybe?' Feeling a bit confused, she nonetheless decided to let it go. 'I'll just observe him and see if it's only a temporary change. If it's not then...'

As the bus stopped in front of her, she climbed into it before finding a seat to sit on, letting her mind wander as the vehicle drove on, its engine noise not loud enough to disturb the woman's thoughts. 

Demian's P.O.V.

As around two weeks passed, Demian started seeing impressive results from his intensive training. Especially as he received his guitar, adding guitar lessons to his already packed practice regimen. And it was not only him who was surprised at his current physical appearance.

Turning his head from the wall mirrors in the Home-gym, he noticed with some amusement the flabbergasted looks on his muscular cousin's and his beautiful mature Aunt's faces, as their gazes were directed at his shirtless upper body. "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll blush, you know?"

A discreet chuckle escaped Seraphine's mouth at his words, probably from imagining the other two's silly looks. Of course, Demian could guess that she only acted like that because she could not witness his incredible physical transformation. Being blind had its downsides. Who knew?

The noise broke the two women's stupor, the youngest returning to her usual emotionless face, however with some confusion hidden behind her stoic manner. As for Adeliya, a big smile of happiness immediately appeared on her face as she lifted her face to look at his eyes. 

Seeing her reaction warmed his heart, as he knew that she was genuinely happy for him. After all, he was clearly on the right path of self-improvement, whether mental or physical. Nonetheless, he was intrigued by the twinkle that he noticed in her eyes. 'Forget it! Let's just enjoy this happiness. I'll just deal with things as they come.' He thought with a confident smile, brought by his increased physical and mental prowess.

Unfortunately, that same confidence was 'under attack' as Bryn warned him. "I don't know how you can go from having a below-average body to having a weak athletic body, in one fu*Cough* week. But you can't let it go to your head if you want to catch up to me. You better not let up on your training, or you'll stay weak."

Although he knew that she only meant well with her advice, his ego still took a small hit, making his next retort a lot sharper than he planned. "Why do you always have to put down my efforts? I'm doing my best Bryn! And it's starting to pay off, Goddamnit! Can't you just be happy for me, for once?" 

As the final angry words left his mouth, Demian added "I'm gonna take a shower", before leaving the room in a hurry, not waiting for any response.

As he closed the door behind him, he could feel his emotions going haywire, confusing him deeply. Unknowingly reaching the upstairs bathroom, he mechanically laid down his prepared clean clothes on the side, before undressing and entering the bright industrial-themed shower. 

As soon as the running water started pouring down all over his naked body, his brain seemed to resume working. "Why am I so affected by what she said? I don't get it..." He muttered with his eyes closed, focusing half his mind on trying to unravel his confusion, while the other half was enjoying the hot water loosening up his strained muscles.

After a few minutes of pondering, a thought came to him. 'Was I so self-conscious about my body? But I was pretty chill about it in my prev... Ah!' With a wry smile appearing on his face, the solution that seemed to elude him finally surfaced, as if it was the most obvious thing. 

"It comes from this life, doesn't it?" He said in a low tone, his words muffled by the water running over his open mouth. Laughing mockingly at himself, he thought. 'I really need to accept that Demian Mikhailov is me just as much as Damian Knight. The good and the bad. It's all me.' Sighing tiredly at the awkward conversation he would need to have with Bryn about his outburst, he nonetheless found solace in the fact that it would at least clear the air between them. 

After all, it was never good to bottle up negative emotions. It could destroy a man. Or woman for that matter. He knew it for a fact as his previous life father was...

His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a few knocks on the door. "Dem, we need to talk." 

Seraphine's P.O.V.

As Seraphine heard the door close, a sigh escaped her mouth. Turning her head toward where she knew her sister was situated, she said in a matter-of-fact. "You messed up, sis." A stutter answered her. "I... I just..." The world-renowned Valkyrie, famous for her beautiful expressionless face was left speechless. The petite woman could even hear her voice cracking.

"Look sis, I know you didn't mean to hurt his feelings. You only want what's good for him." Sera said in a gentle tone, which turned firm with her next words. "But you need to understand that Demian is not as strong as you mentally. At least, not yet. He has many insecurities and forcing him will only lead to him resenting you."

Pausing for a second, she resumed with some startling words for the muscular woman, judging by her loud (for Seraphine) and messed up breathing rhythm. "And to be honest, he's been feeling that way for a long while now. It was only a matter of time before he lashed out. Although, I really thought that he would say harsher things to you. It's surprising..." She whispered the last words, with some confusion lacing her tone of voice.

The following few seconds of silence were broken by her mother as she added to her argument. "I agree with Sera. Demian is too fragile mentally, especially after what happened to us. He's still very young and we shouldn't push him to do what he doesn't want to. After all, we've got plenty of money and we're all safe and healthy. So we don't need..." 

Her daughter however cut off her ramblings with some harsh truths. "You're also wrong, Mom. He may be fragile but he's not a baby anymore. So, you should stop treating him like one." Pausing for a second, she added. "Actually, you're both right and wrong. Don't push him too much but don't baby him either. Especially, since his recent change. He needs our support."

Stopping her explanation, she could not help but feel a bit smug at how much she understood her favorite cousin. Granted, he was the only one, but still. Lost in her thoughts, it took her a second to register her mother's next words, the latter hiding some amusement behind a benign question. "Tell me Seraphine, how come you know so much about Demian? Even I did not notice all of that..."

Her words brought heat to the young woman's cheeks, pushing her thoughts into a chaotic swirl for a moment. 'Did she notice something? No way! I was very discreet... Let's just act as if I don't know what she's talking about...' She thought while reining in her 'fear' of discovery.

"I'm just a good listener, Mom. Nothing else, really." She answered, clenching her fists tightly to keep herself from blurting out a truth she would rather keep to herself. At least for the moment. "Anyway, Sis, I'll go talk to him to see if I can help fix what just happened. But you'll have to talk to him about it. Probably even apologize. Otherwise, it probably won't work." As her sister grunted in assent, the blind woman left the room quickly, not leaving any time for her mother to speak another word. 

However, the sound of chuckling betrayed the fact that her mother might not be as oblivious as she hoped about her inner thoughts. 'Forget it! I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Let's just go see if I can help out with the conflict. I don't want those two lovable idiots to be mad at each other...' She pondered as she was moving to find Demian.

As she moved upstairs, she could hear the sounds of running water, helping her deduce her cousin's current location. At the thought of her mother and sister's previous reactions to his physical transformation, images of body-builders with her cousin's face planted on their body started to appear in her mind while her hand automatically rose to knock a few times on the door. "Dem, we need to talk." Her voice sounded, distraction clear in her tone.

"Wait a sec! I'm almost done." His voice was slightly muffled by the sound of water, but she could still understand his words, as her hearing was exponentially better since the time she lost her eyesight. "Okay!" While waiting for him to finish his shower, she started daydreaming about many scenes that brought feelings of sinful excitement to her young mind. All of them 'strangely' involved her male cousin and herself, with many spicy details she would be too embarrassed to describe out loud.

Lost in her sexual fantasies, she could not help but mutter "I wish I could touch his body...", not noticing that the object of her muttering had already opened the door and was standing in front of her. At least until his voice resounded in the large corridor, his tone laced with curiosity. "Whose body are you talking about?"