20 Alexa and Aleksander (Part 4)

(Alexa's POV)

At first when I was following Aleksander's directions, I thought we were going back to the house, but no. We took a couple of detours and he showed some hotspots around. He even started to teach me some Japanese words on the way. It was nice and I actually surprisingly had fun.

Once we got to the house, I parked the bike up front and hopped off. I took off my helmet and had the biggest smile on my face. "Oh my God that was amazing." I said with so much happiness in my heart. I heard Aleksander laugh a little as he got off the bike and took off his helmet. He set the helmet down and looked towards. "Oh my dear the night is not over yet." he said as he walked over and took my helmet. I gave him a confused look and asked "What do you mean?".

He placed the helmet on the bike and stood in front of me. "I have another surprise, but I need you to close you eyes." he said. I was taken back slightly and felt uneasy. I raised my eyebrow at him. "Don't worry I'm not going to do anything to you. I promise." he then said sensing my uneasiness.

I looked into his eyes and tried to see he if was lying. He looked back at me with a calm look and it looked like he was telling the truth. I took a deep breath and trusted him. I closed my eyes and he put his hands on my shoulder and turned me around. He held my hands and he pulled me with him and we walked for a little bit.

We took a couple of turns and then we stopped. Then he let me go. I took another deep breath and after a couple of minutes, he told me to open my eyes. I slowly opened them and waited until they adjusted. What I saw made me go into shock. We were in the backyard of the mansion and in the yard was a couple of archery target stands and there he was holding a compound bow and a tub of arrows.

I know you probably think I'm being weird about this, but I have been wanting to learn archery for like ever because I had been given a demon compound bow and arrows straight from hell from my uncle. I haven't been able to do it because no one was never able to teach me. I only talked about it once but he remembered. I couldn't help but smile at the man in front of me.

He walked to me with a smile on his face and asked "Ready for your lesson?". I chuckled at him. "How did you do this?" I asked and he replied as he gave me the bow and arrows "I have a very good memory.". I took the stuff in my hand and he guided me to a spot where I can shoot the arrows from. He took the bucket of arrows from my hand and set it down on the ground. Then he attached an armguard to my forearm.

"Okay first things first when you are going to shoot you have to assume a relaxed stance. Stand with your shoulders perpendicular to your target with your feet shoulder-width apart. From here, you've got two options on how to place your feet. If you're just starting out, a squared stance — in which both your feet are parallel to the shooting line — is the way to go, as it will ensure that you consistently set up in the same way."

I did as he said and turned so my shoulders are perpendicular to my target and stood shoulder width apart into a squared stance. It felt somewhat natural. "Good, now after some practice you could soon change into an open stance, but for now we are going with the basics." he said. I nodded in response.

"Next you are going to take this arrow and nock it. Place the arrow shaft on the arrow rest of your bow. Attach the arrow's nock — the plastic, grooved part at the arrow's end — to the bow string." he said as he handed me one of the arrows and I did as he was told. "Like this?" I asked and he nodded.

"Next we have to work on your grip. Place the bow in your non-dominant hand. You want the grip of the bow to rest right on the pad of your thumb. This placement will ensure that you don't squeeze the bow too tightly, which would cause it to torque inwards, throwing off accuracy, and would also place your forearm in-line with the string; if you're not wearing an armguard, it's going to hurt when you release it."

"A good cue to know if your grip is right is to check to see if your knuckles create a 45-degree angle to the bow grip. If your hand is in that position, you likely have the bow placed on the pad of your thumb.Squeeze the grip like you're shaking a hand. Not too hard and not too lightly."

I placed the bow in my left hand and squeezed the grip like he said, not too lightly and not too hard. "Is this right?" I asked and he looked at how I gripping the bow. He nodded and said "Yup exactly right. Does this feel like it's natural to you?". I nodded in response and replied "Surprisingly it does."

This went on for a while. He would give me instructions and I would follow. I was learning a lot from him. Soon it was time for me to start shooting. "Okay I think you are ready." he said and he moved to the side. I stood in my stance, making sure I'm getting everything right and attached the arrow to the bow. I drew back the string of the bow until it touches a certain part of my nose just like Aleksander said.

"Wait stay like that." he said suddenly and I froze. He came up behind me and whispered into my ear "Drop your elbow a little and you need to relax your back muscles. Your back muscles are tensing up. Close eyes, take a deep, relax, look at your target, concentrate on yourself more than your target and then take your shot. Remember wu-wei — try not to try. The harder you try, the more elusive your target becomes. You can do it.".

I swallowed a lump in my throat and concentrated on the bow in my hand and not on how close he was to me. "O-okay" I answered softly. He backed away and I realized I was holding my breath a little. I closed my eyes and did what was told like a good student. I lowered my elbow slightly, took deep breath and I felt myself relax. I opened my eyes and looked at my target. Then I let my held breath release as I let the bowstring go and the arrow started to fly through the air.

After I let the bowstring go, I drew my hand backwards until it reached the bottom of your ears just like Aleksander taught me.

I heard my arrow hit something and I looked at the target. I went into shock. The arrow had hit the center of the target. No fucking way. I really just did that. Aleksander came in front of me with a big smile on his face. "I told you could do it." he said as he put his hand on my shoulder. I snapped out of my state of shock and saw the smile on his face.

I don't know what came over me but in the next second, I found myself hugging him. He was surprised at first but then I felt his arms wrap around me and I was engulfed in his warmth. "Thank you." I said and I could feel his chest moving as he chuckled a little. "We still have to keep practicing but don't worry. Just keep on going." I nodded and we parted. He handed me another arrow from the bucket and he said "again".

We continued on for a long time. He would pass me a arrow and I would shoot it at the targets. With Aleksander's help, I was able to hit the targets everytime. This made me so happy. I couldn't even believe it.

Soon we stopped when my arm started to hurt and Aleksander took the bow from and handed it off to one of the servants. "Let's go. It's getting late and you have to wake up early to go back home." he said and I could sense the disappointment a little but he still managed to have a smile on his face. He held my hand and we walked into the house and up the stairs. Then we reached my room.

We stopped at my door and I faced him. Looking at his face right now and how this date went, I made my decision. "Thank you for today. I surprisingly had a great time." I said as I let go of his hand. He chuckled a little and asked "So I'm assuming that there will be more dates in the future?".

I bit my inner cheek and smiled at him a little. I stood up higher slightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He was somewhat shocked and I replied to his question "If it's as good as the date we just had then definitely.". I left him with that and walked into my room and closed the door behind. That night I went to sleep with the biggest smile on my face.