Meet up!

"Not this way, Jules." I told Jules, one of the beginners I'm training, "You gotta keep your thumb out of your fist. Otherwise it's gonna break off if you put strength in it or hit something hard." I scolded him.

He started punching his sandbag by changing his posture now, "Much better, keep on I need to see the improvement tomorrow when I see you." I told him while moving towards Chris who was busy fighting Jack.

I stood there outside the ring observing both of the guys fighting each other. Once I saw Jack throwing Chris down on the floor I clapped my hands and yelled on top of my lungs to stop them,

"Alright guys stop, and come here, Now!"

Jack helped Chris up and both of them grabbed their towels to dry out their sweats. And came to me, "Chris how long have you been practicing?" I said looking at him.

"Umm, 6 months, " he said nonchalantly. "And you Jack?" I repeated my same question, now looking at him.

"Uhh, I guess it would be somewhere around 5 or maybe 5 and a half." He said recalling.

"Alright so from what I have seen you guys doing. I guess you need to work a lot on your strength both of you. And then Jack you gotta work on your speed more." He nodded at my words thoughtfully.

"You can go now, " both of the guys started to move when I said, " Chris wait here I gotta talk to you," he looked at me quizzically. But waited for me either way.

"Chris I have seen that you have all the right calculations that's quite impressive, but you lack a lot in your strength." I said looking at his body that had a little muscles on display though not what you see on a boxer or an athlete. He followed my eyes and cleared his throat awkwardly that reminded me he must be getting wrong ideas.

But I quickly recovered my thoughts and maintained my stoic posture, and said, "I want you to do 200 push ups now and then add up in them by 100 daily. And I need to see the improvement in a month, I have heard Mr. Williams is arranging a match for beginners in a month and I wanna see change till then." I told him sternly.

"Alright," he said coldly and turned away from me.

I saw his retreating back with my mouth open, dumbfounded. "what's up with him?" I mused.

___________________________________________

I locked the doors behind me after clearing up everything. Sighing to myself I walked towards the hospital to meet my mom.

I found myself standing at the hospital's main door in 10 minutes or so. I did not even realize in my own thoughts.

I made my way towards mom's room and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I tried to prepare myself to see my bald mother with her blank eyes, that I saw the other day, those haunted me for nights.

Sighing in sorrow I opened the door slowly to see whether mom was sleeping or not. I opened the door to see my mom lying in the bed with a single streak of tears going down her left eye, with a blank expression on her face.

I felt a clog in my throat. So I cleared my throat to make my presence known to her.

I walked into the room. And put chair beside her bed.

"Hey mom!" I tried to say in a cheerful tone hoping to bring a smile on her face. "Hi baby," she said in a motherly tone that I always loved to hear from her.

She tried to sit properly on the bed, but her weak condition could not support her, so I helped her sit on bed with her back resting on the bed.

She looked at me with love filled eyes. And then she signaled to her head with a fake smiling face of hers in an attempt to make me feel okay, in an attempt to tell me that she was okay.

So I tried to play along with her, I faked a grasp and said, " Wow, mother you follow trends way more than me, you know I just saw number of girls shaving their heads yesterday on Instagram!" I said in an overly girly voice with watery eyes.

I turned my head away from her, but turned quickly towards her with a smile on my lips,

" Of course I do, " she said in a joking manner.

"Umm, should I also get a cut like that then?" I asked her thoughtfully.

She shook her head as quickly as she could in her weak health, "No baby, I love your hair." She said messaging my Brown waves, that I inherited from my father, mom had dirty blonde hair those once reached her abdomen. I remember, I used to love making different hairstyles of hair when I was young.

We would both braid our hair, and play like besties well she was and is my best friend.

I felt my eyes watering, I tried maintaining a strong posture. I tried to be strong for her

But all those memories do not allow me to.

Seeing my vulnerability, a good friend she has been she did nothing but motioned me for a hug. I broke at that I felt myself short of breath. I could feel her tears on my scalp.

I hurriedly moved back and cleared her tear, " Mom, are you feeling alright?" I inquired. She nodded her head and said in a kind tone, " Of course, baby now that you are here I'm better than ever." I smiled at her. And again hugged her weak body.

She lovingly gushed in my ear, "Everything is going to be alright," I nodded my head and added,

"You are right mom, everything is going to be alright, you will be healthy soon we will rent some house or apartment and live together again." I said reassuring both of us.

"Of course you are going to be happy soon, I hope so." She said.

We started to talk about my usual routine and her check ups for a while, when she suddenly asked, "Alicia, did you receive acceptance letters?" I looked at her and nodded my head, "Yup, I got some from nearby colleges,"

"What about Harvard?" she asked hopefully. She had practically forced me to enter there as she said and I quote, 'I want you to study in the best colleges I know you will be successful, I want you to be.'

"No mom, not yet. You know that I don't want to go. I wanna study near you, with you. " I said.

She nodded but said, "And you know my words as well," she said in a challenging voice. I sighed at that and started to change the topic again.