17 Trial 17: Training Commences

I woke up to gear up and have breakfast before going to training. I tried doing them as fast as I could. When I finished, I ran to the training room.

When I arrived at the training room, Dashiell is already there. He is standing by the wall with his arms crossed.

"You're late. How late did you wake up?"

"I woke up at 5:30."

"Can't you make it earlier than that?"

"I'm not that late. It's just a minute."

"That's not the point here; what I mean is, you, rushing everything to get here on time means you already spent energy without getting started with training. I wonder if you'll last long."

"Hmmph... You'll see, I can do just fine."

"Heh, is that a challenge?" smirks Dashiell.

"You bet! I may not look it, but I can assure you that I am fit!"

"We'll see about that."

Training starts with us doing the 7/11 breathing. Stretching follows. "These are so easy, I can definitely make it through," is what I told my brain.

When we're done with those, Dashiell instructs, "Run 30 laps in this room within 15 minutes."

"What?"

"I said, run 30 laps in this room within 15 minutes."

I frowned at his instruction. He must have noticed my expression so he continues, "Hey! Are you that exhausted? What, you can't move anymore? Are you really sure you're just in your twenties? It looks to me like your physiological condition is that of an old hag."

My brain is screaming with his taunting. Ugh! Did he just indirectly call me an old hag? Damn you, Dashiell, I'll prove to you that I'm fit. You just watch it! And right there, I started running.

I could barely keep up with the time limit he set. I am all sweaty with just that, but at least I made it. I guess this ends today's training.

"If you think this is the end, you're wrong. You'll have a minute to catch your breath. After that, you'll do some push-ups."

What a bummer! Cruelty down to the bone! I shouldn't have bluffed earlier. Maybe, I can still retract what I said so I can get away with this training. Right, Dashiell is a man. If I use my charms on him, he'll go easy on me. Wait, which charm of mine shall I use? Perhaps my smile? But that's too generic. Oh yes, I'll bat my eyelashes at him and then...

Dashiell's shouting pulled me out of my trance, "Hey, are you listening to me? I said your time is up. Do 10 push-ups."

"Yes, okay."

I went to a female push up position. But Dashiell rejects my action, saying, "Oops, I forgot to tell you that you have to do it like how we males do it."

He demonstrated the position to me. I tried copying him, and I was successful; however, with just that, I'm beaten.

"Don't worry there's no time limit here. You can start now."

As soon as I started doing a push-up, Dashiell speaks again, "That's not a proper push-up. It's not low enough."

"How low do you want me to get then?"

"Like this," says Dashiell who then demonstrates how it's properly done.

He did it with ease like it's nothing, but meh, he's a lad, not a lass so it's only natural for him.

"What's wrong? Is your body stiffed?"

"Of course not," said I in defense. My mind said otherwise though. Seeing his demonstration, I thought I might have my arms broken.

"Good then."

I did the push-ups the way he demonstrated. Thankfully, I succeeded in doing 10 push-ups. The result is my trembling arms. I feel as if I got electrocuted. Not to mention, it took quite a while for me to get them done. I noticed Dashiell's face turned sour as he watched me.

"As usual, you have a minute to catch your breath. We'll proceed next to sit-ups. You need 40 to pass. No time limit for this as well."

Dashiell's grip on me to keep me in the proper position is really strong. With what I did earlier, I barely have the strength to keep up and yet I decided to keep going as I don't want to lose on my bet with Dashiell. I don't have a geriatric physique!

By the time I finished, I'm really gasping for air. I rolled to my side and clutched my chest.

"Hey, are you okay?" asks Dashiell. Even though his face shows no reaction, I sense some concern laced in his voice.

"I'm okay. I just need to catch my breath."

Once my breathing became stable, I got up.

Dashiell offers me bottled water, "Here, drink up."

"Thanks."

I chugged down the drink in no time.

"So, does this end my training for the day?"

Dashiell replies with a shake of his head.

I hung my head low in disappointment.

"It's still morning time, and you're already this exhausted. This can only mean two things. One, you're unfit. Two, you're really weak," commented Dashiell while shaking his head.

I hate to admit that he's right so I kept my silence. Still, he didn't have to be so harsh.

As if reading my thoughts, Dashiell adds, "My criticisms are harsh, I know. If you don't want to hear them, get stronger. It's as simple as that."

To not further the argument, I just nodded. He's really a jerk. As a mantra, that sentence kept repeating in my head. Haha, I can't wait to get stronger so I can beat this jerk's bottom. I imagine such a scenario play in my mind.

Because I'm too absorbed with it, I didn't quite catch what Dashiell said next. The only thing I heard was we'll have a break.

"I repeat, we'll have a morning snack break. Be back earlier than 9:30. Geez, your face tells me that you were not listening back there. You look as if your soul had left your body. Pull yourself together."

"He got me again! He's so mean," is what I thought."

I left the training room for a morning snack.

Back to training, I only repeated what I did earlier. The result is the same; I'm sweaty and tired.

In the afternoon, we did some stretching again, then the 30-minute treadmill workout, lunges, squats, abdominal crunches, and bent over row. After all of those, he had me doing the same as what's done earlier; running 30 laps, the push-ups, and the sit-ups.

Lastly, we did the 7/11 breathing technique, then jumped into meditation. Dashiell informed me that the training will always end that way. He added that we will have the same routine until I manage to do them with ease. Damn it, why can't I just be like Dashiell who can those things like they are nothing. I thought he was all talk, but seeing him doing more than what I did in our session, I can really say he's strong. I wonder if I can really become strong enough to defend myself.

At dinner, mama and the others asked how was training for me. I said it's fine even though I thought otherwise. But Dashiell exposed my lie and told them that I struggled a lot so there's a lot to work on. I felt embarrassed about what he said so I excused myself so I can brush my teeth. From a distance, I heard mama telling me to come back as we still have something to talk about.

When I'm back, mama starts talking, "Alaine, we all know here that training is tough for you, but don't falter. What happened today doesn't mean you can't do it. We're all here for you."

"And if you injure yourself or anything, just go to the medical treatment room," says Dr. Al.

"Yes, if you need anything, don't hesitate to come to us. If my son mistreats you, let me know," added a chuckling Mr. Thomas.

"Dad! What does that even mean?" questions Dashiell whose ears had turned red.

Seeing him like that got me laughing as well.

Unexpectedly, Dashiell cleared his throat to gain my attention, saying, "Based on your expression a while ago, it seems like you're thinking things like 'Can I really make it?' or 'Is this even right.' Listen, it's not about whether you can make it or not, it's about your determination to hit the goal."

I nodded in acknowledgment. Dashiell is still saying something when suddenly, a headache hits me, and then, my vision went blank...

Alaine fainted. Luckily, Dashiell was quick to catch her in his arms.

"Not again!" exclaims Dashiell.

Dr. Al checked up on her which earns him a conclusion that Alaine passed out due to exhaustion and sleepiness.

"So, what now Dr. Al?" asked an annoyed Dashiell.

"What else do you think it will be?" replied Dr. Al.

"Just carry her to her room, son," suggested Thomas.

Mariangelise expressed her apology to Dashiell, "Sorry Dashiell, Alaine had always been like this since she was a child; she'd end up falling asleep unexpectedly. I'm counting on you on this."

Dashiell sighs in defeat and complied.

As Dashiell carries Alaine to her room, he mutters, "Geez, you're such a handful. After boasting that you're fit, you just fainted out of nowhere. At least, give us a warning next time."

Alaine didn't even stir when Dashiell laid her down on her bed. Not wasting his time, Dashiell exited her room to do his night business.