Life

It had been three month since the fight with Beiber. Guang Chong had gotten Johan his own small private apartment, given him a weekly stipend and seemed more pleased with Johan than ever. It left Johan a bit afraid of Guang Chong, considering how he ignored him prior to seeing Johan bite off Beiber's ear in the heat of the moment. Guang Chong's jolly cackle sent chills down Johan's spine. The arrangement he had with Guang Chong was for him to win an organised fight against other gyms each month, and he would no longer have to clean the gym, could focus purely on training, and would get perks. Johan had delivered with flying colors.

Johan's apartment was sparse of unnecessary things. He had a single family sofa in his living room, a living room table and a television. His bedroom had only a yoga mat that he slept on, his weights and a walk in closet for his clothes. His kitchen had a microwave, fridge and stove and a few dinner utensils.

Johan was training harder than ever and Tommy had lent him configurable gravity weights to aid in Johan's strength building. Johan's body had gotten significantly stronger and leaner. Johan was driven by his experience fighting with Bieber. He realised that while he was training, his opponents were also training to get stronger. So Johan put in more time than most training as hard as he could and recovered exponentially faster because of the labyrinth food. So he was improving rapidly as the techniques were becoming second nature to him and his memories of training and battles from his future self organized themselves in his mind into useful information.

Every morning Johan would do a minimum of 500 push ups, 500 jump squats and 500 sit ups. He would shadow fight for an hour, and became so proficient at it, he literally saw and felt his imagined opponents and their strikes. Then he would eat and head out to the gyms to train.

Johan took time to travel back to the Labyrinth and grabbed more labyrinth food to supplement and aid his training efforts. He was able to get there much faster than before because of his aggressive, intelligent and regimental training.

Rumors started being circulated by gym mates jealous of Johan's special treatment and those who lost money betting on Ivan during his fight. They would say how Johan was crazy and that he was seeing a shrink, he and Guang Chong had a sexual arrangment or he was taking drugs. Gracie had stopped talking to Johan since he'd bit off Beiber's ear which made Johan feel terrible. But despite this, Johan didn't let it distract him from his current goals:

1) Win the tournament

2) Get accepted into a sect

3) Get stronger using the resources of that sect

4) Defeat Armyka.

5) Defeat the monster from his alternate timelines memories

Johan had just finished doing his morning exercises when he heard a knock on his apartment door. Opening the door he saw the Luisa standing outside door looking perfect wearing a black leather jacket, her signature black hat, and black leather pants. She was carrying a bag of Chinese take out food. She came in hugged and kissed Johan.

"Hey," Luisa said, "Date day, remember? I got some Chinese takeout for breakfast."

Johan had been dating Luisa for three months and they were hitting it off. He took a day off training every week just to spend it with her.

She closed the door behind her and walked to Johan's sofa sat down and started to arrange the food on the table in front of her.

"Come sit and eat," said Luisa, "tell me a story about something. Avoid telling me about Armyka, because whenever you talk about her, you get grumpy for the rest of the day."

Johan smiled and sat down next to Luisa. She took out two plastic plates and bottled drinks from her bag and started to distribute food from the containers she had.

"Well," said Johan, "I'll tell you the story of girl."

"OOOhhhhh," said Luisa, "a girl you dated before me?"

Johan winked at Luisa and said, "One day I was going to meet my friends at a restaurant ... and I walk in to see this beautiful, stunning Italian girl, she was wearing blue ripped jeans, a black hat and white tan top that day. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She made the room more bright. It was as if God had paid extra attention when creating her. She was a masterpiece."

Luisa smiled as she placed a hand tenderly on Johan's lap.

"At that moment," said Johan, "I knew she was the one for me. My heart had stopped beating mid-beat, and the world seemed more colorful. I knew that I'd do anything to make this girl happy. I felt like I was seeing colors in a world without them for the first time. When she smiled, everyone would stop and stare without realising it because she was so beautiful. She was perfect in every way. I knew that she was the first and last girl I'll ever date."

"I'm the first girl you ever dated?," said Luisa, "awwww ... Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Because," said Johan, "I wasn't sure if you liked me. I felt like you had been pressured to go out with me. I figured that if you made the effort, and it was mutual, we had something. Now I am sure."

"Lets eat," said Luisa handing the plate to Johan.

Johan smiled as he took the plate from Luisa.

They finished eating in silence and Johan could tell something was on Luisa's mind as she often glanced at him with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Johan," said Luisa, "do you have to continue fighting? Can't you just let go and forget what Armyka did to you and let bygones be bygones? We can settle down. Get married. I'll help you get a job. I really like you, but I don't want to see you get hurt."

Johan had known from Gracie that Luisa was bothered by fighters. He knew this even before they started dating.

"Luisa," said Johan, "let me ask you something. If you'd been imprisoned for ten years, without good reason. Would you be able to let it go? If a woman, on a whim, killed your family, took everything you knew away from you, and laughed while doing it and then imprisoned you. Me and Neil were sleeping on rock ledges, no beds, and eating wall fungus. Could you forget that? She must be held accountable."

"I understand," said Luisa, "but for me, try. Think about things from my perspective."

"Do you want to break up with me?," asked Johan.

Deep down, Johan realised that his anger at Armyka had become a part of him. It was what drove him to become stronger. His desire to kill her was why he trained so hard. It wasn't the monster from his visions. It wasn't a simple desire to win or test himself. Underneath it all was his inability to forgive. Even if resetting the timeline was possible, Armyka's actions were unforgivable.

"Lets not talk about this for now," said Luisa, "I can see that you are getting upset. I want you to meet my parents."

"On such short notice?," asked Johan.

"Why not?," said Luisa nudging Johan's shoulder with hers playfully, "We've been dating three months. Or are you scared of being judged by them, you baby?"

"Me?," said Johan, "afraid of your frail Italian pizza parents? They should be afraid of me."

Luisa laughed and said, "alright, lets go check out some salsa classes today, after that we'll go and meet them. They are usually nice."

-- Ø --

"Cha Chaaaa Cha Cha Cha!"

Luisa hummed while hip bumping Johan.

"Common babe," said Luisa, "show what you showed me in dance class. Those sexy, masculine moves."

They had just gotten off the elevator to Luisa's parents place.

Johan looked around carefully to make sure no one was around to see, and then pulled Luisa close to him, spun her around and performed a salsa back step while holding Luisa's hip bringing her along.

"Cha cha cha bu bump de cha cha cha!," hummed Johan.

"Haha!," laughed Luisa, "that was fun. We should go dancing again."

"Totally," said Johan.

"LUISA!," boomed a voice, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT BOY!? SUCH VULGAR DISGRACEFUL MOVEMENT!"

Johan looked around and didn't see anyone. He spread his perception and sensed a man staring through a peep hole at the end of the hall.

"IT IS SALSA DANCING PAPA!," yelled Luisa, "AND THIS IS MY BOYFRIEND! BE NICE!"

"YOUR DATING A NON-ITALIAN?," yelled Luisa's father.

"Sir," said Johan, "why don't you and your wife put on some clothes and we can get to know each other. We brought you and you wife some pasta. Your neighbors are being disturbed."

"Put on some clothes?," whispered Luisa looking up at Johan curiously.

There were many things Johan hadn't told Luisa about. His ability to see without using his eyes, the Labyrinth and how he planned to kill Armyka were just three of them.

Johan sensed Luisa's father's body temperature rise in embarrassment.

"I NOT NAKED!," Luisa's father yelled.

Johan sensed Luisa father and mother hurrying to put on some clothes.

"I'm so sorry about this," said Luisa, "they are old fashioned. They tend to be critical of guys I date."

"It is fine," said Johan smiling, "I've been dealing with people like this all my life. My father used to say: 'conflict builds character and respect if handled right.' Lets go meet your parents."

"Your father seems more sane than mine," said Luisa with a laugh, "but you'll love my parents once you get to know them. They are lovely people."

Luisa grabbed Johan's hand and they walked towards her parent's apartment.