RUN |on hold|

Head up

chapter 15

Asterin POV

I didn't show my face for the next two days. Dramatic and childish, I know, but what could I do? I didn't know how to behave in such situations or how to deal with them at all.

And it's not as if I could just walk through the house and come crawling up to Chiara and tell her everything. No, it didn't work like that.

And that's exactly why I'd been lying in my bed for hours with an ice cream sundae and many, many warm blankets in my bed.

My hair was a disaster and don't even get me started on my face. Sighing, I put my hands over my eyes and wanted to scream.

A knock made me emerge from my self-pity.

"Come in."

As if I was moving, though the person standing outside my door might as well have opened it herself.

In walked a slightly too cheerful Chiara, a smirking Ryan and an as always bad tempered looking Matteo.

"Rise and shine. We want to go train." Chiara's cheerful voice echoed around the room and for a brief moment I had actually understood that she wanted me to participate athletically.

Flash news: that was definitely not going to happen!

With another sigh, I turned slightly away from the three of them and was about to shove another spoonful of that divine Cookie Ice cream into my mouth when a hand stopped me and snatched the spoon, as well as the cup, from my hand. I snorted indignantly and reached for the cup. But unfortunately Chiara was quicker and just shook her head in amusement.

"Give me back my ice cream, you puta."

My voice was all scratchy after a few days of not speaking and I sounded like a chain smoker. It's your own fault if you've been crying for hours, my inner voice rang.

Again I tried to get my ice cream back, but Chiara kept jumping back. Ryan seemed to find this quite funny, because his quiet laughter echoed through the room, which earned him an unamused look from Matteo and me.

As soon as my bare feet hit the floor, I hissed and wanted to get back into my bed, but a hand on my arm stopped me. I froze briefly, but then realised I was safe. Well, as safe as I could be in my position.

"You're fat enough as it is. Exercise will do you good," Matteo's voice rang out as Chiara led me to the wardrobe to put on some clothes. Apparently I was no longer able to dress myself on my own.

But Matteo's words gave me pause.

I looked down at myself with a furrowed brow and considered every bit of fat I possessed. Admittedly, my thighs were rounder and flabbier than those of models and my belly was also bigger, but so far I hadn't described myself as fat. I was just average and if that didn't suit Matteo, then he shouldn't look at me.

He was probably just jealous.

Behind me I could hear Chiara and Ryan talking to Matteo in Italian, but that didn't interest me much because I was struggling to squeeze into my sports clothes.

And after I had put everything on, I was sure I looked like a sausage. By the way, these were certainly not sports clothes but torture methods. The black joga pants hugged my legs like a second skin and were so highwaisted that they reached above my belly button. The sports bra that Chiara had pressed into my hands was squeezing the air out of me. The black shirt that covered my upper body was quite comfortable.

I staggered out of the bathroom only to find Chiara in my room.

When she saw me she grinned at me, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me energetically behind her. Down staircase after staircase we went until we finally reached the basement. Of course they had their own gym....

Grumbling, I let myself be pulled along behind her until we came to an abrupt stop.

My mood sank further when I saw who was fighting with Matteo in the ring. None other than Lorenzo fucking Rossi.

But before I could make my escape, Chiara pulled me behind her once again until we arrived at two sets of treadmills. As if I had seen a ghost, I looked at the thing while Chiara explained things to me and then started to do some warm-up exercises with me.

And if I'm honest with you, I was exhausted after that. My furthest stretch in the last few days has been to get from my bed to the bathroom....

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Half an eternity later, twenty minutes, Chiara explained to me that she was now going to start going through and practising the basics of self-defence with me.

My eyes widened, but then she explained quietly that her brother apparently wanted me to learn them. And what Lorenzo said was, of course, law.

With an annoyed roll of my eyes, I followed her onto the mats. And then, with a low grunt, dropped down onto them.

An unimpressed Chiara stood over me for a moment and stared down at me.

Grumbling and groaning, I stood up and knocked the non-existent dust off my clothes.

With a lot of persuasion tactics, Chiara finally persuaded, forced, me to go through the exercises, strokes and God what with her.

Unfortunately, in this case, I seemed to have as little talent as a penguin could fly, which is why after another half hour I was lying on the mats drenched in sweat and reconsidered all my life choices.

Chiara muttered something to herself and folded her hands over her head. She was probably praying. I wouldn't blame her, I was a sucker for martial arts like that.

And just when I thought I was finally at peace, Lorenzo's voice pierced the relaxed mood.

"Get your ass up, Asterin. Let me show you how it's done."

And thus my worst nightmares came true....

A new Update, Lovelies. And if I'm being honest I didn't  know what to write...

But thank you soooooo much for all of these reads. It is amazing, thank you <3