Chapter 2

“Yeah! That’s my daughter. Punch! Punch!” I could hear my mom yelled enthusiastically as I threw a jab at Aaron. This was embarrassing. I felt like a kindergarten kid. Mom really didn’t have to come and watch me practice. Moreover she didn’t have to yell out like that.

“Look into my eyes and punch here!” Aaron gently swung his hands that were covered with glove wraps. I threw another punch to his hands. “Punch harder! Use your energy!” He exclaimed. I was dayum tired. I had been practicing for an hour already. I could feel sweats were flowing all over my body.

I had been learning and practicing kick boxing for a week now. Aaron was my instructor. And for a week, he was still as cold as he was on the first day.

On the first day, I almost passed out. Thanks to Aaron for torturing me on the first day. Now, I started getting use to his tortures.

“Why are you so weak? Don’t you have power?” He asked coldly. I kept throwing jabs at him. I tried to jab as hard as I could. I guess I failed. Maybe I was that weak.

“It’s enough Aaron! She’s been practicing for an hour already. She needs a break.” Master George approached us. He was standing next to mom now. Thank God, Master knew how I felt. I was physically tired.

“Okay, that’s it for today.” He said coldly. He never looked at me when he talked. I wondered why. He took off his glove wraps.

“Thank you for today.” I said as I took off the boxing gloves from my hands. I looked at him, but he turned his face away from me. He bowed to Master before he took his leave.

“Good job, honey. You did a very good job.” Mom gave a light tap on my shoulder as she flashed a smile at me.

“Mom, you didn’t have to come and watch me practice here.” I told her. Not that I didn’t want my mom to be here, it was just embarrassing to have my mom shouting so enthusiastically. I was twenty for heaven sake.

“What’s wrong with it? I just wanted to support my daughter.” Mom argued.

Master let out a sigh. “Okay. You guys can talk about that later.” He turned to me with a warm smile on his face, “Gui, can you wait a bit? I need to talk to your mom.”

I nodded. “Okay. No problem.” I said.

Mom and Master left for the office. I walked out to the yard. There was a bench in the side yard. I took a sit there. I started to fall deep in thought as I watched the kids practicing in the yard. I did not know what I was thinking. I was just blank in thought. I stared blankly into space.

“Hey, you’re the new girl.” A gentle voice interrupted me. I snapped out from my thought.

I turned to see who it was. It was a tall and handsome guy. He walked towards me.

“Uhm, you are…”

“I’m Calvin.” He said as he flashed a friendly smile at me. The next thing I knew, he was already sitting next to me.

“Oh Hi. Nice to meet you.” I smiled at him. I had never seen him before. Maybe he was a student here.

“You’re Guigui, right?” He asked. Wow he actually knew my name. Was I that famous? “I finally got a chance to meet you.”

I nodded, “Yes. How did you know my name? Are you a student here? How long have you been here?” I couldn’t help but ask.

He let out a chuckle. “Wow. Easy! You shot me with so many questions there.”

I bowed my head down, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

“Hey, it’s cool.” He cut me off. “Well… I know you because Master has been talking about you. No, I’m not a student here. And I have been here for a long time. So, did I just answer your questions?”

I lifted up my head to face him and nodded in reply. “If you’re not a student then why are you here?”

“Well...” He paused for a second. “I’m one of Master’s assistants.” He said.

“One of Master’s assistants?” I asked curiously. Just how many assistants did Master have actually? I was so curious.

“Yes. There are four of us. We were Master’s students. Four of us used to be Master’s best students when we were younger. Now, we help Master in teaching martial arts to people.” He explained. Then he continued, “There’s Jiro. He specializes in teaching Jiujitsu. Then, there’s Chun who teaches traditional weapon training. Aaron specializes in boxing and kick boxing. And there’s me who teaches Karate.”

“Oh... That’s really cool. You guys must be really good then.”

He let out a chuckle. “Are you amazed?” He asked.

“Kind of.” I replied. I scratched my head. “The four of you must be Master’s favorite.” I said.

“Well, you can put it that way.” He said. “You’re under Aaron’s training, aren’t you?”

I reluctantly nodded my head. “Yes.” Then I bowed my head down and began mumbling, “He’s very cold and mean.”

Calvin let out a chuckle. “You just don’t know him. He’s actually a very nice guy.” He said.

How could Aaron be a nice guy? He wouldn’t even look at me when he talked. He never smiled. Plus, he loved torturing people.

“You sound like you know him very well.” I said sarcastically as I lifted up my head.

“Of course, I’ve known him since forever. We grew up together.” He said. He let out a huge breath before it took him a minute to continue, “He wasn’t cold and mean when we were younger, he...” He suddenly fell silent.

I kept silent as I waited for him to finish his sentence. I travelled my eyes to his face and tried to read his expression. His face was just expressionless. I wondered why. Did something happen in the past? I cleared my throat to break the silence.

Calvin turned to me and flashed a friendly smile at me. “I’m sorry. I was running in my own thought. Where were we?” He asked.

“You were saying that Aaron wasn’t cold and mean when you were younger.” I explained. I didn’t know why I began to gain interest in his story about Aaron.