Trial 18: Progress Report

My training carried on. Each day, Dashiell modifies a bit of the routine in my training; sometimes adding a new type of exercise and removing one particular exercise. Regardless, every day was a tough battle for me. Me, suddenly falling asleep a few minutes after dinner is the evidence. It sucks that I have no idea whether I'm able to brush my teeth before I fall asleep or not. It's a good thing, I manage to drink water before I do though, plus I also brush my teeth during my afternoon break so I guess I'm still safe from oral health issues. I said still, meaning, it's only for this moment so I'm unsure if I won't encounter any in the future. Oh and by the way, Dashiell would tell me every day about me falling asleep before we start training, and I memorized each word he says. "You fell asleep again last night. Can't you at least wait until you get back to your bedroom?" is what he tells me. I understand his point, but I really couldn't help it. I mean, if there's anything I could do about it, I definitely wouldn't do that again. I've never had a strong athletic background in the first place because I mainly dedicated my free hours to playing the piano. The PE classes aren't enough to reach an athlete's level of power, agility, endurance, etc. I wonder how Dashiell reached this level of fitness; he must have been an athlete before.

Anyway, today is the first day of the fourth week of my training and I hope I won't suddenly fall asleep after dinner. I wonder what we will do this time. There are ropes tied on the ceiling, a pull-up bar, and a punching bag. There are foams below the ropes and the pull-up bar. I have a bad feeling about this. I feel like crying already.

Dashiell greeted me with a good morning which I returned. And just as I thought today's training is harder. Dashiell said that the ropes are for me to climb up to. I will have to climb up the top of those 5 ropes using solely my upper body strength. On the pull-up bar, I have to practice hanging so that I can do pull-ups. Lastly, the punching bag is for me to punch as many times as I can within timed intervals. Luckily, Dashiell said that the exercises involving the rope and the bar will only be done twice this week. He said I'll only do the ropes and bar routine once next week if there's at least a slight improvement in my speed when climbing the top of the rope, and if I achieve 5-9 pull-ups within this week. After using those apparatuses, we will do the same stuff we did for the past three weeks. Okay, this is going to be tough, but I'll do it! As much as I hate this training, this is for my benefit.

Surprisingly, I did okay in these apparatuses. I even managed to do 4 pull-ups on the pull-up bar. I'm only one pull-up away from a satisfactory result. For the very first time, Dashiell said I did a good job. We then took a short break.

When we returned, we did the same exercises we had for the past three weeks as he mentioned. We took breaks as necessary as usual.

At the end of the day, I felt tired, but not at the same level of tiredness I felt the previous weeks. I'm relieved that up to this point, I never incurred any serious injury from this training and I hope it will continue this way until I complete this. Right now, I'm walking my way to the living room. Dashiell is walking just ahead of me.

"Hey, Alaine! Are you okay, there?" inquired Dashiell who looks back at me.

"I'm okay," I responded.

"Good then, see you at the dining area later."

"Okay, see you, Dashiell."

Dashiell, for some reason I don't know, would always rush out of the training room when training's over. He returns at dinner time. When dinner time's over, I don't know what he gets himself into, but it sounds to me like he still has some business going on. I'm sort of curious about it, but I can't bother asking him because he might get the wrong idea or I might piss him off. I sigh at the matter. In a few steps, I reached the living room. Mr. Thomas and Dr. Al are seated on the sofa, looking like they're discussing something. I greeted them, and I caught their attention. The two of them greeted me back.

"Where's Dashiell?" asked Dr. Al.

"I don't know. He left ahead of me and he seemed to be in a rush," was my answer.

"I see. I guess he went to that place again, don't you think so, Thomas?"

Mr. Thomas sighs before answering, "My son has always been dedicated to that being. I never thought there's someone he'll fall in love with since his change of behavior."

What I heard from Mr. Thomas and Dr. Al made me doubt my hearing ability. I asked myself if I heard it right, 'Dashiell fell in love with someone!' I must have been making a weird face as Dr. Al calls me out, "What's wrong, Alaine? You seem to not believe what you heard about Dashiell being in love with someone."

I tried to wave it off by smiling and saying that it's not the case, but he knows better. I sigh in defeat and told them the truth that I was indeed shocked by what I heard.

To my surprise, Dr. Al and Mr. Thomas start laughing. I asked why they are laughing.

Mr. Thomas was the first to recover from his laughter, "Don't worry about it, Alaine. I understand why you reacted that way. It's not like my son to fall in love because of his mannerisms, but my son did and he's very caring."

Dr. Al seconded, "You heard him right, Alaine. Dashiell is quite caring for those who have a special place in his heart."

I nodded and said, "I see." Deep inside, for an inexplicable reason, I felt some sort of sorrow. I quickly brushed it off to avoid awkwardness.

Mr. Thomas clears his throat, and suggests, "Alaine, you should talk to my son more often. He might tell you about what we just talked about."

Dr. Al nods, "Yes, Alaine, you should do that."

I inquired why. I got an answer from Dr. Al who said, "Just give our suggestion a try and you'll know."

Dinner time came, and Mr. Thomas's suggestion didn't leave my mind. The whole time that we are eating, I couldn't look straight into Dashiell's eyes, or rather I don't want to look. After I heard about him being in love with someone, there's this weird sensation in my chest. Wanting to get that sensation off of me, I ate the rest of my food in haste. When I finished, I went straight to my bedroom. It feels good that I didn't fall asleep straight after dinner. I guess this is something I should be proud of. Maybe, this is a sign that I got stronger. Yahoo, my efforts didn't go for naught! Finally, I can do my nightly beauty regimen. I step into the restroom that's connected to my bedroom. I started to run the water on the tub. As I wait for it to get filled up, I went on to brush my teeth. Finishing brushing, I decided to wash my hands thoroughly, but to my horror, I saw something unpleasant, resulting in me, screaming out. I exited the bathroom and returned to my bedroom.

In a jiffy, Dashiell entered the scene, then asked me, "Hey! What the hell is going on?"