They entered the gym before one's time, but some people were already dressed. They chatted happily and waited for the rest to arrive.
After quickly greeting everyone and presenting guests, Nick went with Jo to the corner where he set her tripod. Soon another guy joined them with a camera also.
Elen was happy that she could watch the show and didn’t have to assist Jo. Being by her side, when she was taking photos was a nightmare. If she could skip it, that meant a real stroke of luck.
Mike sat in the corner on the bench and made himself comfortable. That was a good spot because he could observe both duels and Jo.
As soon as Matthew saw the distinctive kendogu used in kendo fencing, he got very emotional.
Mike was silent about the insult. He was no compulsive gambler, but he believed in his friend's skills.Elen watched the training but had no clue what was going on. She was bored, and was waiting for the end of it, checking her watch every now and then.All she could see was a bunch of disguised figures hitting each other with bamboo sticks.“Do you know what it is all about, Mike?” She asked just to fill the boredom, not from curiosity.“The goal of the fight is to hit the opponent in one of the places provided for by the regulations.” Mike explained, looking seriously at her.He wondered if she was interested in the martial art or was just looking for any conversation.
Jo knew that there would be a real storm in a few minutes. This time she wasn’t counting on any miracle. She was blown away, and it was only a matter of time.“Good evening, kids. Sorry for being late.” A familiar voice broke her out of her thoughts.When she looked in the direction from which that voice came, she was exceedingly happy. She was saved, she thought.At the entrance of the gym, appeared a very tall, well built man. He had a storm of grey hair on his head. Despite his old age, he looked very handsome; there was no wrinkle on his face. The only thing that could tell about his date of birth were his grey hair.The visitor was wearing dark green pants and a khaki shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows revealing the beautifully carved m
Jo and Matthew had trouble finding some empty chairs. They were late, so nobody expected them to come.Seeing this, without making unnecessary noise, Nick got up and went out. After a while, he returned with two chairs that he quickly tucked between his and Patrick's.The participants of the session were perplexed by the confusion that had arisen, but waited in silence for everyone to sit comfortably."We have to talk." Patrick whispered in Jo's ear as she finally sat down.“Sure, Pat." She patted him on the shoulder with her orthosis.“Damn! It hurts, girl.” He hissed.“Children, can we continue?” Mr. Kelly spoke, amused by the view he was witnessing
“My head is going to explode!” Matthew complained. He was not the type to grumble, but the whole day was full of total misunderstandings. Even the toughest guy would go mad and his patience was already badly damaged in dealing with two injured friends. “What the fuck was that stupid session?” He questioned Nick. “That should be our lecture about the psychological aspects of negotiating with emotionally unstable individuals, I mean potential suicides.” Nick played idiot. He had a headache himself too. “That was dud!” Matthew criticized openly. “I didn’t expect such a brain drain to be performed by this legendary man.” “Yeah… so much crap.” Nick admitted. “I noticed a strange familiarity between Mr. Kelly and Jo’s fr
In the morning Matthew and Mike decided to go out to buy some fruits and vegetables, instead of shopping online.She supposed they just wanted to talk without any onlooker, somewhere away from her or any witnesses. It was fine with her.Jo was happy that she finally had a moment of peace away from those two. As soon as she heard the door close, she ran to the kitchen. She could safely drink and eat whatever she wanted.She made a strong coffee and looked for any snacks temporarily forbidden by Mike. She was over the moon when she found a bag of meringues and a big box of macarons.‘So much sugar!’ She thought, looking at the colourful sweets. ‘I had no junk food for the past few days, so I can be excused.’ She justified herself promptly.
When Mike and Matthew entered Jo’s apartment, they heard a few people singing. The sounds were coming from the kitchen. It seemed like she had a great time without them.“I’m looking for love all around me; Looking for love to surround me. The love that I need; To rescue the state of my heart.”“Definitely someone has a better voice than me.” Matthew summed up honestly. He dwelled upon who that voice belonged to. He had no doubt that its owner had taken voice lessons from a real professional.Even Jo was really great in that song.“I agree with your statement.” Mike said, putting a few bags on the floor in the corridor.He
The scenes Matthew had just witnessed didn’t move him at all. He had his thoughts and some assumptions, but he didn't want to disabuse and correct Mike.He realized that he even enjoyed watching him being in pain and jealousy. He hoped something would get to him eventually, and most of all the fact that he shouldn’t play with anyone's feelings, because it might turn against him.Mike had needed a lesson for a long time; some kind of painful pensum that would teach him humility and respect for the feelings of others. Once, he completely messed up his life, consciously and deliberately, or only by accident. He never found out.‘I had a broken heart, because of that dude, who used to be like a brother to me, but he betrayed me.’ Matthew remembered his painful memories. It took him a long time to
“We had an excellent lunch, time to get down to work.” Nick said, moving from the table. He started picking up the plates and cleaning up. They had to, at least, try to cut the tiles.“I'll clean the kitchen, gentlemen.” Mike offered voluntarily. He didn't want to be around two extremely annoying assholes.“Jo, we brought you some old comedies if you want a little laugh.” Patrick passed her a big paper bag full of DVD’s.She took out a few and looked at the titles carefully.“Gendarme et les extra-terrestres, La soupe aux choux, L’avare, Le gendarme et les gendarmettes,… Only pearls with Louis de Funès.” She was so happy. She loved the old comedies with him.
“We already had dinner; Martin took care of our meals today.” Jack informed them.“Good guy! He also brought food for us.” Patrick realized that they had such a good time that he didn't even call and thank them for the catering. “I should call and at least say thank you.”“I already did that. We will have the catering all week.”“Sounds good, but I wish I could make use of the kitchen here too.” Patrick had some plans.“Why don't you spend your holidays far away from the kitchen? There are so many beautiful places to visit around. Besides, I'll take care of Mike.” Jack really wished that they would have a good time.“We cannot burden you with caring for him. We have to get a nurse tomorrow. And you should travel with us.”Jack was glad to hear that he wouldn't have to babysit Mike even though that one didn’t cause him any problems throughout the day. He had a great time with the bunch of big kids, and he wanted to spend some time traveling around too.Besides, his boss had clearly mar
Jo was extremely happy to see the hammock outside in the beautiful surroundings. She immediately started walking towards it.Behind her were Patrick and Matthew. When they made sure that she was comfortable, they started to unpack and unfold the garden furniture.In the next half an hour, they had dealt with most of the setting up. The patio immediately changed its face to an elegant and, above all, a comfortable place to relax. A few wooden deck chairs with a low table and umbrellas were placed near the swimming pool.The guys also put a long wooden table with eight chairs under an electric marquise, parallel to the glass wall of the villa and of course near the kitchen and dining room doors.“The table looks so good!” Jo commented from the hammock.“I feel like I am on a boat.” Matthew joked.“The owner loves sailing, so you are right. Only the wooden steering wheel is missing.” Jo laughed. She also noticed so many things related to marine life.“A wooden steering wheel sounds good.
”Are you worrying about Mike?” Patrick asked, seeing consternation and some kind of sadness on Jo’s face.“No, I am not worried about that asshole. He deserved it.”“Nobody deserves anything like this, badass.”“That’s not what I meant.”Patrick looked at her expecting some more explanations.“He shouldn't have gone out with you the previous day. He knew it perfectly well, so it was one hundred percent his fault. So, in that sense, he deserves it.”“I agree, but still, he is a man. You don’t understand male pride, badass.”“I understand him more than you can imagine. It’s just his fucking character.”“All of us, we have ‘interesting’ personalities, badass. For most of the people around us, we are assholes.”“I am not questioning it, Pat.” She hesitated for a moment. “But this fucking macho is one of his kind...”Patrick was speechless. He couldn’t argue with that. While he had a lot of understanding of the people around him, Mike was still a special case to him. But still he tolerated
Right after breakfast, Jack took Mike to the clinic. The atmosphere instantly relaxed inside the villa. They were still sitting at the kitchen table with tea and French pastries and discussing how to teach their dear friend a lesson.“You are a poor teacher, Matt.” Jo said, very disappointed with her friend. “These pancakes are awful.” She winced as she ate, wondering where Mike went wrong with that very simple task.“Am I really a poor teacher?” Matthew mocked in a slurping voice. “Or maybe our friend is a bad student? Did you consider that?”“Could we leave aside his cooking skills, guys?” Patrick exclaimed. “The main thing is that the guy can cook, so he will not die of hunger. That’s what matters!”“Really? Did you try that?” Jo pointed at the pancake.“No, and I'm not going to. I watched the anguish when Jack was consuming it. In general, he is not very picky about food so it must be eatable.”“Well, you have to try it.” Jo wanted to force him and put a piece of pancake on a fork
Mike was the first to get up. He was not able to accept ‘the doing nothing’ state and being attached to one place, to his bed, any longer.Slowly, without making any noise, he trodded downstairs. It wasn't too complicated with the help of crutches.He found the perfect order and plenty of food in the kitchen.‘These stocks were made, probably with me in mind. They want to leave me again." He assumed looking at the refrigerator full to the brim.He decided to prepare something for everyone. His skills were far from Matthew's, but after all, he could prepare something nonetheless.He made pancakes, and a typical continental breakfast: fried bacon, sausages, black pudding, some stewed mushrooms and tomatoes. He also made a smoothie out of whatever greens he could find in the refrigerator.“Good morning!” Patrick’s voice disrupted his work on the fruit salad.“Good morning.” He wasn’t happy to see him. “Did you sleep well, man?” Mike asked ironically. He really wanted to ask if he had goo
Mike felt much better after a nutritious lunch. There was no sign of a hangover; the only thing that bothered him, even after strong painkillers, was the ache in his ankle.He was changing the ice packs, and putting on more anti-inflammatory creams, but it didn’t help much. As soon as he was trying to put his foot flat on the floor, he saw ‘all the stars in the sky’ from pain.He didn't know if he would trigger the alarm again by opening the bedroom door, and he didn't feel like testing it.He went out onto the terrace a few times, but it was too hot to stay there.‘Why do I have to sit alone, in a deserted place like that?’ He thought. ‘I didn't have to travel so many kilometers to be accompanied only by empty walls. Did I?’ He wondered looking around the empty room.‘It is no different from my everyday life. Should holidays be like that? Do I deserve it?’ Hundreds of thoughts swirled in his head.Despite his exhaustion, he couldn’t sleep. There was no TV in the room, and watching mo
Mike was lying on his stomach with his head covered with a pillow, asking the heavens for silence. He had never imagined in his life that he would ask for such trivial things. He didn't know for how long he prayed, but he was at the end of his tether. Even if he wanted to leave the house to relocate somewhere in the garden or on the terrace, to not hear the alarm, he was not able to move that far jumping only on his uninjured leg.‘I know it's my fault, but why doesn't Jo have any pity on me? I always thought that she was an angel with a golden heart, but why is she heartless now?’ He made assumptions. ‘She knows I have a goddamn hangover. Plus, I smashed my ankle. Isn't it enough punishment for me to be here, in the middle of nowhere, alone?’Mike thought about so many things looking for a solution and he was really desperate. Finally, some clue appeared in his sore brain. He recalled that when Jo was taking a shower, there was absolutely no noise outside, so there must have been g
Mike was really pissed off. He screwed up his vacation, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had to accept and bear with it. As soon as he heard that the car drove away, he got up and jumped on one leg to his suitcase, and pulled out clothes which would be less obstructive in his general movements like, a loose T-shirt and short cotton shorts. He hung his ironed clothes on the armchair standing next to the bed. He returned to the bed and unwrapped the bandage. His ankle didn't look the best. The hematoma was visible on the entire surface of his ankle, despite the already quite large swelling. Considering the state of his injury, he was sure that the best solution after all was to stay at home. He lied down, tipping from side to side impatiently for a while, but couldn't fall asleep. Too many thoughts swirled in his aching head. He got up and decided to change the atmosphere of the semi-dark room a bit. ‘Damnit! It's so dark here!' He muttered under his breath and opene
As soon as Jo realized what had happened, she lost her good mood. ‘It was predictable! Will this asshole ever grow up?’ She cursed under her breath. She felt guilty about letting him come out of the house in such a bad shape at all. She blew into Mike's bedroom, without even knocking the door beforehand, like a hurricane with a destructive force. She was ready to deal properly with her rebellious, bullish friend and all his faults, who tried to disguise from her the fact that he had sprained his leg. The image she saw right after opening the door made her feel sick, as she predicted. She was truly disgusted. Mike's hair was still wet after the shower, and his face was perfectly shaved. He was dressed in a white polo shirt, perfectly ironed, and baggy khaki cargo pants. He was sitting on the bed with his left leg propped up on the bed. His pants were rolled up as he was bandaging his ankle. On the bed, she also noticed a tube of very strong painkiller ointment. “What a fucking as