Chapter Eleven

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

“You’re late.” Sierra glanced at her watch just as a huge yawn escaped her, causing her eyes to go blurry. 

“By two minutes, I’d say that’s a miracle, given the fact that I’m still asleep.” Sierra pointed out, making Roman smile, even straight out of bed she was at the top of her game. 

“Your wittiness never ceases to amuse me. Now, would you prefer a scenic run or would you like to just hit the gym?” Sierra glanced outside, seeing that the sun hadn’t risen yet. 

“What would you suggest?” Roman contemplated for a moment before pointing to the gym. 

“You’re not very familiar with the city yet and it’s still dark, so the treadmill it is.” Sierra nodded, silently glad he chose the gym for her first workout. 

Roman motioned for Sierra to walk before him, guilty enjoying the view of her backside in the black yoga pants she had on. seeing her confident strides into the gym, it finally clicked inside of him that he was attracted to her and instantly regretted realizing that so soon. 

The night before he was intrigued by her, something he hadn’t felt for a woman in a long time, but he was determined to stick to their agreement, if not for his own well-being, then for hers, because she deserved an adventure to remember. 

Sierra stopped when they reached the treadmills and Roman quickly snapped out of his mind, “You can choose if you’d like to stretch first or start off with a slow walk to warm up your muscles instead, I personally prefer walking since it loosens up all my muscles a lot better than stretching.” Sierra nodded. 

“I’ll go for the walk.” Roman nodded, placing his bottle and towel down on the bench between them, and moved to set up the machine before she stopped him. 

“I’ve got this.” She said with a wink and stepped up on the machine, connecting her earphones to her phone via Bluetooth. 

“You look like you’ve done this before,” Sierra smirked at his suspicion. 

“I was a frequent gym-goer in my college days, once I started work, I didn’t have the time for it.” Sierra shrugged.

“Everyone has time, Sierra, People make time for things they care about.” She smirked at his wise words. 

“You’re right, I didn’t, want to make time for it.” He laughed at her frank answer. 

“You’re something else.” He shook his head and continued setting up his machine. 

Sierra spent a good thirty minutes on the treadmill, enjoying the feeling she got when her heart raced in her chest. Brent wasn’t one for the gym, which was partly the reason she’d stopped, at the beginning of their relationship she tried getting him to go with her instead of complaining that she spent too much time there and not enough with him, but it only ended in her cutting down her gym time till eventually, it became non-existent. She refused to dwell on the fact that she’d put on a dress size since the lifestyle change, knowing it would only upset her, but the familiar feeling she got from running gave her hope that she could undo that. 

Back in the day, her gym routine consisted of running and Zumba, but seeing as she didn’t have the option, she moved to the mat instead and started on a few simple yoga exercises. By the time 7 am rolled around, Roman had finished his last set and was dabbing his face clean of sweat as he approached her. 

“You seem to have easily fallen back into a routine of sorts, I can’t imagine why you’d stop in the first place.” Sierra smiled and shook her head. 

“I never should have stopped in the first place, but being here today reminded me how much I enjoyed it. Thank you, Roman.” Roman shook his head. 

“I didn’t do a thing.” He didn’t realize how big a difference he had made.

“So you think.” She winked and stepped past him to exit the gym.

“Are you free tonight?” Roman called out when she was almost out the door. 

“Of course not, all my friends are just dying to spend time with me.” Roman rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. 

“Meet me in the lobby at 6 pm.” Sierra frowned, she enjoyed the gym, but she didn’t think she could handle another session so soon. 

“What are we doing?” She asked when he caught up to her.

“Monday night is Karaoke night.” He winked and sauntered out the door, unbothered by her shock. 

“I don’t sing, Leek!” She snapped out of her stupor, but he just waved her off.

“You will.” He called, not looking back, but she could see the smirk on his face.  

***

“Ken, what does one wear to a Karaoke night in these parts?” Sierra asked her driver who eyed her strangely. 

“You’re going to a Karaoke night alone?” Sierra giggled at his tone, he sounded both worried and freaked out. 

“Not alone, I made a friend last night at the ice cream parlor you suggested, he actually lives in the building next door.” Ken’s frown deepened. 

“Miss Sierra, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out with a guy you don’t know.” Sierra understood his concern, it was one she shared. 

“I know what you mean, but I honestly think he’s harmless. Perhaps you know him, I mean you seem to know everyone in this city. His name is Roman Leek, he’s a doctor at University Hospital.” Ken’s eyes lit up at the mention of the man. 

“You met Dr. Leek? He treated my baby sister when she got sick, he is a good doctor.” Sierra grinned at that. 

“So you don’t think he’s dangerous?” Ken frowned, unsure of what to say.

“I don’t know, I have never met him outside of the hospital, but people respect him.” Sierra contemplated for a moment. 

“Are you busy tonight?” Ken rose an eyebrow at her and shook his head. 

“Would you drive us to the karaoke place, I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I wasn’t alone, you know?” Ken looked uncertain.

“I’m not sure, I don’t mind driving you, but I don’t think it’s my place to join you for the evening.” Sierra smiled at his awkwardness. 

“You can invite a friend if you’d like and you don’t have to sit with us, just enjoy the night on me. I would feel bad if you had to wait in the car all night.” Ken looked away from the road to glance at her, seeing the hopeful look on her face, he agreed. 

“Thank you so much, Ken!” Sierra practically bounced in her seat. Her first day of work was over, she spent most of the day familiarising herself with the plant specimen she’d be working on as well as its origin and known qualities. She was still playing with a few ideas on how to begin testing it and for that, she needed to know more about it.