Page 62 of Zimyra

I shrug. “It’s just the basics—just like we didn’t need to know how to dissect frogs in high school biology, but we did it, right?”

“True.”

He places my notebook on the coffee table and says, “You know this stuff.”

“IthinkI know it, but I don’t want to be overconfident. That’s when you make mistakes.”

“When is your test?”

“In a little over a week.”

He says, “Whenever I have a big event coming up in my life, I always take a moment to meditate.”

“And how do you go about doing that?”

“Let me show you.”

He stands, pushes my coffee table away from the sofa, and says, “We have to sit on the floor for this.”

“Okay.”

I unfold my legs, stand up to stretch, and then ease down to the floor where he’s already sitting.”

“Now, move into the same pose as I’m sitting. It’s called Sukhasana.”

“Wait—what? You know the names of poses and whatnot?”

“Don’t judge me. My father got me into this stuff during one of our—I mean one ofhiscompany’s retreats.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We went to Bali for a week to destress, and they showed us all sorts of meditation techniques. You’re in luck because I’m about to pass my knowledge to you.”

I smile while keeping this information he shared with me in my back pocket. His father must be pretty well off for his company to be sending him on retreats and such. Maybe that’s who bought him that expensive watch.

“Okay, now that you’re in the right pose, close your eyes and—”

“Wait—let me turn to a meditation channel on YouTube.”

I reach for the remote on the coffee table. After turning the TV on, I pull up the YouTube app and quickly find one. The music already sounds relaxing. I get back into the pose.

Axel says, “Close your eyes, take a long, deep breath, then slowly release it on a five count.”

I follow through with his instructions and then repeat it several times. I say, “This feels good. It’s great, actually.”

I open my eyes when Axel doesn’t respond to me and he’s staring into my eyes. Was he staring at me all this time?

I say, “What are you doing? I thought you were meditating with me.”

“I was just making sure you were doing it right, but I got caught up thinking about how soft your face looks. I was tempted to touch it.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He smiles, then closes his eyes and takes a breath, and releases it slowly.

“So, I’m supposed to do this when I feel stressed.”

“Yes, or just when you need to focus. You can do it before studying, or if you’re doing anything else that requires a lot of mental exertion.”

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