Page 52 of Back Room Host

“No, I mean … I hope I’m not causing you too much trouble.”

“You’re not,” I assured him. “Try to relax here. Think of it as a vacation.”

He nodded briefly and turned back to his phone. I packed my training gear, and after making sure once again that Juri didn’t need anything, I was on my way to the studio.

It wasn’t just the workout I urgently needed, but also the conversation with Dario. Last night, flipping out was one thing, but hurting someone in the process was a whole different story.

“Don’t overdo it,” were Dario’s first words as I battered the punching bag.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and was just relieved to see him.

“You look like you’ve been here for ages,” he commented on my sweaty appearance.

“Thirty minutes,” I replied, checking the time. But in reality, I had completely exerted myself in that time.

“Up for a training match?”

It felt like my prayers had been answered. “Absolutely! Against whom?”

“Vasily! Are you warmed up?”

A brown-haired guy, who had been by the dumbbells, turned to us. “Always,” he replied, grabbed his gloves, and joined us in the ring.

I had never seen the guy before, but that wasn’t a big surprise. Most of the time, I trained by myself. The only person I talked to here was Dario. And he was busy reminding both of us of the rules in the ring and in the studio. Finally, it was time. We shook hands, nodded to each other, and off we went.

Vasily was almost half a head taller than me, and I was already 6’1”. He had a powerful right punch. Very quickly, I realized that I had to focus on speed here. While Vasily was strong, he was also bulkier than me. In the end, I still took a few hits, but I also landed some of my own. Meanwhile, Dario followed our fight and shouted tips to us.

Afterward, I felt good. We sat on two benches next to the ring and exchanged thoughts. Dario commented on Vasily’s right, and I nodded and took a big sip from my water bottle. Yeah, that right had some power. Dario then praised my defense.

“I really want to compete again,” I declared.

Dario scrutinized me.

“I’m ready. Please! You've been pushing me here for far too long.”

“Alright,” Dario hesitated. “I’ll sign you up. But I believe the next competition isn't until the end of January. That should give you ample time to prepare.”

“Yesss!” I exclaimed, pumping my fist. Even if I had lost the fight against Vasily, it felt like a victory right now.

It was after three when Vasily got up and said goodbye to us. I stayed seated, drank from my water bottle, and pressed the sweat towel against my neck. Dario was still sitting opposite me.

“So spill it. What did you do?”

“You just know me too well.” It was more of a sigh because I couldn’t seem to sound as relaxed as I wanted to.

Dario’s gaze wandered to my knee, which I nervously tapped up and down. “Not hard, with that tick you’ve got.”

I put the water bottle away and shook my head. “Something happened last night. During work. No, actually, it already started yesterday morning.”

“You were here yesterday, ranting about your mentor. And the way you exerted yourself yesterday, I thought everything was fine when you left.”

“I couldn’t let it go,” I explained. “And then there was this loud music, the crowd of people, the flickering lights … and my colleague, who was driving me crazy. I’m not his damn slave!”

“We’ve been through this before,” Dario said, sighing, but he smiled amusedly. “There are just moments when you have to learn to subordinate yourself.”

“I tried! Juri convinced me, so I went back and really made an effort.”

“Who’s Juri?”

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