"Focus. Focus, you have to try to read your opponent's thoughts. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were in their position, what would you do?" one could hear a female voice say, followed by heavy panting in the background.
The teenager, who was obviously the one being instructed struck another blow, but the woman easily dodged it.
"Again" the woman yelled, as she dodged another.
"Faster! Is that all you've got" she asked in a provocative tone, dodging another punch that was aimed at her face yet again, however the teenager didn't stop and followed with a powerful kick.
Her leg was grabbed easily, and the woman twisted it before releasing it.
"OK that's all for now. Go take your bath and think about why you performed so badly today" the woman instructed, before turning around to walk inside.
The teenager bent on the floor, as she panted loudly. She felt a sharp pain shoot from her leg and she winced, before bringing her hand to massage the spot that was twisted earlier. She knew she would have to apply some ointment, or she wouldn't be able to walk for the rest of the week.
"Tasha!" the woman yelled from inside and Tasha hastily stood up before immediately regretting the decision.
"Coming" She yelled back and started limping inside, disregarding the pain on her knees.
She spent about twenty minutes, in the shower, washing away all the sweat and dirt that had stuck to her body during the practice and only after she was sure that none remained did she heave a sigh, before limping downstairs.
Dinner was already served, and she joined her nanny, or mother as she always called her on the dining table. Her heart warmed when she saw the smile hanging on the woman's lips, and her lips instinctively curled up too.
"Tasha!" The woman called gently as she reached her hand forward to hold Tasha's. "You know, I am doing this all for your sake. Right? "
"I know" Tasha responded, with a smile even though deep down she didn't mean it.
She couldn't bring herself to understand why her nanny felt the need to put her through the monstrous training every day, neither could she understand why it was for her sake. But she knew her mother wouldn't lie to her, and she seemed to enjoy seeing Tasha all bruised, so Tasha forced herself to pretend to enjoy it, when in fact all she wanted was to spend her daily life like a normal teen which in her case, appeared to be too much to ask for.
"Aah! Pasta" she moaned as she took a bite of the lobster and her lips broke into a wide grin as usual.
"How is it?" her nanny asked, even though it was pretty obvious from Tasha's expression that the food was delicious.
Tasha nodded her head as she swallowed.
"Yummy eumma! You're the best" she gave her a toothy grin before continuing to eat.
In the middle of the food, she could sense her mother's gaze on her, but she pretended not to notice as usual.
....
By the time she woke up, beads of sweats had already formed on her forehead and she sighed when she scanned her surroundings. She was still in her room. It was just a dream, just a dream.
She tried to move slightly and was somehow comforted when she noticed the pain in her lower abdomen was gone. She got off the bed and lazily went to take a bath.
By the time she was done, it was already ten, so she headed straight to the kitchen. She couldn't help but curse Lucas for putting her in that condition. She felt she wouldn't be satisfied even if she beat him to a pulp. It had become a habit of hers now,, and she felt she could only feel better by cursing him to her heart's content.
...
After a few days of having to wear her clothes straight from the box, she finally had the strength to pick them up and arrange them neatly in her wardrobe. Thankfully, her tampons and painkillers could last her more than a year, however she wasn't sure if she could last though.
When she lived alone, she rarely cooked and would always order takeout since she was so bad at cooking, most of the time, Martha packed homemade dishes for her, so food was the least of her problems but now, she realized how bad it was to not know how to cook.
Ever since she ate the sabotaged meal by Lucas, he stopped leaving her leftovers, and even if he did, she wouldn't have eaten it.
For the past few weeks, she had been surviving on cup noodles, corn flakes, bread and tea and other easy to make meals. One time she tried to prepare rice and chicken, but the rice came out too salty and the chicken was half burnt, and she had to make sure to wash the saucepan till it was spotless to avoid facing Lucas's wrath.
Just like that three weeks had passed and except for that day when she tried to confront him, she hadn't set her eyes on Lucas again. It was like they were living in two different worlds.
Even when the maids come to clean up the house on weekends, he was always nowhere to found. It was OK by her, since she felt like she would develop a headache if she had to see that scary expression of his everyday.
Over the weeks, she had discovered a few fun things to do around the house, for example knitting. She picked up her rusting knitting skills and started knitting again. In fact, she wanted to request the butler when he comes the next week to see if he could at least get her a sewing machine and some other basic sewing materials since she knew a thing or two about fashion designing, and she planned to use part of her salary to pay for it.
...
For dinner, she settled for scotch egg and tea. It was one of her go-to food when was in college,, so she was good at preparing that. After brewing herself a cup of tea, she grabbed a stool and placed her plates on the counter before doing justice to the food.
She was about to leave the kitchen when she heard a faint humming sound, and she traced the sound to where it was coming from. It appeared to be from the player in the living room,, and it was playing a 90s classic. Her steps halted as she listened to the lyrics. She could still remember the title vividly, since it was one of her favorite songs when she was in high school.
Even when the sky gets dark
when the world falls apart
I promise I'd be here
Unmoving, by your side