Feeling a soft touch against his shoulder, Hops barely opened his eyes to a shining light. Temporarily adjusting, he quickly realized it to just be sunlight as he straightened himself up against the bed he was in.
"Where am I-?" Hops almost jumped about, until he saw Alice sitting on a chair next to him. "Oh, hey. I feel like I should be doing something right now?"
Just as he was about to get out of the bed, Alice kept her hand on him preventing him from moving further. Before he even realized it, they were making out with each other as if nothing else existed. This did feel nice, but he rathered getting on with whatever he had to do at the moment. Just as it seemed Alice was going to get closer, Hops pulled back and removed her hand.
"Alright, that's enough. I'm glad to see you're doing fine." Hops brought in a smirk of satisfaction.
"Are you fine, Ryan? They didn't force you to do anything, did they?" Hops could see Alice's concern as she asked him, "You've been through a lot ever since, since my fight with the other one."
Hops took a noticeable pause to consider what had really occurred since that day. Wasn't that only two days ago? As his mind was mentally catching up, he started to connect the dots. The training sessions he was doing by himself were over-exertion in response to what he saw Alice do. What he saw his girl did to a single person, and even the rest of the group assuming wasn't even her going all out. He couldn't believe to keep himself in such a weaker state if she was likely stronger than him. He had to be joking with himself, was she really though? The man had to make sure for himself and her, and assure that the claim would be wrong.
"I'm feeling good. I needed that rest. I gotta go now, thank you for this." Hops caressed her cheek, before getting up from the bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" Alice got up from the chair, as Hops was somewhat uneasy against the ground surface. "You can't be for real."
With a sigh, Hops couldn't even look back as he began to regain control over his legs. He knew about today's mission that Jamal and the rest of them were going on, but it was no use catching up to any of them. For all he knew, it was near, if not even, past midday. There wasn't much else he could do that was not sitting down, except go and train. Train to defeat Youden, train to have another day with Alice, start a family maybe (who really knew), and live his life avoiding oppression and persecution for associating with Jamal. This is what he was fighting for.
"Baby, please don't do this. Don't leave me here." Alice got in front of him just as he was reaching the door handle.
"Why shouldn't I?" Hops stared her down, itching to leave. He kind of figured that he was somewhat ending up like Jamal, doing all this work, but at least it did pay off for him. "I have to do this, for all of us."
"I know why you're doing this! It's because of me, and you're afraid! Afraid that you can't protect me!" Alice cried out, tears in her eyes. "Why are all you guys so afraid!"
Hops actually had a genuine concern for what was happening right now. One minute she was being a loving and caring companion, and the next was her breaking down in tears and sorrow. He literally just wanted to train, what was the problem with that issue?
"I know this may look bad, but I'm doing it for the better of everyone here, especially you. I'm making sure that we see this to the end. I'm not afraid of you, I'm afraid of not being there for you." Hops put some actual thought into what he had said. "I'll never be like Jamal, but at least understand that I need to reach my potential too."
"I'm not worried about that! It's that I know that it's because of me that you're acting like this. Don't you understand, I'll be okay! It's you that needs some rest!"
"Alice, please-."
"No! I don't want you to do this to yourself. You're going to do more harm than good, and all of this for me! Please, don't go! Please." Alice managed to sniffle out, before leaning against the door.
Hops stayed silent, as he let Alice continue her crying. He never ever wanted to see her in this state, but unlike Jamal who would agree to whatever demand Ula would put up against, he had standards set for himself, and knowing what happens when you end up complacent was all the answers needed. There would be no convincing him otherwise.
"Hey, listen to me." Hops lifted Alice's wet face, as he wiped away another tear. "You need to understand what I'm about to tell you right now. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't realize that I'm falling in love and that regardless of whatever you tell me, I'm still not strong enough. It was never about fear but being weaker in general. Before you even say anything about your powers, I'm glad to see that, but as for me, it's not enough. You can never have too little power, unless your Youden with multiple ones."
With that last joke, Alice cracked a small chuckle, as Hops continued onward.
"The point I'm still trying to make is that I will have to do this, no matter what you say. This is what I'll push myself to be doing until we fight and beat Youden, once and for all." Hops grinned back at her.
"You don't have to force yourself like this, don't do it." Alice grabbed his hand still on her face, "I want to see you okay."
"I'm always going to be okay, and I know you'll make sure of that. I will always be there for you." Hops managed to say, before pressing his lips against hers.
They stayed like that for several seconds, not letting go as they pressed against the door, gripping each other closely. Before Alice could grab his neck and hold onto him tighter in the moment, Hops spun them both around so his back was to the door. With Alice figuring out what he was doing, he had let go just as he twisted the door handle. In shock, the woman attempted to lift her hand to close the door, just as Hops slipped himself out. What a clever man, she couldn't do much but just laugh, as she could hear Hops say something about coming back later through the wood. She really did care for him very much, and already knew he felt the same about her. Nothing was going to stop him from getting stronger, and that was just going to have to be fine with her.
...
Just as Hops started to make his way down the stairwell, he could see Ula coming up holding an asleep Laken. Taking a good guess, he hoped that they didn't hear the commotion from above.
"You're awake?" Ula was a bit surprised, "Well, are you two okay up there? It was kind of loud, like that other night."
Hops couldn't help but take a quick laugh at the statement. They were not going to let that night go, and with good reason too about it.
"Yeah, it's all good. Just a very important discussion we had with each other, that was it. Anyway, I got to go now. I should be back before the others return." Hops moved past her and waved goodbye.
"Okay, Hops. Just be careful out there. Who knows what may be going on." Ula announced back to the empty space, hoping he heard it.
Which Hops did actually hear perfectly well, just as he made it to the ground floor. It wasn't like he was going to be engaging with the city military or police. Simply just strengthening his muscles through hypertrophy, or as he rather called it, straight-up training. And leg day on several hundred pounds worth of weights was the type of grind he needed to be committed to. So let the pain be brought forth once again and an invigorated mindset with it.