Fifteen minutes later Koushik trotted up to her out of breath. He bent over his knees and sucked in air like a vacuum cleaner sucks garbage.
"Late. Ten push-ups. Two hands." Olivia clicked the timer off.
Koushik jerked his head up with a horrified gaze. But Olivia looked at him indifferently and merely started the timer.
"Five minutes." She uttered.
Koushik plopped on the ground with a thud and began doing push-ups but after doing five his hands gave out. He lay on the ground, panting like a dog in summer.
"Five more." Olivia's voice came from above.
"I... huff can't.... huff sorry." Koushik shook his head with difficulty.
"Five more," Olivia repeated.
Koushik cried dry tears and resumed his exercise.
'Heartless! So very heartless!' He grumbled I'm his heart.
After doing the tenth push-up he slumped on the ground, not caring about the grass, dirt and earth against his face.
"Twenty crunches. Five minutes." Olivia stated mercilessly.
"Wnnaaa captain, my magnanimous captain, please have some pity on this poor soul and give me a five-minute break. Please?" Koushik almost crawled at her feet and looked at her making a pitiful face.
"Crunches. Now." Olivia said.
He sobbed tearless sobs at her indifference. Gritting his teeth and shooting her an aggrieved look every now and then, he began doing his crunches.
"One, huff two, huff three... seven, huff... twelve... huff huff fourteen, huff fifteen.... huff huff huff huff nineteen, t.. twenty." He lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for air.
Olivia opened her mouth to say something but Koushik hurriedly interrupted "Four and a half minutes. Please."
She lifted an eyebrow.
"Four minutes then?" He said in a small voice.
Olivia just stared at him.
"Three minutes and fifty-five seconds?" His voice became smaller.
Olivia kept staring.
"Three minutes and forty seconds?" His voice became even smaller.
Olivia was still silent.
"Th.. then, three minutes ten seconds?" Koushik did not give up on negotiating.
"Three minutes." Olivia sighed and turned on her heels.
"Yaay!" Koushik squealed happily and rolled on the ground.
After the three-minute break was over, Olivia told him to repeat the exercises he did. Then she guided him on how to increase his speed while jogging without getting tired quickly and asked him to jog again. Koushik groaned for his muscles felt sore but followed her instructions. Surprisingly this time, he managed to complete his jogging twenty seconds earlier. Next, Olivia corrected his postures for doing push-ups and crunches and told him to repeat those too. Then she told him to remember everything she taught him and repeat everything five times.
Repeating everything after a mere break of three minutes was already making his tongue hang out but he still obeyed her. When Koushik followed her guidance, he found that the same set of exercises felt easier, although the difference was almost negligible.
After they were done, he lay on the grass for half an hour. He felt everything before his eyes floating. He could not feel his arms and legs anymore.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you sooooo much." Koushik said, getting up from the ground with great difficulty.
"Even though I'm not able to do these sets within the time limit I can still feel the minute difference between how I was doing initially and how you told me to do. It's like, just doing it your way makes the same thing easier. I can't wait to see the results after I've practised properly using your methods." Koushik said, exited.
Olivia nodded and said "Evening."
"Okay. And, will we be meeting here or somewhere else?"
Olivia pointed a finger towards the ground.
"Alright. See you in class. I'll go and change into my uniform. Bye!" Koushik waved at her merrily and walked away.
He limped and stumbled on his way. His body was so sore that he felt like even if someone were to prick him with a thousand needles, he would not feel a thing. He was not used to such heavy workouts after all, but he felt happy seeing the little results his hard work yielded. He felt more motivated to continue his training under Olivia. He was determined to make himself more useful in his group rather than causing trouble.
As idols, they were mainly trained in singing lessons with some basic dance skills alongside to enhance their performance. So, most of their lessons were on improving and nurturing their vocal skills, along with some light enough workouts to maintain physical fitness. If someone wanted, he or she could but intensive workouts were optional.
Koushik and Bikram both chose to stick to the formal workout plan drawn by their manager. But Rishi, as the lead dancer of their band, wanted to put in a little extra effort for his role. So, unlike the former two, his workout plan consisted of slightly more intense exercise to improve and maintain his grace and flexibility.
Olivia watched his departing back, slightly slumped and tumbling from side to side every now and then. She shook her head as her mind wandered back to their training session.
He had a weak body and was slow. He wailed every time she asked him to repeat a set and criticized his sloppy posture. He got tired easily. There was not once when she did not catch him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, muttering to himself, grumbling and complaining about how unsympathetic she was to him. He asked for breaks even after finishing a set properly. But, never once did he tell her to stop or back out himself. Never once did he exceed the break limit she provided him though he cried for more. Although slowly, he completed every set she assigned him. He diligently endured all her criticism without giving up.
Olivia was patient but lacked the energy and enthusiasm to be a teacher. Normally she would have assigned him another teacher while supervising the progress, but his perseverance made her ponder.