Part Two - New World - Chapter [043]

The next morning - I woke up to an empty bed. Arslan was nowhere to be found. The sun was just peeking through the plastic foliage of the tent with its orange morning glow. 

Where was he? 

His side of the bed was still warm, I stood up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. 

I felt like a truck had run over me, but this feeling was normal for me. Overextending myself was usually my go-to. 

Many extracurricular activities kept me from being inside my house for more than necessary. 

My ears adjusted to the morning sounds, and I heard a faint thump sound coming from not far from here. The usual sounds of the forest around us seemed quiet against the rhythmic sound of what felt like someone punching a rock. 

I decided to investigate before pushing myself to do basic oral hygiene near the river. 

My hair was a mess, more than normal anyway. The spikes that drooped in front of my face were on the Fritz. 

I tried to remember if any funny business happened between Arslan and me last night. But nothing came to mind. We were both too tired and once our head hit the hay we both fell asleep. 

Finally, I was done and decided to go into the forest to investigate following the sound, as I got closer, each punch was louder than the last one. 

With the intensity of each punch, you would think birds and animals would get scared but seemed more annoyed than anything else. 

"Tiger?' I finally managed the courage to break the silence only pierced by the punches against rock. 

Turning a corner I saw his perfect golden hair, shirtless of course with what looked like training shorts. 

He turned at the sound of my voice. 

"Ah! Good morning love," 

He was all sweaty and his skin glowed with the morning heat. 

"Good morning," I replied. 

"What are you doing?" I pointed toward the general direction of whatever was happening with him and the rock. Was this some kind of pent-up frustration or something?

He gave me a kiss on the cheek making sure none of his sweat got on me. He finally sat down and let out a heavy sigh. 

How long had he been up to this?

His breath is heavy, his legs manspreading. 

After a couple of beats, he swiped the sweat from his forehead and could talk normally again. 

"Are you mad at me or something?" I asked, wanting to know why exactly he was punching a rock. 

"Huh?' He looked at me with the sweetest blank stare. 

"Oh? This?" He said pointing to his now bloodied hands wrapped in white clothes. 

I gasped at just how much blood there was and instantly held both his hands and started applying a healing spell. 

Then I took off the bandages only to reveal scratches still. Nothing I could do about those. His hands were scratchy and sandy and full of blisters. 

What kind of weights was he lifting?

He let me do my work and finally said. 

"I'd forgotten I hadn't gotten a workout in since we first started our journey, can't let my grind sleep you know," he explained. 

Oh, he was using the rock as a punching bag. 

I felt kinda silly. 

But usually, when guys start punching walls it means something is up with them. Or well rocks in this case. 

I mean I would count all the hiking and walking we've been doing as a workout. But a proper bodybuilder workout is also necessary to keep that kind of physic. 

His muscles did seem like they got a good pump from all that hitting. Plus the sweat made his skin glisten In the morning sun. But I didn't want him getting hurt because he had no access to equipment. Back home I would just buy him a subscription to a gym or snuck him into the mansion as one of my workout buddies. 

Lord knows I've done it before. 

A personal trainer also works with my folks. 

This world was different I was going to need to find a way for him to get his workouts in while traveling. 

If we were back home he could use the hotel's gym, if we were traveling like this. 

Suddenly an idea came into my head.

However, it did involve some magic. 

He took a rest on my lap all of s sudden, resting his head Ian my tights. 

I moved his hair out of the way his sweat made his hair all stiff and wet. 

I took out s rag and started dabbing his face gently and slowly. 

he couldn't help but smile. 

"I'm getting the full concierge service over here," he said jokingly. I wasn't sure what he meant by that. 

"What do you usually do for workouts?" I asked changing the topic. He opened one eye to look at me. 

"I have a home-free weight gym, cable curls and extensions that sort of thing," he explained. 

"I miss it, if we ever move in together, I would need an outdoor gym," he said nonchalantly 

"Oh, so we're moving in together?" I couldn't help but make a cheeky smile. 

"When this is all over…" there was a beat. "Maybe…" he said like he meant it as a question but said it as a statement. 

"I'd like that -" I mentioned. I stared at him a moment and couldn't help but bend down and kiss him. His lips were salty and soft. But it's a cute moment nonetheless.

He smiled through his teeth. 

The kiss ended just as it had started, sweet and tender.

No words were needed - just the continuation - the normalizing of our affections. A kiss and nothing more. 

He stood up like he was before and grabbed my shoulder. 

"We have lots of work to be done love," he explained and stood walking off towards the campsite. 

Looking back at me his face devilishly cute. 

This boy had other plans in mind. And they didn't involve any type of actual work. 

However, all of that could wait.