Page 45 of Endgame

‘Actually, nah. Fuck it,’ he says as he chooses to ignore my threat, decides he’s fine with the consequences and bounces towards her.

Really?

‘You got so tall,’ she says as she hugs him.

‘I’ve grown, Ariella. Everywhere,’ he says, raising his eyebrows at her. What the fuck?

‘Shekhar. Honey. Mat. Now!’ I instruct. Honey has been kicking their butts all evening even though she is shorter than most of them.

Shekhar groans.

‘Show Ariella what you’ve learned.’ I smile.

‘That’s not fair. You know Honey’s going to win.’

‘Maybe, maybe not.’

‘Come on, Shekhar, I’ll be gentle,’ Honey says, then chuckles and waves to Ariella as she steps on the mat from the side. This UK trip has lightened and opened Honey up. It’s been wonderful to witness when we’ve seen each other.

My daily training sessions may have gone out of the window but it has been nice to have Honey join me and Phillip, the trainer I hired to look after the boys while I’m in Singapore. She has helped out with both of the Wednesday sessions in the UK. When she first turned up, the boys thought it was a joke. It took two and a half minutes of them watching her demolish me for the laughter to die.

I ignore Shekhar complaining very loudly about how unfair I am being as I walk towards Ariella.

‘Hey. What are you doing here?’ It has been a couple of days since she made us dinner at Em’s and left.

‘I wanted to talk to you. I also missed the boys, and wanted to see how they are doing.’

‘They’re the same. Annoying. Hard work,’ I moan, and she laughs.

‘Can I watch the rest of training and maybe come back home with you?’

‘Of course. We’ll have to cab it back because I’m going to drop Honey off at her hotel first, but yeah.’

Aari sits in a chair I get for her, present but also far away. She cheers the boys on, even against me. I was wrong about training. This is the hardest I have ever seen them work.

‘I’ll order us some food while you’re in the shower. What would you like?’ she asks, following me into our flat. It’s an hour later.

‘Burger. Big. Dirty. Everything on it,’ I plead. I kiss her temple, then retreat into the shower. I stay under the warm spray for a little longer than I need to because a substantial part of me is hoping that she’ll come in and join me, especially after the way she kissed me a couple of days ago. When I realise it’s not going to happen, I get out and quickly pull on some soft jogging bottoms and a T-shirt. She’s sitting silently still on the sofa so I sneak up behind her and make her jump.

‘Caleb!’ she reprimands as she places a hand on her heart. I snigger. It’s been a nice night. I’d like for it to stay that way.

‘Did I not tell you very politely that you weren’t welcome at training any more?’ I remind her as I hop on the couch next to her.

‘It was a visit. I haven’t seen the boys in a while. They are so big! They’ve really shot up!’

‘They have. Phillip has been good for them. He actually likes teaching.’

‘I can tell they’ve missed you though.’

‘Not sure. Phillip is kind and patient with them. I usually spend half the time swearing silently and wishing it was over.’

‘That’s not true. You love them.’ Ariella pokes me softly.

‘I do,’ I admit. ‘So, you want to talk. Tell me. What’s up?’

‘I want to apologise for lunch the other day. I didn’t do that properly before the zombie house. What I said was cruel and it wasn’t helpful.’ She means it.

‘It’s okay. You were just being honest. It’s one of the things I admire most about you, even if it can be heartbreaking.’

---