“What?” I asked in disbelief.

Julian sighed heavily. “Just listen,” he said. “During those two minutes, I’m going to need you to close your eyes but still focus on the glass of water in your hands and think of nothing but one thing. And the thing I need you to be thinking about is healing. Specifically, the healing of your face. I want you to visualize your cheek healing, the ragged pieces syncing back together. Do you think you can do that for me? Do you think you can think of this and nothing else for those two minutes? It’s an important question because if you lose focus none of it will matter. You have to be serious about this, Ariel. I know it might seem silly to you or a joke, but it’s very serious. I promise you that. Can you do this for me? I need to know, and I need an honest answer.”

I stared at him. He looked so serious, seemed so utterly focused on me. This was no joking matter to him.

If it were just me, I would not take this glass of water in my hands seriously. I wouldn’t think it could do anything for me. With him looking at me like that… I thought anything possible because his eyes told me so.

“I can do whatever you need me to do,” I told him in a soft voice. As long as he kept looking at me like that then we were good.

“Alright,” he said after a minute. “I believe you.”

He didn’t sound as sure as his words proclaimed him to be, but I let that go. Just this once I would be the bigger person.

“Whenever you’re ready, let me know.”

“I’m ready now,” I told him.

I probably wasn’t ready now.

Thinking about my face healing completely made me want to roll my eyes. What was done was done. Could we really go back from it? I didn’t think so, but I would do this for him and I would give it my all even if I thought it wouldn’t be successful.

“Keep your hands cupped loosely around the glass,” he told me. “Close your eyes and envision nothing but your face healing. Think of nothing else besides the water and what you wish to happen to the wound on your face.”

Following his orders, I loosely held onto the glass between both my hands and closed my eyes.

I blew out a deep breath and cleared my mind. It was easier said than done because there was a lot of garbage floating around inside of my head.

Two minutes flew by in what felt like the span of a heartbeat and I had taken the entire time to clear all of the garbage out of my head.

I hadn’t even gotten started on the thoughts of healing when warm fingertips ran over the backs of my knuckles on my right hand.

“I’m not ready,” I murmured. “I just finally cleared my mind and am ready to focus on healing my face. I thought it would be smart to clear everything from my mind first so I can focus solely on what you want me to. It took longer than I thought it would. I’m sorry about your two-minute time frame. Can I have two more minutes, please?”

“You can have as much time as you need,” he said, and I felt him move away from me. “It’s not the time frame that matters. You were actually really smart to take the time to clear your mind first before focusing on what I asked you to. Thank you for taking this seriously. I really appreciate it. Not all of the guys take what I do and my instructions seriously. Thank you.”

My lips tipped up in a small smile. I was glad I actually put in a decent effort to do what he wanted me to. It might seem dumb to me, but I would give it my best if it meant something to him.

I let it all go. The negative and the positive, I let it go all the same. None of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was my face and the ugly mark on the side of it.

Water is pure,I thought to myself.

Nah, that wasn’t going to work out for me from that angle.

Instead, I thought about what I’d seen on my cheek the last time I looked into the mirror. The stitches and the angry red line. I thought about what I had looked like before, mere days ago. I thought about the smooth, creamy unblemished skin on my face. I saw that jagged red line appearing on my cheek and envisioned it healing. I saw the line smooth out as the color faded from that dark red color to a light pink. Then, I saw the pink fade to white. The raised skin smoothed out and the only thing I saw in the mirror was a thin, white line curving around my cheek.

The glass was gently removed from my hands that had been wrapped tightly around it.

My eyes blinked open and I was greeted with the sight of Julian once again kneeling in front of me.

“Now,” he said in a quiet voice, “I want you to slowly sip the water until it’s all gone. All the while I want you to think ‘my face is healing, and I am full of energy.’ Over and over again until the glass is empty.”

He slid the glass back into my open hands and pushed himself back up to his feet.

I wasn’t thirsty anymore and had no real desire to drink an entire glass of water when I wasn’t thirsty, but we’d come this far. I might as well humor him and see this absurd thing through to the end.

I put the glass to my lips and did exactly as he’d instructed me to do. I sipped the water slowly while thinking about my face healing and being full of energy.

I feared the only thing that was filling up was my bladder and I would need to use the bathroom soon.