The Curse Of A Stranger's Gift 15 Renewed

Zheira sprinted towards the field she'd learn to call the never-ending chase. She clearly remembered that it took her at least a week to reach the path that leads back to the starting point. However, she must pa.s.s through without getting herself so much as a scratch. The second week of training gave her bruises and scars she would never wish to attain in all her life. Actually, the main trick was to bent, dive, and jump. She'd realized the pattern at the end of the third-week session.

Now, on the last day of the fourth week, she must finish the race before ten minutes pa.s.sed, or else she'll lose the deal. Vladimir was getting bored at her mistakes that he seemed to lost enthusiasm for her improvement. He did not even try watching her train after the epic first day.

As her limbs worked harder to get her to the end of this field, her mind wandered to how she screwed for the first time. She used it as a source of entertainment now.

For what she recalls, she ran as fast as she could after Vladimir blew the whistle. Her determination to finish the deal was the only thing lingering in her head. However, the motives weren't enough. It vanished after Zheira got tired. Her knees were shaking as she relaxed her hands on it, trying to catch her breath as it slipped from her throat.

"Already tired?" Vladimir yelled. Her brows draw together when she heard the voice clearly. She turned and was beyond words when she realized she progress for less than five meters.

"B—but I—I thought I'm far n—now." Zheira ma.s.saged her chest when her heart throbbed. How much more could she bear just to finish this training? Running alone worn her out, what more the other exercises?

Vladimir glared at her. "Stop dreaming! You're way too slow. I couldn't even distinguish if your walking or running."

"G—give me a b—break," she suggested in between her fast breathing.

"You didn't even progress yet, and you want to take a break? Do you want to stay that way? Is that something you can be proud of? Look at you! You wasted your time resting in the corner. I didn't know you're as hopeless as this." He shook his head. His golden eyes twinkled dully at the sun's rays.

"B—but I'm t—tired." She hit the ground when her knees gave up. Admittedly, never in her life did she run. She had no use to it. Everything was given to her without questions. Her talent was to rest on a couch and watch movies and read books. It was ever a wonder why she did not grow big. In fact, she's skinny.

"As I've said hopeless." He looked down at her. There was something in his stares that made her feel like a small ent.i.ty. Those insulting stares pierced her skin like sharp knives. "Don't ever set foot in my house unless you progressed one-hundred meters." He turned and walked slowly away from her.

"W—where are you going?"

"Somewhere far, so I could not see your stupidity."

"How will you know if I progressed?"

His golden eyes flickered. "Trust me. I can see."

Before her eyes, Vladimir vanished. She was engulfed by a deafening silence. An unwanted s.h.i.+ver ran down her spine. What if she couldn't progress the way he wanted to? Would he kick her out of the house? She shuddered by the thought. It's now that she realized how she's not aware of the place she's in. She'd been too full of the circ.u.mstances that she forgot to ask.

She closed her eyes before deciding for herself. Running might exhaust her, but she'd sign up for this. She must do her part of the deal. With a heavy sigh, she started jogging. It's best to start doing things slowly. It wouldn't exhaust her that much.

Long story short, she jogged for more than fifteen meters before her legs betrayed her; it was sprained. It took at least two days for her to get back on the trail. She wished not to, but Vladimir's steamy glare was making her life miserable.

Zheira's train of thought stopped when she saw the obstacle that made her life a living h.e.l.l. She did not realize how entertaining that memory was for her not to notice the time. Bullet of sweats trailed down from her forehead as the heat lingered on her fair skin. Month of exposure to the sun changed her complexion. She has no complaints, though. It was the mark of how much she'd changed these past few weeks.

Breathing deeply, she ran towards the rounding metallic thing. It has sharp thorns that had once cut her skin. The pain still hunts her 'till now. Wasting no time, she bent and pa.s.sed cautiously to it. When the metal draws closer to her, she lies on the rough ground. She held her breath as the pointy ends of the metal almost pierced her stomach.

"Almost," she whispered with a sigh of relief. Before the metal could try going down, she crawled towards another trial. This was the trickiest part. Strings were surrounding the lane. It was crisscrossing to one another. Once, she tried tiptoeing over it, but it almost sliced her neck. Good thing, Vladimir got her out of trouble. She used to tease him about it. Eventually, she stopped when Vladimir started pointing out her flaws.

All she have to do was dive, duck, and lie to the ground—even that requires a skill. When the first string moved downward, she used it as a go signal. The next string was moving towards where she was, so she ducks and rolled to the next string who was literally scanning the area. Zheira closed her eyes for a while. The scanning would take at least a minute or two, giving her time to relax.

A sad smile curved her lips. If her adoptive mother could see what she's doing, she would freak out and call everyone she could see to help her get out of that murderous strings. But, it's nothing to how Melinda would react once she sees the purplish tinge on her skin, and her dry hair. Zheira chuckled. She would probably get a hairstylist and a dermatologist to fixed everything. However, that wouldn't happen now. She has to accept the fact that their relations.h.i.+ps were destroyed the moment her father died. Come to think of it, she didn't even know whether or not Robert was dead. It's just her hunch, but hers had always been right.

A cold voice rang in the air. "What are you doing, Zheira? Are you killing yourself." It was Vladimir. She opened her eyes and was taken aback to see a string barely inches at her. Before it could slice her body, she rolled. Her shouts broke the tensioned silence when a string moved upward from where she landed. Fortunately, it wasn't a direct hit. Only the side of her shoulder was sliced; blood dripped from it, trickling down to her arms. A s.h.i.+ver ran down her spine when she saw her flesh under the peeled skin. She blew some air to it, trying to relieve it from stinging.

"Zheira, don't move!" Vladimir warned. It was then that she saw the strings floating in front of her. She forgot that it multiplies whenever it cuts flesh. "I'm coming in—"

"Wait!" Zheira interrupted. "Let me try. I will not screw this." As she spoke, she moved sideward without taking her eyes off the strings. Good thing, they stopped moving. The s.p.a.ce couldn't take their quant.i.ty.

She groaned as the rough rocks ripped her s.h.i.+rt and scratched her back, but all she cared was to save her life from the strings. It would surely kill her.

Relief surged through her as she pa.s.sed through the last string. She winced when her back stung. Adding to the series of wounds she acquired last week was the bruises on her back and the cut on her shoulder. She sighed, realizing that her once flawless skin was subjected to a lot of scratches, bruises, and wounds in just a month. What more should she bear just to end this training?

There was a white light at the end of the lane. When she ran towards it, she found herself standing at the starting point. Her eyes widened. "I... I succeeded!" she exclaimed, "I did it!"

"Not really." Vladimir faced her with the stopwatch. "It took you fifteen minutes to finish the race. In the end, you still lose."

"Give me a break! I tried my best finis.h.i.+ng that. At least it's fifteen minutes. Last time I cheek, it was half an hour!" She put her hand below her peeled shoulder.

He shrugged. "Even a fool must admit that. How about you change and take a rest. We'll start training with your mind tomorrow." He put his forefinger over his temple. "If the physical training was hard, mental training is complicated."

"Maybe." She waved her hand before walking away from him. "See you when I see you." Her laughter rented the air. Of course, they'll see each other. They're living in one house.