When I Knew

by Jayrin Park

  “Good morning, Lisa and Tom,” I smiled at them. They were a delight to work with.

  “My daughter will be late today because she had some work to attend to. Please cut her some slack when she comes, she’s really tired,” Lisa said, walking away from us and dropping her gym bag on the floor.

  Tom looked at his wife, surprised. I was a little surprised too. Since I had started the gym sessions with them, Lisa had never been a fan of Lela’s late coming. She was always telling us to start without her.

  “What did you say? Where’s my wife, and what have you done with her?” Tom asked Lela. I was also curious to know what had prompted her to say that.

  “She told us about how tired she always is, didn’t she? We should cut her some slack. She’s only here because she loves you, and we should appreciate her,” Lisa shrugged. Tom was still looking at his wife like she was an imposter.

  I bit back the smile that threatened show up when I heard that Lela had spoken to them about why she was always late. She took my advice. Not only was I a gym instructor, but I was pretty good at giving advice.

  “Should I have been inconsiderate? Stop staring at me, Tom,” Lisa said and turned to face me. “Let’s begin, please.”

  * * *

  An hour into the session, Lela ran into the gym. She had eye-bags under her eyes, and her hair was in her usual messy bun. I wondered what she would look like with her hair down.

  “Sorry I’m late again,” she said, setting her gym bag aside.

  “It’s okay, darling,” Lisa said. She was shocking us for the third time today and Lela for the first. Her eyes widened with a look of bewilderment on her face, but she said nothing.

  “Okay, Lela you could start with the stationary bikes over there for a little cardio,” I said to her. She nodded, still dazed by what her mum had just said. I followed her to the stationary bike.

  “I see you took my advice and told your parents about your lateness problems.”

  “Is that why my mum is completely different?” She tilted her head to the side and stared at Lisa.

  “Maybe, I don’t know,” I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Wow.”

  “Could I ask why you guys fight a lot?” I was curious about the genesis of their fight.

  “Well, I don’t know exactly what the cause was. I just know it started when I quit law school and I moved out of the house,” Lela said, turning on the bike.

  “Oh, maybe she didn’t take it well.”

  “Yeah, I guess. No one is going to fight her legal battles for free cookies now,” Lela joked. I chuckled lightly.

  “I should get back to them,” I told her.

  “You’re going to leave me? I thought you promised to stay with me at the gym last night?” she smiled. My heart skipped a beat. She had a cherubic yet flirtatious smile. Yes, she was breathtaking.

  “Well, your dad is the only one paying me, so I better check on him before those weights fall on him,” I smiled lightly at her. She grinned exposing her beautiful pearly white teeth. I walked back to where her parents were and corrected Tom’s form. Once he seemed confident with his posture, I stole another look at Lela. She was beautiful, even with a frown on her face. My heart skipped a beat as she looked my way. She waved and smiled at me before looking away.

  “I’m losing it, aren’t I?” I asked myself.

  “She’s a good girl. You should ask her out.” I jumped.

  “Wh-what?” I stammered.

  “I’ve been seeing the way you look at her. She’s single in case you’re wondering,” Lisa said with a smile, walking away from me. I rubbed my face with my hand. I never knew I had been so obvious with my staring that her mother had realized. I scolded myself lightly and continued the gym session.

  Chapter 6 - Red as Strawberries

  Mike Pearson

  It had been a week, and Lela and I had been non-stop flirting with each other, both on text and in the gym. She had asked for help more times than usual, and I would occasionally catch her staring at me a few times. I didn’t mind it at all. I was enjoying how close we were becoming.

  “Am I doing it right?” she asked me as she squatted in front of the mirror with the dumbbells in her hand. I nodded and walked over to her. She looked hot. The hairs that had fallen out of the bun were sticking to her face because she had been sweating. I still wanted to see all her hair free from the clutches of those bands.

  I found myself being drawn to her more – she was mesmerizing. Mr. Olsen called out to me, interrupting my thoughts. I tried to warn myself a few times that I was here to train clients, not ogle at them.

  * * *

  It was hard to do for the first few days, but I had perfected the art of checking her out. I did it subtly, not knowing that my brothers had caught me staring at her.

  "You know we have a no bang the client policy now," Austin said walking into the office with my brothers.

  "We do? Since when?" I had been gone from the gym for a long time that I hadn't noticed there was a rule like that. Steven couldn’t have made a rule like that without consulting me first. I was also the owner of the gym.

  "Calm down – no need to get defensive. I was joking," Austin chuckled. "But it should be a rule," Austin said, glaring at Shawn, “Most of our female clients are hungover Shawn for some reason."

  "I might lose it the next time I have to settle another catfight caused by Shawn," Steve groaned.

  "Not my fault the ladies love me," Shawn bragged.

  "Ignore Shawn. I see the way you look at your client," Austin teased.

  "I don't look at her," I tried to defend myself. It was of no use anyway because I was going against three of my brothers.

  "Sure, you don't. I'm just happy you've started seeing other women now," Steve grinned.

  "I'm not seeing anyone…yet," I added. I hadn’t asked Lela out on a proper date yet. I didn’t know how to ask her without looking like a train wreck.

  "Not yet, but it's progress from moping around every day," Steve said with a positivity in his voice I hadn’t seen in a while.

  “Hey! I wasn’t moping. I was gathering my thoughts,” I defended. They all laughed at me and walked out of the office. I stood alone in the office. The gym was right for me. All thoughts about Camilla were finally vanishing. I only had time to focus on the training of my client and sometimes their daughter. I heard a knock on the door of the office, making me turn.

  “Umm, your brothers told me you would be here. You were gone for a while, so I thought I should look for you. My mum and dad are starting to get impatient. Well, mostly my dad,” she said.

  “Oh, I told them to rest for a while. Their muscles might still be sore,” I said. She nodded and stared at me with her big blue innocent eyes. I was tempted to kiss her. Her lips were full and enticing. She looked around. The office was crowded a little with unopened boxes of a few pieces of types of equipment. Steve had procrastinated sorting the items out.

  “Is that you?” She said pointing to a frame next to a large pile of cartons. It was a picture of me wearing a football jersey that was hung on the wall.

  I nodded.

  “I’m not surprised that you played football in high school. If I were a boy, my father would have definitely made me play,” she said smiling at the photo. She moved closer to take a look at the picture.

  “Your dad loves football?”

  She nodded.

  “Sweet, we’re definitely going to bond more,” I said. I saw the cartons shake as she moved closer to them.

  “Be careful there. Those stacked boxes look unstable,” I warned her. She nodded after briefly looking at the pile, but then continued to study the picture. I came and stood next to her, my eyes on the swaying structure.

  I looked in horror as the top box began to topple from the instability of the pile.

  “Watch out!” I was quick enough to grab her as the cartons cascaded to the floor. I twisted my body to break the fall, positioning my back towards the ground so she wo
uldn’t feel the impact. She shrieked a little as we hit the ground, her hair cascading into my face as it loosened from the bun it was in. It smelt nice – a faint hint of strawberries emanating from the strands.

  “It’s okay now,” I said, trying to calm her down. She brought her head out of my chest and looked up and at me. Her eyes widened when she saw the position we were in. Our eyes were locked on each other. I pushed the hair that covered her face behind her ears.

  I could hear her breathing, and I was pretty sure she could hear how fast my heart was beating. Locked into her eyes, my hand began to move to the back of her head.

  I pulled her lips into mine, half-expecting her to pull away, but she deepened the kiss and placed her hand on my cheek. Our lips began to move in sync. She moaned as I bit her lower lip, giving me entrance into her mouth. Suddenly, we heard voices. They sounded like they were headed for the office. We broke apart immediately.

  She got on her feet quickly and left the office without taking a glance at me. I watched her go. Her lips were as soft as I had thought. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t heard voices. I wasn’t sorry for kissing her, her mouth tasted sweet. I would do it again if I was given a chance to.

  I began to pick some boxes and stack them.

  “What happened here?” Steve asked me.

  “The umm boxes fell, and Lela was giving me a hand.”

  “Is that what really happened?”

  “You should arrange this place, Steve. Someone could get hurt,” I said before leaving the office.

  I walked over to where Lela and her parents were standing. She didn’t look at me. Instead, she looked at the ground, her face bright red.

  Chapter 7 - Holding Back

  Lela Olsen

  I left the office with my hand still on my lips. I couldn’t believe that had happened. I could still feel his hot lips on mine. I was squealing like a little girl on the inside. I knew my face was redder than ruby. I walked over to my parents hoping they wouldn’t notice my face. Thoughts of the kiss flooded my mind.

  I didn’t notice him walk over to where we stood. I was too busy trying to figure out how to breathe again. He had literally taken my breath away…he was a really good kisser.

  “Umm, sorry for the long break. I was busy with something inside the office,” he cleared his throat. I could feel his eyes on me.

  “I liked the long break,” my father joked.

  “You’re so lazy, Tom,” my mother commented.

  * * *

  I remained quiet for the rest of the day. All I did was take glances at Mike. I didn’t flirt with him for the rest of the day, which was weird, and I think my mother noticed because she walked up to me.

  “I know it’s none of my business, but something happened between you two, right?” she asked. My face grew hot again. I wondered how she must have known about the kiss. I was probably too obvious.

  “What? What do you mean?” I feigned ignorance.

  “You know you can tell me, right?” my mother said.

  “There’s nothing,” I said looking away. She nodded and smiled. She mumbled something underneath her breath.

  “I’ve seen the way you look at yourselves,” my mum whispered. “I caught his eyes roaming your body a few times today.

  She was sitting on the floor beside me. We were supposed to watch my father try to do some push-ups and a light work-out. I watched Mike politely tell my father what to do. He wasn’t one of those noisy and loud personal trainers.

  “Look at who?” I feigned ignorance.

  “Him?” My mum pointed at Mike. I pulled her hand down quickly so no one would know we were talking about him.

  “Why would you do that?” I pressed.

  “I knew you knew who I was talking about. He’s really cute. I think you should go for it,” my mum advised.

  I turned my head and tilted it to look at my mum. It had been a long time since we had sat down like this without screaming at each other.

  “Are you giving me advice?” I asked her.

  “Duh, yes, I am. I see the other females looking at him here, like some snack.”

  “You look at him that way too,” I accused her.

  “Well, I cannot deny he is a snack, but I’ve seen him look at you the same way a few times, and I think you should go for it.”

  “He’s been looking at me?” I put my hand on my chest dramatically. My mum rolled her eyes at me and smiled.

  “You guys basically flirt all the time, so I know you know,” she got up when my father made a sign for her to come over and save him. I chuckled at my father and watched him panting for air like he was drowning.

  My mum walked over to him. I stared at her, surprised. We had just had a conversation. First, she called me darling, and now this. This gym was definitely a good thing. My father had made the right decision to bring us here. I wouldn’t have met Mike, and my mother wouldn’t have just spoken to me if he never brought us here. I never really liked fighting with my mum. I was slightly embarrassed that the thing that got us talking was a man that I wished to rip my clothes off for.

  I hadn’t noticed Mike had walked over to me. His legs came into my field of vision before I looked up at him. He towered over me with a smile and held out his hand to lift me. I took it and felt the calluses on his palm. Our eyes were locked on each other.

  “You know, if you keep looking at me like that, I might get the wrong message,” I flirted.

  “It’s not a wrong message if I want you to think like that, is it?” he asked me.

  I wasn’t expecting his response, so I was quiet for a while. I looked at his pink rosy lips and remembered how soft they felt. My face flushed again.

  “So, what are we going to do about this message?”

  “I have a few things in mind.” His eyes lingered down to my lips.

  “I want to know these few things. Are they things I would like?” I bit my lip. He looked down at it and smirked.

  “You would love them a lot,” he said. I opened my mouth to speak.

  “Umm, sorry to break whatever this is, but can I borrow Mike?” a voice said. We both turned to look at who the voice belonged to. It was one of Mike’s brothers, Shawn. Mike nodded and let go of my hand. He followed Shawn immediately. My mum smirked and gave me a thumbs up from where she was seated.

  I buried my face as she nodded in approval. I felt so embarrassed. I hadn’t done this before. I was being daring, bold and flirtatious – while my mum was probably watching in enjoyment at the scene unfolding before her very eyes. Heck, she’d probably pull up a seat and some popcorn if she could.

  After that day, Mike and I began flirting nonstop again. We even flirted shamelessly a few times in front of my parents.

  “Are you doing the exercise wrong on purpose so that I have to come and help you with it?”

  “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.”

  “Well, I would be glad to help out either way.” Our eyes locked onto each other and we grinned.

  “You two do something about this sexual tension already. We’re tired of this nonstop flirting,” my mum stated.

  My eyes widened at what she had just said. Mike looked away from my face to the floor immediately. My father began coughing. She’d actually said that.

  “Lisa!” he exclaimed.

  “What? Everyone is thinking the same thing.” My mum shrugged her shoulders.

  “She’s my daughter, and you cannot just say things like that,” he said. My mum rolled her eyes and walked away from my dad. My dad followed her, leaving Mike and me alone.

  “Umm, my mum says a lot of things she doesn’t mean. I’m really sorry,” I said to him.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I like her idea anyway,” he smiled.

  On impulse, I touched my lips, remembering the kiss from the other day. I could never forget that kiss. It had done things to me. My insides still melted each time I thought of what had happened. I bit my lips and saw his eyes flicker to my lips.
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br />   “Why do I feel like you do things like that on purpose?” he asked, still looking at my lips.

  “Things like what?” I said innocently. He chuckled and shook his head.

  “You’re just going to try and act innocent?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I smiled and winked.

  “You’re lucky your parents are here. That’s the only thing holding me back.” His voice became lower than normal.

  “What were you going to do if they weren’t?” I dared him. He smiled and bent down, so his lips were at my ears.