It was quite a bright day in London. Work was already waiting for Alyx. She had to return to the studio after spending a week helping her friends.
"Michi, do you want to come? You can't come," Alyx stroked Michi's head, speaking in a childish tone to her cat. "Your food is ready, and don't leave your mess just anywhere."
Michi seemed to understand what Alyx was saying. A small nod was clearly visible, making his bangs fall over his eyes.
"Ah, look at you. I think I should take you to the salon. But wait until I'm done with work. It looks like we'll be busy this week." Alyx opened the balcony door. As a male cat, Michi often crossed over to visit his mate in the neighboring flat. "I'm leaving, bye."
"Have a nice day, Miss Alexandra," Tom greeted as he saw Alyx stepping out of the lift.
Alyx responded with a wave. They were clearly used to seeing each other and even seemed quite friendly.
After a short trip, Alyx arrived at the building where she worked. She walked in without a burden.
"Good morning, boss," Katie, one of the editors at Alyx's magazine, greeted her.
"Morning, Kate. How are you?" Alyx asked while continuing to walk.
Katie nodded with a brief smile, then followed her while reporting on the office situation during Alyx's absence. "There's a meeting with Director Benjamin today at ten—"
"Who?" Alyx cut in.
"Director Benjamin. Don't you know? He's the one who made several ads for AM Magazine. You met him three months ago to discuss this," Katie tried to remind her.
"No. My memory is still sharp, and I clearly remember never meeting any director named Mr. Benjamin. But maybe he sent one of his subordinates." Alyx muttered to herself. "Then," she turned suddenly, almost causing Katie to bump into her, "shouldn't you be telling all this to the director? I'm not the leader here anymore. Where is he?"
"He's in his office," Katie pointed toward the largest room in the workspace.
AM Magazine was founded by Alyx herself, but since she didn't understand leadership matters and for several other reasons, she had appointed one of her friends as director.
"Hi, Nick," Alyx opened the door, slightly surprising her annoying friend.
"Alyx, what are you doing here?" Nick put down his phone rather roughly. "This early," he added with a mocking expression.
"Ha? Are you crazy? You're the one who asked me to come this early." Alyx sat in Nick's chair, glancing at the small clock on the desk—its short hand already pointing to eleven.
"What? I never asked you to come. You abandoned your work, and now I've finished everything myself," Nick protested instead of scolding her for being late.
"Oh, that's great," Alyx smiled, completely without guilt. "That means I can rest and go out."
"Sure. Do whatever you want. And get off my chair. It's not yours anymore since you keep disappearing—who knows where," Nick snorted, clearly annoyed.
"Really?" Alyx replied in a challenging tone.
Nick just scoffed.
"So what happened? Was that your mother earlier? Did she ask you to go back to that big house of hers?"
Nick leaned against the desk. "No. Of course not." He sighed heavily. "She's driving me crazy. If I stay there, she'll start ruining everything."
"Aren't you smarter than her?" Alyx's mind drifted back to two years ago, when Nick came to her apartment complaining about his mother forcing him to marry the daughter of his father's business partner.
The girl was quite pretty, but the problem was she didn't have anything Nick liked. And she didn't like Nick either—she said he looked like a troublemaker. So instead of continuing, he chose to leave everything behind.
"Alyx, what's wrong with you? Daydreaming again? Why do people around me love to space out?" Nick shuffled some papers on his desk. "What's this?" he said when he found his meeting schedule.
Alyx glanced at the note Katie had written. "You have to meet Mr. Benjamin."
"No. I can't this afternoon. I have to go," Nick refused quickly, shaking his head.
"Where?" Alyx raised an eyebrow.
"You know where I have to go?"
Of course Alyx knew.
*
At five in the afternoon, Alyx and Nick were already at a sports club a few blocks from her apartment. Nick had canceled his appointment for the day and rescheduled it for next week. This time, he wanted to vent all his frustration at the place he had been training at for the past five years. Alyx herself had only joined a year ago.
Yes, a year ago, Nick had asked Alyx to accompany him—just to keep him company—but instead, she ended up training in a place mostly filled with men.
Alyx and Nick had already changed clothes. Alyx wore comfortable long pants, while Nick wore shorts above the knee, like those worn by boxers. Yes, they were now in a boxing arena.
"Alyx, long time no see," one of the trainers greeted her immediately.
"Yeah, Chris," Alyx replied.
"Want to spar?" Chris asked if she wanted to fight in the ring.
"Not really. I'll just do some light training," Alyx said, showing her fatigue.
"Too bad. Someone's been wanting to fight you," Chris chuckled. "When I mentioned your name, she got really excited." He pointed to a slightly dark-skinned girl standing in the ring.
"Maybe next time," Alyx shrugged.
"Anyone wants to fight me? I feel like hitting something, Chris," Nick said, clearly itching to throw punches.
"You should warm up first, Nick," Chris reminded him.
Nick was already in the ring, while Alyx threw punches at a punching bag. She wasn't in the mood today. Very different from Nick, who looked fired up—he asked for a twelve-round match. Chris acted as referee, and his opponent was a man with a similar build. But in Alyx's eyes, Nick's muscular body looked cooler.
Alyx stopped her training and turned her attention to Nick's fight. A straight left jab landed cleanly on his opponent's face. After the jab came several straights.
And…
Alyx stopped watching and returned to her punching bag.
She was sure Nick would win.
*