Hargeon was blazing with the sun high above everyone. It was a particularly hotter day and Eva noticed that a lot of people just stayed inside. Except for the Hargeon docks, everywhere else was almost empty. The market too found very little customers that day and a few shops were even closed for the day. And, in this difficult weather, Evangeline was out and about. The sun was no merciful to her either. Eva could feel the sweat running down her face and back. She had a piece of paper in one of her hands while the other tried to wipe the sweat away. She could just curse herself for not listening to the weather forecast for the day before accepting a job request.

“Oooh you’re here!” she heard a more than enthusiastic voice behind her. Jay Holiday was known for his intense workouts and extreme weight lifting. During the time of his competitions he gets so worked up that most just avoided him. In the end, the man had to write up a request for someone to be his spotter for the day. But, despite his previous enthusiasm, Jay was staring Eva down with a thoughtful look. “How are you going to be my spotter with those tiny hands?” he voiced his concern, too, but didn’t notice the vein that popped over Eva’s head. This was not anything new for her, after all. Most of the people she meets during her missions ask the same thing. It had yet to stop her from doing what she wanted.

She smiled one of her brightest smiles in return. “Don’t worry, Jay-san. I will do fine,” she reassured the still suspicious man. “Well, if you are so sure about yourself. But be careful, I lift some really heavy weights and if you aren’t careful, you could get hurt, or worse, I could get hurt!” he exaggerated a bit with his hands wrapping around himself. ‘How amusing,’ Eva thought with her friendly smile still on her lips.

Inside the gym, Eva quickly put her white bag down. It cost a ton and the last thing she wanted was to get it dirty. She chose some of her least favorite clothes for the day, too. She had a very plain white shirt that had ripped sleeves rolled up to her shoulder and a pair of grey jeans, complete with some black boots that was her only favorite thing in the whole outfit. Jay, she noticed, had gotten ready before she arrived. The man must have gone jogging all around the beach because he was sweaty and she could see sand on his uncovered feet.

“Alright,” Jay began by getting her attention with a clap of his hands. “I’m going to do two sets with eight reps each. Do you understand what I’m talking about?” he asked Eva as if he was explaining the alphabets to a child. Eva had to stop herself from killing the man in her head. “Of course I do, Jay-san,” she simply nodded.

“Let’s begin, then” Jay moved to the machine while Eva swept all of her hair back and tied it up in a ponytail. She hovered above Jay as he lied down on the seat. He wasn’t joking when he said he lifted some heavy weights. She could tell just by looking that they weighed more than what she could lift on her own. He began with a lot of energy, doing about three reps easily before Eva had to interfere and lightly keep her hands under the weights. His muscles were amazing and for a moment, Eva couldn’t take her eyes off of them.

“Like what you see, mon Cherie?” he flashed a smile that instantly jolted Eva awake from her momentary trance. She chuckled although her inner self was flaring and shook her head. “You really are wonderful, Jay-san!” she had to keep up the act now. “But don’t slack off, you should keep your arms straight,” she grew more serious as Jay neared the end of his first set. She could see that he visibly paled at the end. It wasn’t because he couldn’t do it. She sensed that he had some sort of emotional feelings about the last rep. In these times Eva had to increase her pressure over the weight and help him by pulling the weight with him.

At the end of the first set, he added more weight while Eva rubbed her arms. It had been a long time since Eva did something strenuous like this and the burn of her arms proved that she needed to work out more. “Alright, this is the last set. The last rep can be difficult on this one. Be careful,” Jay got back in his position, giving Eva instructions to keep her hands under the weights. She realized soon enough that with each rep, Jay was starting to lose his form. She had to help him with every single rep after the fifth one. During the last one, she could easily see that Jay was at the end of his wits. There were no flashy smiles or over the top gestures. But consequently, Eva had to increase her share of the work, almost doing the lifting for him in some of the reps until the last rep where Jay lifted the weights with a groan. Eva had to grab it with more strength than before because she had to lift it over and place it back in its primary position.

Jay was already tired, his breathing fast and irregular. Eva was fine except for the small pain in her arms but she was sweating more than she did earlier that morning. Her hair was a complete mess and she noticed that the rolled up sleeves have come down a bit. “You did great, little girl!” Jay praised Eva, having caught his breath finally. “Here’s your reward. Maybe you can help me again later during my other competitions”. Eva smiled but said nothing as she took the rewards. ‘Never again!’.

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