SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER 2
As I pull up in front of the gym Chin’s Palace, I looked over to Violet seeing that she was still very unhappy about this. I really hope that this will work. When we got to the door, Mr. Chin was already waiting. As I looked at him, he was quite tall, well taller than what I pictured him to be, and not as old as I thought he will be. He had broad shoulders and the black shirt that he had on left little to the imagination. Well, let’s just say he’s very well built. Cleaned shaved and his hair was cut short, but there was something odd about him. As soon as I got near him; I felt this kind of power radiant from him and his eyes they were a vibrant green. I have never seen eyes like that before. It was almost mesmerizing.
“Good day. You must be Scarlet.” He said, holding his hand out to me. “Yes, and this is my daughter, Violet.” I said while shaking his hand and Violet just nodded to him. “Nice to meet you. Please come in and let’s start the training.” He took a step back, letting us through. “You can take a seat over there on the benches; we first need to talk about what Martial arts are and what you can expect.”
As we walked in, I could not help but to stare at everything. It was quite beautiful. There was wood column’s going up against the walls and wooden beams decorated the roof, the floors were a dark wood floor and there were scrolls hanging against the wall on either side of the front door, with writing on them, which I guess is Chinese and at the far end of the room there was a Dragon painted with red and gold. On the left wall there were benches and on the right wall it had wooden sticks and swords arranged on it. The place was enormous, with workout machinery on one side and more than sufficient space for at least two hundred people.
“So...” He clapped his hands together, probably to get our attention. “The training will consist of the basics forms, hand to hand combat and weapons. The basic training will be made up of rudimentary techniques, conditioning exercises, including stances, stretching and meditation, striking, throwing and jumping. For the next 3 months, we will do only the basic training before we go over to the rest. With that said, why don’t you ladies go in the door on your left, that is the Ladies’ room and get change to start.” Wow, I guess no questions asked, I thought to myself as we left into the change rooms and changed into our workout outfits. I wore black tights with a black workout bra and a pink spaghetti strap top. My hair’s braided, so it will stay out of my face. Violet just had her black tights on with a shocking pink workout bra with a high up ponytail, not shy about her body at all. Shaking my head, we left the room and were ready to start.
“Right Ladies, we are going to do a sort of mediation by movement of our bodies using all the muscles in our bodies. So you are going to clear your mind of any thoughts and just mimic what I am doing, well concentrating on you breathing.” As we started doing what he is doing, it kind of felt like we are doing Yoga, but who am I to argue? I look at Violet and saw that she was actually enjoying this. She... looks almost relaxed, which was a good thing. Shutting her mind off for a little while can only be positive for her. “Scarlett... stop thinking about everything clear your mind, feel your muscles move, feel how you breathe in and out, feel the life force inside of you and just let go” This is a lot of feeling how am I not supposed to think, it’s crazy, but doing as he said and mimicking all of his movements, I felt like I was relaxing and just let the outside world be for now. After an hour of doing the training, we bowed to each other gracefully and finally took a slight break. He allowed us to have some water, which I was grateful for.
“Now that we have trained internally, we need to train externally as well, so we are going to workout with the equipment on my right so that we can strengthen the muscles.” So we started on the treadmills running for about twenty minutes, we went over to the Ab crunch machine. To my surprise, my ten-year-old daughter was more fit than what I was, a showoff. Then we went to the Leg press machine and so many others. After an hour and a half, it was safe to say that I felt dead. Every muscle in my body was tired, including my mind. I don’t even know how I got us home, but I did. I actually slept for a good 5 hours before the nightmares started. Those nightmares, I wonder if things will ever get better….
As I was getting up so that I can get ready for the day, my body felt like a train… no scratch that… the train missed me the whole train station fell on my body. I was hurting in places that I didn’t even know I had places. I did not know how I was going to get through the day with my body being so sore. As I finally got dress and went down the stairs, I was surprise in seeing Violet already prepared the table with breakfast and made me coffee. It shocked me. She looked totally fine. “Morning, mamma, did you sleep well?” “Morning baby, yes thank you, better than before. You ready for school?” “Yes, mamma and I want to apologize for the way I acted the weekend. I enjoyed the classes.” “Its fine baby...don’t worry about it as long as it is helping you. I am happy.” With that, I kissed her on the head and went straight for the coffee. I am going to need a few cups of this to get through the day.
As the days went on and the training advanced I notice that I also felt better, stronger and even on the inside I felt stronger like I was getting in touch with my inner self, there was this light and it just made me feel I could take on anything the world threw at me. Even Violet changed a lot. She had more energy and was a lot less angry at everything. The one night we were sitting in the living room watching an action movie when she just started crying and as I was watching her I let out a few tears of my own. I hold her tight as this was the first time since the funeral that I saw her cry, letting everything out. Just there and then I decided it was time to move on. We needed to get a new house in the city and start a new life, not forgetting the promise I made myself. I still wanted to know what happen that night and I will find out.
The next day I looked on the internet for a new place and I saw a piece of land with the most beautiful trees on it and I knew that is where we need to live. I got hold of the agent selling the land and got everything moving. After the sale was done, I got hold of an architect and started the design of the house. I wanted nothing too big, a four-bedroom house with a small library, open living space, a gigantic kitchen and a swimming pool. I kept this a secret, as I want to surprise Violet. Luckily, a week before Violet’s eleventh birthday, the house was completed, and I got my best friend to help me decorate it as she was an interior designer. The place looked amazing, and I was excited to show Violet, but needed to wait, because it will be a birthday surprise.
On the day of her birthday, luckily she had school, so I had enough time to do everything I had to. Packing our clothes and some personal things that will be moved to the new house I came across a small box mark treasures, I open it and found a few photos of her father and of all of us together and with that his favorite tie, body spray, shirt and his favorite cd. Before I knew tears started streaming down my cheeks and falling on some pictures. I missed him so much, his touch, how he used to kiss me so passionately, as if I was his lifeline. The way he holds me and looks at me. The way his hair felt in my hand and the way his body fitted perfectly with mine, as if we were made just for each other.
Suddenly, I was pulled out of my thought when the doorbell rang. It was the secondhand store owner that was coming to fetch all the furniture as the new house was newly furnished. With that done, I put the last of our belongings in my car and drove off to fetch Violet at school. As she got into the car, she looked at the back and again at me while frowning. “Mom, why is our stuff in the back of the car?” “It’s a surprise, Princess.” Is all that I said as I drove to the new house. When we stop in front of a large black gate, I saw Violet getting even more confused, but I pulled out the remote for the gate and pressed the button for the gate to open and as it open it was like a light bulb going on in her head. “Mom....” “Yes princess.” “Is this… are we…” “Yes, this is our new home baby.” “Mom, it is beautiful.”
And it was beautiful. The garden was like an Eden by itself, with gigantic trees and wildflowers everywhere. There was a fountain in the middle of the garden with a hammock on the left between the trees. It just felt peaceful with all the birds singing their beautiful songs, making their nest in the trees. Our little paradise... When we walk into the house, we were greeted with a grand entrance two staircases opposite each other that lead to the second floor and in the middle hang a big crystal chandelier. On the left there was a formal living room and on your right there were two French doors leading into the library. The library was painted dark grey, as you come in, the widows were from ceiling to floor and in front of them was my desk, the left side was cover in dark wooded shelves full of books and on the right side there was a beautiful fireplace with black tile at the bottom and a dark wood mantle and above it was a painting of Violet, me and her father. In front of the fireplace was n big white couch where you can sink into with a book. I know it will become my hideout. As you walk in between the staircases through the door, you come to the open living space, on the left is the Television room and on the right a dining room and in front is my big kitchen with all the latest equipment and the French doors leading to the swimming pool area.
On the second floor, there are four bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms. The corridor was painted white and decorated with all our favorite photos. The room on the left at the back is Violet’s room. As you walk into the room, it’s painted with a soft purple color, which is her favorite color. And against the back wall there is a double bed with purple and white bedding with silver bedside tables and her vanity table on the right wall. Enormous windows with her desk in front. To the left side of the room, there were two doors. One leading into the walking closet and the other into the bathroom with a spa shower and bathtub and it was tiled from floor to roof in a lite gray tile. To the right side of the corridor at the back was my room. It was painted with a stormy grey color. On the right was my king-size bed with black and silver bedding with my dark wood bedside tables, and to the right side of my bed were enormous windows with my vanity table. To the left were two doors, the one my walking closet and the other one my bathroom. All the bathrooms in the house look the same.
As we offload the car, Violet was literally jumping up and down, excited to be in her new home. We will always cherish our old memories, but this will be home, new beginnings, and fresh memories.