"You're late! " He stated.
His words were all that expressed his disappointment, his face hardly betraying. Not that it bothered him much, for he really had worked hard to maintain his facade.
" Only by five minutes. " She countered casually .
Her sass and carefree attitude were on display, it wasn't really a big deal for her. Not yet.
Rose-badass-Hathaway never minded being late, unless her best friend, Lissa or, donuts were concerned.
" So comrade, what do we have for today ? " She asked jovially, hoping that he'd mention sparring for once.
The aforementioned 'comrade ' got up from the gym floor to put his book away, it was then that Rose noticed something in his expression, longing, she guessed, but it was gone as soon as it had come.
Dimitri was exceptionally good at maintaining his guardian mask, he always appeared to be emotionless, a blank slate.
Rose, was his to-be guarding partner for Lissa and currently he was mentoring her, to help her catch up with all the training that she had missed.
Their training had been going on for a little over two weeks now, and not once had Rose seen him lower his guard.
Him rolling his eyes at her antiques were the only indication that he heard her. And even those were occasional occurances.
It was all that he ever expressed.
Rose even knew very little about him, it could be summed up in a line:
Dimitri Belikov, Lissa's official guardian, from Russia, was solely interested in his duty, training and his books
"We will begin with laps. "He answered breaking her reverie.
She hoped to see a bit of irritation or unwillingness on his part, since she knew that he had already completed his training for the morning and was simply going through motions to accompany her, but, yet again he surprised her, appearing calm and patient as ever. Not a trace of the negative emotions that Rose had been expecting from him.
When done with all of the laps, she finally gathered her courage, caught up with Dimitri and questioned ,
"Comrade, how come your mask never slips?"
Dimitri had first been hesitant about opening up about his past to the curious girl standing in front of him.
He knew all about her, pranks, past, present and all, but he hardly knew her, yet the seriousness and curiosity evident in her words caused him to tell her about his strict mentor Galina and her rigorous training, he mentioned about all that she had taught him, be it the values or importance of his duty, besides helping him master contol over his expressions .
And it was after this that he realized that it was way too easy to talk to her. He could almost find himself relieved after having opened up to her. Something about her non-judgemental attitude set him at ease and calmed him.
"You can be your self around me, can't you?" Rose commented, after having received her answer.
The genuineness of her care towards him, left a positive impact on his mind, she was aware of nothing but the very base details about him, he was more of a stranger to her than she was to him.
In that moment, truly hoped that he wouldn't have to regret trusting her. After Ivan's death opening up to anyone had been hard for him, but here he was again walking on thin ice, and if she betrayed his trust, he probably wouldn't ever be able to completely trust another soul.
Looking at Dimitris face, Rose noticed something change in his eyes, it appeared as if they had become a shade darker. Without replying Dimitri sped away, he didn't speak a word, until after completing the laps.
"Here. " He said handing her a bottle of water as they sat down on the benches beside the tracks.
She was wondering if she had offended him, hearing from him again, she was glad, but continued to mask her relief by putting on her tone of false bravado.
"What's next? " She asked, once again hoping that he would mention about sparring.
"Weights",He replied, to her great disappointment.
"Not Again! Why not spar? " She whined, her puppy dog eyes on display, trying to convince her mentor, but to no avail.
"You need to build up your strength and stamina, off you go." He stated before moving on to continue with his own training.
While she was left with no other option, than to carry out his instructions, for his words and actions had left no opportunities for further discussions.
RPOV
I had only completed my weights and was heading towards my gym bag when, I instinctively ducked, only to notice that I had just saved myself from being punched by Dimitri, his attacks continued, another punch, a jab,a kick, a combination of swift triple punches followed by an uppercut, two successive kicks, on and on he continued.
He was giving me a hard time, defending myself, I was looking for a chink in his armour, an opening to attack , but with no luck. He was completely on the attack mode and I , on the defence, fairly holding my own for quite a while despite the fact that my hits didn't even seem to waver him, he remained unfazed.
It was when I noticed a slight curl of his lips, the ghost of a smile forming on his face, something resembling pride, in his eyes, a moment of distraction that he pinned me down, a smile appeared and disappeared at the same moment. That damned guardian mask of his !
'He looks adorable with that killer smile of his.' Supplied my mindnot helping my current situation .
Seizing the golden opportunity, I quipped,
"Was that a smile comrade? Or my imagination?
You should smile more often, it suits you." I offered speaking my mind.
He didn't reply just stared at me for a second, before getting up and heading for his gym bag.
I followed him and asked, "So how did I do today?"
Willing to coax a reply or probably a word or two from him.He had been quiet for a long time now , making me wonder if it was healthy to lock all emotions inside, all the time?
"You have improved but you still need to work on your technique. "
It was all he said before resuming his job, I nodded considering his words, but his words were too limited and tone too clipped, I wanted to hear more, so I continued, "Is that all, nothing more to add?".
"No." He replied, calmly.
"Are you sure?" I enquired and he simply nodded.
"100% kind of sure? firmly sure?",I added , testing his patience.
"What do you mean to say Rose?" He asked turning around, sounding irritated.
Irritation was an emotion, as good as any, I was glad that I had broken through his wall.
'One for Rose and zero for Dimitri' I thought cheerfully.
"Words like good and well done wouldn't be bad you know." I answered cheekily.
"You'll be late for class if you do not hurry", he said in his preachy tone, but something had changed and I could almost sense it.
With an exaggerately frustrated and exasperated sigh I turned around and headed for the shower only to remember that I had forgotten my gym bag on the floor on the other side of the gym, thus turned around just in time to find Dimitri standing at the same place staring at the ground with a big smile gracing his features.
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Here goes the first chapter,if you liked it ,please let me know,constructive criticism and suggestion are welcomed.
Note: all the characters belong to Richelle Mead.
Have a great time.
-Katnipsc:)
