The Fated Match

Weak

That’s what I was yesterday. I completely let my guard down and showed everyone how weak I was.

I hate that one man’s existence could even do that to me.

I hated that Theo even saw me like that. I was managing well staying away from him but apparently, he had to just come and see me I’m my worst state.

It felt weird to see my mom dressed in my clothes as she cooked a meal for me. She hasn’t left my side since they called her and told her what happened.

” I called your work they want you to just write up this week training or something” my brother said walking into the room.

I felt completely blessed to have them here, but I hated that I was so weak.

I really didn’t want to take time off work because the students needed me but at the same time, I had to take care of myself and make sure that my family are safe.

I really didn’t understand what my dad wanted with me even though he said he didn’t care about my mum. But that’s the truth I would feel horrible if my dad wrote to her my mum again.

” where is she” I heard my stepdads voice boom from the hallway.

Mum visibly tensed up after hearing the strong voice of her ex. My mum was always a private person she kept all everything to herself, so I wasn’t sure what was going through her mind this moment.

He didn’t waste any time as he ran over to me kneeling and taking my hands and his large ones.

“Just say the words princess and I’ll make sure he doesn’t see the light of day”

“Jai, don’t be ridiculous” my mom said walking over.

She placed a cup of tea down for my dad he smiled at her.

“No, what is ridiculous is that this monster of an ex of yours is still to this day messing with you and Elle and I have to stand back and watch what happens when I could have him rotting in jail for what he did” Mom seemed to be taking back by his response.

It’s not very day when he lets his temper go. When we all lived together, he rarely raised his voice.

Not just because he was scared of bringing back bad memories of my father but because he never really understood the need to yell.

He’s a lawyer. He can spit fire without going beyond.

” and have your license stripped no thank you” mum said continuing to cook.

Dad just rolled his eyes.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand why these two split up.

” what does he even want?” Mom said as she finally sat back down.

” Money, what else?” Dad said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

” but I don’t have any money” mom said.

Dad breathed in and looked over at me.

“But she does. Think about it you’ve been in the news with your students. Let’s not be stupid here it’s obvious you’re making good money and he wants it”

Was he right?

” well he’s not going anywhere near my daughter ” mum said simply.

” he will try” I said to them.

It was stupid for me to believe that he would stay away. Not a chance.

“No, not a chance in hell Elle. Look what happened yesterday you completely broke down after seeing him” Jai said as he walked with me.

I suggested that maybe I should personally reach out to him then maybe I could figure out what he wanted and then he would leave me alone.

As you can see that didn’t go down very well.

“That’s because I never expected him to be there, I haven’t seen him since I was a child of course I’m going to act like that” I said.

Jai had to stop and sit down.

“he’s my father Jai”

His head snapped to me, “I know he is by blood but he doesn’t deserve you or your mother with what he has done or rather what he hasn’t” Jai has always been strong, he had to be being a lawyer but right now this is the weakest I’ve seen him.

“If you’re so hell bent on seeing him, you’ll have to go with someone. Its either me, your brother or that boyfriend of yours”

Theo.

“bringing her ex-boyfriend to see her dad, I think not” my brother said as leant up against the wall.

I didn’t even have to tell him, he figured it out all on his own.

“your ex?”

Great.

“his son basically told me to stay away what else am I going to do” I shrugged. Only to have them both look at each other, shaking their heads.

“you’re an idiot ” my brother said earning a smack from jai even though he wasn’t coming to my defence.

Brilliant.

“your brother is right, no doubt losing you was devastating for him”

Thinking about it now, nobody has agreed with me at all. But I knew I made a mistake, but he had to go and show me that he could move on as quickly. Obviously, I am thankful for him being there for me yesterday but he still hurt me.

“You hated Jai the first month, I didn’t end it because we loved each other” Mom said now going to the other side. Thanks mom.

“I didn’t hate him” I said only for all of them to laugh.

Jai chuckled “didn’t you spill your hot chocolate over my laptop by accident” he grinned.

Oh shit, I did do that actually.

This was the first man to step in my house after my own father, so I was a little hostile to say the least.

“it doesn’t matter, he moved on quickly I wasn’t anything special to him clearly”

Mom tapped my shoulder. “Your grandfather would smack you silly for saying that. Aren’t you guys destined or something”

Destiny. Is she having a laugh?

“I thought you didn’t believe in that” Jai said looking at mom with a raised eyebrow.

She shrugged “cant I change my mind”

“does that mean you can change your mind about us”

This had both me and my brother choking on our own spit. Jai has got balls to even try that with my mom. She is the definition of an ice queen 100 %.

“don’t start Jaison” she said her mood dropping.

Will she ever tell me why?

He shrugged “worth a shot” one thing that was clear though, it was my mom’s decision rather than a collective decision. But why.

After some back and forth chat Jai was satisfied with having someone by my side when I met up with my father.

William would be the perfect candidate. If I had my dad or my brother, it might just end in disaster but with an outsider it could work.

I finally was able to get out of the house when everyone left. It was 2 in the morning when they finally were satisfied that I was okay.

I grabbed my bag and headed to the sports centre. I was in desperate need for a swim.

Ryan notified security so that they wouldn’t be alerted for an intruder.

After arriving I stripped down to my swim wear and dived into the pool. Immediately I relished in the feeling of the water against my skin. I lost count of the number of laps I did without stopping. My stamina was always strong.

By the time I was exhausted it had already been 40 minutes. I pushed myself out of the pool and headed for the showers. I could already feel my mind clearing up which I was thankful for.

I enjoyed a long relaxing shower before heading out. Ryan said that I could take as much time off as I want but we both know that I shouldn’t.

I barely made it out when I heard someone else.

It was still early; nobody should be here.

I was surprised to see none other than Bryony. She saw me and stopped walking.

“what are you doing here so early” I said crossing my arms.

What I didn’t expect was for her to turn away and carry on walking.

“wait bryony” I grabbed onto her arm only for her to rip her hand out from my hold.

“what coach!” She snapped at me.

I was lost for words. Only now did I realise that she didn’t look well. Her usual blonde hair was up in a messy bun. She wore baggy sweats with her sports bra.

“what’s wrong?” she laughed.

“don’t worry about me coach” she started walking off but I wasn’t going to let that just happen.

I ran up Infront of her. “look I’m sorry I haven’t been around but I told you if you needed anything” she held her hand up.

“just don’t” she snapped leaving me to just stand there in silence.

I knew that I would be making it worse if I bothered her anymore.

I decided against going home so I just stayed in my office until the 6am when everyone started coming in.

I had my head resting on the table when I heard the sound of a very large bang.

Finally looking around I saw Scott looking scared as he had his foot inside my office.

“bryony could you be any quieter” he scolded bryony who just shrugged in the hallway.

“it’s training time, I’m doing her a favour”

What the fuck is going on.

I grabbed my phone and headed out. Sooner or later she is going to have to speak to me.

Scott groaned from behind me but followed me in.

“I apologise for being off for the last two days but I’m back so let’s get started shall we” I clapped my hands together.

I think a lot of them were surprised at my surprisingly excited attitude.

Scott knew better than the rest of them as he practically pushed everyone into the pool.

” Scott, Bryony, Jenny and Benjamin line up, you’re competing next week so you need to be prepared” I blew my whistle and pointed to the other end of the pool.

” I don’t think I need to show you, I’m fine” Bryony said crossing her arms.

I sighed, why does she have to make this so darn difficult for me.

“what’s your problem exactly, come on lets hash it out because you’re wasting my time here”

I held my smile seeing Scott look up to the ceiling.

“My issue is that you took days off without letting us know. Everyone acting like you could break any second, and for what because you don’t have some fancy footballer begging for your attention”

I wondered where this Bryony had gone to. Haven’t seen her in a while.

“you broke up” Jenny was the one asking this.

Bryony laughed “you didn’t know? Have you been living under a rock?”

“I needed you when my tests came through and what were you doing crying over Theo” she rolled her eyes.

So, this was what it was all about. The fact that I wasn’t at her front door when her tests came through.

“wasn’t Hannah supposed to be dealing with that?” Melissa said and coincidently Hannah walked through the doors at that exact second.

what concerned me was the look on her face. She looked lie she was out of breath like she had just ran here.

“I just got a call from security, he’s here”

Chatter erupted. My mind was racing as I understood the level of concern.

Not here, not in my work with these students.

“Elle you can’t just go to him what if he” I glared at her when I knew that people were listening in as she ran after me.

When I made it out, I saw my father being restrained by security. He was struggling and trying to break out of their hold, but they were too strong for him.

“you cant come here to my work, just leave and stop embarrassing me” I said coming close to him.

“I wouldn’t have to if you just gave me a chance” he said angrily.

I flinched back when he shook his head as he tried to get out of the hands of security.

An arm found its way around my waist suddenly bringing me back.

“easy easy” I instantly recognised the voice of Theo.

“FINE!, you can speak to me tomorrow but don’t expect much” I said to him.

Instantly he stopped fighting and a smile made its way onto his face.

“I knew you would be understanding” he smiled at me. I felt Theo’s arms tighten around me.

“Now leave before we call the police” Theo spoke his tone appearing extremely angry.

I could feel his anger radiate form his body.

The security slowly guided him out leaving me to stare at his back. Theo knew exactly what to do as he held me tightly against him. I became weak in his arms.

“I got you Elle its okay” he rubbed my arms.

When I turned back around I instantly locked eyes with bryony who stared at me with confusion.

“get back to training, all of you” Ryan pushed the students into the room leaving me out here with Tina and Theo.

Tina came to my side. “I hate that you see me like this” I said standing up on my own without the support from Theo.

Theo looked on confused “like what?”

I glanced at them both.

“weak”