Meddling

“With great penis comes great fuckability.”

“You changed my life Sooin.”

“Stupid — idiot — shit!” The 150kg bench moved up surprisingly easily. The sheer shame of recalling that scene increases your strength, with no apparent limit. You continued doing one more set of three–and a half–reps of it, before retiring the bar.

“Haaah~” a quick break was much needed. You just hit a PR there, though there was no immediate sense of accomplishment. You moved over to the cables, after cleaning your sweats off the bench of course. 

“Basic gym etiquette people, please respect that,” you thought to yourself while wiping the shape of your wet ass. Apparently, the one who used it before you didn’t care enough to clean after themselves. Fucking disgusting.

You shook the annoyance off of your head. It happens. Not all people have basic human decency. Carry on. As you grabbed the ropes to do some triceps pushdowns, the memory of that night continued.

“Okay..? Uhm, well, I am honored. That’s for sure, but I’m here just to help you forget her. Not to stay. I’m sorry,” Sooin exclaimed as she gave you the look of pity that night. Like she’s looking at a puppy that was about to be put down. You respected her for being honest, at least.

You cranked the weight to the maximum capacity. Your triceps were screaming to it, the bench earlier put quite a strain on them. Well, better physical agony than emotional misery. 

You finished up the day’s workout by doing 3 sets of 10’s, each set with max weight. The pump was glorious. Chest, arms, you probably looked like Chris Hemsworth, not that you’d care at this point. You released the pin off the weight on the machine before taking off. Still secretly annoyed to the unknown for leaving their sweatprint on the bench earlier. Basic fucking manner.

With a heavy mind you walked towards the bathroom. The soreness normally arrives the next day or two, but your head was aching so bad already, not even five minutes after the workout. “You stupid fuck, if I just be patient and think about it with my goddamn head instead of my cock then maybe Sooin wouldn’t be so disgusted,” you blamed yourself for something that might be entirely untrue, as per usual.

The self blame was only the breath of what’s to come. As you stepped your foot inside the bathroom, you’re starting to descend. 

“What did I do wrong?” is a question that will never find an answer. Your chest was starting to hurt. Sooin succeeded in helping you forget Karina, that much was true. But you, in turn, were only thinking about her now. Like ditching cigarettes to vape due to it being ‘healthier’.

Your steps weakened. It’s not because you just benched your PR, multiple times–for fuck’s sake it’s not even a leg day. Stumbling deeper into the bathroom, it’s empty. Perfect recipe for a spiral. You tried to swallow it all away, but then you saw the mirror. “Who are you?” you screamed inside your head as you felt your own face. The face of someone who has never done anything right.

Bathing had never been so uncomfortable.

You managed in the end. The loathe of the self was weakening as much as the water washed away the sweat on your body. Hopefully–at the very least, you did feel better after the brisk shower.

You didn’t stay too long in there, lest a spiraling happen again.

It’s almost midnight. The gym was almost empty, except for this one girl you spotted in the corner of your eyes once you got out of the bathroom. Then you remembered something. “Is she the one who didn’t wipe her sweats off the bench?”

As a long time gym goer, the urge to explain things to her was unfortunately a lot bigger than the desire to isolate yourself.

You treaded your steps lightly towards the currently-on-the-stairmaster girl.

“Hello,” you said, coming from her side. (Note that you should always be cautious when you approach a stranger. You can never know what they’re thinking about.)

She didn’t notice at first, focused on managing the tempo of her breaths. So you decided to just wait until she’s finished her workout.

.

.

.

“What are you doing? You’ve been ogling me for the last 15 minutes. Kindly explain yourself before I call the authorities,” she interrogated you right after the machine turned off. Her voice was calm, but you could feel that it's filled with malice. Which, to be fair, you were the only person in there aside from herself. Creep.

Extending your palms that were facing her was the only option you have. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to bother you with the workout, so I just waited. Sorry again,”

She’s not relaxing, instead she inched closer with her menacing aura. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Holy shit she’s pretty. ‘NO!’ You internally shook your head.

“Okay, sorry. It’s just, I wanna make sure before anything, were you the one who used the bench before? If so, then would you please, with great urgency, clean it after use? That goes for everything in the gym actually. That is all. Again, sorry for being rude, and sorry if I accuse-”

“-yes. What are you gonna do about it?” 

The abrupt cut off left you in silence for a second or two. Is she serious? Here you are trying your best to sound polite and respectful, only to get brushed off like that.

“If that’s all then would you please excuse me? I need to get going,” she said as she walked past. You were NOT gonna let her pass.

“Sorry, miss,” you grabbed her hands right when she’s by your shoulder. 

She looked reluctant to stop before turning her body around. Then you realized something, this woman looked like she descended straight from the heavenly realm to grace the mortals with her godly presence. Her looks scream danger, but you couldn’t help yourself to not stare from such a close distance. 

“Get your fucking hands off.”

It was only when you heard that ice cold voice of hers that you let her wrist go. She looked offended. Her eyes expressed herself louder than her words. The eyes of someone thinking about everything but benevolence. You were too deep to give up now.

“Respectfully, I will not let such things pass,” God you sounded like a literal Karen.

To your absolute surprise what she did next was to slap your face so hard that you had to lean to your side to lessen the impact. She hit you way harder than Sooin did.

“And I will not let you touch me again,” she brought herself closer to your wincing face below. Only after you opened your eyes did she finally leave you behind.

She’s heading towards the bathroom–needless to say, it’s separated by gender. You catched a glimpse of her turning her body around before entering. “Oh, and my name is Anna,”

You lost the battle.

“So how was it?” Gawon asks with an enthusiasm of a cat hearing their owner opening a can of tuna.

Your gaze is fixed onto the ceiling. Drool almost leaks from the corner of your lips, fortunately the woman beside you nudges your shoulder before it happens. “Huh?”

She raises both her eyebrows in curiosity. “Sooin! Tell me about her!”

“Oh, yeah, uhh, I don’t know.”

“Oh c'mon! There’s gotta be more than that. Have you guys been in contact? It’s been a week! She’s really great(in bed), right?!!" Gawon drags the chair she’s sitting on by her sheer nosy energy–and her long legs, it helps. Gotta give her credits for that.

“Gawon, I just, I don’t know, really. I confessed to her and she said-”

“YOU CONFESSED?!” the whole office briefly turns head towards the source of the sound. She duly apologizes.

Now in a much quieter voice. “Are you serious?!”

If you could fold your face and file it into the desk container beside you, you would. Gawon is the type to never let go. “It was in the heat of the moment okay?! Jeez, and it was your words too that inspired me. Fuckin “sex so good- yada yada” don’t you dare laugh!”