NovelEnglishChapter 0112
Hannah
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y eyes
| groaned as the shrill beeping of my alarm clock pierced through my dreams. When | cracked my open against
the harsh sound, | was met with a dark room-not even the sun had cup yet.
For a moment, | considered hitting the snooze button and curling back up under the soft blankets, convincing
myself it had just been a mistake and that I still had tto sleep.
But then the memory of the previous night ccrashing back.
Noah wantedup before the sun even rose, dressed and ready in the hgym for our first ‘training’ session-
whatever the hell that entailed. The mere thought of having to spend extra twith him outside of what was
strictly necessary for competition preparations madewant to pull the covers back over my head and
hibernate.
But, it needed to be done if we wanted to host the Lunar Festival.
With a resigned sigh, | forced myself to sit up, throwing the covers back and swinging my legs over the edge of
the bed. At least the morning sickness that had been plaguinglately seemed to have taken the day off, or
maybe it was too early yet to start feeling it.
Twenty minutes later, after brushing my teeth and getting ready, | was making my way down the curved
staircase to the first floor. | had my hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and athletic wear that | hadn't used in
ages hugging every curve of my body.
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The sounds of grunts and thuds echoed out from the direction of the gym, and I realized with a start that Noah
must have already arrived and started his warm-up. Of course he had; he was always an early bird. More than
once | had heard complaints from his team for making meetings at the crack of dawn, but | had to admit that |
sort of admired that about him. Even if it maderoll my eyes.
| rounded the corner, my fingers tightening around the end of my ponytail, and promptly froze in the entryway.
There was Noah, bent at the waist as he gripped the end of a cable weight, his biceps bulging intensely with
each rep of his rowing exercise. A sheen of sweat coated his bare torso, plastering strands of his tousled hair to
his forehead...
And | couldn't help but stare and drink in the delicious sight of him.
He was irresistibly hot like this. In fact, the thought of having to spend any amount of tin close proximity
with him while he looked like that was nearly enough to maketurn on my heel and storm right back out of
there. | could feign sickness, | figured; he would be p***ed, but he wouldn't forceout of my room.
But unfortunately, it was already too late. Noah's gaze flicked up before | had a chance to slip away, locking onto
wipe the sweat from his brow.
“You're late,” he said simply, his voice gruff-although whether from sleep or exertion, | couldn’t be entirely sure.
| bristled at his brusque tone, instantly feeling my earlier desire fade away. “It’s five in the morning. You
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Chapter 0112
should be glad I'm even here right now.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me, but didn’t argue further. Instead, he jerked his chin towards the mats that were
waiting at the center of the gym. “We'll start with swarm-up stretches, then move into light carand
calisthenics before we get into the real training.”
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, | strode over to the mats, already dreading whatever Noah had planned for
the morning. We settled onto the floor, facing each other, and began our routine of stretches and toe- touches.
To my surprise, Noah seemed to be taking it relatively easy on me-none of the punishing exercises or borderline-
sadistic regimens that he usually put himself through in order to achieve his own sculpted physique.
But, it seemed as though my peace was short-lived. Because once we had worked up a decent sweat, Noah
called for a break and reached into a tote bag | hadn't noticed before, pulling out... a length of rope?
| couldn’t help but smirk. “Noah, | didn’t know you were into the kinky stuff.”
Noah rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. “It’s not like that. It's in preparation for one of the game
challenges,” he explained, looping one end of the rope around his right ankle before tossing the remaining half
towardswith an expectant look on his face.
| caught them and shot him an incredulous look. “You want to tie our legs together?”
He shrugged. “It’s a classic couples game. We'll have to race to the end of the mat, turn around, then race back
while supporting each other's weight and maintaining our balance.”
The skeptical look must have been evident on my face, because Noah's expression hardened slightly.
“Just trustand do it, Hannah.”
Muttering under my breath, | bent down and secured the rope around my left ankle, leaving no slack between us
so that my left leg and his right leg were pressed together. We rose to our feet, and Noah looped his arm around
my waist.
It was a gesture that would have madeblush, had not known that it was just for support. | did the same,
trying to ignore the hard planes of his bare waist beneath my fingers.
“Okay, ready?” Noah asked once we were steadied. At my hesitant nod, he turned us towards the far end of the
mat. “Three... two... one... Go!”
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We lurched forward, our tethered legs stumbling and hopping clumsily in an attempt to propel us across the mat.
| grunted, focusing all my effort on keeping my movements synchronized with Noah's, but it was useless. We
careened towards the end, completely out of rhythm, and ended up crashing into the padded wall with a dull
thud.
“Dammit!” Noah fumed, gritting his teeth. “You need to move with me, Hannah! We'll never win like this if we
can’t get our rhythm right,”
| bristled, placing one hand on my hip. “Well, maybe if you didn’t have such... ridiculously long legs that you
clearly can’t control, this would be easier!”
“Oh, that’s real rich coming from you! You're short enough to be a child!”
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Chapter 0112
We were practically chest-to-chest now, our faces reddening with frustration and anger as we hurled insults at
each other. We were so caught up in our bickering, in fact, that neither of us noticed as we began to lose our
balance, teetering precariously-
until, with a startled yelp, we went crashing toward the mat in a tangle of flailing limbs. | gasped as the wind was
knocked out of me, my back slamming against the floor with a solid thwack.
Not even moments later, Noah's weight cslamming down on top of me.
“Noah, watch out-“I began, but it was too late. He was already falling with no way of catching himself in time.
| cried out in pain as his shoulder connected with my outstretched wrist.
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