Practice had just ended. The sun was beginning to set behind the windows.
"That's it for today, Miria," Asher said. "You can go rest. Come down a little later for dinner, okay?"
Out of breath, her face beaded with sweat, Miria simply nodded. She climbed the stairs in silence, feeling both physical fatigue and a strange weight on her chest. Once in her room, she slipped into the bathroom, shed her soaked clothes, and took a quick bath.
Once clean, dressed in loose pants and a light t-shirt, she was about to go downstairs when her gaze fell on her phone. The lit screen displayed several missed calls and unread messages. Marlie. Ray.
She stood there for a moment. Her thumb hesitated. She finally opened the messages:
> "Where are you? We haven't seen you for two days."
"Are you okay? Can you at least answer?"
"Call me when you can. I'm worried."
She sighed deeply, her heart clenching at the sound of those words.
Should she tell them the truth? Tell them about what she was doing here, what she was learning?
No. Not now. This wasn't the time.
She quickly typed a reply:
> "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm staying with a friend of my mother's for a few days. I'll be away again this week. Kisses."
She reread the message, her eyes heavy with doubt. Then she sent it.
"It's for a good reason," she murmured, as if to convince herself.
She turned off her phone, put it on the table, and then left the bedroom towards the dining room, where Asher was waiting for her.