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She kept going out the days after. Every night I would see her getting in her car with Hayzel and Bennett, and a few hours later she would come back confused and tired.

I used to be the person she came to when it hurts, and now I’m the person she runs from.

So I kept looking at her before her eyes met mine. Then I turned back to my students for the day. I stood in front of my designated pair. Hayzel is one of them.

She smiles before exhaling between her hands to warm them up, and then she looks at her right and yells, “Reya, beat Ethan’s ass!”

I hear a few murmurs and laughs from the rest of the students.

“Miss Wynn, you need to stay focused,” I say, mirroring her as I watch Mireya and that boy stand in front of Ms Green.

Why does this bother me?

Ethan Bennett has a cheeky smile on his face while looking at her.

“I’ll go easy on her, Hayzel, don’t worry.” I hear him reply which makes my jaw tense.

But then I see Mireya tripping him as he falls on his ass and a smile tugs at my lips before I could stop it. That’s good.

“She’s going to kill him, it’s going to be fun,” Hayzel says to her partner for today, Will Anderson, a shy student who’s not really good at combat training but incredibly smart.

He smiles shyly before they go over some basic defence drills.

I shake my head as I watch Ms Wynn’s facial expression before Will falls after a few seconds.

“You're thinking too much Anderson, get back up now.”

“Sir, she's insane,” he replies as Hayzel laughs and offers him a hand but I stop her immediately.

“There’s no camaraderie today. Anderson, sequences will get you killed if you hesitate every time you have to hit her.”

Anderson starts to get more confident as the exercise becomes harder.

“Keep your base lower, Wynn, you’re giving him leverage every time you shift your weight like that,” I say, trying to focus on them, but my eyes drift elsewhere.

Bennett went low and Mireya countered, taking him down quickly, she redirected his momentum and brought him to the ground, following him on the fall. She stays there, on top of him. She’s pinning him there, her hands controlling his wrists. His breathing changes as he looks up at her half smirking like it was a fucking seduction game.

I crossed the distance before thinking twice about this, leaving my pair mid-fight. I was already there before I’d decided to be and kneel next to Bennett’s head. He looked up at me, confused at first.

“Get up, Bennett.” I don’t even recognize my voice.

“We’re in the middle of something, Mr Caldwell,” he smiles as he replies.

“It’s not a sleep-over, boy. You get up and fight,” I reply, as my eyes meet with Mireya’s, who’s looking at me like I’m acting insane.

“What a way to ruin our moment, Reya. As much as I love having you on top of me, our teacher doesn’t like it,” Bennett says as Mireya gets up off him.

“I’m going to ruin your face, Bennett,” she replies, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

Bennett looks at me now that he’s standing and whispers with a smile, “See? She’s such a flirt.”

What if I beat him up right now? I laugh, looking at both of them as they get back to their initial position, and sense someone coming beside me.

“Mr Caldwell, is everything okay?”

Ms Green looks confused too and I think I know what I’d like to do for this training.

“I thought about doing a collective exercise, showing them how to take down their opponent, what do you think?”