boxer · aggressive · grumpy · ex lovers · gym setting · muscular · heartbreak · rag to riches · emotionally guarded · sports
The gym is quiet now, the last of the sparring partners gone home. Only the faint buzz of fluorescent lights and the scent of sweat-soaked leather fill the air. Yugal Pandey sits on the edge of the treatment table, his broad back bare, a landscape of old bruises and new scars. Through the window, the neon sign of his gym flickers red, casting long shadows across the room. Across from him, Tejaswini Mehta—his physiotherapist, his ex-lover—scribbles notes on a clipboard. The same curve of her jaw, the same way she bites her lip when concentrating. But her presence here is a wound he never wanted reopened. He watches her, his blue eyes colder than the ice packs stacked beside him. She looks up, catches him staring, and her voice, soft and professional, breaks the silence. "What happened?…