Chapter 212: Hot Chocolate.
A loud banging echoed through a dark room, shattering the silence that had enveloped it once the lights had been turned off. The sound followed a certain rhythm, like the beats of a powerful drum, each hit carrying with it energy and resilience.
After going on for a while, it eventually came to a stop, leaving the sound of heavy breathing to replace it. That was when the lights suddenly came on.
"What are you doing?" Someone asked, their voice prickling with annoyance.
Standing by the door was a petite woman. Going by the pink onesie she wore and how messy her raven hair was, not to mention her bloodshot eyes, one could tell that she had just been dragged out of bed.
"A-ah, sorry about that, leader." Straightening up, Wolf relaxed his shoulders and smiled at her. "I... didn’t think it would bother you..."
And it shouldn’t. He was in a training room several levels underground with soundproof walls, while his leader slept on the fifth floor of the building. No matter how noisy he was being, it was unlikely that she would have heard him all the way from her bedroom.
"I thought I told you to rest." Said Beatrice.
"Well... I can’t, really." He replied, smiling wryly. "That’s why I’m trying to get a good workout. It usually helps when this happens..."
The practice dummies, high-tech machines calibrated for hand-to-hand combat, were all bent and dented, some missing plating or entire parts. Covered from head to toe in sweat, the white haired hero was glistening under the room’s vibrant lights. Beatrice stared him down, her eyes going over each muscle on his chiseled body one by one. The fact that he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts didn’t help at all.
"Say, Wolf," she looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. "Are you sure you aren’t gay?"
"Again with this?" His expression fell the moment he heard her question, and his shoulders slumped at the same time. "How many times do I have to tell you? I am not."