Lara did not even take ten minutes to wake up. She appeared to be knock-out resistant as much as Zeel was.

Lara did not pick a fight about the incident, instead, she stored the event in memory to help with future battles.

Zeel and Lara's training resumed without any interruptions after.

"Always use your weak hand to attack first," Zeel commanded watching Lara who was trying to perfect her technique.

"Bend your knees more to give you that extra spring in your jump. Always look at the body movements of your opponents, and then his eyes. You can see if they are scared, experienced, or somewhere in between,"

"How does that help me?" Lara asked while throwing jabs at the air.

"I am not sure how that helps you but it helps me," Zeel said "Fighting experienced people are better because they are the masters of their craft, but that also means that they are stagnant,"

Seeing that Lara was still a bit confused, Zeel explained further "Their shoulders have widened a certain way. Their breathing patterns could tell you of their medical history. The way their fingers curl can tell you if they like elbows or hands more,"

"How could I notice all of that in a fight?" Lara asked rolling her eyes.

Zeel would always repeat the same rabble every time they practiced together.

Zeel paused and looked at Lara carefully, then he walked next to her and slapped her on the forehead, almost causing her to topple over.

"Ow! You motherfuck…" Lara did not finish her statement in the end. She noticed that her mind was clear and the world looked renewed.

"What have you done to me?" Lara asked Zeel directing a quizzical look in his direction.

"That state you feel is completely normal, it is called –The Zone. You are just extremely focused right now.

Your focused state is far above the average person but it is the same more or less. Just remember how it feels and eventually you'll be able to access it with enough training," Zeel said.

"With this, I guess I can make deliveries faster," Lara murmured but Zeel felt disrespected at her limited thinking from a skill he granted her.

Witnessing Lara's flawed technique, Zeel walked beside her and held her arms in place as he slowly adjusted the position of her feet.

Of course, there was a lot of body contact involved but neither of them seemed to mind.

Lara honestly thought that Zeel was a husband who ran away from home because he could not provide for his family.

In Lara's mind, Zeel was much like her father that abandoned her. Even if they had no contradictions, Lara's feelings were sincere but nothing more when it came to Zeel.

Likewise, Zeel had Alice and Elizabeth just a continent away. It would be an unnecessary risk to sleep with another woman when Elizabeth was unstable.

But then again, The Red Queen did say that their minds had become strong and more refined.

"Okay, I am hungry," Zeel muttered rolling out of the ring and signaling Lara to remove her gear so they could leave.

It was the first time they had finished training so late, but Zeel still wanted his meal from the cheap, broke girl.

While Zeel was walking to the door, Lara picked up the key from the side of the ring and tossed it at his head.

Zeel just raised his right hand behind his head and caught the key.

"How do you always do that?"

"Because after practice every night you always throw the key at my head so I might have gotten used to it," Zeel replied.

Zeel waited for Lara to exit before he locked the door behind them.

They would always head to the same place for a meal every night – the cheapest meal with the most meat.

Wherever fit that description was the location they would end up.

Luckily, the closest place was just around the corner through a couple of shady alleys.

There were always people for Lara to practice her craft on, and that was largely the reason for her constant improvements.

Lara and Zeel were soon at a late-night stall, eating nuggets and burgers.

Lara noticed that Zeel did not eat as much as you would expect from someone who trains people for their entire day.

If Lara was more ladylike, she would have been ashamed to chow down on three burgers while Zeel only ate one.

"You eat like a dolly, always trying to keep your figure," Lara said snickering slightly.

"Believe it or not, I have only recently acquired a taste for this stuff. Previously, I did not need to eat, shower, or sleep for years.

It was a kind of luxury for my people. My people were wiped out because of a war, and I changed. Now, I eat half because I need to but the other half is to feel alive,"

Lara punched Zeel on the shoulder "That is some profound eating philosophy you have there,"

"What about you?" Zeel asked Lara "I can tell you are a lady, despite your attitude saying otherwise. You are a respectful girl, never go out, don't use social media if not to lurk on your ex-friends.

I doubt you have even had sex with a guy since high school,"

"Usually when a guy casually brings sex into a topic, it is because they want to sleep with me," Lara answered side-eyeing Zeel suspiciously.

"If I wanted, you wouldn't be able to resist me,"

"Then I will only take two shots before we call it a night to avoid making that mistake," Lara answered.

The duo drank, talked, ate, and laughed for the next two hours.

It was quite an enjoyable time for both Zeel and Lara but The Red Queen was having a completely opposite reaction to the scenario playing out.

Being close to Zeel all the time meant that she understood, almost better than anyone, the person he is, or rather is becoming.

The conversation continued until it was near midnight and Zeel thought it would be weird if he did not at least fake his exhaustion.

"Okay, I am heading back," Zeel said putting the chair aside, ready to head back to the gym.

Lara laughed, possibly because she was slightly tipsy "Don't you know you should walk a lady home to make sure that nobody attacks her?"

"I feel sorry for the guys that attack you," Zeel murmured still walking home but suddenly stopped and asked "Do you watch Life-Television? I heard The Crawford Angels will be on it tonight, opening their new orphanage?"

Lara spun around, walking further away from Zeel as she answered "Yeah, I was just gonna go watch that. People say they are pretty like angels that descended from the skies,"

"They are pretty but Angels are much prettier, and purer. I should know, I have dated a couple,"

"Hahaha, you always say the funniest things," Lara laughed.

"You know, those two Crawford girls are my wives," Zeel bragged.

Lara laughed even harder "And I know the famous reporter Linda Cali,"

"There is a Linda here too?" Zeel asked genuinely surprised.

Lara looked at him strangely and decided not to ask about his past.

Chances are that the wives he abandoned did not let him out much. If that was the case, then she could not really blame him for escaping.

Arriving at Lara's apartment, the duo had to climb three flights of stairs. Lara welcomed Zeel into her home without caring much.

Zeel had slept in the park for a while, then upgraded to a basement so she doubted that he would find any complaints with her small, slightly dirty apartment.

At this rate, Lara thought Zeel would eventually worm his way into sleeping at an expensive hotel eventually.

Zeel glanced around and decided to pay a compliment "It is survivable at least,"

Lara burst out laughing again "I am not sure if you are funny, or if I am slightly tipsy from the alcohol earlier,"

"The alcohol has already left your system. I am definitely not funny, so the alternative answer is you're a crazy girl,"

"All guys like crazy girls," Lara replied with a jokingly flirtatious wink.

Zeel thought for a moment about how to reply but ultimately chose to remain silent.

Weren't all his exes' crazy in the clinical sense of the word? Who was he to disagree with such a profound statement?