50 — JULIAN ADAMS (POV)

— “Different why? Because you know my name?”

I smash a firm blow into the punching bag.

— “Because I'm your neighbor, your employee?”

I throw another hard punch and my muscles twitches, begging me to stop torturing them.

The comforting hollow sound reaches my ears, one after another. Strong. Powerful. And I connect an even faster sequence, feeling my hands throbbing inside the gloves. But I won't stop… I can't stop. It's the only way to clear my thoughts, to calm my nerves, to deal with this anxiety consuming my body…

— “Or because I'm your best friend's daughter?”

Hah. I let my arms fall at my sides, then I notice that I'm drenched in sweat, my chest is rising and falling sharply, and my heart is pounding like when I'm next to Angelee.

My body is exhausted.

But my chest still hurts like hell.

“Julian.” I hear my coach's voice and his hand on my shoulder. I look at him surprised because I didn't notice him approaching, “You need to take a break, you've been punching for a whole hour.