The first touch came. Olivia barely stopped herself from flinching.
'Of course he chose this outfit. He had planned this already.'
Someone was touching her left arm. She could not tell who because of the blindfold and she was not interested in knowing their identity either. All her focus was on staying still like a statue and getting this over with. Another touch followed. This time on her back. This damned sleeveless backless top was really putting her patience to the maximum test limit.
The first half of the punishment involved all forty people putting their hands on every exposed part of her body which included and large part of her back, both arms and legs from the knee. These people were not harrassing her or anything they simply placed their plams on her body like one did over a scanner and held it in place until the A.G gave the order to change places. For half an hour all of these unknown people took turns touching her like robots.
"Now hug." A.G ordered.
Olivia felt like it would be better if someone just shot her in the head. The elements of her punishment, who were actually members of Zeal, also felt sorry for her. Still they could do nothing but wish her luck and follow the order. Each person gave her a hug which seemed to last an eternity to Olivia. After the last person was and and Olivia counted to minute sixty it felt like she broke through the surface of water after almost drowning.
She quickly got up and shook herself like a cat that fell into a pond. Goosebumps appeared all over her body.
"Urgh" She shook her head trying to get rid of the memory of getting touched so much.
Once she felt a little better she glared at the A.G and said, "I ought to file for harrasment against you."
"Don't be dramatic. You know what line of work you joined. This is nothing. Much much much more bad things can happen while you're on mission. This little punishment will simply serve as a reminder to reign your temper in. Most of the time you won't be in a situation where you can get away from being touched in regular manner. You will have to hug, kiss, grapple or anything physical touch involving with people on a mission. These people were being careful about any inappropriate touch, outside you won't be lucky. Yes so far you have been but those missions are nothing compared to the ones you'll start receiving as you move closer to graduation. So chin up." He said looking at her in the eye.
Olivia nodded. She was aware but one could not blame her for avoiding something she hated so much even if their were basic modes of conveying human emotions. However the A.G was right too, she needs to get out of her comfort zone soon enough if she wished to reach her goals. She thanked all the people in the room for their time and keeping their touch extremely robotic. Their way of approach helped her get through this a lot easier. Then Olivia picked up her jacket and asked the A.G for some time alone. He waved at the others, motioning them to leave them alone.
"What did you want to know?" He asked.
"Why wasn't I informed about Ekalabya?" Olivia said.
The A.G thought for a moment and remembered who she was talking about, "Oh, I asked them not to."
"Why?" Olivia asked in confusion.
"That was not a necessary information for the mission so he has the right to disclose anything on that topic. You know we don't use any unnecessary information for our advantage." A.G replied.
Olivia nodded and left.
When she reached her room it was 10pm. After washing up she was about to head to bed but a tiffin box lying on the side table caught her eye. It was not there before. Olivia approached it and saw something written on the lid, I am damn sure you'd try to skip dinner, so eat.
She let out an amused grunt. It was Parijat's handwriting. He must have left this here after learning from Trayee that she will be back late. Shaking her head Olivia opened the box. If she did not follow his orders Parijat would scold her ears off tomorrow morning. The contents inside were rice, dal and a mixed vegetable dish. Parijat was a vegetarian so he prepared veg items for his friends if nobody asks for anything non veg specifically. He was also really good at cooking those so nobody complained eating only greens for meals.
Olivia was very tired from the day's events so she quickly finished the food and prepared to sleep. Before closing her eyes she sent a message to their group.
[Meeting at 8am, tomorrow.]
Olivia woke up at 4:50 am and got ready for morning workout. Classes did not start till 8:30. She reached the ground and checked her phone. Koushik's training started from 5:30 to 7 but she expected him to take today off after yesterday's incident. Surprisingly, not only was there no message from him cancelling their schedule, but he also arrived at 5 30 dot to their chosen place. Olivia thought he might have forgotten to send her a text so she had just started on her own but spotted him searching for her.
"I thought you wouldn't come today. Let's start." She said, jogging up to him.
"If this was me before then you'd be right to expect that but training with you these days literally saved my life yesterday. So there's no way I'm missing even one day." Koushik said.
"Also, if it's not too much trouble may I ask you to teach me basic martial arts? The self defence part I mean." He added with hesitation, scratching his neck.
"We have clubs for that." Olivia said.
"Yes,yes, obviously I'm not trying to turn you into my personal trainer or anything. I have notified the Club President to add my name to these clubs. It's just that I really like working out with you, like very much. I had trainers before but there wasn't much connection between us. Their way didn't appeal to me at all. We tried changing methods but nothing worked. Obviously I'm not trying to compare teachers of Ketu to others. My primary training will be with the club instructors but I just wanted to try my luck asking you. You're not obligated to do this for me of course. I just really really like how you taught me the past few weeks and I'll be extremely grateful if you considered my request. No pressure." Koushik rambled.
Once he was done with his speech he looked at Olivia with a barely disguised hopeful expression.
The latter thought for some time and said, "I'll help but only once a week."
"Yes!" Koushik jumped in joy and thanked her several times.