Chapter 19: Chapter 18
"It's a new day, a new life, oh ho O', and I am feeling good."
The morning sun cast a warm glow over the neighborhood as Daru strolled towards the Dumphy house, the melody of "Feeling Good" escaping his lips in a carefree whistle.
Approaching the front door, Daru rings the bell.
ding dong
With the bell sound, he could hear brisk footsteps approaching from within.
"Coming."
Daru smiled, hearing Claire's voice as she rushed to answer the door.
The entrance then swung open, revealing Claire in her yoga sweatpants and crop top.
"Hey, good morning, Daru," she said with a smile, "Come in," moving to the side to let him in, she added, "and give me a minute. I'll get the girls, and then we can start."
"Ha," with a light chuckle, Daru returned her smile and, with a playful point behind her, remarked, "I don't think you need to."
With a confused expression, Claire turned back to see her daughters all set and ready. They seemed like compressed springs, ready to jump.
She gave her girls the famous deadpan stare; the one Phil gets turned on by.
'I hope he doesn't see that often in bed.'
Now in the main hall, Daru made more space today by pushing the couch to the side.
Then laid the mats in the same order as yesterday, but now Claire's mat was more than 3 feet ahead of the girls.
"All right, we'll start with the warm-up," said Daru, now standing in front of the girls.
He guided them through a series of exercises designed to loosen their bodies and joints.
"It's the same stuff we did yesterday. Let your body relax and get the blood flowing."
From head rolls to shoulders, then arms, Daru guided them through the routine.
"Ah," in between, Haley 'moaned' in 'pain' a few times.
'Madam, you are doing arm circles; why are you holding your waist and moaning?'
"Are you all right?" Daru walked beside her and asked, while Claire didn't care as she saw through her antics just from how her moans sounded.
"I don't know; it just pains a bit. Can you look at it?" Haley batted her eyelashes and pushed her hips towards him.
Alex threw laser beams through her eyes as this went on.
"Hmm," Daru hummed, bringing his hand to her waist. While Haley looked with a smile, he stopped an inch before and said, "You could take a rest if you want. I will help Claire and Alex."
He looked up at her, still not touching. Haley gave a wry smile.
Holding the same pose for a minute, she said, "No, I think I will go through."
Holding his smile back, Daru replied, "Yeah, I would recommend that too. Usually, when you keep at your workout, the pain eases up."
Haley just nodded lightly, looking away, which happened to be towards Alex's side, and she saw her throwing a mocking smile at her.
While they continued, the underlying dynamics came more forward. As the sisters, Haley and Alex, kept vying for Daru's attention.
Daru, ever the astute observer, subtly played into this dynamic.
He was being much more helpful and putting more time into Alex with her stretches.
Alex was melting with jolts with a few touches here and there.
All this seems to be building confidence in Alex, while Haley, Daru kept edging Haley. And it seemed like this was just fueling their competition as they threw daggers through their eyes at each other.
With the warm-up concluded and a few light stretches, Daru smoothly transitioned into more tough yoga poses.
Claire seemed to be the most enthusiastic about this as she tried every pose the best she could.
'Looks like the girls are not the only ones to be competitive today.'
"You are doing great, Claire." And the smiles she breaks out at being complimented show how much her daddy issues have impacted her character.
With his compliments, she goes into the session with more zeal.
Daru had been mostly professional till now.
But as he introduced a new stretch, the low lunge things took a nuanced turn.
"Ah," this was not the moan of Haley, but a genuine one from Claire.
The girls turned to look at her from the yelp.
"It's alright; you girls keep the stretch; I'll see to this," said Daru as he stopped the girls from getting up from their stretch with a hand signal.
Kneeling beside Claire, Daru said, "You should take it slow, Claire. It's good to be enthusiastic, but you have to take care of yourself."
He looked at her hand she rested on her right thigh. As she looked down with a pained expression, he said, "Let me," showing his palm, he asked her to take her hand up.
He caressed her thigh lightly, and then rolled his palm on her thigh muscles as if to ease out the strain.
He kept putting pressure and rolling his palm, and then he held her waist as if to support her in the stance.
Claire reacted a bit to him holding her waist but then concentrated on her thigh as her pain was easing up.
"It's just a light strain; it'll be alright," said Daru but didn't stop.
Claire's pain had been easing up, but Daru's actions seemed to be doing more than intended.
With light pressure from his fingers on her waist and his caress on her thigh.
His touch felt both supportive and intimate.
In that moment, a subtle shift occurred. Claire's reaction was a mix of vulnerability and unspoken emotion.
Her eyes turned misty as she bit her bottom lip from the tingles shooting through her body.
'Feels like the stress is getting to Phil, and he is underperforming in bed, if at all, with how easy it is getting with Claire.'
Daru let the tension stay for some while as he continued way past the pain of Claire's muscle strain.
Claire, too, didn't say nothing.
But before the girls could notice anything by not being distracted with each other's competitive stare, Daru lets Claire down comfortably.
Sitting her down, he gave her inner thigh a light pat.
He might have heard a sigh from Claire, but he didn't know of what kind, though he had a guess.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone