Chapter 841: Hidden stress (3)
Frost sat on a bench taking slow small sips of ice cold water as his heart slowly returned to its usual rhythm. His breathing eased, the redness in his face receded and the tightness in his chest gradually softened until becoming non-existent.
After taking a large gulp of water and breathing deeply he turned to his supportive date and smiled. "Thank you Khione, I don't know what came over me…I just thought about everything I needed to handle and then…." The tightness returned slightly as his mind once again drifted in the direction of his worrying future, but he stopped it with a swift shake of his head. He didn't enjoy such a feeling seeing it as a weakness that needed to stamped out, he should train, as long as he got stronger everything else would fade into the background.
"…You had a panic attack Frost." Khione immediately noticed his symptoms and firmly refused to gloss over them as Frost intended.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, gripped him strongly as a form of stable support and looked deep into his eyes. "Frost the mind is also susceptible to damage just like the body and just like the body its needs to be healed. You can't just ignore the wounds, hoping that they'd eventually go away or that by merely growing stronger you'd be able to solve everything." Khione spoke in a serious tone relaying how grave a matter this was. If Frost didn't listen and didn't take the time to heal that which was exhausted and broken he would collapse from the strain and in the worst circumstances never get up again.
Khione was no stranger to stress; she desperately wanted to catch up to her mother and even surpass her at every turn. Such determination obviously brought with it a heavy toll, roadblocks, heart wrenching failures and of course soul crushing comparisons.
Luckily for her she had the talent but also a great support system, every member of her family was wary of putting undue pressure on her, doing their best to make sure she never got too overwhelmed by her steep uphill venture.
But she never experienced the same kind of pressure that Frost did, she could only sympathize with his plight, give him a strong reliable shoulder to lean on and a receptive ear to listen to his complaints much like her family did for her.
Frost turned to look at her, her words cutting deep forcing him to take this situation seriously.
'Have I really been under that much stress?' He looked inside himself and questioned his life so far. Never a day went by when he didn't worry about the Dungeon or about the threat from the outside. Even when he enjoyed his time with Maya and Daki or interacted with the kids his mind was always thinking about what he needed to do next, what areas of the Dungeon needed to be improved, or how he could increase his DP income.
"You need to take some time to properly relax, to detach yourself from your stresses entirely. Train for the sake of enjoyment not because you need to desperately increase your strength in order to survive. Find a hobby or recreational activity and dedicate real time to it." Khione offered her insights with a sincere smile on her lips; her gaze filled with genuine heartfelt care.
"Detach myself huh…" Frost thought about his half assed measures, his mind whenever he trained. Khione was right despite enjoying the feeling of growing through pain his underlying goal in doing so was causing him to always carry a heavy burden.
"What about you Khione, what do you do to relax?" The way Khione spoke it was clear that she understood his predicament from personal experience.
"Me?" Khione pointed to herself as though taken aback by his question; Frost nodded his head in reply making her a little flustered.
She looked from side to side as a slight blush formed across her cheeks, nervous about anyone else hearing about her little embarrassing secret. Taking even more precautions she tentatively leaned over and whispered into Frost's ear.
"Mumble mumble mumble."
"What! Really?" Frost bellowed in shock, his eyes looking at Khione from head to toe as though seeing the real her for the first time.
"What you got a problem with it." Fuelled by embarrassment Khione got angry, waving her large fists in front of Frost's face in an intimidating manner.
"No, no just….surprised…" His eyes did second and third once over, particularly noticing the bulging muscles and physical frame that would put any man to shame.
'Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.'
Khione's little embarrassing activity that she used to absolve herself of stress was one that she'd been doing since she was a little girl, that she never grew out of, a fact that she found incredibly embarrassing and thus did her best to remain as discrete as possible, only telling Frost because she trusted him and wanted to reveal more of herself to him.
Since she was 3 years old and despite her innate mischievousness and naturally blessed physique that made her more inclined to doing more physically demanding activities Khione had a fondness for playing with dolls, in particular ones that she could dress up in all manner of outfits and even change their hairstyles.
When she repeatedly ran into walls, getting more and more frustrated with herself she would silently retreat to the secret room in her bedroom, lock the door shut and pull back the curtain that hid her shame, a giant dollhouse filled with almost a hundred different and beautiful dolls. She would smile at the sight and naturally hum before picking up one the dolls and starting a childlike conversation. Playing pretend life as she changes its clothes or tried a different hairstyle, usually picking dresses that didn't suit her bulky physique.
She would forgot all about her worries and completely detach from the world around her, playing and having fun without any care until her stomach rumbled telling her it was time to eat.
Only a small number of her family knew of her secret and now she had voluntarily told Frost a man she had just met yet strangely she didn't regret it in fact she was keen to know his feelings on the matter. If he'd judge her, mock her or worse laugh at her.
Unconsciously her left and right rested on her hips and fiddled with the rim of her jeans, twisting and rubbing it in a nervous manner.
Frost who was initially surprised even without seeing the nervous state of the young woman was imagining the scene of the musclebound giant playing with girly dolls with an innocent and joyful expression on her face. He didn't find it funny, he didn't find it shameful, embarrassing and even less so something to mock. Instead when he pictured it and then looked at the enchanting visage that was Khione he smiled from ear to ear, his eyes belaying an intense degree of affection as he reached up and cradled her face with his right hand.
"I knew it you really are cute and irresistibly adorable." He caressed her face in a loving manner, his body expression revealing nothing but joy and acceptance. This little secret hobby of Khione's only made her even more attractive and desirable in his eyes.
"….." Khione was blown away by his words and loving touch, she froze for a second before feeling a wall in her heart shatter into a million pieces. She then broke into a natural smile and nodded as a small teardrop fell from her eye. She was accepted, even her most embarrassing secret and it felt amazing.
Seeing her in an almost glowing state Frost felt a great deal of his stress just blow away in the wind, his mind focused completely on the woman sitting by his side, offering him support in his moment of weakness.
'Oh this is bad, I don't think I can wait until the next time we meet.' Khione was radiating strong delectable vibes, a pinkish aura that stimulated his resting dragon, demanding satisfaction, to corrupt this innocent maiden before him.
His eyes wandered over her destructive body, those dynamite curves, those terrifyingly thick and powerful thighs, breasts that defied the laws of gravity despite being comparable to his entire head in size, so tempting so delicious.
'Roar.' His strong male instincts roared in protest at his restraint, repeatedly trying to overwhelm him, to turn him into the sex starved fiend that he really was deep down.
With her body being too alluring for his senses Frost forced himself to look upwards, to focus on her face, to appreciate her beauty rather than her figure. Alas the fire had already started burning, Khione's bold eyes, her cute nose, her innocent smile and those invitingly luscious lips conjured up provocative images that were hard to ignore. Even if he couldn't go all the way and complete her corruption he should be taste those sweet lips of hers no?
Before he even knew what he was doing Frost was leaning in close to Khione, his right hand continuing to cradle her silky smooth cheek as his left hand landed on her shoulder, acting as support as he moved closer to those lips of hers, puckering up in anticipation.
Moments later however he stopped in place his lips hovering less than a few centimetres away from their prize before shaking his head and returning to his original position.
'The time isn't right Frost, soon, very soon but not right now.' If he made his move right now he would be taking advantage of her elation, using this closer step in their relationship as a springboard rather than something separate. The final result would be subpar, something he would never forgive when it came to this beautiful woman he had become so deeply enamoured with.