The cold war 06

Chapter 04 – Assimilation

As Irina woke up the next morning and got ready for her workout, she couldn’t help but feel surprised that Ben had lasted as long as he had. She had been convinced that after a trip to the nail salon, forcing him to deal with long acrylic nails, that he would have quit on the spot, especially given their length, but he hadn't, he had soldiered on and even gone to work.

Looking down at her own hands as she turned on the tap to splash some water on her face, she had to admit, nails this long were a little troublesome. Normally, she wouldn’t have gotten extensions this long, but knowing Ben would have to do what she did, she had made an exception on this occasion, still annoyed after the altercation in the bedroom that had caused her to painfully break a nail.

Brushing her teeth, she thought back to the trip out the previous day. Ben had complained most of the day, but he had never once refused anything outright, even if she had gone out of her way to push him to the limit, in order to make him throw in the towel. Thinking back to the outfit, she had picked out for the trip, still made her chuckle a little. She had found it in the back of her closet having forgotten it even existed. An outfit she hadn’t worn in years and one she would never dream of wearing out these days. 

The look on his face had been priceless, as he had first laid eyes on the childish pink outfit, but to his credit, he had put it on, and no matter how many stares or comments he had received that day, he had remained calm and composed, she had to give him credit for that.

Leaving her room, she made the short walk up the hallway to see if he was awake. After knocking a few times and receiving no signs of life, Irina opened the door to find the room empty. 

Finding her stepbrother somewhere other than his bed was definitely surprising as she wondered where he had gotten to. She set off to find him, first trying the living room, followed by the kitchen, before Irina received her second surprise of the day, as she entered the gym to find Ben waiting for her, having dressed himself in one of the new workout outfits, they had purchased the previous day, and stretching in preparation for their workout.

“What time do you call this”? Ben asked with a smile as he saw Irina enter the room.

Irina looked over at Ben in his tight black leotard, his legs encased in a pair of leggings with the top half covered up by a pink sarong wrap that matched the hairband tied around his head, “you seem in a better mood today”, she replied, picking up her yoga mat and dragging it over, before placing it on the floor opposite him.

“Well, even though I’m not exactly loving all this, living like you stuff, I figured, being stressed out all the time isn't going to change anything, right”? Ben replied.

Irina found the comment intriguing and if truth be told, she didn’t really believe him, but then again, if he was telling her he was ready to continue, who was she to argue. 

One thing was for sure though, she had to respect his determination, deciding right there on the spot, not to be as hard on him going forward, after all, he was like family to her, even if at times he drove her crazy with all his nagging and constant derogatory comments. “From now on, I won’t go out of my way to embarrass him”, she thought to herself, as she stepped onto her workout mat, “I’ll just live my life as usual and if he wants to join me, that's up to him”.

“So, ready to begin”? Irina announced looking over at Ben, still getting used to the change to his facial features caused by the eyebrow threading that had left him with eyebrows more suited to a kpop star than a young American man.

“Yep, ready to go”, Ben announced cheerfully, “so what’s the plan for today anyway, more shopping”?

“Oh, sure, there’s always time for shopping”, Irina announced, “but as you know this is my last day off before I have to go into the office tomorrow, so, I’m planning to pamper myself a little, today, I'm going to visit my stylist”.

Watching his reaction, she saw his face drop for a second upon hearing the announcement, but he quickly regained his composure, as an awkward looking smile returned to his lips, “ok”, he replied, “sounds easy enough”.

“Oh really”? Irina shot back, “you’re willing to do what I do without complaining”?

“As long as nothing is permanent, then yeah”, Ben replied in a confident tone, “I mean, you do this stuff all the time, right? so it must be pretty easy”.

And there it was, the old Ben was back, the arrogance and the backhanded insults.

Irina nodded, smiled, and turned on the workout video, for a moment there, she had been considered calling up the salon to change some of the treatments, she had booked for later, but looking across at her grinning stepbrother, who still didn’t have a clue how difficult her life could be, she now had no intention of cancelling any of them.

“I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t normally do", she reasoned to herself as she looked over at Ben, stretching and following along to the instructor on the screen. "And besides, it’s been weeks since my last appointment, I’m not changing my plans just for him”, 

They continued their morning workout in without a word, as Irina continued to ponder the strangeness of the situation, she now found herself in, one where she was being tasked with remoulding her previously macho, slob of a stepbrother, in her own image, “perhaps he actually wants to be a girl", she thought to herself, "I mean, what real man would allow himself to be feminized like this"? 

"And 4 and 5, keep it up now", came the voice of the video instructor.

"I guess I’ll find out soon enough, as surely he’ll quit when he gets to the salon and realises what's in store for him, if he doesn’t, he’s going to walk out looking like a completely new person".

"Squeeze in those glutes ladies, and 1 and 2", came the voice once more.

"Let's see what happens", Irina thought nodding, as she looked over at a now tired-looking Ben,   I guess if nothing else, it should be an entertaining day, and if he is serious about all this, he will need to look the part when he accompanies me to the office tomorrow, we can’t have him embarrassing the company reputation”.

(See image 4.1)