Posting chapter 23 of Cris and Nelson real quick because I’m late to class

Hope you like it

Previous Chapter Web Novel Page Next Chapter

The Swimmer and The Manager 23

“No… stop that,” Nelson said, shaking his head. He tried to push Cris away from him, but his manager was out of his reach. “Don’t you dare.”

The manager looked at the swimmer with a blank expression. Then, slowly, he showed a sly smile and raised his right hand. He twisted his fingers in a strange way and then closed all but the index.

“Poke,” he said, jabbing the swimmer at the calf several times. “Poke, poke.”

Nelson bit his lips and gritted his teeth, but that wasn’t enough to stop his grunts of agony. He smashed his fist on the pillow a few times to take his mind away from the pain. It made no difference.

“Ah, damn it! Stop it… it hurts more than it looks!”

Cris laughed, not bothering to hide how much fun he was having. He spun on the wheeled stool, grinning like a kid.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Nelson complained when the pain diminished enough.

“Can’t help it. The doctor ordered me to do this to check where the muscle is more sensitive. Poke,” he said when he stopped spinning, using both index fingers to poke both calves at the same time now.

“Ah, damn it! It hurts!” Nelson was past his limit, but still endure it. “There’ll be payback for this. Remember!”

“Oh?” Cris widened his eyes, jabbing at the swimmer with more strength. “Payback, you say? What will you do? Poke me back? Is that it?”

“Yeah, I just might!”

Cris’ smile turned sly. He stopped poking the swimmer and came close to Nelson’s ear. “I’d love that. I’ll even mark on my calendar so I won’t forget. But, instead of your fingers, I want you to poke me with your stick,” he whispered.

The reaction was instantaneous. The swimmer blushed and buried his head on the pillow to hide his face. But he still heard his manager laughing. A moment later, Cris poked him a bit harder.

“How is it, Cris?” the doctor asked when he walked back to the room with a cup of water.

“Aunt, as you can see, it’s really fun,” Cris pretended to cough, poking one last time, “I mean, both legs are still very sensitive. What do you think that means?”

The doctor observed Nelson and then turned to her tablet, nodding and humming occasionally.

The lack of words only made the swimmer more anxious. Please, let the result shows more improvement, please, he prayed in his heart.

“Based on the last exams and that high sensitivity, it means the muscles are regenerating faster than we expected,” she said with a smile somewhat similar to Cris gentle one.

Despite the pain, Nelson managed to smile too. He tried to tone down the excitement in his voice, but it was impossible for him. “Does that mean that I—”

“Yes. It’s sooner than we expected, but you’re officially back now. You can start your training as soon as tomorrow.”

“Yes!” Nelson beamed, closing his fist and shaking it in triumph. “Finally,” he mumbled to himself.

“Are you sure, aunt? I mean, it’s only been a week since he started the muscles regeneration,” Cris said, not joining on the happiness. He looked at Nelson, bit his lips and then turned to his aunt. “Wasn’t the expectation at least two weeks? Can he really go back to the pools so soon?”

“I understand your concern. But, thanks to that scrum system you suggested, me and the other could create a more iterative training regime. Thanks to that, we even found out that he needed that little spine alignment. I never expected that system would speed up the process this much though. I’m actually thinking of updating the entire medical department to this scrum thing after a few more tests.”

Cris sighed in relief, his face relaxing. “I’m so glad that management technique helped somehow on his project,” Cris said, poking Nelson one more time.

“Hey, don’t treat people like a project,” Nelson complained. But despite his words, the smile still hadn’t left his lips.

Cris looked back at him and then closed his eyes, smiling too. “Sorry. You’re right. I’m so glad that management technique on this talking project,” he said to his aunt.

“Hey, you’re not listening to me complaining here.”

The doctor laughed, putting the tablet on the table. Then she texted someone on her phone. “Instead of complaining, you should be thanking him, Nelson.”

“Yeah, Nelson. So? How are you gonna thank me for this?” Cris said, dragging the stool to his aunt side. He turned to face the swimmer in a way the doctor couldn’t see his face, nor his sly smile. “Will you poke me someday?”

Before Nelson could reply, the doctor’s phone rang, interrupting their conversation. She read the text.

“As you think of how you’re gonna treat my nephew, I have some orders for you, Nelson. I texted your coach about the results. Even though he’s not here today, he wants you to swim a little. But don’t, and it’s his words, not mine, overdo.”

“The coach’s not here today?” Nelson repeated, ignoring the last part. Like Cris would let me, anyway.

“Yes. He went with his wife to the doctor. I think they’ll find out the sex of the baby today. But even so, he said he’d send the instructions to you, Cris.”

“Roger that,” the manager said, bringing his hand to his head as if saluting.

“Please, don’t let him work too much,” she begged her nephew. “I don’t wanna see him again here anytime soon.”

“Hey, why don’t you say that to me? Do I have a reputation for overdoing things?” Nelson complained. Both members of the Prado Maranhão family turned to him.

“Shh, talking project. The grownups are talking.” Cris said, poking him once more.

“Stop that!” Nelson gritted his teeth, but still wasn’t enough for him to withstand the pain. “Ah, damn it, doctor! Why did you have to ask a sadist to do this to me?”

Cris laughed as Nelson suffered. “Complain all you want, but we all know you love having me around. And since you love that, it means you love having a sadist around you. Doesn’t that mean you’re a masochist?”

“Shut up!”

Cris laughed again and brought his head close to Nelson’s. “Look at that. We’re a perfect match for each other,” he said, beaming, his cheeks a shade of red.

Previous Chapter Web Novel Page Next Chapter

Thanks for reading.

Hope you liked the chapter. Please, tell me what you thought.

If you don’t wanna miss any chapter, sign up to my newsletter

If you like The Swimmer and the Manager, you can support it on Patreon. And I’m planning many things for my web novels. I’d like your support to make it happen.

See you next week