chapter 1

Ellie sighed as she pulled up her gym shorts. They had been gathering dust in the wardrobe for over three years and now we're spread so tight they appeared to be painted on. Looking in the mirror the problem wasn't her butt or thighs, but the gut that hanged over the waistband. This was three years of her new career. Long and stressful days eating fast food at the desk, boozy conferences, a glass of wine in the evening which sometimes turned into two or three, hotel canteen food and the almost weekly office birthday cakes. She shook her head, turned slightly red and bravely stopped sucking in. More and more stomach rolled over the waistband, expanded out front, curving back inwards to meet a flab roll running around her torso under her bulging tits. This was the first time she's let herself see all this in a mirror.

Next the scales. Covered in a thick layer of dust, hidden under the bedroom nest of drawers. Tentatively she dipped a toe on to hope it may be broken. No, it turned on and loaded the same old display menu. Holding her breath a little bit, she hopped on. In a few long seconds, the numbers settled. 260. This was bad, much worse than expected. The last she remembered was seeing 190 and at her height made her overweight which caused enough panic to join a gym in the first place. This was seriously bad.

Shaking her head some more and almost wanting to cry, she had no idea what to do about this. She could not dare go back to the gym looking like this, nor could she stick to her terrible lifestyle habits which led to her looking like the flabby beached whale that stared back at her from the mirror. The spanx tights she started wearing two years ago kept ripping on a nearly monthly basis, despite going up and up in size until now she'd maxed out the biggest size they sold.

Looking at herself clearly, she knew she had a pretty face despite the chubby cheeks and second chin. She thought back a few days at running into an old friend, who did not recognise her now after gaining the weight. That was the moment which broke her denial, that she was not that fat, or that it was just a few pounds... no, she was no longer her own self in some way and she had been dwelling on it.

Feeling uncomfortable, she changed into her old, goofy but comfortable pink kitty pyjamas and went back to the sofa to lie down for a while, hoping some trashy television will cheer her up as she spent the night feeling frumpy and alone.

Downstairs, Che was in his bathroom brushing tangles out of his long, wet hair. His body was toned and almost hairless apart from a slight trail leading up his stomach. He had just taken a boiling hot shower to recover after a long, vigorous evening run. He had installed a single occupancy sauna in the bathroom and planned on relaxing in that next.

Ellie was feeling a little better. With no food in the house, she reasoned that her diet starts tomorrow and that one last pizza can be delivered to the house. She phoned up the local half hour delivery for a large Hawaiian with garlic bread. She knew she would feel guilty about this later but there was nothing else she could do. She put her feet up on the glass coffee table and poured out a large glass of red wine and put on a trashy true crime documentary.

After a few minutes, she had finished the wine, which had gone to her head very quickly. The adverts had started playing on the television and she was bored of the show. She shuffled around to refill her wine glass and kicked the remote off the table by accident. Muttering a swear word under her breath, she sat up, half filled her glass and put it on top of the coffee table. She slid on the floor and began to crawl between the glass plates holding up the coffee table to grab the remote from the other side, but it was still out of reach. She wriggled and breathed in and managed to get a tiny bit further. She felt the friction from the table pulling her t shirt up and her leggings down. Wriggling a little bit further, she managed to get her hand to reach the remote. She grasped it feeling accomplished and tried to wriggle back. This time she found there was no room to go backwards. She took a deep breath and wriggled again, no luck, her tummy was jammed and her legs could not bend back.