chapter 1

Emma’s life was a mess! She had been on track to get an honours degree in law at university. She attended lectures, studied hard and handed in her assignments on time. She didn’t go out partying with the ‘in-crowd’. She could not afford it. She had massive student loans, lived in sub-standard, shared accommodation with three other students and few friends. She’d looked forward to finishing her exams. She wanted to train as a barrister once she got her qualifications. She would earn good money on her way up the employment ladder, pay off her loans and eventually buy her own house in the country with land to keep horses and a few chickens.

That had been the dream.

Then Toby had moved into her share house. He was studying sports science. He was dark, swarthy and handsome. He was super-fit and competed in body building competitions. He trained in the gym every day for two hours or more. He was extremely fastidious about his diet. He did not like to eat food cooked by anyone else. He needed to know exactly what was in it. How many calories, how much fat, how much protein and how many carbs?
The kitchen was the first thing he changed in the house. Before he moved in, dirty plates were left in the sink for days, waiting for someone to get around to washing up. Half eaten food festered in the fridge and the rubbish bin overflowed.
He cleaned and disinfected everything after moving in. The place had been a health hazard. It was a wonder environmental health hand not given them a call!
Once the kitchen was spotless, he set about educating his housemates about health and fitness.
Emma was a good-looking girl with her thick long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was naturally slim and did not have to watch what she was eating and she had never exercised for the sake of it. When she was younger she’d hiked in the lake district, but that was because the whole family were also hiking. She’d gone swimming in the summer holidays a few times, ice skated once or twice and had been horse riding a few times as well. She thought she was reasonably fit, despite the fact that the only exercise she got these days was walking to and from the bus stop, or carrying her shopping back from the supermarket.
There were a few of them in the house who agreed to let Toby become their personal trainer. Emma had gone along with them. He’d stressed that if she had a healthy body, she would have a healthy mind. She thought it might help with her concentration and her studying.
Once she got in the gym, she had realised how unfit she actually was! Her body ached all over. How could she study better when all she could think about was pain?
Toby had reassured her, it would get better, if she continued. So, as the other housemates gave in and started to dismiss Toby as a crank, Emma worked harder in the gym and got fitter. She wanted to impress Toby because she fancied him, therefore she allowed him to take more control.
Eventually, she slimmed down and muscled up. She spent more time in the gym than she did studying and her marks suffered as a consequence. She should have taken note then. Instead, she fell in love with Toby and fitness.
Her family disapproved. She ought to be concentrating on her studies. It was not necessary to be an athlete to do that. She was never going to be reach Olympic standard. Being able to do a few handstands on a gym bar would not enable her to be called to the bar in a courtroom. What was the point? If she wanted to get fit, she could wait until she had her degree in her hand and had a steady job.
She did not listen.
She got engaged to Toby, he took more control of her. She failed her degree, while he passed his. They got married. He got a well-paid job working as a nutritional advisor for the local football team. She managed to work part time at a local gym. By now, they were both training for three or more hours every day. Toby controlled who her friends were, what they ate, where they shopped. Any spare time they had was spend keeping their house clean and tidy to his high specifications. Outside of competitions, they didn’t go anywhere, meet anyone new or do anything new.
Their relationship took a turn for the worse when Toby wanted to bulk up even more and resorted to injectable steroids and the like. He started having horrendous mood swings, where he became aggressive with her. He was jealous of her work colleagues and accused her of having an affair.
Luckily, she realised how damaging the relationship was before it spiralled out of control and she ended up in hospital.
After putting up with his behaviour, for two years, she left and filed for divorce.

Now, she was starting afresh in a new area, where he could not trace her. She had no friends, her family would not speak to her and she was having to claim benefits from the state. The council had found her a flat. It was nothing much to speak of, but she hoped she might be able to afford something better before too long when she got a job.
She hoped to get back into law, so she applied to several law firms as an office junior, hoping she could work her way up, eventually.

She’s had several interviews for other companies, when she turned up at Tindale, Wynn and Mortimer. She was shown into a waiting room with two other candidates, with earlier appointments. Why had she turned up so early? They were all trying to assess each other’s capabilities, just by uncomfortable looking at each other. One of them would get the job, but which one stood the best chance?
The receptionist offered them all a cup of jasmine tea.
Emma thought it was an odd thing to offer. What was the matter with standard tea and coffee? Then again, jasmine tea would have no milk, no sugar, no calories, no fat. It might even be quite refreshing. She agreed to have a cup. She drank it while she waited for the candidate before her to finish his interview. She liked the jasmine’s fragrant clean taste.
She was called in to the interview, but she was so nervous, she could not remember anything about it! She must have received a hell of a grilling because she had been in there for a whole hour. Her head was still spinning!
She headed straight home. They were going to let her know by phone if she’d got the job. She did not want to miss that call by going to the gym or anywhere else.

She got the telephone call two and a half hours after she got home. She had been a successful candidate! Could she start on Monday?

Yes! Yes! Of course, she could! She would be there at nine o’clock on Monday Morning!