Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

Interviews

ALISHA

“Are you freaking kidding me?” I groaned into the pillow, blocking the sunlight entering our room. We had a beautiful view of the table mountain and the beaches right out the window, but early in the morning anything seemed unwanted.

“Wake up, you’re late for the day already!” Dimitri’s Russian accent filled my ears and I mumbled something under my breath. I could sense Lauren shifting in her bed beside mine, trying to sleep herself too.

Remind me again why did we get along Dimitri with us? Oh yeah, because he was our coach and manager in many aspects. He was our representative when it came to our gymnastics careers, and I couldn’t train under anyone but him now. But trust me, he was not the one to mess with. You refuse to follow him, you’re screwed big time.

“I will make you run a mile for every minute you waste here.” You would think he was bluffing, but we knew better. In a split second we were up on our beds, eyes wide open, shooting daggers at him.

“See you in the gym in ten.” He went out and I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I had fallen asleep in the ridiculously uncomfortable dress, and it looked like a mess now. Going into the washroom, we brushed and changed while playing music on loud.

“Where’s the rest of the team?” Lauren asked as we entered the gym.

“Sleeping maybe.” Dimitri shrugged and pointed at the crunches. So, the rest of the national team was asleep, but two of the gymnasts were up and training just the day after winning gold. Lovely. Even my family was snoring off in their suites, which were in the hotel next to ours. Well, they were supposed to be in the same hotel, but the USAG didn’t want unnecessary distractions for the gymnasts. Nor were they ready to handle the security pressures that came with having huge superstars and a supermodel in the same hotel.

I was on the mats, conditioning when I saw a sweeper click my photos on his mobile phone. Tyson noticed it too, and requested the person to delete it.

“No.” he mumbled, snickering.

“Sir, you are on private property and clicking photos of anyone here without their consent is illegal- a criminal offense.” Tyson explained him in legal terms, and the man gave in, deleting all the photos he had of me in front of Tyson. Some people gave us the privacy, which was much appreciated. But some didn’t think of us as humans, only some inanimate object to look at. That was when you had to act tough and stand up for yourself- or have someone like Mike Tyson to do it for me in my case.

After three entire hours of conditioning, we went back to our rooms to change. Long showers and some good breakfast finally got our energy levels pumping as we headed for our first destination of the day- the local radio station.

“Ladies, welcome to the radio studio.” A gentleman escorted the entire women’s gymnastics team up towards the lounge for us to wait till the PR team and the DJ had a chat before we went live.

“First radio interview!” Melisa squealed and we laughed. It was a huge day for all of us, to be acquainted with the pros of being world champions for the first time. Samantha was sitting right beside me, and couldn’t help but tap her feet on the floor. We had been roommates in previous meets, and had grown close to each other. I squeezed her hand reassuringly and she squeezed it back.

“Ciao, people. On this sunny day-like always, what do you expect it’s Cape Town-we have some bright, young ladies sitting right beside me. I promised you all a surprise, and here I am. Introducing, the alluring, magnificent and admittedly, pint sized American women’s gymnastics team! They won the team gold, and lots of them hold individual positions too. Welcome, ladies.” He smiled at us and I struggled to maintain my calm. I had seen my brothers do this, I could carry it off too.