Toya snorted. "Right. Gate appreciation. Totally believable."

  "Ready as I'll ever be for… whatever this is," James muttered under his breath, mostly to himself, but loud enough for Toya to catch the tail end of it. He offered a weak smile back. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, feeling the familiar smooth surface of his phone. They turned and walked through the grand, slightly imposing park gates, leaving the impatient honking and general city buzz behind them.

  Inside, the air felt a little cleaner, smelling faintly of damp earth and cut grass. The distant shrieks of kids on the pyground and the rhythmic thwack of a tennis ball somewhere nearby repced the traffic noise.

  Almost unconsciously, they fell into that specific proximity – close, but not too close. The kind of spacing that screamed 'together' without needing actual hand-holding. Shoulders brushed accidentally-on-purpose every few steps. It was the practiced body nguage of a couple comfortable in each other's space, out for a casual evening stroll or jog.

  Anyone giving them a passing gnce wouldn't think twice. "So, aiming for the usual spot by the big oak?" James asked, just to fill the silence.

  "Yep, Operation: Encourage Dipa is headquartered there," Toya confirmed, nodding towards the familiar path. "Unless you have a sudden urge to tackle the terrifying outdoor elliptical machines today?"

  "Hard pass," James shuddered. "Those things look like medieval torture devices."

  The whole act felt weirdly… domestic, strolling like this, pretending. It was like pying house, but with more sweating and fake retionship goals. James mentally recalibrated. Focus, Miller.

  It's just walking. And light deception. Easy. He could feel Toya's presence beside him, a constant reminder of the ridiculous situation they'd cooked up.

  Their eyes automatically scanned ahead, zeroing in on their designated zone – that familiar, slightly trampled patch of grass nestled near the sprawling branches of the ancient oak tree. It had become their unofficial 'training ground'. And bingo. There she was.

  Dipa. She was already deep in the zone, powering through a set of walking lunges with a look of fierce, almost grim determination carved onto her face. Her brow was furrowed, lips pressed tight.

  Sweat glistened on her forehead and temples, pstering damp strands of dark hair to her skin like tiny commas. She looked utterly focused, locked in a silent battle with her own muscles and willpower. It was intense.

  Even from this distance, maybe forty feet away now, James could clock the improvements. Her lunges weren't the shaky, ankle-wobbling near-falls he'd witnessed on day one. Her movements were more controlled, her bance visibly better. He could almost see the stability in her core engage as she stepped through each rep.

  And her breathing, while still the heavy rhythm of exertion, wasn’t the ragged, desperate gasping that had initially worried him. It sounded more like hard work, less like impending colpse.

  "See?" Toya murmured quietly beside him, noticing his observation. "Told you she just needed a little push. And maybe some actual guidance."

  Okay, she's definitely getting stronger, James thought, a genuine spark of pride mixing with the ever-present awkwardness of their mission. Her endurance is way up from that first day. He quickly squashed the analytical part of his brain that wanted to assign metrics. Nope, just observe.