Despite today’s training session only being two hours, Jed still felt like fainting at the end. He laid on the floor, completely exhausted, and retreated to the fetal position. Amon stood over him, scoffing at the scene beneath him. He’d never met a boxer that was so feeble. But, whatever. That’s what he was here to do—whip Jed into shape.

“I can’t do it. I can’t move anymore today,” As Jed spoke, it sounded like getting each word out was a work out in itself. Amon knelt down next to him, and moved some of Jed’s hair out of his face. The sweat made it stick to him.

“That’s okay. It’s only five minutes early. Not like you’d make much improvement in that time, anyways.” Their session had gone alright today, but Jed was still pulling his punches, no matter how often Amon corrected him, or tried to encourage him to do it the right way.

“You have to stop pulling away, Jed. I don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s going to make you lose the second you get into a real fight.” He sank all the way down to Jed’s level, laying next to him, lining their faces up to be directly in front of one another’s. “Is there a reason you’re doing it like this?”

Jed didn’t respond, but Amon could see the obvious inner turmoil visible on Jed’s face. It looked like he had this deep, dark secret that he really wanted to tell someone, but just couldn’t bring himself to. Hoping there was some drama to divulge, Amon readied himself to really push Jed for an answer, and ask what was wrong, but he couldn’t. Before he had the chance to ask, the doors burst open, and Vanessa walked in with her assistants.

“Good afternoon, boys!”

Jed flipped over from laying on the left to laying on the right, allowing himself to see what was going on. As she looked at him, a twinge of subtle awkwardness crossed over her features, but she quickly corrected herself. She couldn’t help recollecting their moment of connection at the cafe yesterday and the moment of soul searching it forced her to adhere to. Amon noticed the shift—what on earth did he miss out on?

“I’m here to collect Jed. But, first,” she signaled for her assistant to come forth. “I have a quick presentation I’d like to go over.”

Enthusiastically, Amon hopped up from where he was laying, clapping his hands together. The scales on his face turned a bright green. “NO WAY!! It’s already done?!?”

That was fast. Then, Amon thought back to the air of uncomfortableness Vanessa brought in with her. That had to have something to do with it.“What exactly did you guys do yesterday?”

Vanessa made a weird face back to him. “Amon, don’t start.” He looked between the both of them, then rolled his eyes to the side. “We just opened up to one another, you know! Makes the process easier.”

“Oh, yeah. It definitely looks like you two opened each other up.”

Ignoring his comments, Vanessa checked on her assistants’ progress with the display board. Almost there! The team of assistants tacked up the final few pieces of the vision board and printed out slides, diligently adjusting the lighting for the impending big reveal. Ready to present, Vanessa cleared her throat, calling for quiet.

“Okay, everyone! It’s time to finally present how we’re going to brand Jed. I’ll accept some comments and some critiques, but most of this is set in stone.” She picked up the pointer she typically used from the groove of the whiteboard and slapped it against the first slide she was going to go over.

Firmly, she added: “I am the designer, after all.”

“Um.” Jed immediately interrupted, and Vanessa sighed. “How come, on one of those slides, it says—”

“Shhh.” She hushed him. “Let me get to it first.”

“But—”

“Jed. Stop.”

Jed sat in silence, feeling particularly uneasy. He really, really didn’t like the stage name she appeared to have picked out for him. Once Vanessa was confident Jed wouldn’t be tempted to interrupt, she began her presentation.

Slide one focused on the theme. She explained the route she wanted to take with Jed; because of the unique color palette he was already naturally blessed with, and his super sympathetic upbringing he had mentioned yesterday, Vanessa had committed to fully leaning into the delicate angel aspect of it all. Jed did not like that last comment—he already told her not to talk about that part of his life, and now she was using it as his whole image?

Ignoring his judgment, she continued. His main audience would be women, which was a market she had been wanting to try to tap. If she could just connect with that demographic, Jed would make so much money, and, simultaneously, Vanessa would be applauded for being the one to crack into an under-utilized market of people in the world of televised boxing. Amon looked over and saw the upset on Jed’s face but didn’t say anything.

Next, she showed how she would dress him. At first, she was considering mainly whites and blacks, but, after Jed pointed out how much he didn’t like them, she really sat down and thought about what else they could do. She pointed to the picture she took of Jed landing the other day, and then the paint swatches next to it—it was an array of baby blues, creamy whites and sunny yellows. Her new outfitting idea revolved around what she called a “disheveled greek statue.” So, lots of drapery, lots of loose clothes with solid color schemes, but all athletic wear adjacent—which meant, also, he’d need to take his hair from shoulder length to above the chin to really channel that low maintenance, athlete on the move look.

She moved the pointer down a little lower, circling the word “relief,” and explained, with vigor only ever apparent in an artist excited to show how they came to an observant conclusion, that it held two meanings. One was the definition—relief meant a relaxation from stress. Jed was going to be seen as a quiet, calm and approachable presence.

But, relief also was a type of sculpture that was apparent during the art period they were trying to channel. More outfitting ideas sat beneath the word, all in a warm cream color. There were sneakers that, in the back, and around the sides, had four corinthian columns carved into them with puff paint. Each column separated certain mythological scenes from one another, telling a story. The sweatshirts followed suit, having faces of renaissance figures, angels, ivy and trumpets with delicate interlace popping out. Jed was interested, but also concerned. Those looked so intricate… and with intricacy came a serious increase in price.

Then, finally, she got to the slide that Jed had his earlier qualms with. On it, it read, in large, bold print, that he would take the name “DOVE” when he was on stage. The reason why? Besides the obvious nod towards what he’s spliced with, it would also give people an underdog to root for. It was a literal showcase of the fact that Jed was not like his opponents who were almost all predator animals, ready to devour one another with their slew of sharp talons, armored skin and fangs. He was something else, something elevated, something pure… a—

“Dove?!”

Jed cut Vanessa off mid-explanation. She looked down at him, and was taken aback by the amount of hurt in his voice. Awkwardly, she lowered her pointer.

“Yeah! I thought, you know, considering what you told me yesterday, and the sympathetic, peaceful angle we’re taking, this would be the perfect way to wrap everything together.”

“But… yesterday we talked about how I was made like this as some sort of weird form of activism by my parents.” He got up from where he was sitting, frustrated. “All this name is gonna do is force me to embody everything I don’t like about myself. It’s going to be a constant reminder that I was born as a joke.”

“That’s not true,” Vanessa stared at the board, and then back at him. “No one is going to think of it that way, they’re going to—”

“But they are!” Jed spat back. His hands waved wildly as he spoke, amplifying his aggravation. “You… you said you were going to use my life story to make people feel bad for me! So… if all they know is that, and then I go by Dove, all I’m going to be is that sorry piece of s—”

“HEY!” Amon said as he stood up, hurriedly separating the two of them. Jed didn’t realize how close he had gotten to her, and that he had begun to raise his voice. Remorseful, he straightened himself out, and turned away, blinking back the tears he didn’t even realize had formed. “Do not yell at her. No matter how many punches you pull with me, you’re still double her size.”

Jed tried to calm down. “I wasn’t going to… I would never—”

Amon ignored him, instead adding more to his own comment. “You signed a contract with Vanessa. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s going to make it tasteful. I promise.”

During their whole argument, Vanessa didn’t show any signs of acknowledgement. Instead, she was focused on Jed, and kept relaying his reaction in her head. Maybe she shouldn’t have assumed anything, but it didn’t occur to her that Jed wouldn’t want to leverage everything he’s got—flaws made you relatable, and relatability sold. Everyone loved someone they could connect with.

“I didn’t like how I was branded either, but it worked. Now I can do whatever I want, even though I lost.” Hearing Amon say that made Vanessa feel even worse—she thought for a moment, back to when Amon was her client, and realized that perhaps the initial tension in their working relationship came from the persona she had asked him to take on.

“Jed, I’m sorry. Let’s talk about this in private, ‘kay?” Vanessa motioned for him to follow her into the hallway. She knew Amon was just trying to help, but he had a bad habit of talking down to people, which just made them feel less heard.

Once they were alone, she sighed. “Jed, babes, tell me what’s up. I thought you knew I was going to use all the info you gave me yesterday to brand you?”

Jed frowned. That was true, but seeing it there, on that board, and knowing the intentions behind it hurt. He didn’t want his entire persona to be built off of people feeling sorry for him. Jed was trying to break away from that image.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk.” Vanessa pursed her lips, guilt settling in. She knew it was difficult to express yourself when already feeling vulnerable, but Jed needed to share precisely which part was bothering him and how to fix it. “We need to come to a solution, okay? So we can both leave this happy.”

“Okay. I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry for yelling.”

“I know. But I’m not asking for that right now. I’m asking for you to tell me what we can do to make you happy.”

“Oh… um. I guess…” Jed suddenly felt his eyes begin to water again, a common occurrence he faced when it came to expressing his emotions. “If you want to do that stuff, it’s… it’s okay. I trust you. But… can you, um…” He grimaced, trying to get the words out. “If you want to make me like, depressing, can you at least add in that I got myself out of it?”

Vanessa heaved a heavy sigh of relief with that. “Jed, that is the simplest request I have ever been given. Of course I can do that for you.”

Noticing he was starting to cry, Vanessa opened her arms, and Jed practically dove in for a hug. It had been so long since he’d had one. At first, Vanessa’s hold was a bit awkward; Jed towered over her 5 '5'' frame, doubling her in width, too. However, after a few moments, she adjusted, figuring out how to console him. Her embrace was soft and comforting, but her lacy business attire tickled his skin.

Vanessa reassured him with a few gentle pats on his back before delicately pulling away.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow for digitals, Jed!”