The older Asian lady on the treadmill

You walked up to the row of treadmills and stepped onto the empty one next to the woman. She had a severe look to her, big round glasses on her face which didn’t seem to move in the slightest even though she was jogging at a pretty fast clip on the whirring treadmill. To be honest the woman wasn’t really your type… but at the same time you wouldn’t say no to her if she came up to you at a bar and offered you a good time.

You kind of just stared at her for a minute, which was a creepy-ass thing to do, but you felt that for some reason nobody else would see it that way. When the woman finally noticed you in the corner of her eye she tried to not notice you. She was trying to concentrate on finishing her run. You decided to start your treadmill and it beeped, a slow walking pace setting your feet in motion. Seeing you begin your own proper run seemed to relax the woman a little and she jogged on.

You still watched her as you walked beside her, noticing the flushing pink of her cheeks and neck caused by her rigorous exercise. You could see on her treadmill display that she had been running for 43 minutes, though you couldn’t know if it was at this constant speed the entire time. Impressive either way, you thought, and wondered how her legs looked under those loose tracksuit pants. It felt rude to interrupt her workout so you bided your time for a little longer, hoping she would stop at the 45 minute mark.

Lo and behold, as the timer hit 45 minutes and 3 seconds she tapped on some buttons and the treadmill began to slow. It took her about another minute to get to a walking pace, though it was still faster than what you had been doing, and you saw her take her small grey towel and pad at her sweaty neck. It felt like the time was right, so you said hello.

“Hello.”

She looked over to you immediately, put on a small tired smile and greeted you back.

“Hello,” she said, slightly accented. Maybe she was Chinese? That was your best guess. She seemed friendly. Looking her up and down as she walked her walk you took a calming breath. Here goes nothing.