Finally they would fight.
The Zverev twins trained all day.
Sergio put them through drill after drill and they pushed through all of them. The only complaint they ever had was that they wanted to spar. Sergio had refused to allow it until a few months ago, but even then it was always under Sergio’s watchful eye. As an ex-boxer himself, he knew better than to start the boys too early.
These boys were beautifully built. Tall and long-limbed, they were fast, light on their feet and hungry.
He knew that with the right training the twins would go far.
What a package!
Two peas in a pod, two pitched minds and two angry youths.
All Sergio had to do for now was contain them.
But he wasn’t there tonight.
‘Tell the others,’ Roman said, and the room started to fill, beds were pushed back to make floor space and the gathering spectators knelt on them.
‘Show me what you’ve got,’ Roman jeered, as he came out fighting. He had Daniil straight on the defensive, blocking punches and moving back.
No headgear, no gloves, no money to get them.
Not yet.
Roman gave him nothing, no rest, nowhere to hide, and Daniil, with everything to prove, fought back with all he had.
The other boys were cheering while trying not to, as they did not want to alert the workers.
Roman was at his fiercest, and though Daniil did his best to match him it was he who tired first. He moved in and took Roman in a clinch. He just needed a moment to rest but his brother shrugged him off.
Daniil went in again, holding on to his twin so that Roman couldn’t punch him, doing his best to get back some breath before he commenced fighting again.
Roman broke the clinch and the fight restarted, both blocking punches, both taking the occasional hit, but then Daniil thought he was gaining ground. Daniil was fast and Roman rarely needed to rest but it was Roman who now came in for a clinch and leaned on his twin. Daniil could hear his brother’s angry breathing but as he released him, instead of giving Daniil that necessary second to centre, Roman hooked him, landing an uppercut to Daniil’s left cheek and flooring him.
Daniil came round to stunned faces. He had no idea how long he’d been knocked out but it had been long enough to have everyone worried.
Everyone except Roman.
‘See,’ Roman said. ‘I do better without you, shishka.’
The staff had noticed that some of the dorms were empty and, alerted by the mounting cheers, had started running to the room where Daniil now lay, trying to focus.
Katya, the cook, took him into the warm kitchen, calling to her daughter, Anya, to bring the box of tape. Anya was in there, practising her dance steps. She was twelve and went to a dance school but for now was home for the holidays. Sometimes she would tease the twins and say that she was fitter than them.
Anya still had dreams and thought she would dance her way out of here.
Daniil had none now.
‘Hey, what on earth were you doing?’ Katya scolded. She gave Daniil some strong, sweet black tea and then she tried to patch up his face. ‘The rich family don’t want ugly...’
* * *
Daniil sat on a bed just a few days later, seemingly a million miles from home.
In the car he had looked at the small houses and shops as they’d passed them and when the car had turned a corner he had seen in the distance a large imposing red-brick residence. They had been driven down a long driveway and he’d stared at the lawns, fountains and statues outside the huge house.
Daniil hadn’t wanted to get out of the car but he had, silently.
The door was opened by a man in a black suit who looked, to Daniil, to be dressed for a funeral or wedding but his smile was kind.
In the entrance Daniil stood as the adults spoke over him and then up the stairs he was led by the woman who had twice come to the orphanage and who was now his mother.
At the turn of the stairs there was a portrait of his new parents with their hands on the shoulders of a smiling dark-haired child.
He’d been told that they had no children.
The bedroom was large and there was only one bed, which looked out to vast countryside.
‘Bath!’
He had no idea what she meant until she pointed to a room off the bedroom, and then she had gone.
Daniil had a bath and wrapped a towel around himself, just in time, because there was a knock at the door. It opened and she approached him with an anxious smile. She started to go through his things and kept calling him by the wrong name.
He wanted to correct her and tell her his name was pronounced Dah-neel, rather than the Dae-ne-yuhl she insisted on using, but then he remembered the translator explaining that he had a new name.