source of muscles

[Gary1506]

GIULIA — THE SPRING OF THE MIRAMARE

Chapter 1 — The Return

When her mother told her that the Grand Hotel Miramare might not reopen for the summer season, Giulia Ferri assumed she was exaggerating.

Her mother often exaggerated, especially when she was nervous.

"I'm not exaggerating," Laura clarified, dropping a folder filled with invoices onto the breakfast table. "The electrical system in the west wing needs to be replaced, three rooms have water damage, and the kitchen service elevator has broken down again."

Giulia continued stirring her coffee.

"Dad said everything was under control."

Sitting at the other end of the table, Carlo slowly lowered his newspaper.

"Your father says many things to keep your mother from worrying."

"And it works terribly," Laura said.

The Grand Hotel Miramare was an ivory-colored building overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Six floors, panoramic terraces, crystal chandeliers, reception halls, and enough structural problems to occupy an entire team of technicians.

It had belonged to the Ferri family for three generations.

Giulia had grown up inside it, running along the corridors while the waiters prepared the tables and hiding behind the curtains in the ballroom.

At twenty-three, however, she mainly considered the hotel a place she had successfully escaped from.

She lived in Rome and worked for a small advertising agency. She had returned to Naples because her father needed minor knee surgery. Nothing serious, but enough to stop him from running from one floor to another as he normally did.

"I can't repair an electrical system," Giulia said.

"We're not asking you to," Carlo replied. "You only need to help us coordinate the work. Speak to the suppliers, check the deliveries, and make sure nobody makes half the materials disappear."

"So I have to be a guard."

"I prefer temporary director."

Giulia sighed.

She was five foot seven, slim, elegant, and completely uninterested in any activity involving dust, physical effort, or comfortable clothing.

Her mother claimed she spent too much time sitting in front of a computer.

Her father claimed she did not eat enough.

Giulia claimed they should both mind their own problems.

"Two weeks," she finally said.

Carlo smiled.

"Two weeks."

The first day passed without incident.

On the second, Giulia argued with a plumber.

On the third, the kitchen service elevator stopped between the ground floor and the basement with six crates of wine, three sacks of flour, and an entire shipment of new plates inside.

"I knew it," Laura muttered, uselessly pressing the button. "I knew it would happen today."

The head chef, Mr. De Luca, stared tragically at the closed doors.

"We need those plates for Saturday's wedding."

"Let's call the technician," Giulia said.

"He'll be here tomorrow morning."

"Of course."

The elevator doors had opened by only a few inches. Through the gap, they could see the cabin stuck about three feet below them.

Giulia knelt and shone her phone's light inside.

"Maybe we can at least pull out the nearest crates."

"Miss Giulia, leave it alone," De Luca said. "They're heavy."

"I don't have to lift them over my head. I only have to drag them."

"Your father will fire me if you hurt yourself."

"My father is upstairs with an ice pack on his knee. He isn't firing anyone."

With the help of a waiter, they managed to force the doors slightly farther apart. Giulia leaned through the opening, grabbed the first crate, and tried to pull it toward her.

It did not move.

"I told you it was heavy," De Luca observed.

"Thank you for the support."

Giulia changed position, planted her feet against the floor, and pulled with both hands.

The crate moved forward a few inches.

Her arms immediately began to ache.

"Stop," her mother said. "We'll wait for the technician."

Giulia could have given up.

Instead, she thought about the chef's tone. About the way everyone had automatically assumed she would be unable to do anything.

She tightened her grip around the handles.

"One more try."

She pulled.

This time, the crate slid all the way to the opening. The waiter grabbed it and helped her place it on the floor.

"One," Giulia said, breathing more quickly.

They pulled out another two.

By the fourth, her arms were trembling so badly that she had to stop.

De Luca handed her a glass of water.

"For someone who never lifts anything, you didn't do too badly."

Giulia drank it all in a single gulp.

The water tasted strange, slightly metallic.

"Where did this come from?"

"The basement tap."

Laura frowned.

"That shouldn't be connected."

De Luca pointed toward an old sink set into the wall. The faucet had been darkened by age and was surrounded by cracked tiles.

"It started working this morning."

When Carlo came downstairs to inspect it, he explained that a spring existed beneath the hotel.

"A spring?" Giulia repeated.

"It was already here when my grandfather bought the building. For years the water was used in the kitchens. Then the pipes were sealed during the renovations in the eighties."

"And now they reopened by themselves?"

"The workers probably moved an old valve."

Giulia filled the glass again.

The water was cool, almost icy, and left a faint mineral sensation on her tongue. After drinking it, the burning in her arms seemed to ease.

"Don't drink too much before we have it analyzed," her mother said.

"I'm already on my second glass."

"That sentence does not reassure me."

That night, Giulia slept for almost ten hours.

When she woke, she expected to be unable to move her arms. Instead, she felt only a slight tension, like the sensation after a long walk.

She got up, went to the bathroom, and tied back her hair in front of the mirror.

That was when she noticed something.

Her shoulders looked different.

Not exactly wider. Straighter.

Giulia rotated one arm. There was nothing especially obvious beneath the skin, but the line running from shoulder to elbow appeared more defined.

"Imagination," she told her reflection.

She put on a shirt and went downstairs.

During breakfast, her father kept staring at her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Dad."

"Did you exercise yesterday?"

"I pulled four crates out of a service elevator."

"It shows."

Giulia looked down at her sleeves.

"It absolutely does not."

Carlo smiled.

"You're standing straighter."

"Maybe because you're all examining me like I'm under investigation."

Even her mother watched her when she stood to get more coffee.

"Your father is right."

"Don't encourage him."

"Your shoulders look more toned."

Giulia rolled her eyes.

"I moved some crates. I didn't climb a mountain."

During the morning, fifty new chairs arrived for the terrace. The delivery men were late and left half the load in the service entrance, claiming they needed to leave immediately.

Giulia followed them to the truck.

"You can't leave them here."

"Delivery is to the ground floor," one of the men replied. "The document doesn't say we have to carry them onto the terrace."

"The terrace is on the ground floor."

The man pointed to the corridor, which was nearly forty yards long.

"That counts as internal transport."

Giulia stared at him.

The other delivery man, a broad man with a gray beard, gave her a patient smile.

"Miss, call someone from the hotel. Those chairs are heavy."

Giulia grabbed the first one.

It was made of decorated metal and was far heavier than it looked. The day before, she would have needed to drag it.

That morning, she lifted it.

Not easily, but without the effort she expected.

She tucked it under one arm and picked up a second chair with the other.

The bearded man's smile vanished.

"Where did you say they had to go?" Giulia asked.

"To... the terrace."

"Perfect."

She walked down the corridor carrying both chairs.

Halfway there, she felt the muscles in her arms harden, but there was no pain. It was an intense, energetic sensation. The more the weight tried to pull her downward, the more her body seemed to resist it.

When she returned, the two men were still standing by the truck.

"You're taking two at once?" the younger man asked.

"We'll finish faster."

"They didn't look heavy to you."

Giulia picked up another two chairs.

"They are."

"It doesn't look like it."

As she walked away, she heard the bearded man mutter to his colleague:

"Did you see her arms?"

Giulia looked down.

The sleeves of her shirt had tightened slightly.

That shirt had always been loose.

After the sixth trip, Enrico, the reception manager, came out of his office.

"Giulia, when did you start going to the gym?"

"Why is everyone asking me that today?"

"Because you're carrying two chairs at a time, while the delivery men are carrying one."

One of the men pretended not to hear.

Giulia put the chairs down.

"They're just lazier than I am."

"That isn't it." Enrico pointed at her arm. "Look."

Giulia bent her elbow slightly.

A small but clear curve appeared beneath the shirt.

Enrico raised his eyebrows.

"There. That wasn't there yesterday."

"You can't remember what my arms looked like yesterday."

"I've worked here for nine years. I watched you grow up."

The remark made her smile.

"I haven't grown since yesterday."

But that evening, standing in front of the mirror, Giulia had to admit that something had really changed.

Her shoulders were slightly fuller. Her arms possessed an athletic shape they had not had before. When she bent her elbow, her biceps formed a compact curve.

Giulia touched it.

It was hard.

Not enormous, not yet.

But real.

"How the hell is this possible?"

She had done a few hours of physical labor. Not enough to develop visible muscle.

She thought about the basement water.

Then she shook her head.

"That can't be it."

She flexed her arm again.

The curve rose beneath the skin.

Giulia kept staring at it.

She should have been worried.

Instead, she smiled.

Chapter 2 — Everyone Notices

Over the following days, the changes continued.

They were not sudden. Each morning, Giulia merely appeared a little more toned than she had the evening before.

Her shoulders rounded.

Her forearms became more solid.

Her waist seemed narrower.

Her strength increased in the same way: slowly enough to be attributed to the work, but far too quickly to be normal.

Giulia began wearing tank tops.

She told herself it was because the hotel was hot and filled with workers.

In reality, she wanted to see whether the others would notice her arms.

They noticed.

When she entered the lobby wearing a black tank top, Enrico and two waiters, Paolo and Andrea, stopped speaking at the same time.

Giulia took another two steps, then stopped.

"What's wrong with you?"

Enrico tried to look elsewhere.

"Nothing."

"You were talking a second ago."

Andrea pointed at her shoulders.

"It's just that... it shows even more."

"What shows?"

The young man hesitated.

"That you're getting strong."

Giulia looked down at her bare arms.

"How strong?"

"We don't know," Enrico said. "But yesterday you helped two porters move that dresser. And this morning you look even more muscular."

Paolo nodded.

"Much more muscular."

Giulia could have ignored them and kept walking.

Instead, she felt a sudden impulse.

She raised her right arm and bent her elbow.

Her biceps gathered into a full, compact shape.

"Oh," she said, pretending innocence. "Do you like it?"

Paolo opened his mouth but did not answer.

Andrea simply stared at the muscle.

Enrico, who normally maintained a professional expression in any situation, inhaled sharply.

Giulia tightened her fist further.

Her biceps seemed to gain another inch.

"Have you all lost your voices now?"

"It's just..." Enrico began.

"What?"

"I didn't expect it to be that hard."

Giulia stepped closer and offered him her arm.

"Check."

Enrico looked at her.

"Seriously?"

"You said it looked hard."

The man hesitantly placed two fingers on her biceps.

Giulia flexed harder.

Enrico immediately pulled his hand away.

"Damn."

She laughed.

"That much?"

"It feels like stone."

She liked the answer more than she wanted to admit.

Stone.

A few days earlier, her arms had been thin and soft. Now an adult man touched them and was left speechless by their hardness.

Giulia slowly lowered her arm.

"And I'm not even training."

"Maybe you should start," Andrea said.

"Why?"

"To find out how far you can go."

That sentence stayed in her mind.

How far could she go?

The question thrilled and worried her at the same time.

In the storage room, she found four crates of mineral water in front of the door. Each contained twelve glass bottles. Normally, two waiters transported them with a cart.

Giulia grabbed the first crate and lifted it.

It was heavy, but her body reacted immediately. The muscles in her forearms hardened, her biceps tightened, and the weight stabilized between her hands.

She put the crate down.

Then she went back and grabbed two at once.

Nearly one hundred and ten pounds in total.

For a moment, the weight dragged her downward. Her shoulders stiffened and her fingers creaked around the plastic handles.

Then Giulia straightened.

The two crates hung at her sides.

She crossed the storage room with slow steps. She could feel her leg muscles working beneath her trousers, her stomach tightening to maintain balance, and her shoulders contracting to support her arms.

Every part of her body seemed more efficient.

When she put the crates down, her breathing was only slightly faster.

"I couldn't have done that yesterday," she murmured.

She was certain.

Her strength was increasing.

Day after day.

Perhaps hour after hour.

As she returned for the other crates, Paolo entered the storage room.

He stopped in the doorway.

"You're carrying both of them?"

"As you can see."

"That's twenty-four glass bottles."

"I know how to count."

Paolo watched her until she set down the load.

"Giulia, seriously, how much can you lift?"

She shook out her arms. A few thin veins had become visible along her forearms.

"I don't know yet."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Not at all."

It was not completely true. She felt a pleasant burning in her arms, but she did not want it to end. The heat made her aware of every muscle fiber.

Paolo stepped closer.

"Show me again."

"Show you what?"

"Your biceps."

Giulia smiled.

A few days earlier, such a request would have made her feel ridiculous.

Now it felt natural.

She slowly raised her arm.

"Only because you asked politely."

She flexed.

Paolo released a long breath.

"Wow."

Giulia tilted her head.

"Oh, so you really do like it."

"I've never seen anyone change so quickly."

"I wasn't talking about the change."

The waiter blushed.

Giulia laughed and tightened the flex. She watched the way Paolo's eyes followed the curve of the muscle.

The reaction passed through her like an electric charge.

It was not only vanity.

It was the realization that her body was communicating something without needing words.

Strength.

Solidity.

Capability.

People no longer looked at her merely because she was the owners' daughter.

They looked at her because she was becoming extraordinary.

Her appetite increased as well.

Giulia began eating portions that would have shocked anyone who had known her before. Pasta, meat, vegetables, bread, and fruit disappeared from her plate without her hunger seeming to fade.

She mainly drank the spring water.

Normal water now tasted bland to her.

"Is this the spring water?" Laura asked, lifting a bottle filled in the basement.

"Yes."

"I said we should have it analyzed."

"I feel perfectly fine."

Her mother looked at her shoulders.

"You're changing."

Giulia grabbed another slice of bread.

"I don't feel sick."

"I didn't say that."

"I feel better than before. I have more energy, I sleep well, and I'm stronger."

Carlo folded his arms.

"How much stronger?"

Giulia considered the question.

"This morning I carried two crates of bottles together."

"Two?" her mother asked.

"They were less heavy than they looked."

"Or you are stronger than you look," Carlo observed.

One corner of Giulia's mouth rose.

"It seems I've become the hotel's favorite subject."

"Because everyone is noticing," Laura said.

"And everyone keeps looking at me."

"Does it bother you?"

Giulia was about to say yes.

Then she remembered Enrico pulling his hand away from her biceps. Paolo standing openmouthed in the storage room. The porters unable to understand how she had lifted the dresser.

"No," she admitted. "Not really."

Mirella, the hotel seamstress, was the first to measure the change properly.

She had Giulia put on a jacket prepared only a few days before.

The fabric immediately stretched across her back and arms.

"Don't button it," Mirella said.

"Why?"

"Because a seam will burst."

Giulia studied her reflection.

"Is it really that tight?"

"It fit perfectly five days ago."

Mirella wrapped the measuring tape around her arm.

Then checked the measurement again.

"You've gained almost three centimeters."

"In five days?"

"Almost three."

Giulia stared at her reflection.

Three centimeters did not sound like much, but on her arm the difference was obvious. Her biceps filled the sleeve and her shoulder pressed against the fabric.

"Flex," Mirella said.

"Seriously?"

"I need to know how much room to leave."

Giulia bent her arm.

The material tightened further.

Mirella stopped breathing for a moment.

"My goodness."

Giulia met her gaze in the mirror.

"Oh, you like it too?"

Before Mirella could answer, Giulia flexed harder.

The sleeve creaked.

Mirella immediately stepped forward.

"Stop! Do you want to tear it?"

Giulia relaxed her arm, laughing.

"I didn't think I could."

"With those arms, you'll be tearing the curtains soon."

The seamstress removed the jacket and examined the width of her shoulders.

"And it isn't only your arms. Your back has grown too."

"How much?"

"Enough to make me redo half the work."

Giulia turned sideways in front of the mirror.

"Does it look bad?"

Mirella stared at her in surprise.

"Bad? No. You look magnificent. Your figure is much more..."

"More what?"

"Imposing."

Giulia repeated the word silently.

Imposing.

Every comment added something to the new image she was constructing of herself.

Incredible.

Hard as stone.

Imposing.

She liked all of them.

Chapter 3 — Veins Beneath the Skin

One morning, Giulia woke with an unusual sensation in her arms.

It was not pain.

It was a constant internal pressure, as though her muscles were too full of energy to remain still.

She slowly opened and closed her hands.

When she clenched her fists, her forearms hardened and a series of blue veins appeared beneath the skin.

Giulia's eyes widened.

She went to the mirror.

"What the..."

The morning light fell directly across her arms. The veins traced clear lines over her forearms, climbed toward her elbows, and continued along her biceps.

Giulia slowly rotated her wrist.

The simple movement made her forearm swell.

One particularly prominent vein crossed the muscle almost to the back of her hand.

She brushed it with her fingertips.

It was real.

Her skin appeared tighter, as though there were nothing left to conceal the structure growing beneath it.

"They weren't there yesterday."

At least, not like that.

Giulia raised her right arm and bent it.

Her biceps contracted.

The veins immediately swelled across its surface, emphasizing the rounded shape of the muscle.

Giulia stared without breathing.

It was not only larger.

It looked powerful.

Alive.

As if every part of her arm were ready to unleash enormous strength at the first command.

She flexed harder.

The biceps rose even higher.

"Incredible."

This time, she did not say the word with concern.

She said it with a smile.

She put on a black tank top. The fabric tightened across her shoulders and rode slightly above her trousers.

Giulia turned sideways.

Beneath the top, she could see a deep vertical line along the center of her abdomen.

She slowly took hold of the hem.

She lifted it.

Her breath caught in her throat.

There were no longer merely hints of definition across her stomach.

She had a genuine six-pack.

Six compact, symmetrical blocks ran down her abdomen, separated by deep lines. Smaller ridges were visible beneath her ribs, and her obliques formed two sharp curves along her waist.

Giulia ran a hand over her abs.

They were hard.

Not simply toned.

Hard as the surface of a statue.

She tightened her abdomen, making all six sections stand out even more.

"Oh my God."

For several minutes, she remained in front of the mirror, alternating between her right and left biceps and watching the veins swell each time. Then she placed both hands behind her head and tightened her stomach.

The transformation was absurd.

Dangerously fast.

One rational part of her mind kept insisting that she should call a doctor, stop drinking the spring water, and tell her parents everything.

But that voice was becoming weaker.

Because the rest of her was euphoric.

Her body did not hurt.

It did not seem sick.

It looked magnificent.

Every new muscular line made it more harmonious. Every vein seemed to emphasize the strength flowing through her.

"How can this happen so quickly?"

The work she had done could not explain everything.

The water remained the only possible answer.

Perhaps it contained some rare mineral. Perhaps her body reacted to it in an unusual way.

But Giulia had noticed something else.

Every time she tested her body, she was stronger the following day.

As though her muscles did not merely recover from exertion.

As though they adapted immediately to surpass it.

"So the more I use my strength..."

She looked at her flexed biceps.

"...the stronger I become."

A shiver ran along her back.

It was not fear.

It was anticipation.

She walked into the lobby with her arms bare.

The staff were speaking among themselves when Giulia appeared at the top of the staircase.

The silence was immediate.

Giulia started down slowly, perfectly aware of every pair of eyes fixed on her.

She could feel her arms swinging at her sides. With every movement, the veins along her forearms appeared and disappeared.

She reached the final step.

"Good morning."

Enrico opened his mouth.

No sound emerged.

Paolo was staring at the veins crossing her right arm.

Andrea looked between her and the others, as though checking that everyone was seeing the same thing.

Giulia placed one hand on her hip.

Her forearm contracted, and the veins rose even farther.

"What's wrong?"

The electrician was the first to recover.

"Your... arms."

Giulia looked down with feigned surprise.

"My arms?"

"They're much more muscular than yesterday," one of the porters said.

The other slowly shook his head.

"And those veins weren't there."

Giulia brought her arm in front of herself and rotated her wrist.

"These?"

She clenched her fist.

The veins in her forearm swelled as her biceps began to rise.

Paolo drew a deep breath.

Giulia heard it.

The reaction sent a surge of pleasure through her.

"Oh," she said, smiling. "Do you like them?"

She bent her elbow fully.

Her biceps gathered into a round, hard mass. Veins crossed it, making every curve even more visible.

Nobody could look away.

Giulia slowly increased the contraction.

"It's much bigger," Andrea murmured.

"How much?" she asked.

"A lot."

"A lot isn't a measurement."

Enrico stepped half a pace closer.

"Giulia, that looks like the arm of a professional athlete."

She studied her muscle with clear satisfaction.

"Only an athlete?"

She flexed again.

A vein rose along the biceps.

The older porter swallowed.

"I've never seen a woman with arms that defined from this close."

Giulia tilted her head.

"Then look carefully."

She rotated the arm slightly, offering him the full profile of the muscle.

She enjoyed seeing grown adults, men accustomed to physical work, standing motionless before the power of her body.

All her life, she had tried to be elegant, discreet, and perfect.

Now she liked being impossible to ignore.

Carlo and Laura entered the lobby.

Her mother stopped as soon as she saw her.

"Giulia."

"Good morning, Mom."

"What happened to your arms?"

"They've become slightly more defined."

"Slightly?" her father repeated.

Carlo approached and examined the veins along her forearms.

"You look as though you just finished a workout."

"And I just woke up."

Laura gently took hold of her wrist.

"Do they hurt?"

"No."

"Any loss of sensation?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

Giulia smiled.

"Mom, I feel perfectly fine. Better than I ever have."

She slowly tightened her hand.

Laura felt her daughter's forearm harden beneath her fingers and immediately let go.

"It's incredible," Carlo admitted.

Giulia looked at her father.

"You like it too?"

"I didn't say that."

"You said it was incredible."

She raised the arm again and flexed in front of him.

Carlo remained silent.

Giulia laughed.

"Apparently everybody likes it."

Paolo pointed at her tank top.

"Are only your arms different?"

Giulia turned toward him.

"What do you want to know?"

The waiter hesitated.

"Do you... have abs too?"

The others looked at him.

Paolo blushed.

"It was only a question."

Giulia looked down at the bottom of her tank top.

A wave of satisfaction moved through her.

She had imagined this moment in front of the mirror.

"Abs?" she repeated slowly.

She brought both hands to the hem.

The lobby became completely silent again.

Giulia began lifting the shirt.

Slowly.

First, the lower part of her abdomen appeared, flat and crossed by the lines of her obliques.

Then the lower row of muscles.

Finally, the entire six-pack.

Six deeply defined abdominal muscles emerged beneath the chandelier light.

Paolo stopped breathing.

Enrico slowly lowered the folder he was holding.

One of the porters released a quiet:

"My God."

Giulia held the tank top just beneath her chest.

"These?"

She tightened her stomach.

The six-pack became even sharper.

"It isn't possible to develop a body like that in a few days," the electrician said.

"And yet you're looking at it."

Giulia ran her hand across her abdominal muscles, feeling their hardness beneath her palm.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?"

Nobody answered immediately.

Her smile widened.

"You can say it. I won't be offended."

"They're perfect," Andrea admitted.

"Perfect," Giulia repeated.

She liked the word very much.

She slowly allowed the tank top to fall.

"You can all start breathing again now."

Later, while walking along the service corridor, she found Paolo and Andrea trying to move a large folding table.

"Do you need help?"

"No, we're almost done," Andrea said.

Paolo lost his grip slightly, and the table struck the wall.

Giulia folded her arms.

"It certainly looks almost done."

"It's awkward," Paolo said defensively.

"Put it down."

The two men obeyed.

Giulia stepped to the center of the table and slipped one hand beneath the edge.

"Don't lift it alone," Andrea said. "It weighs at least one hundred and seventy-five pounds."

Giulia tightened her fingers.

She lifted the table.

The weight was there, but her arms controlled it without difficulty. She held it in front of herself with both hands.

Her biceps swelled.

The veins rose along her forearms.

Paolo stared at her as he had that morning.

Giulia took a few steps.

"One hundred and seventy-five pounds?"

"About that."

"It doesn't feel like much."

She rotated the table and carried it through the doorway.

When she placed it down in the next room, she was not even breathing hard.

Andrea ran a hand across the tabletop.

"We carried it here together."

"Maybe you should train."

Giulia gave him a teasing smile and flexed one biceps.

"Or maybe I've become very strong."

"Much stronger than yesterday," Paolo said.

The sentence ignited something inside her again.

Giulia approached him.

Paolo was an adult man, tall and reasonably well built. He had to weigh more than one hundred and seventy-five pounds.

She studied him from head to toe.

"How much do you weigh?"

"One hundred and eighty. Why?"

Giulia tilted her head.

Her heart began beating faster.

Not because she was afraid of failing.

Because she wanted to discover whether she could do it.

"Let's see if I can..."

She stopped in front of Paolo and slowly placed her hands beneath his armpits.

"Giulia, what are you doing?"

"Stay still."

She bent her knees slightly.

She contracted her arms.

And lifted him.

Paolo's feet left the floor.

Giulia raised him until his face was almost level with her own. His weight rested on her arms, but she did not even need to grit her teeth.

She held him suspended.

Without any visible effort.

Paolo's eyes widened.

Andrea stepped backward.

"That's impossible."

Giulia watched the employee dangling between her hands.

It was much easier than she had imagined.

Her arms had swollen beneath the weight, making the veins even more visible. But they did not tremble.

"Interesting," she said.

Paolo stared at her, too surprised to speak.

Giulia lifted him a few inches higher.

"I can barely feel you."

"I weigh one hundred and eighty pounds."

"You already said that."

"You're lifting me as if I'm nothing."

Giulia felt euphoria flood her chest.

As if he were nothing.

She absolutely loved it.

The weight of a grown man no longer represented an obstacle. He was merely something she could pick up and move whenever she wanted.

She looked at Andrea.

"Would you like to try too?"

The man immediately shook his head.

Giulia laughed and slowly returned Paolo to the floor.

When his feet touched down, he remained still in front of her.

"How did you do that?"

Giulia raised both arms and flexed her biceps.

"With these."

The muscles swelled, hard and vascular.

"Oh, do you like them even more now?"

Paolo nodded before realizing he had done so.

Giulia laughed openly.

"I knew it."

Chapter 4 — The Wall

The growth in height began a few days later.

The first morning, Giulia found her feet extending beyond the edge of the bed.

She measured herself.

Five foot nine.

Four inches taller than when she had arrived.

Her legs had lengthened and filled out at the same time. Her thighs now possessed an athletic shape, while her calves formed a hard, high curve.

Her arms continued growing too.

Her right biceps was now clearly visible even when relaxed. The veins no longer disappeared, and her abdominal muscles grew deeper each day.

She entered the dining room.

Her father raised his eyes from his coffee and froze.

Laura turned and went pale.

"Giulia... you're taller."

"I measured myself."

"And?"

"Four inches."

Laura immediately stood.

"In how much time?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was gradual."

"We see you every day," her mother replied. "It was not gradual."

Carlo stood beside her.

Giulia was now almost his height.

"Your shoulders have grown too," he said.

"I noticed."

Laura examined the veins along her daughter's arms.

"Have you been drinking the spring water again?"

Giulia stopped chewing for a fraction of a second.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"I stopped."

The lie came out with surprising ease.

The previous evening she had drunk almost a gallon of that water.

She was no longer limiting herself to a glass or bottle. She filled large containers and hid them in her room.

During the night, she woke with overwhelming thirst.

Each time, she drank more.

And each time, she felt her body heating from within, as though her muscles immediately absorbed the substance and demanded more.

"I had the faucet closed," she added.

That part was true.

At least in appearance.

Carlo nodded, reassured.

"You did the right thing."

"The builder is coming today. I want the entire wall sealed so no one can drink that water by mistake."

Laura gently took hold of her arm.

The woman's fingers stopped over a raised vein.

"These don't look normal to me."

Giulia looked at the place where her mother was touching her.

"They don't hurt."

She lightly contracted her forearm.

The muscle became hard beneath Laura's hand, and the veins rose further.

The woman released her.

"Don't do that."

Giulia smiled.

"Do what?"

She raised her arm and slowly bent her elbow. Her biceps swelled, stretching the skin and bringing out an even more obvious network of veins.

Carlo continued staring.

"It has become much larger."

"Oh," Giulia said, her smile widening. "Do you like it?"

She clenched her fist.

The muscle rose higher.

Her father shook his head but could not look away.

"I no longer know what to think."

"You can think that your daughter is becoming incredibly strong."

Laura folded her arms.

"And incredibly vain."

Giulia relaxed her biceps.

"Maybe because I finally have something worth being vain about."

The builder constructed a complete wall in front of the spring: bricks, cement, and old tiles recovered from the storage rooms.

When the work was finished, no trace of the faucet remained.

The builder collected his tools.

"Nobody is getting through there now."

"Perfect."

The man left.

Giulia waited until his footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

Then she approached the wall.

She pressed one tile.

A section almost three feet wide moved slightly inward.

The previous evening, Giulia had prepared a second entrance through the adjoining storage room. The builder had created only the outer layer, unaware that the spring continued flowing behind a false wall.

Giulia entered the storage room, moved a shelf, and opened the hidden panel.

Behind it was a small space where the spring pipe continued filling a large steel container.

Giulia smiled.

"I stopped drinking it," she repeated quietly.

Then she grasped the container and drank directly from the edge.

Not one glass.

Not one bottle.

Almost half a gallon without stopping.

The cold water ran down her throat, and within seconds an intense warmth spread through her chest.

Giulia closed her eyes.

Her arms filled with pressure. The veins along her forearms swelled enough to cast thin shadows across her skin. Her shoulders seemed to grow denser beneath the tank top.

She inhaled deeply.

The fabric creaked.

Giulia opened her eyes.

"More."

She drank the rest.

Her body reacted almost immediately.

The fibers appeared more separated. Her shoulders became rounder, and her biceps gained visible fullness even while relaxed.

Giulia bent her arm.

The main vein swelled over the muscle.

"Oh, yes."

Her voice emerged as a whisper.

She posed before a small mirror she had placed inside the hidden space.

She spread her back.

The tank top tightened.

She flexed her arms.

Her conditioning was now extreme. Every muscle appeared separated from the next: deltoids, biceps, triceps, and forearms looked like individual parts of a perfectly constructed machine.

Veins covered her arms nearly to the shoulders.

Giulia watched them with a euphoric smile.

She could already imagine the silence in the lobby.

The employees stopping their conversations.

Their eyes fixed on her arms.

The questions.

The comments.

And herself slowly flexing in front of them.

To discover her new limit, she went to the equipment storage room.

An old safe stood there, removed from her grandfather's office many years before. It was a steel block nearly three feet tall, with thick walls and a reinforced base.

Four men had never been able to move it without a hydraulic cart.

Giulia crouched and slipped her fingers beneath one edge.

She pulled.

The safe tilted.

Giulia stopped.

She had not expected it to move so easily.

She changed position, placed both hands beneath the base, and bent her knees.

"Let's see how strong I've really become."

She drove upward with her legs.

The safe rose from the floor.

First a few inches.

Then to her knees.

Her quadriceps swelled beneath her trousers.

Her arms became even more vascular.

Her back widened, stretching the tank top to its limit.

Giulia brought the safe to waist height.

She remained there, motionless, supporting it.

Her heart beat furiously.

It was impossible.

And yet she was doing it.

She took one step.

Then another.

She was walking with the safe in her arms.

"This... is real strength."

She loved it madly.

She had never felt anything like it.

That object had been built to remain still. To resist men, tools, and every attempt to move it.

Now it was pressed against her body like a heavy box.

Giulia lifted it a few inches higher.

She laughed.

An open, euphoric laugh.

"You can't even stop me."

She let it fall in the center of the room.

The impact shook the walls.

Giulia stood over it, staring at her hands.

And she was not certain she had used all her strength.

Chapter 5 — Six Foot One

The growth continued until Giulia reached six foot one.

She knew she had grown again before she fully opened her eyes. The pillow seemed too low and the blankets ended halfway down her calves.

She got up, marked her height on the door, and took the measuring tape.

Six foot one.

"Perfect," she whispered.

She had not thought worrying.

She had thought perfect.

Her father was about six feet tall. Enrico was slightly shorter. Paolo and Andrea would need to raise their chins a little to look her in the eyes.

The idea brought her subtle pleasure.

The woman reflected in the mirror barely resembled the one who had arrived at the hotel.

The gray tank top clung to her body like a second skin. The straps looked like thin ribbons laid across two rounded deltoids, clearly separated from her arms.

Her biceps were no longer merely athletic.

They were large.

As large as those of adult bodybuilders, but far more defined. Even while relaxed, they formed obvious, dense curves, supported by thick triceps.

Her forearms had become equally impressive.

The veins emerged from her skin like cords.

They began at her hands, crossed her forearms, and divided into increasingly thick branches above the elbow. One particularly large vein followed the line of her right biceps and looked almost like a tube placed beneath the skin.

Giulia brushed it with two fingers.

Then she slowly clenched her fist.

Her forearm swelled.

The vein rose even higher.

"This one will leave somebody speechless."

She smiled at her reflection.

She raised both arms and struck a double-biceps pose. Her conditioning was so extreme that every separation showed.

Biceps, triceps, and deltoids looked individually sculpted before being joined into the same body.

She lifted the tank top.

The eight blocks of her abdominal wall were now deep and square. Her obliques followed her waist like angled slabs, while thin veins crossed the lower part of her abdomen.

She tightened her torso.

Her abs became so hard that when she tapped them with her knuckles, they produced a dry sound.

"And I'm supposed to stop now?"

The question hung in the room.

The spring continued filling the containers day and night. Giulia now consumed several quarts before sleeping and the same again when she woke.

Her thirst grew with her body.

And her body grew with her strength.

I should at least slow down, she thought.

Then she flexed her biceps again and watched the vein swell across the muscle.

Slow down for what reason?

She felt well.

Better than she ever had.

She was taller, more confident, and so strong that nearly every object in the hotel had begun to feel fragile.

Perhaps she was not merely becoming muscular.

Perhaps she was becoming something entirely different.

The thought should have disturbed her.

Instead, Giulia felt a pleasant shiver travel down her spine.

Becoming a woman beyond all normal limits would not be bad at all. A woman no one could move, stop, or force. A presence that entered a room and immediately changed everyone's behavior.

She stared into the eyes of her reflection.

Actually, it would be magnificent.

When she appeared at the top of the lobby staircase, Paolo was the first to see her.

He stopped moving a small table.

Andrea followed his gaze.

Enrico looked up from his folder.

Silence spread through the lobby.

Giulia began descending.

With her new height, her legs appeared even longer. Her thighs contracted with every step. Her arms swung freely beside her, displaying the raised network of veins.

She reached the lower floor.

"Are you planning to stand like that all morning?"

Paolo opened his mouth.

"You're..."

He stopped.

Giulia tilted her head.

"I'm what?"

"Taller," Andrea finished.

Giulia approached her father.

Carlo stopped in front of her and raised his gaze slightly.

For the first time, his daughter was taller than he was.

Giulia noticed immediately.

She straightened even more.

"Dad."

Carlo studied the level of her eyes, then the top of her head.

"You've passed me."

"Only slightly."

"Yesterday you were still shorter."

"Then you should get used to it quickly."

Giulia passed him and felt distinct satisfaction at being able to look slightly down at her father.

It was not only a matter of inches.

Her body now occupied far more space than his. Her shoulders were broader, her arms larger, and her physical presence filled the distance between them.

Marco, one of the porters, approached.

He was a solid man accustomed to carrying heavy loads every day. Not long before, his arms had looked enormous beside Giulia's.

Not anymore.

Her relaxed biceps was almost as large as Marco's when flexed.

"It isn't much of an exaggeration to say you've doubled in size," the man commented.

Giulia looked at him, amused.

"Do you really think I'm that muscular?"

Marco examined her arms.

"I think you have more muscle than I do now."

Giulia stood beside him.

"Don't be ridiculous. We're very similar."

The silence that followed made her smile.

"What?"

Andrea shook his head.

"You're not similar at all."

"Why?"

"Your arms are bigger."

Marco raised one arm and flexed his biceps.

Giulia slowly raised her own.

"Let's see."

She bent her elbow.

The biceps swelled.

Its curve immediately surpassed Marco's. The main vein rose over the muscle, almost as thick as a finger.

Someone released a breath.

Giulia tightened her fist.

The muscle rose even higher.

"Are you sure mine is bigger?"

"Giulia, it's obvious," Enrico said.

She looked at her biceps, pretending surprise.

"Really? I thought Marco was the strong one at the hotel."

Marco kept his arm flexed.

"I was the strong one at the hotel."

"Was?" Giulia repeated.

The man smiled awkwardly.

"I think the title belongs to you now."

Giulia felt euphoria ignite inside her.

The title belongs to you.

They had no idea how true that statement was.

The others thought she could lift a man, move furniture, and carry heavy crates.

They had no idea that the previous night she had lifted the rear of a delivery van with one hand.

They did not know she had accidentally bent a steel bar.

They did not know that in the basement she had lifted the old safe over her head and held it there for several minutes, trying unsuccessfully to feel real fatigue.

Giulia lowered her arm.

"Oh, come on. I don't think I'm that strong. Maybe I only look more muscular."

Everyone stared at her.

Paolo was the first to laugh.

"You lifted me without even straining."

"You aren't that heavy."

"I weigh more than one hundred and eighty pounds."

"One hundred and eighty pounds isn't that much."

The words escaped her naturally, and another silence fell.

Giulia realized what she had said.

To them, one hundred and eighty pounds was a lot.

To her, it was now almost nothing.

She smiled.

"I mean, for a trained person."

"You don't train," Andrea reminded her.

Giulia shrugged.

The movement made her deltoids roll beneath the skin.

"Maybe I'm simply gifted."

Stefano continued staring at her forearm.

"Are those veins real?"

Giulia slowly turned toward him.

"Do you think I drew them on?"

"I've never seen any that large."

She extended her arm and turned her palm upward.

The veins ran along her forearm like taut tubes.

"You can check."

Stefano hesitated.

"Can I touch them?"

"That's what I just said."

The man stepped closer and carefully placed one finger on the main vein.

Giulia slowly closed her hand.

Her forearm hardened.

The vein swelled beneath Stefano's fingertip, nearly forcing him to move it.

"Damn."

"What does it feel like?" Paolo asked.

Stefano continued touching Giulia's arm.

"It's hard. Not only the muscle. Even the vein feels like a cable."

Giulia watched his face.

She liked the attention with which he followed every line. She liked that he was touching her body to understand how solid it had become.

She clenched harder.

Her forearm expanded.

Stefano inhaled sharply.

"Did you feel it?" Giulia asked.

"Yes."

"Do you like it?"

The man remained silent a moment too long.

Then he nodded.

"It's impressive."

Giulia smiled.

"You all keep using that word."

Paolo stepped closer as well.

"Can I?"

"Today it seems my arms have become one of the hotel's attractions."

"You're the one who keeps showing them," Enrico observed.

Giulia turned toward him.

"Maybe I like showing them."

Then she offered Paolo her other arm.

He placed his hand on her relaxed biceps.

"It's already hard."

"Wait."

Giulia flexed slowly.

The muscle grew beneath the man's palm until it became almost immovable, like a stone sphere covered in skin. The veins swelled, and one slid beneath his fingers.

Paolo was speechless.

Giulia looked directly into his eyes.

"Well?"

"I can barely press it."

"Try harder."

Paolo used both fingers.

The biceps did not yield.

"Nothing."

"All this effort for an arm that, in my opinion, isn't even that large."

Andrea laughed.

"Giulia, your arm is almost as thick as my thigh."

She raised one eyebrow.

"You're exaggerating."

"Flex again."

Giulia turned sideways.

She slowly raised her arm, waiting until everyone was watching, then flexed with force.

Her biceps swelled almost excessively. The triceps formed a thick, separate mass, while the deltoid appeared to enlarge together with the rest of the arm.

The veins became even more prominent.

Laura watched from a few steps away.

"You're turning my daughter into a spectacle."

Giulia relaxed the pose slightly.

"They aren't forcing me."

"That is the problem. You seem to be enjoying yourself."

Giulia looked at her mother.

"I'm enjoying myself immensely."

The honesty of her answer left even Laura silent.

Giulia placed both hands on her hips.

"I like what's happening. I like being taller. I like the muscles. I like it when they become hard and everyone stops to look at them."

She looked down at the veins.

"I even like these. They seem to show how much energy I have inside me."

Carlo approached.

"Giulia, we don't know where this transformation will end."

She looked down at him from her new height.

"What if it doesn't end soon?"

"That wouldn't be normal."

"Maybe being normal is overrated."

Her father remained silent.

Giulia tilted her head slightly.

"Tell me honestly, Dad. How does it make you feel to see me like this?"

Carlo looked at her arms, the width of her shoulders, and her new height.

"Worried."

"Only worried?"

"Also amazed."

"And perhaps a little proud?"

The man hesitated.

Giulia smiled, already having received her answer.

"Think about what I could become. A woman who doesn't need anyone to protect her. A woman capable of keeping you, the hotel, and anything else she choses safe."

She raised one arm.

"Wouldn't it be extraordinary to have someone in the family whom nobody could overpower?"

Carlo rubbed his chin.

"The problem is that I'm beginning to think you're already very close to that point."

Giulia laughed softly.

"Dad, you're exaggerating. Marco is almost as strong as I am."

The porter immediately shook his head.

"No."

"No what?"

"I'm not almost as strong as you."

Giulia proposed an arm-wrestling match.

Marco placed his elbow on the reception desk and took her hand.

Giulia immediately felt how weak the man's grip was compared with her own. She could have crushed his fingers without noticing.

She had to control herself.

Carefully.

When the match started, Marco pushed.

His forearm stiffened, his face tightened, and his shoulder began trembling.

Giulia allowed her arm to tilt a few inches.

Not because Marco was actually moving her.

She did it to make the contest look believable.

"You're strong," she said, pretending to strain.

Marco pushed harder.

Giulia slowly returned him to the center.

She could have ended the contest in a fraction of a second. She could feel her strength gathering in the arm like something enormous and almost impatient.

But she did not want to show it.

Not yet.

She liked everyone believing that she was exceptionally strong.

She did not want them to understand that the difference between her and Marco was no longer the difference between an athlete and a solidly built man.

It was the difference between an industrial machine and a human being.

Giulia increased the pressure slightly.

Marco's arm began descending.

The man tried to resist but could not slow the movement.

She guided his hand gently to the desk.

"I won."

Marco was breathing heavily.

Giulia's breathing had not changed.

"Barely," she added.

Everyone looked at her.

Marco rubbed his wrist.

"It wasn't barely."

"You almost had me at the beginning."

The man stared at her.

"You allowed me to move you."

For a moment, Giulia feared that he understood.

Then she smiled.

"Now you're making excuses."

But a doubt had appeared in his eyes.

Giulia noticed and felt a subtle thrill.

She liked allowing the men to touch her muscles and imagine they understood their hardness, when they had no idea what those arms could really do.

She liked pretending that one hundred and eighty pounds was still a meaningful weight.

She liked watching her father wonder whether she had become stronger than Marco, knowing she could now lift both of them together using one arm.

The secret gave her a different sensation from simple exhibition.

Something deeper.

She controlled not only what the others could do.

She controlled what they were allowed to know.

That evening, she entered the underground garage.

The hotel delivery van stood before her, loaded with empty crates and equipment.

Giulia looked around.

Nobody.

She crouched beside the vehicle and slipped both hands beneath the frame.

She inhaled.

She contracted her legs, back, and arms.

The van lightened on its suspension.

The front wheels trembled.

Giulia pushed harder.

The entire vehicle slowly rose from the floor.

All four wheels were suspended.

Giulia straightened, supporting the van at waist level.

The weight was enormous.

At last, she felt real pressure.

But no pain.

Only resistance.

Resistance that her body was already learning to overcome.

"And they think Marco is almost as strong as I am."

She laughed quietly.

She raised the vehicle to her chest.

Her arms swelled. The veins became gigantic, stretched like tubes along the skin. The tank top creaked across her back as her lats widened.

Giulia stared at the van in her hands.

I could carry it into the lobby.

She imagined the staff frozen, her father speechless, and Marco forced to admit that their contest had never been real.

She could have asked with her usual innocence:

"Can't you do this too? I thought we were very similar."

Giulia raised the van even higher.

With one final, controlled movement, she brought it above her head.

She stood in the center of the garage, six foot one of extremely defined muscle, holding an entire van overhead with straight arms.

Her heart beat with euphoria.

Not exertion.

"This is the part they mustn't see."

She held the vehicle above her.

Her arms did not weaken.

Giulia studied the veins, swollen beyond every normal limit.

The vein across her biceps now looked like a thick tube. Those on her forearms intertwined above muscles of impossible hardness.

She loved them.

She loved knowing that the following day someone would ask to touch them again without imagining that those same arms had supported several tons.

She slowly lowered the van.

When the wheels touched the floor, the suspension rocked.

Giulia remained standing before it, breathing only slightly faster.

"Almost a superwoman," she murmured.

Then she studied her reflection in the side window.

She corrected herself.

"No. Much closer than they think."

Chapter 6 — A World Too Fragile

Giulia realized that something had changed in the way she regarded her strength when she found three employees standing in front of the conference-room door.

Marco, Stefano, and Andrea were discussing how to move a low cabinet through the entrance. It was wide, heavy, and made of solid wood. One leg had become caught against the doorframe.

"Tilt it toward you," Marco said.

"If I tilt it any farther, it'll fall on me," Andrea replied.

Stefano released his grip.

"Let's wait for the cart."

Giulia walked down the corridor.

Stefano saw her first.

"Good morning."

The other two turned and immediately stopped speaking.

Giulia stopped beside the cabinet.

"You're still here?"

"It's stuck," Marco explained.

"It looks like a cabinet."

"It's a very heavy cabinet."

Giulia slowly looked over the three men.

"Well, we're reasonably similar. If it's heavy for you, I suppose it'll be heavy for me too."

Nobody answered.

She had to suppress a smile.

She liked saying things like that. She liked pretending not to see the difference between her body and theirs, then waiting for the others to contradict her.

Andrea was the first.

"Giulia, we aren't similar at all."

She looked down at her arms, pretending surprise.

"Really?"

"You have almost twice as much muscle as you did last week."

"Twice sounds like an exaggeration."

"It isn't," Stefano said. "Your relaxed arm is larger than mine when I flex."

Giulia tilted her head.

"Are you sure?"

She slowly raised her right arm.

The main vein was already swelling as she bent her elbow.

Then she flexed her biceps.

The muscle rose into an enormous, hard, perfectly defined curve. The skin stretched over the mass beneath it, while the veins became even more prominent.

The three men stared.

Giulia rotated her wrist slightly.

"It doesn't look that large to me."

Andrea laughed in disbelief.

"You can't be serious."

"Why not?"

"Because it's larger than Marco's arm."

Giulia brought her muscle beside the porter's.

The comparison was merciless.

"They look very similar to me."

"You don't really think that," Marco said.

Giulia tightened her fist further.

Her biceps swelled again, and a thick vein appeared across its peak.

Stefano slowly released his breath.

She heard it and felt the familiar wave of euphoria.

"Oh," Giulia said. "So you really do enjoy the difference."

"It's difficult not to notice," Andrea admitted.

"Noticing is one thing. Looking like that is another."

Nobody denied it.

Giulia smiled.

But that morning, she understood that admiration was no longer the most important part.

The best part was what she knew and they did not.

The three men believed those muscles were very strong.

They could not imagine how strong.

They did not know Giulia could have lifted the cabinet with two fingers. They did not know she could have picked up all three men together and carried them down the corridor while continuing a conversation.

She controlled the amount of truth they were allowed to see.

And that control gave her a subtler, deeper euphoria than the compliments themselves.

I don't need to show everything, she thought.

They only need to know that I'm stronger. I can decide how much stronger.

She crouched beside the trapped end.

"I'll only try to free it."

She placed one hand beneath the base.

She could have lifted it immediately, but forced herself to move slowly. She contracted her arm enough to make the muscles swell and raised the cabinet a few inches.

She pretended to adjust her grip.

"It really is heavy."

Marco watched carefully.

"You lifted that entire side with one hand."

Giulia slid the cabinet beyond the doorframe.

"Yes, but it isn't very tall."

"Height doesn't change weight," Andrea said.

She pretended to think.

"Right."

When they lowered the cabinet, Marco continued studying her.

"You pretended to struggle."

Giulia straightened.

"Why would I?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe because you enjoy believing I'm secretly much stronger than all of you."

She said it with a slight smile, as though it were a joke.

Nobody laughed.

Giulia examined their faces and felt another shiver of satisfaction.

Perhaps they're beginning to suspect.

Stefano continued watching the vein along her forearm.

"It has grown even larger."

Giulia extended her arm toward him.

"This one?"

"It looks almost like a tube."

"Touch it."

The man placed two fingers on the vein.

"It's already very hard."

"Wait."

Giulia slowly closed her hand.

Her forearm swelled before their eyes. The muscle fibers separated, and the main vein rose farther.

Stefano followed the change with his fingers.

"Incredible."

"Press."

The man increased the pressure.

"I can't compress it."

Giulia smiled euphorically.

"Not even a little?"

"It's like pressing metal."

She looked at Marco.

"Would you like to check too? Then you can compare your opinions."

Marco placed one hand on her biceps.

Giulia flexed slowly.

The muscle swelled beneath his palm.

Marco inhaled sharply.

"Damn, Giulia."

"Too hard?"

"It doesn't feel like a normal muscle."

"What should it feel like?"

"I don't know. This one seems built to do something enormous."

The sentence affected Giulia more than a simple compliment.

Built to do something enormous.

That was exactly how she felt.

As though her body were no longer intended for ordinary activities. The muscles continued growing because the everyday world offered nothing challenging enough.

Furniture, people, vehicles.

Everything was becoming too light.

Maybe I'm not only becoming stronger, she thought. Maybe my body is preparing itself for a level of strength that I still haven't had the courage to use completely.

The idea made her heart beat faster.

Not with fear.

With anticipation.

Later, she went to her father's office.

She closed the door, but the old lock jammed halfway. Giulia gripped the handle and rotated her wrist absently.

She heard a small creak.

The handle bent inside her hand.

Giulia froze.

The metal had lost its shape, curving around her fingers.

Laura interrupted a phone call.

Carlo rose from his chair.

"What did you do?"

Giulia released it.

"It was already broken."

Her father looked first at the metal, then at her.

"It wasn't bent."

"It was stuck."

"So you crushed it?"

Giulia touched the damage with one fingertip.

For a moment, she felt concern.

She had not intentionally used force. She had not even felt resistance. Her fingers had treated a thick metal lever like a plastic object.

Then the concern gave way to euphoria.

The metal had not been strong enough to make her realize she was using too much force.

The world was becoming fragile.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Giulia looked at her hand.

I need to learn to be gentle with everything.

The next thought made her smile.

Not because I've become uncontrollable. Because almost nothing is strong enough to withstand me anymore.

"Maybe we should perform some tests," Carlo said.

"What kind of tests?"

"Medical ones, first. And then we need to understand how strong you are."

"Why is that so important?"

"Because you no longer know how tightly to grip a door handle."

"I'll learn."

Giulia folded her arms.

Her biceps swelled involuntarily, and the thick veins rose. Carlo tried to keep his eyes on his daughter's face.

She noticed.

"Dad, do they make you that uncomfortable?"

"What?"

Giulia raised one arm slightly.

"These."

She flexed her biceps.

The muscle grew into an enormous mass between shoulder and elbow. The vein across its peak became thick and taut.

Carlo waited several seconds before answering.

"They don't make me uncomfortable. They only remind me that my daughter has changed enormously in a very short time."

"For the better or the worse?"

"Giulia."

"It's a serious question."

She relaxed the arm slightly without lowering it.

"How does it make you feel to see your daughter becoming physically more powerful than anyone you know?"

Carlo stared at her.

"I don't know whether you're more powerful than anyone I know."

Giulia smiled.

"No?"

Laura intervened.

"That expression says you already know the answer."

Giulia slowly lowered the arm.

For a moment, she was tempted to reveal everything.

The van lifted overhead.

The safe.

The steel bars bent during her private tests.

But the secret belonged to her.

She liked it too much.

"I don't think I'm that strong," she said instead. "I'm only more muscular than average."

Carlo looked at the crushed door handle.

"Of course."

Giulia laughed.

"What if this is my new normal?"

Nobody answered.

"What if my body has no intention of stopping here?"

Laura pressed her lips together.

Giulia continued, feeling her euphoria grow as she gave voice to thoughts she had previously kept to herself.

"Think about it. I could become someone capable of solving situations that are impossible for everyone else. I wouldn't need to wait for technicians, heavy machinery, or rescuers. I could protect this hotel. I could protect both of you."

She looked at her arm.

"Maybe this strength isn't a problem. Maybe it's the best thing that could have happened to me."

"And what if it becomes uncontrollable?" her mother asked.

Giulia looked back at the damaged handle.

"It isn't uncontrollable. I only need to remember that everything else has become more delicate."

Carlo slowly sat down.

"Listen to yourself."

"I am listening."

Giulia straightened.

"And honestly, I like what I hear."

That afternoon, Mr. Lattanzi arrived. He owned the company replacing part of the air-conditioning system.

The man was arguing with Laura about additional costs.

"Either you accept the new price or we stop the work," he concluded.

Giulia entered.

"I don't think you need to speak to her like that."

Lattanzi turned.

For a moment, he lost the thread of the conversation.

Giulia was several inches taller than he was. Her tank top exposed enormous, fully vascular arms. The vein along her right biceps pulsed while one hand rested on her hip.

"Miss Ferri."

"Did you say you intend to stop the work?"

"I was explaining to your mother that—"

"I heard perfectly well."

Giulia approached the desk.

She did not raise her voice.

She did not need to.

"The agreed price was different."

"There were unexpected costs."

"Then document them."

"I don't have to justify every expense to you."

Giulia placed one hand on the edge of the desk.

The solid wood creaked.

She remembered the handle just in time and immediately reduced the pressure. But five faint impressions had already appeared beneath her fingers.

Lattanzi saw them.

His voice became quieter.

"Of course I can provide a more detailed report."

Giulia observed the change.

No threat.

No obvious demonstration.

Only her hand on the wood and the knowledge, now widespread through the hotel, of what those muscles might be capable of.

"Excellent," she said.

Lattanzi adjusted the papers.

"I can also ask the office whether we can maintain some of the original conditions."

"All the original conditions."

The man looked toward Laura, perhaps seeking support.

Giulia's mother remained silent.

"I'll do what I can."

Giulia tilted her head slightly.

Her biceps contracted as she removed her hand from the desk.

"I'm certain what you can do will be sufficient."

Lattanzi nodded.

A few minutes later, he left the office, promising a new estimate before the end of the day.

Laura waited until the door had closed.

"What just happened?"

Giulia examined the finger marks in the wood.

"We negotiated."

"You didn't negotiate. You stood in front of him until he changed his mind."

"He made a reasonable decision."

"Because he was afraid of you."

Giulia turned toward her mother.

"I didn't do anything to him."

"You didn't need to."

The words remained in the air.

Giulia felt the euphoria rise again.

That was exactly it.

She did not need to lift Lattanzi, bend a steel bar, or destroy the desk. The man had seen her height, the muscles, the veins, and the confidence with which she had approached him.

He had imagined the rest himself.

This is real strength.

Not merely what she could lift.

Real strength was changing an entire situation while remaining perfectly calm.

I don't need to show other people how powerful I am. I only need to let them wonder.

That evening, Giulia walked down the service corridor and heard voices coming from the storage room.

Marco, Stefano, Paolo, and Andrea were inside.

"Lattanzi left looking pale," Paolo said.

"Did you see the desk?" Andrea asked. "She left fingerprints in the wood."

"I don't think she did it deliberately," Stefano replied.

"That's the point," Marco said. "If she had done it deliberately, what would have happened?"

Several seconds of silence followed.

"How strong do you think she really is?" Paolo asked.

Andrea answered:

"Stronger than any woman I've ever seen."

"That isn't enough," Marco said. "When we arm-wrestled, she didn't use even a fraction of her strength."

"How do you know?"

"Because there was no pressure. It was like pushing against a wall that slowly decided to move."

Stefano lowered his voice.

"And did you feel those veins? They were like cables. When she flexed, I couldn't even press the skin."

Paolo laughed nervously.

"Admit it, you liked it."

"Didn't you?"

Nobody answered immediately.

Then Andrea said:

"It's difficult to explain. It's shocking to see a young woman becoming larger and stronger than all of us. But when she flexes..."

"You can't look away," Paolo finished.

Giulia remained outside the door.

Her heart was beating rapidly.

It was not embarrassment.

It was intense, almost intoxicating euphoria.

They spoke about her even when she was absent. They tried to measure with words something they could not understand.

Her veins.

The hardness of her muscles.

Her hidden strength.

And most importantly, the way she made them feel.

Giulia stepped backward, then entered the storage room as though she had just arrived.

The conversation stopped.

"What were you talking about?"

"Work," Paolo answered immediately.

Giulia slowly looked at each of them.

"Really?"

Nobody held her gaze for long.

She raised her right arm.

"Weren't you talking about this?"

She flexed.

The muscle swelled, enormous and crossed by thick veins.

Paolo lowered his eyes for a moment, then looked again.

Giulia smiled.

"You don't have to stop simply because I walked in."

Marco folded his arms.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all."

Giulia stepped closer.

"In fact, I'm interested. How does it make you feel to see me changing like this?"

The four men exchanged glances.

Andrea answered first.

"Amazed."

"Only amazed?"

"A little intimidated too," Marco admitted.

Giulia felt immediate satisfaction.

"Why? I've never hurt any of you."

"You don't need to," he said. "We know you could."

She loved the sentence.

Giulia moved closer until she stood directly in front of Marco.

"Do you really think I can control you simply because I'm stronger?"

Marco raised his chin to look at her.

"Not only because you're stronger."

"What else?"

"Because you've started behaving as though you know you are."

Giulia remained silent.

It was the most accurate observation anyone had made.

Strength had not changed only her body. It had changed the way she entered rooms, spoke, and waited for an answer.

She no longer asked for space.

She occupied it.

She no longer sought approval.

She allowed the others to offer it.

The thought filled her with a quiet euphoria.

"Maybe you're right."

She placed her palm on a crate and, without realizing it, felt the wood yield slightly beneath her fingers.

She stopped.

Everyone looked at the small cracks.

Giulia slowly raised her hand.

"Another object that was too fragile."

Andrea examined the crate.

"You didn't even realize you were breaking it."

"I realized too late."

Giulia studied her fingers.

Then she smiled.

"I'm still learning to be gentle with your world."

"Your world?" Paolo repeated.

She looked at him.

She had used the phrase without thinking.

But it did not seem wrong.

The world of the others consisted of heavy objects, strong doors, and people who could not be moved.

In hers, those same things were becoming light, vulnerable, and easy to control.

"I meant the world," she corrected herself.

Nobody appeared convinced.

Giulia placed both hands behind her head. Her biceps swelled beside her face, and the veins became even more prominent.

"Anyway, you don't need to worry."

She tightened her abdomen beneath the tank top, stretching the fabric across her sculpted abs.

"I'm still the same Giulia."

Marco looked at her muscles.

"No."

She slowly lowered her arms.

"No?"

"You aren't anymore."

Giulia should have contradicted him.

Instead, she felt her smile widening.

"Maybe you're right about that too."

She left the storage room, leaving them silent again.

As she walked toward the basement, she thought about Marco's words.

You aren't the same anymore.

No, she was not.

She was taller than her father.

More muscular than the men working in the hotel.

Strong enough to bend metal without noticing and hold a van over her head.

And now she had discovered that she was no longer interested only in admiration.

Admiration was pleasant.

The looks, comments, and hands touching her muscles still exhilarated her.

But the true pleasure was something else.

Entering a room and knowing that she could control everything that happened inside it.

Allowing the others to believe they still had a choice, while she knew the exact difference in strength between them.

Giulia reached the false wall and opened the hidden panel.

The large container was almost full.

She lifted it with one hand.

Before drinking, she studied the reflection of her veins on the surface of the water.

"I'm not the same anymore," she repeated.

Then she smiled.

"And I have absolutely no intention of going back."

[Gary1506]

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[Wookey]

Am surprised that she did not share with her mother!