They were jogging through the public park, as they always did on a Saturday. It had been a pretty uneventful afternoon so far, but when the sun reached the highest point in the sky they decided to start heading home.
It was getting far too hot to be out and about at midday. That's when they saw the woman, accompanied by two men. They knew immediately that something about the trio just didn't seem right.
Even though the trip was about to take a strange twist, it had begun simply enough. Daniel Woolf and his roommate, Matthew Weiss, were out for their usual weekend jog around the park with their dogs.
The park was generally safe, so they had never expected to see something so suspicious. Although the park was quieter than usual today, these two men just seemed like they didn't belong.
The two muscular men were walking behind the younger woman but had made a sharp turn into a secluded area of the park -- as if to escape prying eyes. The shorter of the two was carrying something, twisted up in both of his hands.
The woman walked on ahead, but she seemed unsure of herself. Daniel and Matthew stopped in their tracks, suspicions growing in their hearts. When the men noticed that they were being observed, one casually yelled: “don’t worry, I’m her dad,” as he walked by. What were they doing?
Daniel and Matthew felt like something just wasn't right, and the more they thought about it, the more they began to worry. Were they absolutely sure that the woman and the men knew each other? And why were they moving away to a more secluded area of the park?
Daniel shot his friend a look that said it all: he didn't believe that the man was the woman's dad. They knew they had to keep an eye on them.
As they walked around some bushes quietly, they spotted them in the clearing ahead. They saw the men standing behind the woman, and one had his hand on her shoulder. Daniel and Matthew, fearing the worse, readied themselves for a confrontation.
They had to act quickly. Bursting from the trees, Daniel yelled: "what's going on here?"
The men froze and looked at the pair, dumbstruck. But there was a third man standing there that the friends hadn't noticed. The third man held a camera in his hand, recording. The men stepped forward and introduced themselves as Vasil and Nick, and quickly explained themselves.
They were recording a Krav Maga demonstration for their Youtube channel, and the woman was their student. But why had the one man claimed to be the girl’s father? Something just didn't add up.
The woman introduced herself as Johanna and said that she was learning self-defense. But she had to train in secret. Her parents couldn't know that she was learning Krav Maga with these two older men -- they wouldn't approve.
That's why Vasil had lied on her behalf. Vasil knew that the whole situation would have looked suspicious to an onlooker. He sheepishly explained that he hadn't wanted to cause any trouble. Although Daniel and Matthew were feeling rather embarrassed when they realized their mistake, they were happy that the woman was not in any actual danger!