Dust particles were floating around in a flat ground full of sand. The sun is already peeking as the light spreads in the sky. The smell of the morning breeze a.s.saulted the noses of a group of men who are perspiring heavily from running with weights attached to their legs and arms. It"s obvious that they"ve been doing that for quite a long time already, but you can"t see a single soul complaining.The man in front gestured with his hands, motioning everyone to stop. He is not wearing any shirt, exposing his chest that is heaving up and down rythmically, and his toned upper body with a full eight-pack abs.
He reached for a towel and wiped his sweaty body and shouted to the people following him. "Take a rest and go back to your posts!"
They saluted to the man and shouted back, "Sir, yes sir!"
The man is Captain Marion William who just finished his morning exercise with his company of soldiers.
He removed the weights from his body and arranged them neatly on the side of the training grounds and returned to his room. He took a fast shower then randomly chose something to wear.
It"s been two weeks since he went to the Barrons" mansion. He still remembered how he ate the black pancakes Sorcha has made. At that time, he felt the urge that he must eat the food the little thing has prepared for the first time. As he expected, it tasted horrible but it still made him feel satisfied and.. to his surprise, accomplished. Although he ate the food with a composed face, he actually felt embara.s.sed by the strange looks everyone was giving him, even making him double check his sanity.
He smiled at the memory. He didn"t care how the others see him as he ate that. All he know is that, he was the first one to taste her cooking, and that made him happy.
These days, he has been thinking how could he be attracted to a little girl. At first, during his brother"s school enrollment, he knew she was there but didn"t really give her attention. Then the second time he saw her, it was when she looked at him then left as if not wanting to get near, she piqued his curiosity. During the fire incident, he developed admiration. The day he went to her school to give her an ointment, he sensed his jealousy towards her friends. From that day on, he started to feel fear. What if this little girl developed feelings for others? He was so scared, that when he knew his friend would go to the Barron Mansion to report something to the general, he convinced the other so that he could replace him, even promising him to take his shift for a day. And when he actually saw Sorcha, he thought that it was worth it.
Before leaving, he even repeated his name for her and said, "Remember my name. Don"t ever forget it." She just looked at him with a strange gaze and nodded her head.
During these time, when he"s been very busy and couldn"t find a time to see her, he finally realized that he like her, and this "like" feels as if it came within his soul. As if liking her is just natural. He no longer cared about how other people would say about him if they found out. He said to himself, "I will wait for her to mature, but for now as long as there are no flies surrounding her, then it is fine."
He called back to his house to talk to his little brother. When he asked him to report about any "suspicious" guy that came near sorcha, his brother on the other side looked incredulous.
"Brother, you actually like her?" He gasped loudly.
He knitted his brows and warned stressing every word "Do. not. tell. anyone."
"You mean, my teasing really came true? But it is just.. it"s the other way around.." Luke said.
"What do you mean?" Marion replied to him in a serious voice.
"He he.. I"ve been teasing her lately. Asking her if you are her type." He answered.
He raised his brow and asked interestedly, "What did she answer?"
Luke seemed to hesitate for a while on the phone before saying, "She said.. No. Not at all. Never."
*Crushed* The pen Marion was fiddling in his hand broke.
"Brother? Are you still there?" Luke from the other line said.