Upon hearing her dad's words Keira quickly got up from her bed and ran towards the door.
"Look at that brat, rushing like that," murmured Field Marshal Chan as he shook his head.
He intentionally shooed Zach away to avoid gossip or misunderstanding but he could feel the latter wanted to stay a bit because of the agitated look on his face.
Then he recalled somewhat the same expression on Jeru's face. It seemed like there would be a tug of war happening soon between two men.
Keira rushed back to the meeting room, but Zach was no longer there.
She ended up completing all the medical check-ups and rushed to the canteen to eat lunch with the rest of the unit.
"How are you? Aren't you supposed to rest?" asked Trish.
May laughed and interrupted, "Don't worry, dear, that's normal for Keira as soon as she wakes up then everything's back to normal."
"I'm sure you're too excited as soon as you heard that Wolf uhmm anyway… I miss the Duck, do you think that Duck will be fine on his own?" Asked May all of a sudden.
Trish spoke, totally dumbfounded, "Your pet is a Duck?"
May almost choked on her food while Keira and Lana laughed.
"Oh, Trish, I suddenly feel proud of myself that I'm not alone for being you know, having this chappy signal." May happily declared that made Trish look even more confused.
"What signal? We don't have a mobile phone. It's confiscated. Wait, don't tell me you have managed to sneak a mobile phone? You will be in great trouble." Trish asked and this time her face became serious.
May let out a weary sigh and washed up her face with her palm.
"I will prostrate right now! This signal is totally broken and not chappy." May blurted out.
Then she smiled at Trish and added, "Because of that, Trish, I will let you use my allowance. Tell me the list and I will buy those items for you, promise."
Trish excitedly said, "Really? Wow, that's so awesome of you."
Keira laughed out loud and said, "Haha… Your Smartcard only has 300 dollars a month, May… How will you survive if you share it?"
May pouted her lips and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Geez, why are they so stingy!"
Trish laughed and said, "You promised though, so you must keep it."
Lana and Keira laughed. It's true, they weren't used to spending little, but maybe, this would teach them to give importance to spending wisely.
So far their experiences were not that bad.
...
As usual, Keira went out before bedtime to go to what her father called 'Meteor Den'. It was located at higher grounds and would take her around three to five minutes to reach there if she walked quickly.
She loved that area where the invigorating smell of the pine woods and the cool breeze infiltrated her mind.
She did not expect to see Zach, sitting at the edge of one of the stairs before going on a slope down at the other side of the training grounds.
It was already night but the bright light from the moon lit up the area.
She sat beside Zach who seemed to be in deep thought.
"Hmmm, you looked so absorbed by your thoughts that you even fail to notice a beautiful lady beside you," Keira said laughing.
Zach frowned and at that instant, he felt the urge to run but it would look awkward.
Keira, who was closely observing him, noticed it so she laughed and said, "What the heck, General? I won't kiss you tonight, I promise!"
She loved it how Zach seemed to be out of himself whenever she's around because he was always expressionless most of the time.
Zach coughed and when he finally was able to find his voice he said, "What are you doing here, soldier? You should head back to your unit. It's almost lights-off time. Aren't you afraid of something happening? I mean you just passed out a while ago and must not feel that well yet. On the way back, you might trip or pass out since you're not familiar…"
"Stop! I'm okay now. I don't faint in the dark, General, just with needles, okay? You can ask me directly what you want to ask or say so, please don't jumble on your words. You look less charming that way but cuter anyway." Keira said, with her teasing tone as she giggled.
She could almost feel how the gears in Zach's head were spinning. She was happy because Zach remained quiet. It only meant she was right.
"Are you enjoying making fun of me, soldier?" Zach asked in a serious tone. He couldn't take it anymore. He felt like he was inside a game where Keira was the player and he was a pawn.
He intently looked at Keira and said, "Miss Keira Chan, I am your General and you should talk to me in a formal way as your Superior whenever and wherever. Don't you dare do anything beyond that limits because you don't know what will come your way. I am nice as much as I can, but there are limits on how nice I can be."
Keira suppressed her laughter because of the seriousness in Zach's voice and she couldn't help but find him sexier as he spoke. Then she noticed that Zach was trying hard not to glance on her lips.
With a wicked grin, Keira winked at Zach before she stood up and gave him a salute and said, "Sir, I just wanted to thank you for carrying me this morning and I understood you well enough. No kissing or taking any more advances towards General Zach. I will behave well during my training but I will not stop liking you so thank you for your kindness! Soldier Chan will now leave you at peace, Sir! Goodnight!"
Zach was left alone open-mouthed because he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Is she trying to kill me?" he whispered as his expression turned into a weary one and he let out a frustrated sigh.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
At that day Keira's unit received their full tactical gear- a camouflage pants and jackets labeled with each soldier's last name.
Keira smiled seeing the word Chan on her tactical uniform.
"Look at that smile! Are you so excited to go in a battle?" Lana exclaimed.
Keira made a face and whispered, "I'm excited to wear the same outfit with my Wolf. I feel like we are wearing a 'couple' outfit."
Lana laughed out hard on how her dearest friend looked so head over heels at the highest level because of Keira's wide smile and twinkling eyes while she bit her lip and held the tactical uniform close to her chest.
Lana snapped her fingers in front of Keira's face and said, "Wake up, Earth to Keira, wake up! This is not the dreamland, our highness."
Keira pouted her lips and murmured, "Sooner or later, you'll be like me, dear."
"What do you mean?" Lana suddenly asked, a bit muddled.
Keira smiled full of teasing as she pointed her lips towards Lieutenant Torin who smiled at them two and greeted them covertly.
"Do you really think that my world is just focused on Wolf? Of course not!" Keira muttered laughing and stick out her tongue to May and added, "It's like he's saying 'watch out! I'm coming for you!'"
Then Keira laughed teasingly. "By the way, that's a Falcon. John's report said that it's fast as a Falcon. Fast on eating the prey!"
Keira almost ran back to her position before Lana, whose nose was already burning, caught her and poked her sensitive parts.
She was not able to see Zach yet, so she wondered what happened to him. She also hadn't got to chance to approach Torin yet.
An officer clapped her hands and shouted, "Alright, soldiers, we're going to PX! So get all the things you'll need for yourselves!"
At PX (Post Exchange) Visit, true to her promise, May bought all the things listed by Trish.
Keira got all her personal things like a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, sanitary napkins and more.
It was the first time she chose the personal things she needed for herself because her personal nanny always did it for her before. She felt happy that she was able to do something like this for the first time.
May scratched her head and grabbed Keira's arms, "Sis, are you done? Get more notebooks and pens for me. Also this… and this…"
Keira laughed but she let May pick up more things for herself and put it in her basket.
At lunch, Lieutenant Jang sat with Keira's unit.
"Have a nice meal, soldiers!" He said in a friendly voice that made the group exchange bewildered glances.
"Thank you, Lieutenant!" They all responded.
Torin looked around and smiled when neither Sergeant Park nor Sergeant Cole was present.
"You don't need to respond so loud, guys, and you can talk to me casually when there are no officers around. I'm the icebreaker on every Military Training for new recruits." Torin smiled invitingly as he looked at Lana who did not even glance at him and continued with her eating instead.
"Wow finally! An officer we can talk to casually. An icebreaker you said, so I guess you can easily break some ice?" Keira muttered and secretly elbowed Lana.
Lana twisted her mouth and said, "Icebreaker? More of a heartbreaker probably."
Torin coughed and quickly picked up a cup of water to drink.
"Hey… be nice," Keira gestured Lana who just answered her with a shrug.
"By the way, Sir, how come we did not see General Lim today?" May asked and blinked an eye to Keira.
"Oh yeah, Zach is at a closed-door meeting for the whole day with all the Generals and Field Marshal Chan, so today you will only see the handsome Torin instead," he said following his words with a charming smile.
Almost all the girls blushed while May and Keira laughed. Lana at the same time rolled her eyes.
Torin scratched his head and bid farewell to the girls when Sergeant Cole entered.
The night came and as usual, Keira went to Meteor Den but to her disappointment, Zach was not there.
She looked at her wristwatch, she still had fifteen minutes left before the curfew.
She stood up and raised her arms to stretch then looked at the sky.
"How come I haven't seen any falling star yet?" She murmured.
Little did she knew that Zach was standing just a small distance away and staring at her back.
He sighed, he was used to staying in this place for a few minutes because it was peaceful and he loved to look at the sky alone. He considered that place as his sanctuary.
But now, it was invaded by that girl who he still thought was trouble.
He did not want Keira to notice his presence. But the moment he thought that the girl was anything but trouble, Keira lost her balance because of her stretching and he had to run to catch her.
"Aww…" Keira hissed when her bottom hit the ground.
She was about to get up when she saw a hand so she quickly grabbed it, without looking who it was and said, "Thanks."
Then she raised her head and smiled.
"Oh, you're here," said Keira who was startled to see Zach's face.
But then she recalled Zach's words last time so she said, "Good evening, General Lim. How was your day?"
Zach's forehead crumpled as he said, "I was on a meeting and we just finished."
Keira's eyes widened and she murmured unconsciously, "You haven't had dinner yet?"
Zach coughed and answered, "Of course I had."
'Wait, what's going on? Why am I answering? I should tell her to get back!' Zach scolded himself silently.
Then he looked at his hand that was still holding Keira's.
Keira smiled and said, "General Lim, it's already late, so I should head back. Please have a good night sleep!"
After saying her last words Keira quickly let go of Zach's hand and walked back to her unit.
She was grinning happily and she did not notice that Zach was following a few meters behind her to make sure she arrived at her unit safely.
"Goodnight, Keira," he whispered when he saw Keira enter her unit.