LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - CHAPTER 21

It’s the second day. Miraculously, Keira slept well, given with the small and sturdy bed she slept on.

When she woke up, everyone was already up too.

“Good morning,” she greeted them with a warm smile on her lips. Some greeted back and some nodded and others snubbed her.

“Don’t mind them.” Trish murmured to her smiling. She was the first one who took the initiative to talk to Keira last night and be friendly.

“Nah, it’s alright. I understand them. Being close with the Field Marshal’s daughter, most feel hesitation.” Said Keira with a wink.

“But I like you. I think you are nice and straightforward. The thing I lack.” Said Trish timidly.

“She’s like that because she came from a powerful family so basically she’s confident in everything because someone will always back her up.” Vel interrupted.

Keira sighed, that girl always loved to side comment at her negatively, which started since their encounter at the canteen.

She would only stop when Keira answered her negative words.

‘Maybe. it’s her nature to be like that?’ She mused because if she really wanted war with her, for sure she would do far worse than talking.

She understood that Vel was just being vocal on her own perspective and belief.

‘Wow, when did I become this kind and understanding?’ She mused as she shook her head.

“She’s right, Trish. The big factor is that I know I came from a powerful family. Basically, I should be considered untouchable, right? I wonder why Vel is not afraid of me? Maybe I should show her how hard I bite?” Keira said as she winked to Trish who giggled.

Vel reddened, “You…”

But then the Military Alarm rang all over the training grounds as the sound of their wake up call boomed on the speakers outside.

“Candidates, get ready in ten minutes and proceed to the training grounds for a quick briefing to the second round.” Someone announced through the speakers. Each of them started quickly getting prepared.

Today, they were going to do the fifteen-meter swim with gear in the morning and the sixteen-mile hike w/65lb pack in the afternoon.

Most candidates sighed and some couldn’t hide their conflicted expressions.

“It’s the actual training of the cadets, they sure want us to experience it in advance so we can decide if we still want to continue. By the way, do you really want to become a soldier?” Trish asked Keira while they were on their way to the tent to eat a quick breakfast, which was being delivered to each tent.

“Hmm, I want to keep it a secret, Trish, for now. It’s kind of personal,” said Keira apologetically with a smile.

“Alright, I understand… As for me, I like the scholarship program and the benefits. This is my only chance to survive.” Trish murmured and smiled at Keira.

For some reason, Keira felt that Trish had a story that she would love to hear, but they needed to prepare and be quick so she did not pound more on to it.
……..

Keira only had ten more tent mates left after the second round ended yesterday.

“Finally, it’s the final round,” she murmured as she scanned the whole field they were at.

All candidates gaped in terror at the site before their eyes.

Lieutenant Long’s laughter roared at the speakerphone because of the expressions of the candidates before him.

“Good morning, SURVIVORS! What’s with those expressions? Aren’t you all happy to survive till the final round?” Shouted Lieutenant Long.

“Hooah!” Answered the Candidates in chorus.

“Why do I feel that it sounds lame when I’m sure you do have already had your breakfast, right? Candidates, are you ready for the final round?!!! Show me the energy!!!!!” Asked Lieutenant Long in his loudest voice.

“Hooah!!!”
“Hooah!!!”
“Hooah!!!”

“That’s more like it!” Said Lieutenant Long grinning.

“As you can see, before you are the obstacle courses where men and women should pass and finish it to survive, so this is the true challenge of survival! These obstacle courses are patterned based on actual military combat so you need to be fast and alert because you will receive shots like real gunshots but of course it’s just paintball guns to mark if you died or survived.” Lieutenant Long explained.

“There are patterns for each shot, so you better use your head before moving. You have to consider it as a real thing. Like you are on the real battlefield. What should you do, candidates? Treat this as a war where you fight your way to survive! Yes, the main thing here is to survive no fighting back yet of course. You and your co-soldiers are stuck in a battlefield with obstacles where your mission is to survive and finish the obstacles without getting a critical shot!” Lieutenant Long added and signaled the cadets to assist the candidates by batch where they were mixed of men and women.

May was very excited because they all, including Drey, ended up together in the same batch to do the final round.

“This is it, guys… Let’s finish this with flying colors!” Keira whispered, cheering her friends before they proceed to prepare. Vel and Trish were on their batch too.

Keira looked at a particular spot. It’s the spot where Zach was seated. then she smiled widely. Even from afar she could recognize her man very well.

She felt like as soon as she succeeded the final round Zach would be her trophy, though she knew that she would still have a long way to go to get the heart of that trophy.

“I’ve never been this excited my whole life…” she whispered unconsciously.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

All the Lieutenants and Generals in charge for this year’s test were present to see how everything would go.

Zach spotted Keira who seemed to pause and directly looked at him.

He sighed, he was the conservative type of man and he h@??d woman doing or initiating the first move on men. He still believed that man should do the chasing and not the other way around.

He had experienced it before during youth and the moment a woman confessed to him, he automatically got turned off by it, so it the end there’s no progress because he didn’t take part in such things. He was direct and would express how he felt immediately, not leaving the other party hanging around, so she could spare the effort and change the course of her sight from him.

The thing he h@??d the most was being manipulated… And he could sense that Keira had that tendency; manipulating people according to her will.

‘Is she looking directly at me?’ Zach asked inwardly while his gaze never left Keira’s spot.

Torin got distracted with Zach’s sighing and followed where he was staring.

‘The heck,’ he mused with an arched brow. Torin was the best among Zach’s men, so it’s given that he’s quick-witted to put the pieces together. He confirmed that it was Keira that Zach was referring to previously and not Rizie.

“Bro, so what happened to Rizie’s crush? I wonder if he is affected or not because I’m sure by now Rizie is making her bold moves or if not boldly but subtly that will make the man go crazy, thinking too much to the point that he will have dark circles and look like a zombie because of the lack of sleep, right? Too much thinking about something means he likes Rizie too?” Torin murmured at Zach’s ear, full of intentional teasing.

Torin was too curious about what was Zach thinking but the latter did not answer him and fixed his eyes on the candidates as they prepared to take the final round.

‘What is this? Ignoring the topic?’ Torin wanted to voice out.

“Hmm. What do you think about Keira Chan as a woman, Bro? I mean Jeru is absolutely captured by her beauty.” Torin asked out of the blue instead.

He was trying to suppress himself from teasing Zach openly because he knew the man would stop on asking for his opinion and he would die because of curiosity if that happened.

“She’s a spoiled brat, Torin. I h@?? spoiled brats the most, Torin, and you know that. Why ask nonsense questions all of a sudden?” Zach answered nonchalantly.

“Are you saying she’s not your ideal type?” Torin continued, ignoring the irritation in Zach’s tone.

Zach sighed and murmured, “Torin, if you don’t stop, I will curse you to stay single and stay by my side forever instead.”

Torin zipped and twisted his mouth at that very instant and with a frustrated look, he directly looked towards Zach.

“Denial King!” he muttered vaguely.

Zach threw a sharp glance at him so he followed and murmured, “Fine, I’m stopping, Bro.’

The loud bang of a blast roared in the open field area, signaling to the candidates to begin.

The soldiers watched the final round as they cheered every candidate to push through and moved faster passing each obstacle while dodging shots coming along the way.

“May, move faster!” Keira shouted as she paused when she noticed May was left behind.

Yes, she was treating this round like a real battle, like they were literally in a battlefield, so unconsciously, she couldn’t help but check on her friends as she was making sure every one of them was safely ahead.

“d@mn, Keira, you move and ignore me! You hurry! You need to get admitted dammit.” May shouted as she tried to crawl faster in the mud.

‘It’s the chicken’s fault!’ May cursed because she ate too much that she felt bloated, which made her movements slower than usual.

Boom!
Blag!
Boom!

Suddenly there were blasts in the mud like there were bomb explosions at every corner, which startled the candidates, causing them to panic and rush on to every obstacle.

Keira looked back and noticed how pale May’s face had become…

Torin who was watching intently widened his eyes, “Bro, why is Keira moving backward? She will fail if she continues like that. What’s wrong with her?”

Zach, along with the other Generals who were very observant to the Field Marshal Chan’s daughter, was watching intently.

“Isn’t she an interesting woman?” Said an Old Man who sat next to Zach as he stared at Keira too.

Zach and Torin respectfully bowed and greeted him.

It was General Lei, he was the previous Field Marshal before Field Marshal Chan.

“I heard that this year’s candidates are interesting. Hmm, Field Marshal Chan’s daughter has passed all the rounds, right? I bet she’s the one who is crawling backward right there. That girl is really stubborn as I expected.”

“Yes, Senior, but she will fail this round if she continues that movement,” Torin exclaimed anxiously. He wanted Keira and her friends to pass the final rounds.

“Yes, but why is she moving backward, Torin? She’s really funny, right?” Said General Lei laughing.

Torin felt confused with the Old General while Zach sighed and murmured, “She’s reckless, Senior, and that will ki|| her.”

“Hmm, if you were in her shoes, what would you do, General Zach? I bet you’ll do the same. So, I guess I can say you are reckless too.” General Lei murmured with a grin and watched Keira thoughtfully.

Torin took time to get the exchanges of the two great Generals before his eyes widened once more in amazement.

“Ohhh, I get it now! Keira is…” Torin gasped but was silenced by the two Generals.

“Shut up Torin…” General Zach and General Lei instructed in chorus.
______

“Keira, stop it and move forward dammit are you deaf!?” May shouted when she noticed that Keira was crawling backward to get to her.

“Geez, this is crazy, it’s not a real battle why would you come back,” May hissed, trying to repress the tears that wanted to run out of her eyes.

Keira smiled and winked at her, “Shut up, May, and let’s hurry. Come and grab my shoulder tight let’s move faster. There’s still time.”

“But you should hurry and pass this test, Keira. You’ve worked hard for it.” May exclaimed as they moved. She felt frustrated for being stupid and causing such trouble to Keira.

“Shut up, May, just move,” Keira instructed and quickly helped May.

“Heck, look at those two crazies,” May exclaimed with a weary tone, seeing Drey and Lana crawled back to them.

“We are all crazy you know,” Keira murmured and continued to help May.

“Geez, look at you two? Give me that snail.” Said Drey as he got May on his arms, then he instructed, “Go, move Keira!”

“Alright, we still have time so you three quickly follow,” said Keira as she passed Lana.

She kept looking at the clock as she stood up from the mud. She turned around and smiled when Lana, Drey, and May were now at her back and almost beside her.

The next obstacle course was Keira’s forte, climbing over the nets.

“Crap!” Lana cursed because this was her biggest challenge, climbing and crawling over the nets.

“Go by yourself, Lana. I will take care of May,” said Drey who helped May.

They noticed that Keira stopped and kept on looking at them from the back.

“Keira, move! Stop looking, we are just behind you. I’m stronger than you, you know!” Drey shouted and almost made May choke.

“What? Do you want me to throw you out, May?” Hissed Drey as he pulled May who was laughing.

“It’s your fault. I will really put you on a diet once we all fail at the final round, May!” added Drey with an irritated tone as he pulled May further.

They were already at the tight rope walking as the last course.

“Darn! Why would they set a long walking rope, I so h@?? it!” Complained Lana, panting as she ran in line with Drey and May.

“What’s with her? Why would she stop again?” Drey murmured, looking straight at Keira.

“She’s playing a hero, Drey. That’s her weakness remember?” Lana mumbled as they watched Keira pulled a woman and helped her walk and crawled through the nets.

“Why help me out? Go and leave me or you’ll be dragged down with me. Look at the time? Go!” Vel exclaimed.

She was startled when Keira stopped by her and asked her what’s wrong while other candidates didn’t even bother and rushed to finish all obstacles to reach the time limit to pass.

“Are you nuts? You’re fast and ahead of me, it’s just your leg cramps! Hurry and put your arms on my shoulders and give all your energy to not drag me down. There’s still time so let’s hurry.” Keira scolded and moved as fast as she could while helping Vel.
……

“I love watching dramas like this!” Lieutenant Long shouted, which made the soldiers cheer more.

“They won’t make it in time though,” Torin murmured then looked at Zach who, as usual, had a blank expression on his face.

Torin tried to read Zach but he failed.

“Hmm. She failed by one minute.” General Lei commented as Keira got her flag a minute late together with Vel. Unfortunately, the two of them were the only one who did not make it in time. They failed.