Chapter 3: " The Glance "

    “He's always on my mind, from the time I wake up until I close my eyes, he's everywhere I go, he's all I know. And though he's so far away, it’s just keeps getting stronger every day, and even now he's gone, I'm still holding on. So, tell me where do I start because it's breaking my heart, don't want to let him go. Maybe my love will come back some day, only heaven knows, and maybe our hearts will find a way, only heaven knows, and all I can do is hope and pray because heaven knows.”

  These were the lyrics that the music Kristine played over and over again in her condo. Since Alex died, she sung this song hoping that one day her beloved man would woke her up from that deep nightmare.

   It was Saturday morning, it was her day off, she just played the song over and over again while lying on her bed all day. Then her cellphone rang, she did not bother herself to answered it but the phone kept ringing. Left with no choice, she woke up from her bed, grabbed the phone and realize that it was Des who was calling her.

 “Hello sleepy head, how are you”, said Des from the other line.

  “good morning megs, I am fine, what made you call me?”, replied Kris.

  “I called you for two reasons, first, I want to know if you are fine. I have heard that you shift your schedule from six working days to three working days. Some of your colleagues from work reported that you looked worst after the day of the accident. Are you sick or what? Please Kris you can tell everything to us. I am worried about you, we are all worried about you.”, stated Des in a calmed but worried voice.

  “I am totally fine Des, I just want some quite time for myself.” Kristine replied in a low tired voice.

  “I want to breath fresh air and I hate bad traffic and you knew that”, she added, trying to convinced her friend that she was fine.

 “all right, you say so, well speaking of wanting fresh air, I have an invitation for you. One of the assigned Doctor from my NGO resigned because he decided to move to Canada, the problem was, I already signed a contract for a mission to Maguindanao Province. The date was fixed and the US officials already ordered their troops to partner with us. We can no longer postpone this mission because everything was already set up. I need you to take his place. You will be part of the mission team as our Head medics. Is that clear?”, Des commanded Kris, her voice was firmed like she already planned everything before she asked Kris.

 “wait, what?”, exclaimed Kris.

 “And also, I do not accept no as an answer as well. So, Kristine Alfarez I am giving you two days to prepare everything that you need. I already bought the plane ticket and told the hospital management that you are in a one-month leave”. Clear?”, Des added.

“Des, look, I love you but am not going, I think I cannot give a positive contribution for this mission. You have to find someone else, please”, Kris pleaded.

“well, I love you too! but Kris, you knew me so well, sorry, you need to go with us plus Myla and Angel said yes already”, Des proudly announced.

“Oh my God”, Kris mumbled. She knew Des, that friend of her would never accept no for an answer.

“alright, I will drop this call and give you your personal time to prepare. Love you”, said Des in a joyful tone. She knew she won.

          “Major, Major is everything alright?”, asked Lt. Aliya who was worried at his condition.

 Adam was sweating and his heart beats so fast, he was trying to catch-up his breath. He had this horrible dream again.

             “Yes, yes I am fine”, answered Adam. As he looked at the window, he noticed that they have just arrive at the Philippine Archipelago.

                 As the plane landed, a group of Filipino military officers have welcomed the team SEAL SIX together with the volunteers for the mission. The chief officer leads everyone to the meeting office for a short briefing.

           As Adam looked around, he noticed a woman wearing a black jacket. From a far, he can tell that the woman was tall and has a sublime body figure. Even she covered herself from head to foot, he can saw her white pale skin.

       “Good day everyone! I am Lt. General Santos the commanding general of the Philippine army. I am so honored to welcome all of you this morning, before we will discuss the overall idea of this mission, I would like to request Major Sergeant Adam Levonn, the ALPHA of team seal six to introduce the whole team to us this morning”, Lt. General stated.

   As Adam stood up, the whole congregation was completely in awe of his strong persona. His physique was undeniably perfect. He was indeed handsome. He was like a statue that was perfectly curve by an artist from head to foot.

   “oh my God, good thing I said yes to this mission”, mumbled Marga, one of the volunteers.

   “Good day, I am Major Sergeant Adam Levonn the Alpha of Team Seal Six. We are the elite US military force. It is our great honor to work with you for this mission, here with me is my team”, Adam said authoritatively. He glanced at his team and signaled them to stand up.

    “This is First Lt. Dan, first Lt. Lorenz, second Lt. Jim, second Lt. Augustos and second Lt. Aliyah, we have been working together as a team for almost five years now. We can assure that you are all safe with us from the beginning until the end of this mission. No one will be left behind”, Adam stated.

   The listeners clapped in amazement. In front of them are five good looking military officers and one gorgeous woman.   

  “Thank you, Major Adam for that amazing statement, No one will be left behind. We will cling into that statement”, the general stated. His eyes looked directly towards Adam trying to rely a hidden message.

  “without further ado, I would like to request our volunteers for this mission, I am so happy that the Chairwoman herself, Miss Des Legaspi chose to go with this mission. Her NGO has been helping us for so many years. Miss Des and her team are all incredible humankind for having such a big heart for this mission. May I request Miss Des to introduce her team”, said general Santos.

  “thank you so much Sir Santos, Good day everyone”, Des greeted.

  “I am Des and here with me are, first our educator who will teach the tribe, Miss Angel Brias, Our Psychologist Miss Myla, she will be responsible for trauma sessions, our head nurse Miss Marga, our active assistance Leo, Anton and Lorenz, our assistant Medic, Doc Alfe, and lastly our head Medic, Doc Kristine”, everyone stood up as their named were mentioned.

        They gave their warmth smiles except Kristine, her eyes and her face were cold and empty. Adam noticed the woman in black again. He was curious, he wasn’t sure why he can’t help himself not to glanced at her. Was it because of her wondering eyes? Adam was a bit uneasy. Kristine noticed him and looked at him straight, both their eyes meet for a second then Adam quickly turned his head to another direction. His heart was confused. It was beating fast for no reason.

            After the introduction, General Santos looked everyone with amazement. He smiled to everyone and uttered a short message, “thank you for accepting this mission, some of you were forced to come here, some of you did not wish themselves to come here but I always believe that everything was predestined. It means, wherever you are right now is exactly the right place for you for this specific time. I do not believe in coincidence. I believe we are connected as one.” the General smiled and paused for a while.

          “the mission is clear and simple, to the volunteers, go to the tribe and nurture them, you will stay there for a month, to Team SEAL SIX, protect the tribe and the volunteers, also, the  reports added that there were unidentified treats around the tribe. All of you be vigilant. The whole team will leave one hour from now, you can fix the things you needed”, said General Santos.

    Everyone got up and do the things they needed to do. Some prepared the medical kits, educational materials, weapons and many more. While everyone was all busy, General Santos approached Adam.

       “Major Levonn, can I have your time for few minutes?”, the General asked.

  Surprised by the approached of the General, Adam glanced at him and looked directly towards his eyes. Adam knew that this was something important and private.

   “Yes General”, Adam replied.

    “This way please”, replied the General while moving towards his office.

   “Closed the door please”, General Santos ordered his assistant when both him and Adam was already inside the office.

  “I am fully aware of everything Major, I knew you came here for a different mission”, General initiated the first conversation. He faced Adam and looked directly towards him.

  “You look like your father”, he added.

      Adam felt strange from that statement. As far as he remembers, Augustin Levonn have never been to Philippines before but instead of asking more he remained silent and choose to listen. He knew General Santos have so much information that might be helpful for their true mission.

       “You and your team are……”, the General stopped. It seemed like something was controlling him. Adam noticed that there was something wrong with the General.

  “General Santos? Me and my team are what?”, asked Adam, he was clueless of what was going on.

    “Nothing, you can leave now”, ordered General Santos, his tone suddenly changed.

   But before Adam could uttered another word, the General collapsed. Adam immediately asked for helped. They brought him immediately to the emergency room. His veins turned black. Something strange and unusual. About an hour after the incident a man came out from the Generals   office and faced the troops.

      

      “The General is now fine. He was just severely stressed the past few weeks. He ordered everyone to continue the mission despite his physical absence during the departure. He will send someone in behalf of him, you will be leaving ten minutes from now so be ready to assemble”, ordered by the Lt. De ma Ano, the right hand of General Santos.

              The whole team gathered together. Everyone was ready to leave aside from Adam. He had many questions in his mind. He knew something was wrong. He just couldn’t figure out what was it all about. As he was in his depth thought he noticed the woman in black jacket again. While everyone was all excited and happy for the departure, the woman in black jacket doesn’t show any emotions at all. She shows no gesture of joy and excitement. She looked lifeless to Adam. Her eyes were empty, it seemed like her soul has left her long time ago.

         “Attention, I request everyone to position yourself properly, the road will be rough. It will be a long drive. Make sure that you feel comfortable,” ordered the team leader who was responsible for both team, he was the only one who knew the road. Although they have a map, the team leader insisted that they would follow him for the rerouting to cut the travel short.  

    There were three military trucks, one KM250 light utility truck for their cargos and two M35 six by six truck where the passengers would sit. Over all there were twenty passengers, composed of the Volunteers, the Team Seal Six and four Filipino Military troops. The group were divided into two.

        “Alright, Miss Des, I would like you to split the volunteers into half, then Major Levonn will assign his sub-ordinates which team to go”, ordered the team leader.

     “Yep, sure”, Des responded. “Alright, I would like to pick Myla, Angel, Kris, Marga and Doc Alfe to be with me, we are the team A then the rest would be the team B”, Des added.

    “Copy that”, the team leader agreed.

 “As for my team, Lt. Dan, Jim and Lorenz will go to team B, the rest will go with me to accompany team A”, Adam stated.

 “Clear, Alright, team A proceed to the First truck and team B kindly proceed to the second truck”, ordered the team leader.

The group immediately followed the orders.

  “I can’t believe you made us to say yes to this mission Des”, Angel stated as the military truck started to leave the military camp.

 “You can’t say no to me, right Kris?”, Des answered and smiled joyfully towards Kris.

   Kris just shrugged her shoulder and didn’t uttered any single word. The ladies were constantly chatting along the journey except Kris. She just nodded from time to time but usually her attention was focused on the tress that they have passed by. She covered her face using the hood of her black jacket.

    Adam just watched Kris in silent. He glanced at her from time to time. Constantly checking on her if she was fine. Adam felt the sense to protect the unknown woman for no reason. This was why he chose team A to be with. He wanted to know more of the woman on that black Jacket.

 Adam never dated a woman. He had flings to satisfy his manly desires but never had any serious relationship at all. He was never been interested nor curious to any type of women.

  The team Leader signaled for a stopover. They needed to ate for lunch.

 They set up a place where everyone can settle.

 “Here, you can have my place Kris”, offered Alfe, as he noticed that Kris wasn’t comfortable where she was sitting.

 “Thank you”, Kris replied.

      Des noticed the commotion of the two. She just remembered how Alfe begged her to let him be part of the mission. When Des called the hospital for a month leave of Kris, Alfe immediately contacted Des to knew the reason. Knowing that Alfe was their longtime companion as well, she felt compassion towards him and said yes to Alfes plead.

  Adam from the distanced watched the two exchanged placed. Adam saw how Alfe glanced the woman in black with adoration and care. He hated the scene and he doesn’t know why. He came near to the placed where the were seated but before Adam could get there, Kris stood up and immediately leaved the area.

      Kris doesn’t want people’s attention. She felt uncomfortable every time she got surrounded with strangers. At that moment, she just wished that time flies so fast so that she could went back home and stayed in her condo all by herself.

        Lunch was over and they continued the journey. The road was getting worst and worst. It was almost dark and according to the team leader they needed to travel two more hours. Everyone got tired and took some nap except Adam. He found his self constantly glancing Kristine. Checking her from time to time. As Kristine opened her eyes, she accidentally saw Adam watching her. Their eyes both met at that moment. For the first time, they were able to looked at each other eye to eye. The time stopped for a moment. Adam could only hear the loud sound of his beating heart. He felt that this woman would change his life. Her glance made him weak. Her glance could create a tingling sensation within his soul. At the back of his mind, Adam said “damn, THAT GLANCE”.