Angie came upon a tall but narrow building. With far fewer exposed pipes and painted cement in place of heavy duty metal, it looked a lot more welcoming than the military compound.
Her eyes darted around. There were a few more soldiers returning home, including Valerie.
/Hm? She’s fast today./ Angie noted the difference based on the original soul’s memories.
/Does she have something on later?/
Angie took the stairs instead of the lift, even though her floor was the topmost level. Although the mask was highly breathable and efficient, exerting her body with the mask on still felt different. Moreover, the quality of air outside was poorer than the air pumped indoors.
She stopped before a plain grey door, slid her palm across the cold smooth surface, then listened to the sound of bolts coming undone. After that, she pushed open the door and stepped in. When the door swung shut behind her, the bolts could be he
“I’m planning to fake my death during my upcoming mission. I’ll leave behind some trouble for them to be preoccupied with, so that you can sneak out and come with me on the mission.” Angie shared more details of her plan.“Does everyone on the mission know of this?” Her mother pulled back from the hug to discuss more seriously.“I’ve told them but they haven’t decided yet.”Her mother frowned.“Don’t worry. Even if they don’t go, they’re trustworthy. They won’t blab.”“Do they… Know?”Angie shook her head.Her mother sighed in relief. “You know… Since we’re leaving… We could cause a breach in the military’s security and let them get ravaged by all those monsters out there.” Her eyes sparkled like a little child.It was on the tip of Angie’s tongue to reject he
Angie and Elias sat side by side by the door of the room. She sat with her back ramrod straight, while Elias slouched with his elbows on his knees. Angie had been ready to listen to him rant or share his heart woes, but there was only dead silence since the time they entered the room.“What do you think of monogamy, Angie?” Despite thinking long and hard about his loss, it still did not make sense to him. Yes, he was of a lower position than Conrad. Yes, he did not promise her monogamy. However, was he not the one helping her by her side all the time? True that Conrad could help Valerie a lot more now that they became official, but he anticipated more trouble than benefits to the situation. Was his presence and affection so easily overwritten like that?Elias’ question came so suddenly that Angie took a while to think of something to say. She lightly cleared her throat. “Mm… I think it’s sweet and romantic.”
Over the next few days, the results of the new rearrangement already began to show. Due to different reasons, Angie, Elias, Jeffery, and Alfonso reached a new peak performance. The better and more resilient teams approached them during the team battles segment and received pointers and guidance. The rest of the teams that gave whatever excuses for their low performance and rested on their laurels got relegated to a new division. Although the purpose of the new division was left unsaid, any smart and observant individual could infer from the composition of the teams and how much resources went to training them. This further spurred the teams in the original division to stay focused and driven. Valerie was one of those who got relegated. Despite her relationship with Conrad, he could not help her out too explicitly. Otherwise, it would only give others more reason to disapprove of their relationship. Conrad was already doing what he could to save Valerie from being summoned by the hi
The next morning, Angie easily appeared at Elias' residence on time, since he lived just two blocks away from her. As her lot reached Elias' floor by the stairs, they witnessed a few young women leave Elias' flat. Angie recognised them as part of the group that surrounded Elias the previous week. Did they sleep over?[No, they didn't.] BaoBao responded fast. [They just came earlier this morning. Since it was for nothing important, I didn't tell you. I didn't want to spoil your mood.] He explained./How's my mood ruined? I'm fine./ "Angie, you're here!" Elias happily greeted her. "Ms Dawson." Elias bowed in respect.Her mother was slightly taken aback by how he addressed her. This was the first time someone addressed her by her last name without her asking for it. "I like this boy." She whispered to Angie to praise him."And-" Elias' smile turned stiff and his eyes rounded a little bit. "Jeffer
"Look, you don’t have to accept this.” Angie suddenly said. “I told you, I had another plan in store. If you don’t agree, we’re just different and we’re each better off not working together. You wouldn’t want any issues from our differences coming up while we’re out there.”[Angie? What’re you saying? What if she really disagrees?]/We can’t forget about keeping negativity to a minimum. I don’t want her displeasure with me to cause any trouble, especially when she’s the lead in this story./[Oh… How burdensome.] BaoBao grumbled on Angie’s behalf.Meanwhile, Valerie sucked on her bottom lip. There was a perpetual frown between her brows. Angie had caught on to her. She wanted to agree just because she was the only one with the issue. However, Angie was right. If they did not settle their differences now, more issues will app
Time crawled painfully slow for those who did not enjoy the gathering.Angie’s cheeks felt stiff from wearing a smile for so long.Meanwhile, Elias had his hands full with the girls. It did not help that Angie gave him a sharp glare every time he pushed them away. Eventually, Elias gave up trying. As upset as he was about seeing Angie so close and intimate with everyone else, he ended up mingling with Angie the least, out of all the military personnel present. He slouched and sulked in one corner, like a shunned little child. Even then, the girls stayed with him. In fact, it became a competition between them to see who could cheer him up.In another corner of the apartment, the mothers naturally congregated together to gossip and chat."You must be elated that Valerio hooked such a big fish.""How did he do it? Just recently, everyone still thought that Conrad was asexual!""Who'd expect that such a mischievous boy could ac
Elias' eyes flew open and he staggered back. He quickly sat back down and put his hands up with his palms facing her. "Sorry, sorry, I just haven’t felt this urge in so long that I couldn't control myself." "What urge?" Angie asked as she sat up cross-legged in her bed. Elias could see her displeasure and he hastily explained, "Your back just looked so vulnerable and inviting. It made me want to do things to you and before I knew it I was already smelling you and going for a kiss. I'm really sorry." Silence dragged out between them. While Angie thought about how she should react to what was equivalent of Elias admitting that he was gay, Elias freaked out on the inside. /Did I just say that? Did I just? What? What the hell. What. The. Hell! Dude, get yourself together!/ Angie decided to react the same way she would react if he had been talking about a heterosexual attraction. "You couldn't control your sexual urges? What are you? A child? That's a poor and sorry excuse for taking ad
"How's it going?" Angie asked once she reached the back."Almost done."While Angie pitched in to help speed up the process, Valerie whispered, "Angie? I hope you aren't too mad at Elias."Angie threw her a questioning glance."I contacted him to come over. Something seemed odd between you and the doctor. I was the one who disobeyed you. Not Elias." Valerie explained.[I was just about to tell you that!]/What's this, though? A woman's intuition?/"I see." Angie smiled and ruffled Valerie's hair. "Thanks for that."Angie finished up fast since she knew where everything was. Then, they grabbed their loot and left. Valerie looked shy but followed close behind Angie. They still had the research facility to go to. It was easier this time, because the researchers worked at odd hours and their teammates did well distracting patrol. Everything else went as expected, until Kyle's appear