5

Thalia 

“Are you just going to stand there or what?” I snapped, crossing my arms in front of my chest. I looked at the very attractive man in front of me and kept my head held high. I followed him out of the gym since he told me so, but now he’s keeping silent.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows, his eyes showing a suspicious glint—one of surprise, or maybe even amusement.

I sighed and uncrossed my arms, impatiently running my fingers through my hair. “Look,” I took a step towards him. “If you’re going to keep on staring at me without saying anything, then I’m going back to the gym to train. Your taking up the time that I could use for lifting weights.”

I was about to walk away from him when he held onto my wrist. I gasped as I felt his warm and rough hands against my skin. However, I didn’t let him know that I felt flustered, and instead swallowed my feelings down.

“What? Let go of me!” I tried breaking away from his grip, but he only persisted on. He tilted his head to the side while I glared at him. Whoever this person is, he’s hella strong. I fought those three useless men back in the gym and they couldn’t even contest my strength, but with this man’s grip, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to break away even if I did my best. Whoever he is, he’s definitely not someone ordinary—he must be a high-ranking guard or something.

“Are you aware of who I am?” he finally spoke. I gulped when I heard his deep voice once again.

I was right. He’s definitely not an ordinary person. However, I’m not going to let him step all over me just because he’s someone who has a higher title.

“No,” I snapped.

“You really don’t know who I am?” he repeated, making me sigh.

“No,” I exasperatedly said. “And frankly, I don’t care.”

He chuckled in disbelief, his dimples showing on the side of his cheeks. He finally let go of my wrist with a smug smile on his face.

“Who the hell are you anyway?” I asked as I inspected my wrist. There was a red mark imprinted on it because of his grip.

“I thought you didn’t care?”

I clicked my tongue to suppress the annoyance I was feeling. “You’re right,” I sarcastically smiled. “I don’t care who you are. We’re all just guards here anyway. Who knows? I might be able to surpass you once I’m finished with the training system.”

“Guard?” he pointed to himself.

I shook my head. “Talking to you is useless. I don’t even know why you brought me here when you’re just going to repeat my sentences.”

“I’m going to go,” I said in a final tone.

“Wait,” he said, making me stop in my tracks.

“What now?”

I turned around and was surprised to see his face so close. Looking at him at this distance, he definitely looks much more attractive. It doesn’t take away the fact that he’s annoying though.

“What’s your name?” he asked in a low voice.

“I’m not going to tell you,” I stubbornly said.

He brought his face closer to mine, causing me to have a sharp intake of breath. Just then, the look in his eyes changed, and he suddenly turned more serious, more dangerous—borderline murderous.

“I said, what is your name?” he asked through gritted teeth.

He gave off a feeling that I couldn’t fathom. However, one thing was certain—I had the urge to submit to him.

“Thalia,” I mindlessly said. It seems like my mouth just had a mind of its own, and my name just spilled out.

And just like that, his eyes went back to normal as the smug smile returned on his face.

“Thalia, huh?” he smirked.

I swiftly turned around, not even bothering to say goodbye, and went back to the gym, feeling his eyes lingering on my back.

***

“Infuriating,” I muttered under my breath as I sat down on one of the cycles.

“Who’s infuriating?” I heard someone say from beside me, causing me to snap my head towards them.

“Oh, it’s you,” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Daisy exclaimed.

“Nothing,” I shook my head. “Just not in a good mood.”

“What happened?” she asked.

I looked at her and decided to tell her about what happened since I really just want to get these feelings out of my chest.

“I met this guy,” I started off.

Her eyes lit up and she looked at me with a mischievous smirk. “Oooh, a guy! We haven’t even been here for a week, but you’ve already met someone!”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Fine. I won’t tell you.”

“Sorry, sorry,” she sheepishly said. “Tell me.”

“I met this guy—this ANNOYING guy,” I emphasized. “You weren’t here earlier in the morning, but these guys tried to make a move on me, so I beat them up.”

She nodded her head. “So, that’s what they were talking about. You did them good, girl. They went straight to the infirmary.”

I smiled proudly, but quickly scowled when I remembered what happened.

“Anyway,” I continued. “I met this guy.”

“Is he hot?”

I sighed. “Are you going to let me finish?”

“Sorry,” she held up a peace fine. “Continue on.”

“Nothing special happened. He broke up the fight and called me out. I think he’s a senior guard or something.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “A senior guard? You talked with one?”

“I don’t know what he is, and I don’t care. He’s annoying as fuck. He called me out only to repeat my words. He didn’t even say anything worth my time.”

“Calm down,” she said. “What’s important is you were not reprimanded.”

“Whatever,” I closed my eyes. “I just hope I won’t meet him again.”

“Now, onto the most important question,” she cheekily smiled. “Is he hot?”

“You’re not going to stop until I answer you, aren’t you?” I sighed.

She shook her head. “So, just answer the question. I’ll be less annoying that way.”

I looked down on the ground. “He is,” I muttered under my breath.

She gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. “He is?!”

“He is,” I frustratedly exclaimed. “But then again, he’s fucking annoying. It cancels away his handsome face.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Fine. Fine. We won’t talk about him anymore. You’re just lucky that you weren’t caught by the trainers. They came here when you weren’t around this morning.”

“What?” I asked. “They already came here?” I looked around the place.

“Yeah,” she nodded her head. “They came here at exactly 4:00 in the morning. I was actually looking for you since you weren’t in your bed when you woke up.”

“I was already here at 3AM! That guy only made me go with him, that’s why I wasn’t here at 4.”

“No biggie,” she reassured. “It seems like they didn’t notice. You’re one lucky gal.”

“She is, isn’t she?” a new voice chimed into the conversation.

The both of us froze, and I slowly turned around, dreading to see the intruder.

Standing there was my brother with his arms crossed. He raised one of his eyebrows while I closed my eyes.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

He looked at my badge number and clicked his tongue. “Apprentice#16. You’re late for today’s training session.”

***

“I hate him. I hate him. I hate him,” I exclaimed as I scrubbed the toilets clean. I looked at the stained tiled floor and bit my lips to suppress the scream that threatened to escape my lips.

“It’s all because of him that I’m taking this punishment,” I muttered under my breath.

After my brother had noticed that I was late, he pulled me off to the side to reprimand me for what I did. He said that I should consider myself lucky for only earning a punishment. If it were any other trainer that had caught me, I would have been eliminated from the system right away.

And that’s how I’ve become stuck in this stinking male bathroom, trying to brush off the grime and goo that covered it’s floors and walls.

I was almost finished with my work when a couple of apprentices entered the bathroom. They snickered when they saw me cleansing the floor. I decided to ignore them since I just want to get this punishment done and over with.

I turned around, however, when I heard a trickling sound coming from behind me. I turned around and found one of them peeing on the spot that I just cleaned. I looked at them with my mouth agape, but they merely cackled.

“Have fun cleaning that up, princess,” they chuckled as they went out of the room.

I finally let out a scream of frustration and threw the brush to the ground.

If it weren’t for that guy, then I wouldn’t be through this shit!

I just hope I never see his face again!