The Training Grounds (2)

The man in the gray suit, Adam, guided Lillian through the wide hall. Never once did his lips come to a stop as he continued to tell her about the place.

"I am sure that you must have wondered why you had to take an elevator to go to the training 'grounds'." He chuckled to himself before Lillian could even answer him.

"Yeah! I did wonder." Thinking that it would be impolite of her not to answer him, she mumbled softly in response, accompanying her words with a small nod.

"I wondered the same as well when I was brought over here the first time. The only difference is, I was much younger back then." Adam smiled to himself, recalling about the day when he was asked to join the training sessions by Blake's father. He was much younger than Lillian at that time, yet he was more eager to learn all the fancy fighting skills.

"It looks like you were given the right to choose for yourself." Lillian muttered under her breath, making the man confused. Her words were clearly meant to be caught by her own ears, but there was something she didn't know about the man who was walking ahead of her.

The training which he had gone under was no simple one. It wasn't the kind which people are taught in those self defense classes, but rather the one which high level assassins had to go through before their first missions. It had not only improved his reflexes, but also his hearing sense.

He was able to pick on whispers if the person was near enough. Since Lillian was just walking behind him, he was able to easily catch on what she had muttered to herself.

Adam's feet came to stop and he turned around to see her doing the same. He stared back at her intently as he tried to comprehend what was going on the girl's mind. He wanted to give his words a proper thought before letting them escape his mouth. This was the only way to ensure that he wouldn't end up saying something which would hurt her.

Under his scrutinizing gaze, Lillian took a step back. She had her head hanging low, feeling guilty of saying something which she shouldn't have. She would have been grateful to Blake.

He had not only given her a place to stay, he let her choose for herself. She couldn't comprehend why her thoughts had gone down the path. She was feeling bad for even thinking about it, let alone saying it out loud.

"Why is that?" Adam spoke up, forcing her to look up at him. His tone was soft and mellow with a faint smile hugging the curve of his lips.

Lillian was stunned for a while, not because of how charming the young man before her looked, but because he was still talking nicely to her. She was expecting to be scolded by him since he looked like he was someone who was close to Blake, but nothing of the sort happened.

"W-what?" Lillian was still in a shock. Her mind wasn't able to understand the meaning behind Adam's simple question.

"You said that I was given the right to choose for myself. Why does it sound like you didn't have the same choice?" Seeing that the girl was utterly lost, he explained his question to her politely and patiently.

"I didn't mean it like that." Lillian shook her head in a no. She really didn't mean it in such a sense.

"Say it!" Adan refused to buy her words. "Whatever you meant from it, say it out loud." He added. Unlike before, his voice sounded more authoritative, leaving no way for Lillian to escape from his question.

"I-I…" She trailed off, lowering her head once again.

Apart from Blake, she had never really conversed with someone actively. The men at the warehouse didn't count as they were the ones who had a hand in her abduction, and she only replied to them at times or bugged them with her questions.

She had stayed quiet most of the time during breakfast, and only talked to the chef when it was required. The same could be said to the strange woman she had met on her way to the dinning hall, and the old butler who had accompanied her down here. She really didn't know how to talk to the young man who was interrogating her.

"Speak up, little one." Adam heaved out a sigh, and softened his tone a little. He could tell that she was scared about something, which was not letting her speak her mind. He didn't want himself to be the reason behind the scare.

Seeing that he was back to being his carefree, Lillian took in a deep breath in order to muster up the courage to answer him back. "I didn't have any say in what happened to me so far."

"What do you mean?" Adam frowned a little after hearing her reply. He could somewhat understand the girl's trouble based on what he knew about her, but there was still a lot about which he had no idea. That was one of the reasons that he wanted to visit Blake and talk to him face to face.

"I don't know how much you know about me, but you look like you know a little." She mumbled without raising her head up.

"I do." Adam replied to her briefly. He was more interested in hearing her story from her mouth.

"Blake is a nice person. He has been helping me a lot. I have not felt this much good in the past few days, or should I say the days which I remember living through. I didn't mean to sound so ungrateful when I was the one who made this choice for myself, but I can't feel like I am doing this because I have to go through this." She spoke up, her voice wavering a little with the undercurrents of emotions.