CHAPTER 20

"This is nice!" May gasped as they enter the billeting area provided to the candidates.

All the candidates looked in wonder at the big building like a hotel before them. All of them were excited and were about to get inside when a cadet from the side shouted.

"Candidates! Follow me! That's not your lodging area." Said the cadet and signaled them to follow him.

Keira laughed silently at the weary faces of most candidates. Even Drey and May looked disappointed as they saw a camping ground a hundred meter away from the back of the army lodging where military tents were set in line. Tents for men were at the west wing while tents for female were in the east wing.

"Please find your name on the sides of each tent and settle in all your things. You will be given ten minutes to rest and report at the training grounds immediately." A female Lieutenant instructed and advised them to change into their exercise clothing, so they would be comfortable enough for the mentioned exercises.

The girls settled their things at the assigned tents. Keira was separated from Lana and May.

She sighed as she looked around at the double decks inside the tents.

"The hell…" she murmured with a twitched mouth because, for her, it looked like they were sardines compressed to fit the can.

"What, Princess? I'm sure you're not used to this? Too squeezy, right?" Mocked the woman whom she had encountered at the canteen before.

Keira's eyebrows arched, out of all the tent mates why was she so unlucky to be in the same tent with this bully.

"Yes, dear, I'm so not used to this since I grew up in luxury, but it's nice to experience new things that would help me mature, right? Don't you think it's nice to act mature instead of bullying others? I could be such a mean girl any time I want and I'm sure my victim would absolutely have it once I'm pissed off..." Keira answered nonchalantly and smiled sweetly at the woman before she focused on her bag and get her exercise outfit.

She loved to wear bubbly feminine colors so her clothes were all customized according to her taste.

She immediately changed into her pink tank top racer back and went out of the tent leaving all candidates inside open-mouthed.

"Tsk… I'm really curious why is she here? I mean, she's even prettier than most celebrities, I feel like I'm turning…" one of the candidates murmured but slapped herself to wake up before she spurted out nonsense.

Keira excitedly ran towards Lana and May.

"The heck? Are you in a fashion show?" Lana commented, looking at Keira from head to toe.

"You know I love standing out everywhere," Keira said as she rolled her eyes.

The talking was interrupted by a Senior female Lieutenant.

"Alright… Today you'll do the physical fitness tests. You must get the recommended scores to pass these tests." She started to explain how it would be scored at their target to pass it.

Keira smiled triumphantly to Lana and May because she was confident that they would pass it all since it all was a part of the training they had done during their preparations.

The test consisted of the following:

Push-ups

Sit-ups

Pull-ups

Two-mile run

5 Mile run

Keira felt Lana elbow her secretly so she followed Lana's eyes pointing somewhere.

It was Zach and Jeru, who were again both staring at her from a distance.

"Get ready… for the love triangle that will crush your world soon," Lana whispered teasingly.

Lana giggled when Keira remained quiet and just pouted her lips.

The physical test began, and Keira did her best for it, pushing her body to its limits to gain an outstanding score before the bell rang, indicating that it was times-up already.

...…..

"Our candidates for this year seems to be all dedicated don't you agree Sirs?" Torin commented as soon as he arrived on sight and stood beside Zach and Jeru.

Zach looked at Keira. He could see that she was well prepared for these exercises.

"Field Marshal Chan's daughter has surely prepared well," Jeru voiced-out what was on Zach's mind.

"Though I still hope she will not continue on. As soon as we got engaged, I will let her do anything she wants except anything that involves the military." Jeru murmured out of nowhere.

Zach's forehead creased while Torin's eyes widened.

"Is it confirmed, General Liu? You and the Field Marshal's daughter?" Torin burst out, which made General Liu smirk.

"This is how our society works among the elites, soldier. I choose her. Whether she likes it or not, she will end up joining the Liu Family." Jeru answered casually as he never let Keira out of his sight.

"Isn't it too personal for you to announce it like that to us," Zach commented. He too was staring at Keira.

Jeru laughed and turned his gaze to Zach which the latter met, "Yeah, I'm vocal and bold about it because I want to make it clear to everyone: You all should know that Keira Chan is already my property."

Zach frowned, he did not like how those words sound so he said, "As far as I know, Keira Chan is not a property to be owned. Owning her, without her permission, is a bit too off don't you think so, General Liu?"

Torin's face paled as he could sense the tension between two men who never blink as their gazes pierced on each other. Neither of the two broke from the intense eye contact.

'What is this? Are they fighting over Keira Chan?' Torin mused with his muddled expression as his head moved left and right between Zach and Jeru.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Keira was panting hard after the run. Like the other candidates, she was soaked with sweat.

Lana and May were also done and they smiled at each other.

"Alright, rest for now and we will get back in twenty minutes to announce who among you will advance for our second round tomorrow," Lieutenant Kang said with a smile.

"Do you really think something happened between her and Drey?" Lana whispered at Keira's ear while the latter was drinking her water.

Keira shrugged her shoulders while May answered in her stead, "Trusts me, Lana. The answer is YES."

Lana looked at Lieutenant Kang and commented, "She's beautiful and I think she's probably in her early twenties. Does it mean Drey is straight?"

"Well, we only presume he is not. It just so happened that he's always with us and he loves to act like someone who likes men like us to stay connected probably, but from the start, I actually felt he's really straight." May interrupted.

"Yeah, maybe we've influenced him too much. Imagine being surrounded by us… Poor Drey." Lana muttered.

"Let's stop and let Drey decide on what he wants then support him along the way. Ohh, I'm so tired that I want to lay my body as soon as possible." Keira murmured complaining.

After exactly twenty minutes, Lieutenant Kang returned with the result.

"I will call the names who have passed and if you didn't hear yours, thank you for taking the exams and I'm sure there's probably a better opportunity to you outside this Academy. So I will bid you good luck in advance and know that you all guys really done well." Said Lieutenant Kang with a smile.

After hearing her name, without caring about her surroundings, Keira tiredly rested her body on the grass. Lately, she enjoyed staring at the sky, perhaps, because of her previous training outside.

She felt very exhausted and tired…

"Keira, let's go," Lana called when almost everybody went back to their tents.

"You go, girls… I will stay for a while and get back inside soon." Keira answered with closed eyes.

"Okay, I will go now because I feel so stinky and want to clean up immediately," Lana said and walked out followed by May.

Keira closed her eyes for a while. She hoped everything would go according to what she expected.

It was the first time she experienced things such as this in her whole life.

She always got everything easily, but this time, everything was not easy and simple.

"It's almost sunset," she murmured before she closed her eyes.

She felt like the sun totally went down since the bright reflection from her closed eyes became dim.

"Two more tiring and killing days like this, Miss Chan," a man's voice came from her side.

Because Keira was too tired she thought she was daydreaming so she smiled sweetly and answered, "Yeah."

"Why don't you go inside and rest properly instead of letting the cadets feast at your appearance here in the open field." The man's voice said; it sounded familiar.

With eyes still closed, Keira crumpled her forehead.

...….

Zach who had returned at the site to check the women's final result get worried when he noticed that one woman was left out lying in the open field. He rushed there and saw it was Keira, he bent his knee and wanted to check her.

He stopped and frowned when Keira smiled with her eyes closed.

He felt relieved that she was okay, however, the sun would come down soon and cadets from training would run the area soon for their way to the army lodging, so it would not be good for her to stay like that.

She looked tired and full of sweat but still stunning. No wonder that Jeru was deliberately marking her.

Zach frowned when Keira did not respond to his last words.

"Can you get up? Do you want me to carry you?" He asked as he started to feel concerned.

Keira abruptly opened her eyes at that instant and realized that Zach's face was right before hers, covering her eyes from the bright rays of the sun.

"I said, can you get up?" Zach repeated.

Keira looked around and noticed that no one was there so she raised her both arms and said, "No, please help me I feel like my bones all smashed up."

Zach hesitated for a second but, in the end, held Keira's hands to pull her up.

Because of her overtired body, Keira was lazy. Thus she weighed double, as Zach helped her on her feet with great effort, causing their bodies to be too close to each other.

"Did you miss me?" Keira murmured, it's almost a whisper that barely reached Zach's ears.

"What?!" Zach exclaimed, he was startled when he heard Keira's words but was hesitant to answer, wondering if he heard it right.

Keira giggled. With a swift movement, she pinched Zach's cheek, winked and said, "Thanks, handsome. See you later."

Before Zach could react, Keira quickly turned around and ran towards her tent.

Torin who was about to pick up Zach rubbed his eyes as he witnessed what happened.

"What the heck, Bro?! Do you want to be dead meat? Is this why Jeru is spurting out an unnecessary declaration to you about Keira? Darn!" Torin muttered in disbelief as he put the pieces together.

"How... interesting…" he burst out with a wicked grin and ran towards Zach. He could feel it- an interesting year ahead before they would be dispatched for the next assignment.