𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 & 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 3: ᴍᴇᴇᴛɪɴɢ ʜɪᴍ

He stood out like a sore thumb, like one tall tree in the middle of a surrounding forest. It was honestly laughable at how big he was. Compared to me, he had to be a whole two, maybe every three feet taller. I chuckled a bit at my height comparison, and turned my head, tearing my eyes away from the man's mountain of a build. I continued my tread to the elevator, now walking with some purpose. Then I felt it again, his gaze. It was burning through me even more than before. I sighed in annoyance, 'Jeez, what the hell was this guy's problem?'

I continued to ignore the man's insistent staring, and walked up to the new additions of my team. They stood there patiently, each of them bowing their heads in respect. Turns out the elevator had already arrived, they were just waiting on me. I pushed the button for the elevator doors, and they swiftly opened. I walked in first, and moved over to the side to make room for the other members to also board.

The ride was shorter than it was coming up, and after a short 5 mins, we were already exiting the elevator. On the way to back my office, occasional conversations sparked up around the members. I didn't bother to join in, mainly because I was too tired, and was trying to conserve all my left-over energy. I would say, based on the way they were conversing, they seemed like 2 brothers with their little sister. The man named Hutch being the peacekeeper between Horangi and Roze. It was adorable. After exiting the elevator, and winding the corner, we arrived at my office door. I strode forward, pulling out my keys, and fiddling around with them. After some time, I found the right key, and shoved it into the keyhole, yanking the door open.

I nodded to the soldiers, gesturing for them to enter. They obliged, and hustled into my office with me entering in after them. Closing the door behind me, I strode towards my desk, and picked up 3 distinct packages. I turned around, and leaned my lower half on the edge of my desk. "Horangi?" I called out, holding up a package in the direction of the soldiers. A man stepped forward, cradling one of his bags like it was a newborn baby.

He softly took the package from my hands before thanking me, I proceeded to hand out the last two packages to the other soldiers. I watched as they all examined them, before I cleared my throat, and spoke up. "Those packages that I've given you contain your dorm keys, a phone number book, and other essentials that are needed for your stay." I said. They all glanced at each other before looking back to me, and nodding in unison. A small smile crept up my lips, "Alright, you are dismissed. See you all tomorrow." I said, letting out a sigh, and pushing myself up from the edge of my desk. The soldiers all turned to leave, but before they could even reach the door, I stopped them once more.

"Wait, last thing" I said, holding my pointer finger in the air. They all turned, and waited patiently for me to speak. "If there's anything bothering you, or anyone, don't be afraid to come talk to me about it." I said, crossing my arms, and widening my stance to where my feet were shoulder's length apart. "I don't care how ridiculous you think it is, don't hesitate. I'm always here." I finished with a small, tight smile. The soldiers seemed to freeze in place, and it stayed this way for what seemed like a good like two minutes. That was until Roze broke the heavy silence.

"We will let you know if we ever feel uneasy. Thank you so much, and see you later LT!" She waved, and signaled to the other two soldiers. They exited my office, leaving behind a 'thud' sound as my door was softly closed back. A long sigh exited my lips, and I let my arms drop down to my sides. I ripped off my cap, and took off the extra parts of my gear, leaving me in a black T-shirt, and my standard issued green pants. I slowly trudged over to my door, lazily opening it once more. I needed something to keep me up, and so I made my way across the hall to the food court.

Lucky for me, enough people who were stationed on the 2nd floor had complained about having to go all the way downstairs for food, and so the higherups made a second food court upstairs, something I wasn't complaining about. I stopped at the beverages, not really having an appetite for real food. "It's either bitter coffee, or hot chocolate." I mumbled to myself. It wasn't exactly cold outside. It was. It was chilly to say the most, but I hated the bitter taste of coffee, and hot chocolate was too sweet to have this early in the morning. I went back, and forth like this in my head for a hot minute, arguing with myself.