My Secret Identity

13| Rifle training

The sun was scorching, the cadets were marching in perfect order, following general Don's instructions.

" Attention ! " general Don said sternly and the cadets stopped in the most beautiful way. Their training for the past six weeks had really paid off. Now, they had less than four weeks to be done with their training as cadets.

"Like I said last week, we'll continue our training with guns. I introduced it long before now, but we didn't use real guns then. But today, we'll be using actual guns that can send you straight to the great beyond if you're not careful. You'll line up on a straight file, take your rifle and jog down to the mess hall or down to the coffee shop... depending on what you'd choose to eat. As soon as we're back from breakfast, we'll start our rifle training. "

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As usual, I ran down to the coffee shop to make breakfast sales.I usually went to the coffee shop in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. And I spent the evenings there, and went to the hostel later on.

" Hey beautiful "

" Hey Nate"

He smiled whole heartedly, it was the first time I called him Nate. I guess was really happy that day but I had no idea why I was so happy.

" You called me Nate "

" You called me beautiful"

" I always do, it's no big deal " he said, still smiling his smile almost seeming like a blush.

" Exactly. Calling you Nate equally shouldn't be a big deal"

" It is actually, because it came from you "

" Breakfast time is never a perfect time to flirt y'know"

" I'm not flirting, I'm laying the foundation for something bigger but I'm starting now, so it won't come as a shock to you"

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

" What would you like to have ?"

" Two iced coffees to go, and a french toast"

" Coming right up "

The good thing about breakfast sales is that not a lot of people come. So once they're done ordering and eating, I clean up immediately so I have less work before locking up the shop for the morning. As I jogged back to the training ground, I spotted my stalker ... Or should I say, the guy who was always staring at me. He seemed to be communicating with someone as he jogged back. I quickly took my mind off it anyway, I had to get back to the training ground in time. On getting there, circular paper targets had been arranged at shooting range with bullseye points.

" I believe everyone is here now and you all can see how this has been set up. The point of this, is to know how to aim. We'd all say we can shoot an enemy. Fine, no argument about that. But the real question is, can you aim for the right place, and kill with one shot ? "

He had a point

" Good, so for now, I won't go straight to teach you where to aim for, I'll start with these paper targets. Once I say aim, you aim for the bullseye and once I say fire, you fire. Is that clear ? "

" Yes sir " we chorused

" Before we begin, I'll show you an example. If you fire at the bullseye then that's a shot. But anything outside that, is fail "

With that, he aimed and fired. Bullseye! We would have thought it was pretty easy but I can testify that it was nothing close to easy. In the space of aiming and firing, one's hand was bound to move. It was a piece of cake for general Don though, cos he'd spent years in the army. We were given combat arm earplugs to reduce the sound from the guns.

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" This is the interesting part of being a cadet "

" What is ? being able to shoot people legally ?"

" You make me look so dumb at times "

" You said it yourself " I said and laughed

" We won't have training today"

" Why coach ? " I asked

" I have to work on myself today "

" Work on what exactly ?
" A lot of things, especially my approach to Emma cos we don't have much time left "

" What's the latest update "

" Well, I dunno...I've basically just been hinting her and flirting "

" You need help"

" I really do. You talked to her about yourself some days ago right ? "

" Yeah "

" Did she show interest ? "

" Yeah "

" She'll come around "

" How old is she ? "

You should ask her yourself "

" How ??? "

" Don't worry yourself, it'll come "

Ever since I started working as the coffee shop girl, my training schedule with Nathan had been adjusted. We now had our training before lunch and at times, after lunch.

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Nathan got to the coffee shop a little later than usual. There weren't a lot of people at the coffee shop that afternoon because they'd gone to have chicken noodle soup. Many of the cadets loved chicken noodle soup which meant that I was sorta free, except the few people who had come to snack. I sat on the counter chair, with the sales book in front of me. As I flipped through the pages to make sure I had inputed all the sales, I stumbled on two pictures that I had quickly shoved into it, some days ago. As I stared at the picture in my hand, memories of those painful years flooded back. That was me, when I was pregnant with Stacy and I questioned myself several times. Who would I tell this unborn child her father is ? How would I take care of her ? I was still very young and I was going to be a mother in less than three months. Fear, sadness, anger and at the same time, joy was written all over my swollen face in that picture. Tears clouded my eyes, I didn't regret having Stacy and I didn't regret anything so far. But at the same time, it had altered my dream of getting married to a loving man and having two kids and being there for them. Of course, I could still get married but I wasn't too keen on getting involved with any man, to the extent of getting married. It's not like I didn't want to get married but I still wasn't stable enough to start thinking in that direction.

A tear dropped on the picture, quickly followed by another, and another one as I sniffled and dabbed them off with my face towel.

" Jesus Emma ! What's wrong ? " He said from behind me. I couldn't utter a word, but only struggled to suck my tears in. Tears to me, meant weakness and in all honesty, I wasn't ready to show my weakness to anybody. He noticed the tears on the picture... I didn't even realize he had been there long enough. He moved closer to me and leaned my head on his chest. Uttering no words but patting my head gently as I cried.