“I will take my leave. With that, she turned and left, acting like I was invisible. “Olivia…” I said quietly, unsure what I was even asking for.
She didn’t turn.
She didn’t speak.
She just walked away.
As soon as Olivia walked out and the door closed behind her, the room went completely silent. I just sat there, frozen. My pants were still undone, my heart was racing, and shame hit me like a wave.
There were times I wouldn’t care if she saw this. In fact, there were times I would want her to walk in and see this, but not anymore. I couldn’t explain it, but I would do anything just to prevent her from seeing this.
Anita turned to me, her voice sharp for someone who is sick. “Did you see that? Did you see how she spoke to me?”
I didn’t even look at her. “I’m leaving, I said flatly as I buckled my belt.
“What? Now?” she asked, surprised.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t care. I needed to get away from her-and away from what I had just done.
I walked out of the room like I was in a fog. Everything inside me felt heavy. Wrong. The way Olivia didn’t even flinch when she caught us… it haunted me. She didn’t care, didn’t yell. She didn’t even look at me That lart more than anything
I needed to clear my head.
It was already past 8pm, but I decided to go to the training field. The sky was dark, the moont was out, and the wind was cool. I thought I’d be alone-but I wasn’t
Olivia was there.
She was in the middle of the field, barefoot, moving like a fighter. Her braid swung behind her as she punched and kicked the air, her body sharp and graceful like she had done this at thousand times. Sweat glowed on her skin. Her face was serious. Focused. Powerful.
She looked nothing like the quiet girl people always saw.
She looked like a warrior,
My little warrior.
That thought struck something deep inside me. My chest tightened as an old memory rose to the surface, one I hadn’t thought of in years.
She was just nine years old back then-tiny, stubborn, full of fire. I had just come back from a long patrol when I saw her standing outside the training field, arms crossed, a small plastic container in her hand,
“Train me,” she had said firmly, like a command. Her usual playful demeanor gone.
I’d blinked, confused. “What?
She walked right up to me and opened the container to show a single chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. “This is payment,” she said seriously, holding it up like it was a bag of gold. “I know you’re the best. So teach me.”
I laughed that day, I couldn’t help it.
But she didn’t.
She was dead serious. “I don’t want to be weak like the other girls. I want to fight. I want to protect myself. I want to protect the people I love. Please.”
That word-please-was soft. Almost afraid, like she feared I would reject her request.
I remembered kneeling down to her level, accepting the cupcake, and saying, “Deal. But I’ll warn you, training with me won’t be easy”
And she smiled so wide, like she’d just won a battle. “I don’t care. I’m not afraid.”
That cupcake.
Her stubborn little face staring up at me like I was the only one who could make her stronger. And then… there was something else. Something I buried so deep, I nearly forgot it existed.
Ion Little War pat
That day… when she looked up at me with those fierce eyes and handed me that stupid cupcake….
I felt something.
A strange flutter in my stomach.
It wasn’t lust. Not even close. But it was something strange. Something intense.
??/p>
I didn’t know what it was back then. All I knew was that I wanted to be around her. I wanted to see her train, to see her smile when she got things right. I wanted her to come back every and push herself until she collapsed on the mat and grinned up at me, breathless and proud. day
I was fourteen.
She was nine.
And I was terrified of what that meant.
So I buried it. Deep. Told myself it was just some protective instinct. Just pride in a student. Nothing more.
I trained her harder than anyone. Gave her hell. Watched her grow. And the older she got, the more I tried to keep my distance. I kept the strange feelings to myself until her fourteenth birthday when I decided it was time to tell her.
Well, I did… I told her, but it was the worst decision of my life.
“What are you thoughts. doing here, Lennox?” Olivia snapped, forcing me out of 1
Lennox’s POV
She stood before me with folded arms, clearly not happy that I was there.
“Why are you here?” she asked, sounding so irritated.
I shrugged, pushed back my emotions, and gave her a hard expression. “Why can’t I be here? This is the training field, not your room.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed, her glare sharp. “Then train,” she snapped, turning away from me and falling back into her stance. “Don’t just stand there gawking.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest. “Your steps are sloppy,” I said coldly.
She froze. Slowly, she turned to face me again, her expression unreadable. “What?”
“Your left leg drags on the pivot. Your form’s weaker than usual, I said, trying to sound calm, like I wasn’t suffocating on everything that happened minutes ago. “If you’re going to act like a warrior, then fight like one.”
Her lips curled into a furious smirk. “Oh, really?” she asked, voice dripping with anger. And before I could brace myself, she snatched a training knife from the weapons rack beside her and threw it.
Fast. Sharp.
I caught it-barely.
The force behind it was no joke.
“You’ve got a mouth on you today. I said, swinging the blade, tasting it.
Without a word, she attacked me.
She didn’t hesitate, not for a second. Her attacks came at me in a blur of mo, and though I blocked the first few strikes, I wasn’t in the fight. I was distracted by her-the fire in her eyes, the tension in her jaw, the grace of every furious hit.
She spun, ducked low, and the next thing I knew, her blade sliced clean across my arm.
I hissed in pain, stepping back and looking down at the blood seeping through my sleeve.
She smirked “Maybe you should spend less time fucking and more time training, she sneered.
I clenched my jaw, her words hitting harder than the blade.
She wasn’t done.
“My mistake. Maybe if you weren’t so busy with Anita,
I wouldn’t be getting your ass handed to you. Even your brothers are better fighters, and they’ve never slacked the way you have. And you’re the eldest?”
Those words. Those exact damn words.
They sliced deeper than the wound on my arm.
My vision blurred with rage, memories replaying in my head.
Pain surged. Old pain. Deep wounds I thought were long buried were reopened.
I snapped.
With a growl, I struck back, faster and harder than before. Our blades clashed. Sparks flew. She fought back with everything she had, but this time I didn’t hold back.
My blade came down in a quick, controlled arc-and sliced across her arm.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.