Lisa's expression couldn't be described as she scrubbed the toilets of the public restroom.
"Home Depot! I'll show you how a home depot looks like!" She mumbled as she continued to scrub.
Her punishment was to clean the public restroom's toilet for a week. She paused, then looked at herself and the toilet.
She wanted to cry for a moment and let out a weary irritable sigh. She looked so messed up at that moment, she was so grateful that she wore gloves and the scrub had a handle.
"Just you wait and see, I will bug you without any rest!" She muttered as her mind kept on working on her next moves.
She felt like Jungkook was punishing her for not just anything but simply because of the beef stew she had made.
Lisa was startled when she heard the door open because she made sure to put the sign of 'not available and cleaning was on progress' outside the door.
"Sis, we'll help you." May and Lana said as they suddenly appeared inside the restroom with their cleaning materials.
Drey was with them too, so Lisa said, "Hey, is that even allowed? What if you get punished for meddling here?"
Drey laughed and replied, "Then at least we will all get punished together!"
"Geez, this is a sight to behold. How I wish we could capture this spot," said May with a grin as she looked at Lisa who was on half bended knee while scrubbing the toilet.
"I'm sure Auntie will freak out if she finds out about this, like 'who the hell that Jungkook thinks he is to do this to my baby girl! I will not accept that man in our house!'" Lana commented as she copied Mrs. Chan's hysterical voice.
Drey and May nodded in agreement. Mrs. Chan would totally freak out and immediately pull Lisa out of the Academy, but then Lisa would surely find a way to turn tables and make things go according to her will.
"That's okay. Rules should be implemented fairly. That's how things should work," said Lisa as she continued scrubbing.
The rest went into other cubicles and started working while Drey commented, "You're so blinded with that Jungkook guy that you even justify him instead of hating for making you clean this super gross toilets."
The girls laughed at Drey's remark about super gross, then he added, "What would it take for you to get turned off of that Jungkook guy? There's not much good to him anyway. I mean there's a lot of guys who are at the same level as him who will be willing to be your slave instead."
Lisa chuckled and said, "Hmm, you are really my friend Drey. You're so biased. But what happened? Before you said you will help me to get him, didn't you?"
Drey's lips twisted. "But he's not treating you right. I mean he can at least show some consideration! He knows you're from a rich family, so why task you to do something like this?"
Lisa laughed and said, "That's why I like him, Drey. I want someone superior to me. I always get everything and anything, but with him, I am just an ordinary person. I mean I have this urge to follow whatever he says or tells me to do. Ahh, it's hard to explain. Change the topic!"
Drey did not change the topic but rather repeat his question, "So what will it take for you to get turned off or tired of him?"
Lisa sighed and answered, "I really don't know, Drey."
May interrupted, "Drey, she'll get turned off if she found out that General Lim is a liar… Remember that what Lisa hated the most is being lied to by MAN."
Drey did not respond to it but let out a long, deep sigh. They all remained quiet for a while to focus on their work and finish early.
...….
"Seriously, Bro? She's the daughter of Field Marshal and she has never even cleaned her own room for sure." Torin exclaimed when Jungkook and he were finally alone.
Jungkook's eyebrows arched as he said, "So what? That won't kill her, Torin! She's the same as all recruits in here, regardless of whose daughter she is. She can quit anytime she wants!"
Torin looked closely at Jungkook. Had he been wrong, thinking that Jungkook had something special with Lisa? He could sense it very well, but Jungkook was like hot and cold lately, so very hard to read.
He still thought that somehow a part of why they had to finish that freaking bowl of beef stew was because Lisa had prepared it.
His face crumpled at the sudden thought of how that beef stew made him suffer, and he was sure, Jungkook had suffered too since he was the one who ate most of it.
"By the way, Bro, what happened to Rizie and the man she liked?" Torin asked and smiled wickedly because he had his ways to check Jungkook's locked up emotions about Lisa Chan.
'Hmm sorry, Bro, but you won't get easily away from detective Torin!' He mused.
Jungkook's face became so stern that Torin thought he wouldn't answer him at all, but after a moment of silence he spoke, "I think Rizie is just playing around. You know how those teenage girls easily change their mind on things."
Torin creased his forehead and asked, "Why, Bro? Why do you think she's playing around?"
Jungkook sighed and said, "She said she likes him, then she bugged him or did strange things, then she started ignoring him for days?! So how do you explain that other than that the guy is just her play toy and she will dispose it anytime she gets tired of it or find another better plaything…"
"You mean she's ignoring you for days?" Torin burst out that made Jungkook frown.
"What?!" Jungkook exclaimed and looked at Torin directly.
Torin gulped and quickly reconstructed his words and said, "I mean Rizie, she's ignoring her crush for days?"
Jungkook nodded and suddenly left him to approach a soldier.
Torin looked at Jungkook and shook his head. His friend was in deep trouble without him even knowing. It seemed like Jungkook already liked Lisa and was just in the process of denial.
*****
"Are you ready?" Lisa murmured as she let out a silly smile with an arched eyebrow as she looked at Jungkook's spot.
"What?" Lana exclaimed as she examined her rifle.
"Nothing… I'm just talking about Juli if she's ready to be in action." Lisa replied and looked at her own rifle.
They were at the shooting range at that moment.
Lana burst into laughter. Lisa had given her rifle a name, saying it was their baby, Jungkook and hers.
"You are so crazy, sis! I still think you need a psychiatrist. You already have the syndrome you know… It's like more of an obsession I think," said Lana in a jest.
Lisa crumpled her face and said, "You mean Falcon approaching right now? I think that's the one obsessed. Can't you at least notice how many times that one is trying to get attention?"
"Keep it down," Lana scolded Lisa who teased her more.
"Hmm, you are playing hard to get!" Lisa burst out and almost screamed when Lana poked her side hard.
"Shut up, Lisa," Lana hissed when Torin was almost near them.
Her face was blushing too much so she ran to where May and Drey were standing.
"What's wrong?" Torin asked with creased forehead while his eyes followed Lana.
Lisa arched an eyebrow and said, "Lieutenant, you should be nice with me if you want to get close with any of my friends, instead of making me lose points with... urgh never mind."
"You mean Jungkook, right? Let bygones be bygones and let's start a new alliance? What do you think, soldier Chan." Torin murmured as he acted as if he was inspecting Lisa's rifle.
Then he continued when he noticed that he and Lisa were still alone, "I will help you with Jungkook and you'll help me with Lana. By the way, in case you are wondering how did I find out... Let's just say I'm a good detective."
Lisa wanted to laugh because Torin looked so serious, but bygones would remain bygones only when she got even with him for that beef stew thing. She felt that she had got a lot of negative points because of it.
"Lieutenant Torin, do you really think I need your help? Let me think... If the time comes that I will need any help, perhaps, I will consider your offer then. But for now, no thanks... I absolutely can handle everything myself, so good luck... with Lana…" she said with a teasing voice as if she was going to do something that would make Torin lose some points too.
"The heck, what a stingy brat," Torin murmured as he looked at Lisa's back who left him and walked towards Lana's post.
"Alright, soldiers! I bet that all of you will enjoy the second phase. I've already noticed most of you had fun identifying the weapons we have here. You will all learn how to assemble, disassemble them and how to shoot them, practicing your marksmanship. As I've said this phase is concentrated on to the development of basic combat skills, whereas you will be taught how to train your skills, self-discipline, and will go through various team-building exercises," Sergeant Park explained.
Lisa had noticed that there's a bit of leeway. The Sergeants did not hang on their every breath, though they were still tough with them.
She caught Jungkook stealing glances on her so she was quick and gave him a wink.
'Miss me?' She wanted to deliver those words with that wink, but then the latter ignored her as if he didn't see her.
Lisa arched an eyebrow but did not stop stealing glances at Jungkook whenever she had the opportunity.
On the other hand, Jungkook was feeling uneasy. He could feel that Lisa was throwing on him a lot of glances and that wink almost made him nervous because they were with other soldiers at an open range.
'Darn, why is she so bold?' He complained inwardly.
To his surprise, Lisa walked towards him and gave him a salute as she greeted him.
"General, please help me zero my weapon. The Sergeants are busy with other soldiers, Sir. Is it okay if I ask for your help instead?" Lisa said with a smile, not leaving Jungkook' eyes.
She surely missed talking to him that's why she came up with this brilliant idea of hers to approach him directly because other Sergeants were very timely busy with other soldiers.
"General, please help me zero Juli." She repeated when Jungkook did not respond and stared at her with his usual blank expression.
"Juli?" Jungkook asked.
Lisa gave him her sweetest smile, her face blushed too and looked stunning under the bright sun rays.
"Yes, I've named my rifle Juli…" she answered and wanted to add 'it's our baby'.
But then she chose not to because Lana's face suddenly appeared before her eyes saying, 'You are so crazy. Totally obsesses!'
So she deliberately shook her head to shoo Lana's face and added, "I named this weapon because if you give something a name, you are more likely to treat it better. Treat your weapon well, and it will serve you well. I actually heard that from my dad."
Unconsciously, Jungkook chuckled that made Lisa stare at him more because of how perfect he looked with that sincere smile. Lisa wanted to freeze that moment to stare some more at that expression of his.
"Alright, give me that. I mean Juli. Then listen carefully. I will teach you how to do it," Jungkook said as he grabbed the rifle from Lisa.
Lisa moved closer to Jungkook to have a better look at how it was properly done.
She was too focussed and did not notice that her face was just an inch away from Jungkook.
Then she murmured, "By the way, General, I'll be visiting the Meteor Den regularly from now on before the curfew."
Jungkook froze because he could smell Lisa's warm breath. He felt like he was mesmerized as he stared at her face while she was still looking at the weapon.
He could hear his heartbeat that was thumping hard and loud.
"Soldier Chan! Go to your comrades now and we will start in a minute!" Torin shouted and startled both Jungkook and Lisa who jumped up suddenly away from Jungkook.
Jungkook returned Lisa's rifle and said, "It's done."
"Thank you, General," Lisa replied and quickly left.
"Bro, I see Rizie. But I can't figure out who is Rizie between you two," Torin mumbled and as he stared at Lisa with narrowed eyes then he turned his head to face Jungkook but to his dismay, Jungkook was no longer there.
'The heck... He's really fast in running away from me huh. You can run, Bro, but you can't hide from detective Torin!' He mused with flaring nostrils.