It'll Come Naturally

"Major General, that's one guy we need to watch," said a captain. He was observing the proceedings, and watched the soldier not only scale the mountain quickly, but now he was making record time getting down.

"It's too early to judge. We'll see how he does on the exams." Kevin took a closer look at him. He definitely seemed to fit the profile: fit, confident, brave. But as the saying goes: he who laughs last laughs best. This was just the first test. What he needed was the soldiers who could pass all the examinations with outstanding marks. Many difficulties awaited them. Kevin was not sure whether the man who beat everyone else would get the last laugh.

"You're right, sir. There are still tons more tests they need to take. And someone might beat him out." The captain agreed with him, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Let's wait and see!" said Kevin with a frown. Today's contest was by no means an ordinary one - some soldiers going through today's test would be recruited into Falcon. But that was a secret that he couldn't tell anyone.

"Yes, Major General. Are there more tests today?" asked the Captain in a respectful manner. Though he was much older than the young Major General, he strictly followed the protocol that a captain should abide by toward his superior. In addition to his high military rank, Kevin had won respect among soldiers for his outstanding ability. Some of this was respect out of duty, but Kevin had proved himself again and again.

"Let's leave the tests for tomorrow. They have too much on their plates today! Have them relax and rest up. They have a much harder and more challenging test coming up. Tell everyone to be ready for it," uttered Kevin with a cold smile. The test was a cruel game. These soldiers must fight in harsh conditions, and the tests would reflect that.

"Major General, are you sure it's alright for the soldiers to walk across the sharp stone trail barefooted? Isn't that a bit harsh? It could affect their performance," said the Captain with a worried expression. He'd read the documents. These were missions impossible for ordinary people, and difficult for even a highly trained soldier.

"It's painful to walk on a trail of sharp stones. But war is a matter of death and survival, and our enemies are ruthless. If they can't stand the pain, they can drop out." Kevin glanced at the captain disdainfully. Everything these soldiers were going through, he did too. He wasn't the strongest or the fastest. But he blazed through the tests with stunning scores. Was this newest generation bunch of delicate wimps?

"Understood, Major General." The captain sweated. Kevin's words had the ring of disapproval. He prayed that his stupid question wouldn't piss off this cold Major General.

"Stay and keep an eye on the contest. I need to go back to my office." Kevin lifted his hand and glanced at his watch. Since there were piles of documents waiting for him to approve, he couldn't spend all his time in a supervisory role.

The sunshine in the afternoon was nice and gentle. Kevin had told Leena to leave in an hour. But Leena was so excited that she departed much earlier. She saw a woman standing by her car when she hit the entrance of the parking lot.

"Is that your Bugatti, plate number 7578?" The woman, who wore heavy make-up, addressed Leena as she neared the gate. In a contemptuous manner, the fat woman tided her hair with her fat fingers that were covered with Lancome nail polish, and cast Leena a disdainful glance.

"Yes, it is. Any problem?" asked Leena in surprise, wondering why she raised such a question.

"Any problem? You parked your car in my space. That's the problem!" She started yelling at this point, and stared at Leena with fury.

"Emm... Really? I got the wrong spot?" said Leena while raising her head to look around carefully. Then she saw it. Her lot was a few meters away. Leena furrowed her brows for the mistake, and flashed an embarrassed smile at the woman. It didn't seem to charm her any, and she began a blistering verbal attack.

"Are you blind? Do you have any clue how much time I wasted finding out whose car this is?" The woman flew into a rage as she recalled and depicted how she went to the Security Office to ask the security guy and view the monitoring videos.

"I'm so sorry! My bad. I'll move my car. I'm really sorry for all the trouble you went through." Leena apologized in a hurry. She was so sleepy this morning that she might have mistaken the number 6 for 9.

"Do you know what I've gone through? You can save your hypocritical apologies! You rich people think you can just walk as though you were the kings of the world, don't you? You just throw money at it and make it go away. But you're just like every other millionaire: rude!" The woman shouted in anger, with her scarlet red lips moving constantly. Vicious words flowed from her mouth nonstop. Some spittle, too.

"Madam, I said I was wrong. Mea culpa, okay? Just stop screaming, please. And you're calling me rude?" For the first time in her life, someone thought Leena was rude. If Leena were rude, what about the woman in front of her? Did she think that it was appropriate to spit to someone's face?

"Hum! Really? You should thank God that you got here in time. If I had to knock on your door, what you heard today would be ruder compared to that." The woman spoke with her chin slightly raised. Actually, she had no idea to whom the Bugatti belonged. So she asked a security guy and was told that it was the girl who owned the red Ferrari. Since she'd seen Leena driving that red Ferrari before, she knew who was responsible. So she waited there, stewing, ready to ambush Leena with a torrent of invective.