I COMMAND YOU

TEN

"'till now you still haven't learned from your punishment yesterday. I don't know if you intended it or what", Commander Apollo said angrily to me.

My mouth is shut. I wanted to shout and curse at him, but a respectable princess shouldn't do that. Since I came here to the camp, I've lost my prim and proper. I also studied that behavior for several years. All my life I grew up in luxury. I did not know that I would end up in this situation. That I will experience being punished.

"When will you behave, Orenciana? The whole squad is working hard in their training, but you are sleeping under the sink. Do you think you did the right thing? You haven't been here for a week and everything you did was a mess. You didn't even do the right thing."

I frowned at what he said. I wanted to leave here and stop squatting in front of him. But I thought that was not a good idea. My punishment might increase even more. My knee is hurting. It's trembling. I want to cry because of the pain I feel. I'm hopeless. My Mommy and Daddy were not there to protect me.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying?"

I looked at him. I'm still frowning.

"Orenciana! Where is your mind going and you don't seem yourself!"

"What do you want me to answer?" I asked, annoyed. My body is already in pain and my ears are going to hurt even more.

"What?" He asked in disbelief. He did not think that I would answer him disrespectfully.

"I followed you to do squatting for a few hours. Didn't you even think that I was still tired because of my punishment yesterday? Then you order me to do squatting today? Where is your consideration about that?"

"Is it my fault?"

"Yes! You don't think about the welfare of your trainees. You don't think about whether they are tired or not", I complained.

"Are you of your mind? I think you have a different training in mind, Orenciana. This is military training. Clumsiness is not allowed here. And we do not babysit the trainees. They were taught to be strong and to be good soldiers. You don't know anything about it because you haven't experienced what real soldiers do. And what you are doing is not even close to their suffering for the people and for the country."

I fell silent. Am I wrong in what I said? All I know is that they are paid to protect people. But that's just what they're after. Am I wrong? Am I being judgemental?

"You can't end this training period without learning anything, Orenciana," he said in a serious voice. He looked at his watch and then looked at me after. "Your punishment for today is over," he said.

My sadness suddenly changed. It's only been thirty minutes passed and my punishment is over right away? Was he touched by what I said?

"Are you sure about that, sir?" I want to sleep for a long time. I don't sleep well under the sink. My body just hurts more there.

"Don't be happy, Orenciana. Your punishment is over. But your training is not done yet. Because of your sleeping early. You did not attend the training. So, I will give you a special training season. Tonight we will do that. I will train you myself."

"What?!"

"RUN FAST, ORENCIANA! Don't stop until I say so", Commander Apollo shouted loudly at me. He whistled hard to make me run faster.

It's ten o'clock at night. I was the only trainee still awake. I almost spit out my intestines because I was so out of breath from running. I did fifty rounds in the wide open field. It's not over yet. I still have obstacle courses to go through. Like climbing a ladder, crawling on the ground and jumping on wheels. I really can't. I don't know if I'm still alive tomorrow. My whole body is weakening. I'm not used to running a lot.

I made a mental note not to fuel Commander Apollo's anger so I wouldn't experience this kind of suffering.

"Orenciana! Run faster! You're so slow!"

"Yes sir" I answered in a low voice. I don't know if he heard that. Or I just only heard my own voice.

"Orenciana!"

"Yes sir!!" I screamed loudly. I closed my eyes so I could let out my loud voice. I'm tired!

"Are you mad?!"

"No sir, sir!" Why does he keeps shouting and shouting?

I continued running. I am determined to finish it. I will give my life to finish this. I will no longer be a pain in the ass to Commander Apollo. I will follow him while I am here in the camp. When I finish the training here, I will never see him again or experience this punishment. With that in mind, I improved my running on the field.

"One hundred!" I said breathlessly. I held both of my knees. All the sweat on my body is already dripping. I can feel it on my skin. I want to drink water because I feel like I've been drained of water for a year. Finally! I'm finish.

"Have you made one hundred laps in the field?" Commander Apollo asked me. He had his arms crossed while looking intently at me. He was as elegant as a knight in a palace. He looks handsome. But because I was so tired, I could no longer appreciate his appearance and how handsome he was in his military uniform.

"Yes, sir..." I answered with difficulty. I'm still catching my breath.

"Ten more runs, Orenciana" he said after a few minutes. I quickly looked in his direction when I heard what he said. Is he serious?

"What?!"

"Ten more laps on the field" he repeated.

"Are you kidding? Or are you abusing your position as the commander here in the camp to make me suffer" I said, annoyed. Doesn't he realize that I'm very tired?

"Are you howling, Orenciana?"

"It's not like that but-"

"Are you howling?"

I looked at Commander Apollo for a long time. Reading his eyes to see if he was joking or not.

"What's up? Let's go! Run fast!" He clapped his hands loudly.

"Yes sir.." I couldn't do anything but follow his orders.

But with the first step, my foot turned to jelly. I thought I was going to fall on the grass, but that didn't happen because Commander Apollo caught me. I just found myself on top of him. And what's even more surprising is that our lips are touching. As in close together!

Not myself ,I get up quickly. I don't know what to do.

"S-sorry..I-I don't know.. it's.." I didn't know what to tell him. Wait!Why do I say sorry to him? It was an accident, not my fault.

"Be careful next time, Orenciana," he said. He stood up and wiped the soiled uniform. He didn't seem to care that we kissed.

That was my first kiss! Oh my gosh!

"Are you blushing?" Commander Apollo asked amusedly. His earlier stern face became a teasing one.

"No! Don't assume"

"Yeah? But you're holding your lips" he grinned at me.

I was so embarrassed that I removed my finger from my lips. I didn't realize I was holding it. I was really shocked! I looked away. The awkwardness of the ambience is killing me. Just now I felt the cold wind blowing. I can even hear the sound of cricket. I suddenly became aware of my surroundings. Even the strong beating of my heart can be heard by my ears!

"Your training is over. You can rest now. Tomorrow we will continue with the obstacle course". Our kiss doesn't seem like a big deal to him, while my whole being is wretched inside.

I didn't answer him. I ran as fast as I could,just to get out of the place. I heard his soft laugh from a distance. I closed my eyes in shame.

It's embarrassing!