"I… love you." Will managed to squeeze these words out of his mouth. His face was now even redder. He was like a teenage girl.
Anna had known this time was going to come sooner or later. Had he said it before she met Chris, she might just have agreed.
"Why now?" Anna said back.
Will looked away. He was on the verge of tears.
"I knew it… You have known that I had feelings for you all this time, right?" Will was disappointed.
"That's... " Anna didn't know what to say.
"The truth is, after the mercenary attack, I have been offered a position at the Strategic Headquarters."
"That's great." Anna didn't know why he was saying it with such a sad face.
"No, it's not! That means I will have you leave you…" Will was almost choking.
"But if you join the Strategic HQ, you would be basically guaranteed life of wealth and safety. You can change your current lifestyle completely."
"I don't care about any of that, I just want to be with you, Anna…"
"Me?"
"That's why I want you to make that decision for me. If you can say those three words back to me, I will stay." Will's eyes were filled with tears.
Anna was shocked. She never knew Will's resolve to be with her was this strong. She didn't plan on saying those words to Will, as that would have been a lie, but now she was even more determined. She didn't want to take Will's future away from him.
"I'm sorry… Will…"
Will was now sobbing.
"T-That's okay. C-Chris is b-better for you a-anyways."
Anna said nothing.
Will wiped off his tears and walked back inside, leaving the speechless Anna behind on the catwalk. Anna watched Will's back as he disappeared into the corner of the corridor.
The ocean sure is large. Anna thought as she looked out into the water.
The night sky was dark. There were many lights on the deck of the carrier. The runway and the island were covered in them. They looked pretty with all sorts of colors, but their brightness drowned out the stars.
Anna was sitting on the edge of the deck. Her arms were around her knees. It was a chill night. There were many other students on top of the deck, but because of how large it was, they were all far away from Anna.
Anna's mind was filled with Will's sudden confession. She obviously would miss Will, but she was happy for him. All this time Will was discriminated against because of his background, but now he can become an officer in the military, which would almost instantly grant him a low noble status. But that wasn't the only reason she rejected him.
The jet drills had stopped running for that day, so it was quiet on the deck.
"Anna, it's cold out here."
It was Chris's voice. He walked up from behind her and sat down beside Anna.
"Here, take this." Chris put a jacket over her.
Anna's mind was too occupied to worry about the hidden meaning behind such acts.
"The ocean sure is large, eh?" Chris asked while staring out into the water with Anna.
"Yeah…" Anna agreed halfheartedly.
"It's been fun on the carrier so far. It's like a small city." Chris continued to try to start a conversation.
"Yeah…" Anna's mind was completely off somewhere.
"Anna, I overheard your conversation with Will."
That caught Anna's attention. She looked over at Chris, who she now noticed was wearing sunglasses.
"You did?" Anna asked.
"Yeah. But I think you made the right decision."
"I hope so." Anna gave a forced smile.
"By the way, you look stupid with sunglasses." That was a lie.
"Aw, really? Charl said it looked really cool, though."
"Why are you wearing sunglasses anyways. It's nighttime."
"No reason." Chris looked away.
"You are definitely hiding something, let me see." Anna reached out for Chris's glasses. Before he could react, she took them off his face.
"Wha-" Anna gasped. Chris had a black eye.
"Wait, give it back." Chris tried to hide his face and reached for his sunglasses.
"Was it Will?" Anna asked.
"Yeah… Don't worry, I didn't fight back."
"Thanks for that. He wouldn't be able to get away with just a black eye if you did." Anna sighed.
She had never expected the Will she knew to willingly pick a fight. He must have been really mad.
Anna gave the sunglasses back to Chris, who put them back on.
"Uhh… I knew he liked me, but I didn't know he liked me that much. Enough to throw away his future for me."
"To be honest, that's pretty understandable. I don't think it's only Will that would do that for you, Anna."
Anna stayed quiet. She was a little happy that Chris had said that, but she knew he was just trying to comfort her.
"Man, I really thought we would be able to see the stars this far in the ocean." Anna looked up at the sky.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a shame."
"I had heard the stars are the prettiest in the ocean. There is not a single light in a multi-mile radius, and the skyline spans 360 with no obstruction at all." Anna fantasized about such a view.
"I would want to see that, too."
"Who wouldn't?"
Like that, a week passed. Nothing much had happened. Will had been actively ignoring Anna. Nobody else knew what went on between them besides Chris and Charl. Anna spent the week chatting and hanging out with her brother. They had all gotten used to life on the sea. It was time for the training to start.
"Ms.Hastings, it's time to wake up." Leah's voice pulled Anna out of her sleep.
"Ahh, is it time already?" Anna rubbed her eyes and looked at Leah, who was already fully dressed.
The lights were still off. Nobody else was awake.
"It's still so early, can I have a few minutes?" Anna slowly sat up.
"Would you like to get dressed when the boys are all awake?" Leah pulled Anna off the bed.
"I guess not."
The girls had all been getting up before the boys so they could get changed in the darkness. The thin curtain was not enough to completely block the person behind it.
Even though Anna's eyes were adjusted to the dark, there wasn't a single window in the room, and the doors were closed shut, so she couldn't see more than a meter in front of her.
She got up and started walking toward the small corner to get dressed, but dazed as she was, she took the wrong turn and walked toward Charl's bed instead.
"Uh." Anna bumped into something in the walkway. She didn't remember there being anything there.
"Woops, my bad, who's this?" It was Chris's voice.
He reached his hands out to grab the person that ran into him, but he accidentally held one of his hands over Anna's left breast. She was wearing only a nightgown with nothing underneath. It startled her.
"Eek!" Anna shrieked under her breath.
"Anna? Is that you? What's this soft thing…" Chris immediately realized what was going on and took his hand off and started backing away.
"I-I am sorry, I didn't-"
BONK.
Before Chris could finish, he hit his head on the bottom of the top bunk of his bed and fell onto the lower bunk.
"Ouch." That sounded like Charl. Chris seemed to have fallen over onto her.
"What the hell is happening?" Chris muttered.
Anna quietly backed away. Her face was dyed red in the darkness. She got behind the curtain. Even though it was completely dark, she still didn't feel comfortable undressing within the line of sight of Chris, or any boy for that matter.
Anna got into her school uniform swiftly and walked back to her bed. Chris and Charl got out of the situation they were in.
"Charl, you can go ahead now," Anna whispered.
"Okay." Anna heard Charl's response in the dark.
"Anna, um, listen, about…" Chris was trying to explain himself.
"Don't worry about it, also what are you talking about? Nothing happened." Anna was hinting at Chris to stop talking. He caught on.
"R-Right."
"What were you doing in the dark anyway?"
"I woke up from Leah's voice, so I got up to see what was going on."
"Please don't do that next time."
"S-Sure…"
"I am going to get some fresh air, see you at the cafeteria," Anna said to Leah.
"One sec, I want to go, too," Chris said while going to the dressing corner to change.
"I-I will go ahead." Anna left the room, not wanting to be in the same room as the naked Chris after what just happened.
Anna got up the stairs leading to the top deck. Even though the sun hasn't risen yet, the deck was already busy. Crew members ran around setting up for the first day of aviation training for the academy students.
The morning was chill with the ocean breeze blowing. It reminded her of the day her father left. Anna stood on top of the stairs watching the people scurrying around while thinking of the training. She was pretty excited to take the G-22 for a spin again.
Anna piloted the G-22, among other planes, during her summer job at Hamilton-Douglas. However, as it was for research purposes, Anna was given a sequence of maneuvers to perform and had to follow it strictly. She didn't really get much freedom with the fighter. Of course, she didn't get the chance to fire the 20mm Gatling guns or the Air Intercept Missile, either.
"Yo." Chris caught up with Anna and walked beside her on the deck.
"Good morning, Mr.Arden," Anna said satirically in response to Chris's informal greeting.
"The wind feels nice, doesn't it?"
"Yeah."
The skyline in the distance began lighting up slowly.
"Looks like the sun is rising."
"Yeah."
Anna didn't really feel like talking for many reasons: she felt awkward around Chris because of what happened earlier, she was not a very active person in the mornings, and she just wanted to relax and watch the sunrise.
Soon, half of the sky was lit up, and the horizon became a flaming orange. The ball of fire gradually peeked over the line where the sky and water met. The darkness was chased away and the morning sunlight showered the deck.
"It's breathtaking doesn't matter how many times you see it."
"Yeah."
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