23 His Mere Presence
"We must declare them as a terrorists who pose a threat to our country." General Logan Arista suggested to the Defense Minister who was sitting next to him.
The two were currently listening to the report of Colonel Maverick and Lt. Morris who were standing at ease before them. General Logan Arista barely hide his anxiousness with a seemingly calm face.
He was a General of the Silveren Army before he was the grandfather of Yelena. He needs to be in his normal mind to take necessary actions.
"Before, we didn't pay much attention to them. But now that they didn't hesitate to kill all those innocent people, we must not show any mercy. I suggest this as the General and the grandfather of Captain Yelena Arista." He stated firmly.
"Fine. I will talk to the Prime Minister and discuss in the Cabinet Meeting which will be held in three days." The Defense Minister said to the General. He too didn't have any intention to tolerate the crazy organisation anymore.
He used to be patient because he understands their loss and sufferings. He was a former soldier and he also lose his son who was an Army Captain in that war with Edeladon. But still, he wish peace for the country.
The Defense Minister left after discussing the details with the General and it was followed by complete silence with only three men left in the room.
The old General seemed to be completely zone out. He somehow regret the decision he made 6 years ago.
Did he made a mistake when he permitted his only granddaughter to join the army? He was well aware of how each day could become their last for a soldier! His grandson was one example.
But he gave her permission because she was so ambitious. He never witnessed her that ambitious ever since she was born! And he never regret his decision in the past years, not even once! In fact, he was proud of her as the girl was more than capable.
The two soldiers quietly stood still as if they were a statue! For soldiers, a superior was almost the same as a king for them because they were obliged to obey their every single order without complaint!
On top of that, this man sitting before them was a General who holds the highest rank and power in the Army. They won't dare to move even a bit unless they were ordered to! Putting pride aside, they remained completely submissive and attentive.
When General Logan Arista realized the presence of the two young officers in the room, almost five minutes had passed. When Colonel Maverick saw that the General was back to his normal self, he immediately take the chance to speak up.
"Sir, I was in charge of today's event. I will take responsibility for everything that happened!"
"There's no need for that now. First, we will hold an investigation for today's incident. Cooperate with that and we will quickly find out how things go wrong." The General commanded.
"Yes, sir!" The two soldiers responded firmly.
"You are dismissed."
They salute the General and left the office room right away.
* * *
"Doctor, how is my daughter? Will she be okay?" Mrs. Arista immediately asked the doctor who just came out of the operation room.
"The surgery went well. The bullet barely missed her lungs. Your daughter is very lucky." The doctor who was a woman in her 40s answered with a smile. "She lose a lot of blood which worsen her condition. But she's stable now. She will be at ICU for tonight. Let's hope that she would wake up soon." She reassured them.
They finally heave a sigh of relief after waiting for a long tormenting hours which seemed like a forever for them!
"Thank you, Doctor! Thank you very much!" Yelena's parents continuously thanked the doctor.
"I'm only doing my job. It's an honour to be the one who operate such a brave soldier." The doctor responded with a friendly smile and walked away.
* * *
The sun rises beautifully like every other day. The birds were flying in the vast sky, chirping with bliss. It was like nothing happened in the country. But the people were different. They cannot stop talking about the shocking incident that happened the other day.
The truth about a female Captain being shot while saving a girl, covered the country rapidly like a fire! Her heroic move become the talk of the whole country.
But the people were still scared of the incident that happened at a public place. So, the Silveren Army even holds a press conference to reassured the people and to give report about Yelena's condition; but her name was not disclose to the public.
Prince Felix returned to the Guest House after the surgery was done. Now the day for him to return to his country had come; but he cannot leave like this, especially in this situation.
He instructed Cayden to return to Edeladon with some guards and inform his parents that he would be staying a bit longer. He stay behind with two guards and move to a lavish apartment owned by his family in Silveren.
The leaders of Silveren and the media thought that he had returned as he made one of his guards act like him. No one from Silveren know that the Crown Prince of Edeladon was still in their country for a woman!
* * *
Yelena was shifted to the VIP room after spending a night at an ICU. The Captain has not regain consciousness but the doctor reassured her parents that she would wake up soon as she didn't have any injuries in the head and her condition had also improved greatly.
Mrs. Arista was really shocked when she saw Prince Felix coming inside Yelena's hospital room. What happened? She was sure that she heard about his departure in the news.
When she saw the news in the morning, she even thought that she was wrong about the Prince.
Maybe he didn't care that much about her daughter to be able to left her in this situation! As she saw him standing in flesh right before her eyes, Mrs. Arista suddenly felt guilty.
"The media reported that you returned to Edeladon in the morning. What happened?" She immediately asked him.
Mr. Arista who was sitting next to his wife instantly look at the door when he heard his wife talking to someone. It's him again!
"I cannot return in this state, so I plan to stay for a bit longer. Please allow me to come here from time to time."
Felix knew that it was shameless of him to make such a request, especially when the woman in question was engaged! But he was willing to do anything for her. At that moment, pride and shame doesn't matter to him.
"It's fine, Felix. You can come anytime. We were here the whole night. Now that you came, it's a good chance for us to take a rest." Mrs. Arista replied with a warm voice.
"Please take a good care of our daughter." She said and pulled out her husband from the room.
"How can you put our daughter under the care of a stranger?" Major General Ethan Arista frowned as soon as they stepped out of the room.
He wish to ask the Prince some questions but his wife never let him! What's really going on?
"He is not a stranger. He is someone special to our daughter." Mrs. Arista calmly answered her husband.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Arista was confused. He didn't understand what his wife was saying.
Mrs. Arista sigh. "How come your EQ is so low? I'm saying that our daughter and Felix like each other." She explained.
"What?! Are you sure? Did you just tell me that our daughter fell for a VIP whom she protect?!" The father exclaimed with disbelief.
As per the rule of Army, a soldier in a mission must not be indulge in such things!
Mrs. Arista frowned at her husband. "It's not during the mission. From what I heard, they already knew each other before the mission."
"But it cannot happen. Yelena already have a fiancé." Mr. Arista scowled. "Besides, I don't like that Edeladon Prince."
"You are not Yelena; so whether you like him or not is not important." The wife laughed at her husband. "Let's not make another mistakes again. I will wait till Yelena wake up and if she wish, I will break off their engagement." She added with a determined face.
"This is not a trivial matter. They are already engaged for seven years." Mr. Arista retorted; but his wife didn't listen to him at all.
It's not a miracle! He could never win against her!
Mrs. Arista ignored her nosy husband and take a peek of the room through the door. She smiled when she saw that the Prince was gently caressing her daughter's hair while holding her hand with the other hand.
"Who knows! His mere presence might even help our daughter to recuperate faster!"
