Felix's eyes trailed to the direction where Yelena was looking. He saw two persons in uniform, a man and a woman. 'Did she know them?' He thought to himself.

It was just a matter of time before the two soldiers stand before them.

​​

"Ella," Yelena muttered and beamed with merriment until the woman saluted her. She narrowed her eyes and her smile faded away.

Ella, whose full name was Lt. Eleanor Geraci saluted the Captain and when she noticed that her male comrade was glancing at her with a confused look, she informed him. "This is Captain Yelena Arista."

The man with a rank of Sergeant immediately followed suit and saluted the reputable Captain. Of course, he had heard her name but he had never met her before.

"Don't do this," Yelena said in a low voice. When she looked at the Lieutenant, pain was evident in Yelena's eyes.

Lt. Ella lowered her hand and the Sergeant did the same. "I apologize if I make you uncomfortable, ma'am. But I was told to salute anyone above my rank whenever I meet them." She replied to the Captain in a respectful tone.

"How have you been? I heard that you will be promoted next month. Congratulations." Yelena could barely bring herself to ask a simple question. She unconsciously squeezed Felix's arm due to the hidden pain that was forming on the inside.

Lt. Ella was still indifferent. She stood still with a seemingly blank face. "I'm doing fine. Thank you for your words." She answered Yelena's exact question, nothing more or less.

Her gaze fell on Felix who looked at the Captain with a worried face. She also didn't fail to notice Yelena's arm that was clinging to the man's arm. "It seems like you have a date. We will get going then." The two soldiers saluted the Captain once again. They walked past them and entered the shop.

"What is that? Who is that woman?" Felix asked right away.

"Later." She turned her head and glanced at the Lieutenant one more time. "Let's leave this place."

When Lt. Ella stood before the counter, she turned around and watched Yelena getting inside the car. Her eyes trailed the car until it was completely out of her sight.

She lowered her eyes and take a seat in one of the chairs for the customers. She placed her elbow on the table and covered her eyes with her left palm.

"Are you not feeling well?" The voice of the Sergeant aroused her and she instantly maintained her composure.

"I'm fine." She grabbed the iced tea and take a sip.

"I heard that you and Captain Yelena Arista used to be friends during your training days. How is she? Is she intelligent and brave just like rumours say?" The Sergeant curiously asked her, wishing to know more about the famous Captain which he just met.

"She's an amazing woman and the best friend you could ever have." Lt. Ella replied without much thought.

"But ma'am, why did you talk to her like that? It seemed like she had many things to say."

Lt. Ella let out a deep breath. "Do you know what's the hardest thing to witness? Sawing your best friend achieving something that you could never do."

She stared at the outdoors and continued, "It's harder when the person who achieved that one thing you really wish to achieve is none other than your best friend. If that person was a stranger or a simple acquaintance, you can be jealous."

"But if the person was your best friend, you can't even be jealous because the moment you did that, you will be feeling guilty and that exact feeling will kill you on the inside." Lt. Eleanor Geraci concluded.

* * *

"She's my best friend...no...much more like an ex-best friend. But I can't accept the truth because she was the one and only real friend I ever had throughout my whole life. She is very precious to me." Yelena explained to Felix.

They were currently in a famous restaurant having dinner. She keeps quiet after she met her old friend and only started speaking out now.

"Are you sure that she feels the same as you did? She seemed like she doesn't care much about you." The silence that took place for half an hour almost drive Felix crazy! He was more than glad that Yelena finally speaks out but what she just said was beyond his expectations.

"She indeed cares about me. She only behaves that way because she was feeling guilty." She said with a slight smile.

"Why is she feeling guilty?" He asked as he placed some dishes on her plate. As that Lieutenant seemed to be very precious to Yelena, he wanted to know everything about their story.

She took a sip of wine and asked him, "Do you know Lt. Gen. Haric Geraci?"

Felix thought for a while as the name sounds familiar. "Ah! I remember. The one who might become the next General after your grandfather. I have met him once."

"He is Ella's father. He always wanted her to be the best at everything she does but," she narrowed her eyes and continued, "I, her best friend always beat her at everything. I was the top of our batch in our training days while she comes second. After one year, I was even promoted to Captain while she was still a Lieutenant."

"Do you say that she's jealous?" A good friendship which was broken by jealousy; it was ridiculous in the Prince's opinion.

Yelena simply smiled and said, "Ella never wanted to be a soldier, but her father pushed her in that path. She only did to pleased her father but the Lt. Gen. was not satisfied to have a daughter who always comes second."

"When I thought about just how much pressure she would have felt, I understand her." Her eyes fixated to the Prince and continued, "Because I was in her shoes and I know how scary and haunting that feeling could be."

She narrowed her eyes and muttered, "The feeling of being afraid to let down the expectations on you."

Yelena shifted her gaze to Felix again and when she showed his puzzled face, she smiled.

"What I'm trying to say is that Ella doesn't behave like that because she hates me and it is not completely jealousy either. When our friendship was broken a year ago, she said she wanted to free herself from the suffering. She was always feeling guilty because she needs to see me as a competitor because of her father's constant oppression." She explained.

"And you just let her go?" Felix inquired as he started to understand how the ex-best friend must have felt. The life of children in the upper society was never easy and he also had experienced it before.

Yelena nodded her head. "I don't want her to suffer anymore. During our years of friendship, I never know how much she struggled. I only find out when she told me that she didn't want to be friends anymore. Today is our first encounter after that."

"It must have been hard." Felix wondered how he too never had a real friend apart from his cousins. He was sure that if he ever had one, he would treasure the person, just like she did.

"I keep on wondering whether I give her enough attention or not. How could I not notice her struggle despite being her only friend for five years? The fact that I was not a good friend to her still haunted me. That's why I cannot accept that she was gone from my life and I still wait for her to come back."

She blankly stared at the table and recalled how the incident was the second hardest thing she ever comes across, apart from her brother's death.....