Ever since early in the morning, the Silveren soldiers in Agrana had a pleasant and fun time. Though they had nothing scheduled in the morning, they still woke up early as it was already a habit of theirs.

Seeing soldiers in the ground jokingly practising hand to hand combat with all smile on their faces, Yelena reminisced of the past. She sat in a bench under a tree with her eyes glued to her cheerful comrades yet her imagination already went back to years ago.

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"Is something wrong, Yelena?" The voice of Colonel Arias suddenly snapped her out of her imagination.

Sawing the Colonel sitting just next to her, the Captain was quite startled. "Deputy Commander." She rose from her seat at once. How come she didn't even saw him walking her way?!

"It's fine. Take a seat." Arias said to her with a friendly smile.

Sitting down once again, Yelena looked at the other soldiers who were still having some light friendly match. "No. It's just that... those soldiers reminded me of my past." She replied.

"What kind of past?" Arias simply asked. His eyes glitter with happiness when he watched the soldiers enjoying their time. He was just glad that they lived to see this day.

Recalling of a warm memory, Yelena smiled. "When I was young, my brother used to make me practice those combat skills with him. But we can never be serious. I also used to watch him practising those moves with his friends." The moment she finished talking, her smile slowly faded away as bad memories instantly crossed her mind.

"Do you mean Marvin Arista?" At the mention of the deceased officer, Colonel Arias usual friendly smile slipped too. He briefly glanced at Yelena who couldn't hide the sadness in her eyes. She also looked at him with a shocked face.

"Do you know my brother?" She asked right away but the fact that the Deputy Commander was in the same batch as Colonel Maverick immediately crossed her mind. "I forgot that you are in the same batch as my late brother." She added in a low voice.

"Losing an only sibling is hard, right?" Arias calmly said to her. "When I first heard that my older brother had leukemia, I almost lost my mind. Growing up as a child, I had a great connection with him and to be honest, I cannot imagine my future without him. If it's not for Ella, I won't be able to went through my brother's passing."

Thinking about what she just heard, Yelena was reminded of how her brother left this world. "But I still envy you, Deputy Commander. You got a chance to look after your brother in the later stages of his life. That's the thing I never get to do. Instead, he was always the one to look after me, even just days before he died. It was too sudden."

Arias recalled about his late batch mate who always excelled at everything. Though he was not close to him, he indeed admired him. He realized that every Arista's were great in the defence field and the young woman beside him was no exception.

"Your brother was always great at everything. During our training days, he was always at the top. It goes on that way for three years but in our final year of training, he couldn't perform well due to an accident and illness. That's why he ended up finishing in third place. If he was in a good shape, there's no way for me and Colonel Maverick to beat him." Arias stated his memories of the late brother.

Accident? Illness? She never heard of such things! She was about to ask the Colonel to know the details but the video crossed her mind. According to the date on the video, that happened in the final year of training. To recover from such torture, it would need many days. Did they cover it up as an accident?

"Why did you join the army, Yelena?" She darted her eyes to the Colonel when she heard his question. She became tight-lipped when she thought of her reason. She narrowed her eyes at the ground, refusing to say anything.

"I think you wish to finish what your late brother couldn't. If Marvin Arista was still alive, he will surely be the best Army Officer of our generation. Do you wish to follow his footsteps?" Arias added.

Yelena thought that the Colonel was not completely wrong. She indeed wanted to finish what her brother couldn't. The first one will be hunting down the culprit and reveal the truth.

"Yes." She finally spoke up. "I will do everything that my brother couldn't do. I want to make him proud." She stated with a slight smile.

"If you ever need help, you can tell me. I will do everything in my power to help you." Arias looked at her in a reassuring smile as if he knows what she was up to.

His words made her flustered yet anxious. Why did it seem like the Deputy Commander knows a thing about her? That can't be.

* * *

In Moray Hospital, Philip and Sophie were stupefied at the shocking news. Early in the morning, Lexus informed them that Gina had woken up. Though he could tell them right away when she woke up, he wanted the couple to have a good rest for the night.

Hearing the nature of aphasia that Lexus explained to them, they looked at Gina who was laying on the bed with a blank yet lifeless face.

The woman's face was devoid of any expression ever since she woke up from a coma. Even if they asked her questions, they hardly received a physical response, be it nodding or shooking her head. As such, Lexus and the couple were extremely worried. They didn't even know what to do.

"Gina, didn't you remember me? I'm your cousin, Philip." Philip sat beside the woman's bed with a worried face. The lifeless eyes of his beloved cousin broke his heart!

She was always a carefree and cheerful woman despite her father's constant pressure. When Philip was young, he spent most of his time in the hospital due to his heart disease. His family members were always busy with their work, so he was often alone. He was a younger son and his parents were too focused on his older brother. They hardly had time for their sick son.

During those times, his little cousin was the one who always visited him and spend time with him. She brightened up his dull world and comforted his lonely life. She was the angel of his life. He was 13 at that time and Gina was only 10 years old little girl.

Ever since then, he loved and cherished her more than anyone else. To be more precise, she was the one he loved the most in this world. In his life, no one else could come before her, not even his long time partner, Sophie Marley. For the 13 years old Philip, the love and warmth he received from his cousin meant a world!

Gina stared at her cousin with her barely opened eyes. Her eyes were a bit wider when she saw Philip but it was just for a split second. She was back to her usual lifeless face at once.

Philip could barely get ahold of himself. As the doctor said, Gina knows and hear everything they said. So, the doctor advised them not to be so emotional or gloomy when they were with her. It will be hard but by doing that, they might be able to make her heal in a positive way.

"It's fine, Gina. You can take your time but you should recover, okay? Your beautiful voice is the one that used to make me happy ever since I was a child. So promise me that you will let me hear it again." Philip hopefully looked at his cousin. But when the latter turned her head away without saying anything, he couldn't take it. It was too hard.

"Excuse me." He rose from his seat and walked out of the room with Sophie trailing behind him.

The moment Sophie stepped out of the room, she saw Philip sitting on the bench in the right. The latter was placing both his elbows on his thigh, his head lowered and his hands covered both his ears. He always did that when he was struggling with something.

She sat next to him and embrace him from the side. As soon as she did that, Philip turned to her and hugged her. His eyes were teary red and he could hardly suppress his tears!

"What will I do with Gina? It hurt so much to see her in that condition." He muttered to Sophie while the woman calmly soothed him.

"She always greeted me with a warm smile. How did she turn out like that?" Philip couldn't accept the truth. How come he didn't know a thing about his cousin's suffering?! He used to thought that he knows everything about her.

"We will look after her with love. If she feels the warm, she will surely recover just like you did." Sophie calmly reassured her lover who was slowly swallowed by self-guilt.....