"Ivy, hope everything is in order? All the gifts were packed, right?" Lelia asked. They were inside one of the cars heading to the SSOAO headquarters.
"Yes ma, I made sure that I double-checked everything before we started the journey," Ivy replied from the passenger seat.
"Oh, thank you so much Ivy, you are the best," Lelia praised.
"It is my pleasure, ma."
They arrived at the headquarters thirty minutes later and were ushered in by Colonel Smith. Lelia was now walking with the colonel to his office to discuss some stuff before the special forces would gather.
"How are you doing, Miss Morin?" the colonel asked on their way to his office.
"I have been fine, thanks for asking," she replied.
"That's good. We are really grateful for the program that you are doing today, we appreciate it," he said.
"It is nothing sir, it is just what I ought to do as a citizen of this country," Lelia replied.
"We are here." They had arrived at the office, so the colonel opened the door and they went in.
"Please, have a seat," the colonel offered when they entered the office.
Lelia sat down on the chair facing the colonel's desk. He also came and sat down on his seat.
"So colonel," she began,
"What do you think about the offer?"
"Well, it is a good offer so there is no way I would reject it and it was offered by the kind and generous Lelia, the nation's daughter," he replied. A second passed before both of them burst out laughing.
"That's nice sir, I will talk to the people in charge so they will kick-start it," Lelia said after she had laughed to her satisfaction.
"Okay, that would be good," the colonel agreed.
"Oh, it is almost nine, Miss Morin, time to go!" he exclaimed, glancing at his wristwatch.
"Really? Then we will talk later on phone," Lelia said, getting up.
"Have a nice day, Miss."
"You too."
They both then left the office and the colonel led her to the conference room where the special forces were already waiting. The people that came with Lelia had already set everything up and were just waiting for her to come.
So she just walked up the stage facing the soldiers, "Good morning everyone, my name is Lelia Morin and I am here to encourage and thank you for all that you do to help our dear country," she began.
"We know the struggles and hardships you face while protecting us and we want to say, thank you so much," she finished.
There was a round of applause for her short speech. Afterwards, the names of soldiers that achieved an astounding feat in the mission were called one after the other to receive their gifts.
"Now for the last astounding feat achieved, we have Reid Donovan who bravely defended the camp base when the enemies attacked and managed to defeat them all alone," the host announced.
"Please come to the stage, Mr. Donovan," she added.
Lelia then took the gift meant for the person and turned to the soldier, waiting for the person to come to the stage and take his gifts.
As Reid came out of the crowd and walked up the stage, Lelia was lost in her own world, staring at his attractive features - pointed nose, sharp jawline, eyes that seemed to be staring into your soul.
A forest green eyes staring directly into...
"Are you okay, Miss?" a voice asked, drawing Lelia back from her dream world.
"Oh, I am so sorry, here is your gift Mr. Donovan. Keep up the good work," she said, handing the gifts to him.
"Thank you so much, Miss," Reid replied, taking the gifts from her and bowing down.
He left the stage and then every other person that went to the mission physically or assisted in any way was also called to collect their gifts.
"Now, it is time for the general gifts. I am sorry but my employee will take care of that, something came up in my company," she said to the soldiers.
"You have already done enough, Miss. Thank you so much," they chorused.
"Okay, bye."
Lelia left the stage and walked towards the door leading outside the conference room. She was almost at the door when she turned.
Her gaze locked with Colonel Smith. "I will call you later," she mouthed at him before exiting through the door.
She walked to the car she came with and entered the driver's seat. After fastening her seatbelt, her hand reached for the ignition when someone suddenly opened the passenger's door.
"Oh my! You scared me, Ivy," she exclaimed.
"Really? Sorry, I didn't mean to," Ivy replied and sat down on the car's seat.
"What is the stuff that came up with the company? I wanted to help you with it, that's why I came out," she asked.
"Nothing, I just wanted to go to the company and sleep, so go back inside and make sure that everything goes well."
"Okay ma, I will."
"See you soon." Ivy got out of the car and headed back into the headquarters.
Lelia, now alone in her car, took a deep breath, started the car, and drove away.
"Wow, I can't believe that I spent twenty minutes to reach here, nice," she muttered after she had reached her company and parked the car in the garage.
Yeah, it is nice. I could feel the adrenaline surging through my body, today would turn out great, she thought.
As she walked into the building and headed to the elevator, she prayed that she wouldn't see Clara, another of her closest employees, who is to her what Ivy is.
Clara might not be efficient and hardworking like Ivy, but she does her best in her job and she cares for Lelia so much.
Once she had entered the elevator, she breathed a sigh of relief.
There was also no one in the elevator, which was also good. When she reached her floor, she came out and raced to her office.
Her secretary almost fainted with shock because of the way she rushed in.
Entering her office, Lelia entered her private bedroom and jumped onto the bed, landing softly.
Back at the SSOAO headquarters, Reid was seen exiting the colonel's office, his expression serious and solemn.
Inside the colonel's office, he was told that he would be starting the secret mission next week Monday, and he was also given some documents he had to study for the mission.
Gosh, I was not even given a week break, he thought as he was walking away from the office.
"What's with the face?" Luke asked when he came out of the building.
"Nothing," Reid replied.
"Are you sure, Reid?"
"Yeah Luke, I am fine."
"Okay then, let's go and have some fun." He placed his hand on Reid's shoulder and led him out of the premises to where his car was parked.
As they reached the car, Reid peered inside the back seat and frowned. "Where are our gifts, Luke?"
"At the boot," Luke replied, removing his hand from Reid's shoulder and walking to the other side of the car.
Satisfied that their gifts were intact, Reid entered into the driver's seat and Luke entered too. He started the car and drove off.
As they had moved a few meters, Luke turned to Reid. "What did you go to the colonel's office to do earlier?" he asked.
"Nothing, he just wanted to know when my dad will resume his hamburger business," Reid replied.
"Oh, Colonel Smith always likes eating that hamburger. And by the way, when is your dad resuming it?"
"I don't know, he said that he is retiring but I don't know if he meant it," he said.
"Shoot! He shouldn't retire 'cause I am going to miss that hamburger so much. I think we should hit a restaurant before we go home - talking about food made me hungry."
"Sure," Reid replied, deep in thought.
"Let's go and eat!" Luke exclaimed as he took a right turn, heading to the nearest restaurant.
They arrived at the restaurant and entered the place. They were led to a table and they settled down.
"Here is the menu," the waiter said, handing it to them.
"Thanks, just give us the best meal you have," Luke said to the waiter.
"Okay sir," the waiter replied and took the menu back from them.
He came back five minutes later with their food and kept it on their table. "Enjoy your meals, sirs," he said and left.
Luke took his cutlery and started eating, but Reid wasn't eating, and he asked him why he wasn't.
"Nothing, I will start now," he said, his hand brushing the spoon before he took it and started eating.
"Are you okay, Reid? You seem lost."
"Yeah, I am fine," he lied.
Reid was busy thinking about how to go about the mission. A lot of secret agents, soldiers, and the police had taken the mission to take down the Morans family, but it wasn't fruitful.
Some ended up running away from the mission, while some even lost their lives in a gruesome way in the process.
