Richard patted Kaylaâs shoulder, asking her to leave. âLetâs go.â
Kayla stared at Sophia fiercely before she yelled, âJust wait for itâthis isnât over yet!â
With that, Kayla dashed out of the room hastily while Richard and Xyla left along with her.
Just as they reached the door, Richard suddenly turned around. He looked dearly at Sophia, who was busy tidying up her belongings. In a sincere voice, he said to her, âSophia, it isnât necessary for you to do such a thing. You should know that weâre to the point of no return.â
As soon as he finished his sentence, Richard left while holding Xylaâs hand in his.
Sophia had been busy tidying her stuff that had been scattered all over the place; she did not even take a glance at him. It was only until Richard had left when she finally cussed in silence. âAre you crazy?â
On the other hand, Nathan did not utter a single word. Nonetheless, he was clearly upset with the dull-
looking expression he had put on.
Sophia gently touched his head as she comforted him. âEverythingâs alright now; Iâm sure that they will be punished!â
Michael once told her that there were cameras everywhere in the barracks, including the femaleâs dorms;
there would be a female instructor monitoring the situations at any given time. Therefore, they knew best about everything that happened in the barracks. Despite that, they never spread a single word about it since it was classified as a military training secret; the Fletchers were probably the only ones who knew about it.
For instance, the instructors were clearly aware of who had placed nails into Sophiaâs shoes, as well as who had hidden the necklace in Sophiaâs backpack.
However, everyone would not agree to installing surveillance cameras in the womenâs dormitories.
Regarding the matter of Sophia stealing the necklace, everyone seemed to have guessed what had actually taken place.
It was absolutely impossible for Nathan to steal Kaylaâs necklace, Sophia probably would not do so as well. After all, she was in control of the most important resource at the barracksâiced watermelon.
Even if the other companies were willing to offer her luxury watches and diamonds in exchange for her watermelon, she would not accept their offers. Thus, she would definitely not steal her necklace!
Thinking about the grudges between Sophia and the Harpers, it was not that hard to figure out what had actually happened.
Everyone was taking their own guesses, but none of them dared to point it out in public.
Nonetheless, Kayla was hoping to make an issue out of this matter in order to drive Sophia out of the barracks; she would definitely not give up easily. During their training drills at night, she had asked the drill instructor of the 23rd Company to punish Sophia regarding the necklace incident again.
As expected, the instructor refused to do so.
Kayla completely ignored Richardâs dissuasion as she went over the company commander and brought up the matter directly to the battalion commanders.
The battalion commander pretended to investigate the matter and responded to Kaylaâs request. âWeâll talk about it after the military training!â
Kayla nearly went mad. She became unreasonable and went straight to the regimental commanders!
She had been causing trouble since that night until the next day; Kayla had even skipped training that morning. She continued to annoy the regimental commander in hopes that he would punish Sophia.
Nonetheless the regimental commanderâs answer was the sameâhe had asked her to wait until the military training ended.
As a result, Kayla was not able to achieve what she had wanted. Additionally, she was punished by the instructor and had to complete a 3000-meter running drill together with 200 sit-ups because she had been absent from training.
âSheâs the one who stole my necklace, so why is everyone taking sides with her?â
The commanders were passing the buck for the matter Kayla had brought up to them. She was even punished for it, which put a chip on her shoulder as she started to make a scene during training.
Sophia had been caught red-handed for stealing her necklace, but why wasnât anyone punishing her?
On the contrary, she ended up being the one getting punished instead!
The morning session of military training was taking place at that moment. Everyone underwent training obediently except for Kayla, who kept yelling and crying at the instructor. âIâm not convinced! She was the one who had stolen the necklace, so why have you punished me?â
The drill instructor of the 23rd Company remained expressionless as he said, âIt is the duty of a soldier to obey orders. Youâve only got two choicesâit is either you follow as I say or leave!â
Kayla felt wronged and started weeping tearfully. She immediately turned into a shrew right on the spot.
âI wonât run! Itâs not my fault!â
Richard immediately urged her right after seeing Kaylaâs erratic behavior. âCalm down, Kayla. Just follow the instructorâs orders and donât fight back!â
He was someone who had gone through military training. Therefore, he knew the dark side of military training; he had taken the initiative to lead this team just to supervise Kayla. Richard knew without doubt that she had an extremely stubborn personality, and no one could stop her once she was strong-willed about doing something.
Kayla was not willing to accept the outcome. In order to set this all up, she had missed last nightâs dinner and starved the entire night. She had to find someone to place the necklace in Sophiaâs backpack, and even had to bribe a couple of students to become witnesses. She was initially confident that she would be able to drive Sophia out, but what had gone wrong?
Sophia was just an ordinary civilian; she did not have any background either. Why was everyone protecting her?
She didnât even manage to get rid of her after having put nails in her shoes. She was a tough one to knock down indeed!
Richard kept on persuading her before he had finally gotten Kayla to start running her 3000-meter drill.
Everyone was training while they watched over Kayla as she ran around the synthetic-rubber sports track in circles. The weather was scorching hot because the sun was hanging in mid-air, and she started to totter as if she was on the verge of collapsing.
Contrarily, the 49th Company was under the shade. They were taking a break as they enjoyed the iced watermelons Sophia had offered them. At the same time, they watched as Kayla passed by right in front of them. Quite a number of them were pointing fingers at her before they started mocking at her. Kayla felt like she was running naked, and both her eyes reddened in an instantâespecially when she had embarrassed herself in front of Sophia, who was just sitting there while enjoying her watermelon.
Sophia, I promise to ruin your reputation one day!
Kayla ruthlessly cursed Sophia in mind.
Sophia was eating her watermelon as she watched Kayla complete her rounds on the track expressionlessly. No one knew what she was pondering about.
All she wanted was to get a high score in military training. Donât blame her if you get in her way of achieving her goals!
Since Kayla was a young mistress, she lacked physical strength. All of a sudden, she dropped to the ground while running. Richard then hastily picked her up before sending her to the infirmary.
In the infirmary, Kayla had woken up to find herself on the receiving end of an intravenous drip. She laid down still and did not bother to budge an inch the whole day. She only wanted to go home and did not want to stay back at the barracks for a second longer.
However, if she left the barracks, she would lose a huge amount of credit.
Nonetheless, whenever she shut her eyes, she would see Sophia mocking her with a piece of watermelon in her hands. She was anxious to shred the latter into pieces!
At noon, Xyla came over to take care of Kayla during lunchtime.
She happened to see her best friend, Kayla, weeping in tears as she hugged her. âWhat went wrong?
She was the one who stole my necklace, but why is everyone blaming me instead?â
Xyla did not know what the problem was as well. Although Kayla was not very smart, a plan as such was quite foolproof.
The parents of the students who had pointed Nathan out as the thief all worked under the company of the Harpers and the Huffs, which meant that those students would definitely obey Kaylaâs orders.
Moreover, no one else was there when the incident had taken place; their accusation of Sophia instructing Nathan to steal was definite.
Why had her plans not succeeded?
It mustâve been because of Kaylaâs poor acting skills; the instructor must have seen her through. In that case, she deserved to be punished!
Xyla comforted Kayla and said, âKayla, you have to stay strong. If you arenât able to persist, youâll embarrass yourself in front of everybody!â
Kayla sobbed twice, and her tears trickled down unwillingly. She became extremely upset whenever she recalled the smirk on Sophiaâs face.
She had to get rid of her from the barracks at all costs!