Chapter 75 Their First Hug
After unnecessarily brutalizing the less than qualified soldiers of the Blue star, Esong managed to catch sight of Adler returning alone from the fields of gold. His curiosity got the better of him and he wondered why he had left the sister who was so pitifully weak behind.
Standing before Esong was a sixteen year old boy, so young and weak, trembling with a long metal energy powered rod that was probably too heavy in his arms. He was was supposed to spar next with this little boy!! The blue star lacked capable grown soldiers that he was expected to spar with this boy!!
One that had not even attended an academy of any kind. He was flabbergasted and lost all interest in sparring.
"Go home." Esong told the boy, then he dashed away in the direction of the oat fields.
The boy that was left behind collapsed on the ground, trembling as if he had a fever.
"The general is so brutal." a woman that had been watching all this from a distance whispered to herself.
As for Esong, when he finally traced Scarlet, it was by the sound of her heart broken sobs. Cautiously, he opened the door slowly and peeped inside. When he confirmed with his very eyes that she was the one crying, he quickly closed the door and looked around as if someone was watching him.
Why was she crying alone? What had her brother done? Should he confront her brother or ask her what had happened?
Esong opened the door again and this time round, he went inside. Slowly, he approached her and he coughed to alert her about his presence.
Her head was bent down in between her knees and her body was rocking back and forth.
She did not look up and he had no idea what to do so he sought answers from the one place that had opinions on everything, the star net.
'What do I do when my wife is crying?' he typed.
A variety of answers showed up and he perused through them quickly.
[Apologize for your wrong doing and promise not to do whatever you have done again.]
[Kiss her, my wife always calms down after I kiss her.]
[Women are cry babies, sometimes you have to let them cry.]
[Never underestimate the power of a hug. It's the easiest way of comforting anyone that is crying.]
There were other answers but out of them all only the hug seemed most appropriate in this situation. So he lowered his body and sat down next to her, then he reached his arm over and draped it over her shoulder.
"There, there." he said. "Everything is going to be okay?" he said awkwardly.
He thought that perhaps she had not heard him but then she raised her head up and looked at him. Her eyes were swollen and red, she had been crying so hard that was a small trail of snot coming from her nose.
The tears were still dripping from her eyes like the water flowing continuously in that river which he had seen.
"You.." he pointed at her nose. "You have something on your nose."
To his dismay she launched herself into his arms and bawled her heart out loudly.
Esong was startled and he raised his hands in the air, "What are you doing?" he asked her.
His armor was hard and piercing from the outside, he worried that it would injure her somehow. Her body was soft and her skin was smooth. He could smell the sweet scent being emitted from her hair and he did not want to harm her.
He retracted his armor and for the first time since he landed on the blue star, Esong was in a plain military warriors black and red uniform.
He extended his arms out and hugged her tightly, squeezing her unnecessarily tightly. "Uhm, it's going to be okay." he told her. He rubbed her back soothingly like he had seen her do for Justin and many other mothers doing for their children.
They stayed that way for minutes, him holding her and her crying until the tears dried out she felt calmer.
"Are you better now?" he asked her.
She nodded, and sniveled a little bit. "I am okay." she answered.
"Why were you crying?" he asked.
Scarlet lifted her head, thinking about what possible answer she could give that he would believe.
"I saw your brother leaving here quickly, did he do something to you?"
Her brother, Adler had nothing to do with this at all. "I was just hungry." she blurted out.
The hand which was moving up and down along her back stopped suddenly. Was she serious or joking? She had been crying like that because of hunger?
The queen of food who named herself the best chef of the empire was crying because she was hungry!!
"I have a high quality nutrient solution, the ones people call shakes."
"No." she replied instantly. "I have snacks in my storage bracelet." she replied.
"Then you should eat." he said.
"I should." she answered.
Despite saying this, she was still comfortably leaning her head on his shoulders and her arms were wrapped around him. He too was holding her, one arm around her waist and another at the top of her back.
Their bodies were pressed closer together and she was inappropriately sitting on top of his body. They were hugging, this was their first embrace since ever.
Both of them were beginning to sense just how awkward the situation was getting.
"I should probably get up." she mumbled.
"You should." he said. "You need to eat."
She untangled herself from his body slowly as his hands fell away from her body.
She tidied her skirt and stayed sitting down on the ground next to him. She patted her hair and when she had nothing else to do she twisted her fingers around.
"Thank you." she said to cover up the awkward silence.
"Sure." he answered. "You should eat."
She chortled and scratched her ear. "It's the third time you are saying that." She took a packet of chocolate chip cookies out of her storage space and ripped it open.
She took a bite of the first cookie and relished that sweet chocolate taste.
Esong saw her eating the dark colored thing and he leaned down to get a closer look.
"Do you want some?" she extended the packet toward his face. "It's a cookie."
Esong did not try to refuse or hold himself back, he took one cookie and bit into it. His eyes lit up and he swallowed the rest of it in one bite.
"This is so good, what did you say it's called?" he took another one and another.
"Cookie, it goes best with milk." she also brought two small sized plain white milk boxes from her storage. She stabbed the straws into them and handed him one.
Between the two of them one and a half packets of cookies were eaten and five packets of milk. Esong drunk three of those and he kept away the rest of the cookies.
Both of them heard the roaring sound of a vehicle outside at the same time and they stood up.
"Your brother is back." Esong told her.