"Morning, Colonel. Looks like you're quite early, too." Unlike the relaxed and casual manner they would adopt in private, they had always paid great attention to each other's titles at the army base. It was protocol. You always respected a superior officer, and the superior should at least return a salute.

  "I have to be. You see, today is automobile training, " replied Daisy, biting her lip secretly. She frowned lightly as she felt achy all over. Damn it, Edward really showed no mercy last night, and she had to get back to work with weak legs. Fortunately, no special task was assigned to her today, or else she would be too tired to guarantee a good performance and could even make a fool of herself.

  "I know. This is a very urgent matter. They must be ready to take control of a car, even in dangerous circumstances and emergency. Imagine driving with two left feet, " Kevin agreed with her totally on this point. After all, they had to lend a hand in some major investigations far too often lately, which required that they were skillful enough to cope with various challenges. This was just one of them.

  "Right. In fact, we conducted drills the other day, to see if they matched up. To my disappointment, 90 percent of them failed to meet the requirements. So I think it necessary to speed up the training." She wasn't expecting them to be as good as she was, but she had to make sure that they mastered the basic skills.

  "Well, I don't blame them. After all, we all know how strict you are with your regiment. So maybe they're just not good enough to meet your high standards." All the soldiers would almost shudder at her name, and she was noted for her rigorous training regimens. One could expect her to be as cruel as the Devil when she trained her soldiers. So Kevin knew how demanding she could be.

  "Believe me when I say that I wasn't making it difficult for them. As I see it

  cally. He didn't mean to put it off, and would have offered his apology at his earliest convenience had he not been out for training.

  "Alright. I understand completely. I can't make the decision for her and reject your gift out of hand. You can be sure that she receives it. But promise me that you won't go out of your way for these kinds of things in the future, okay?" asked the commander, shaking his head and smiling. It surprised him that Kevin should remember this matter till now, especially since the birthday party took place so long ago.

  "You have my word. Thank you, Commander. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to work." There was another vitally important reason he didn't want to give it to Louisa in person. He didn't want to be alone with her. She'd been giving off signals all night, and he finally figured out that she might have a crush on him. He'd convinced himself that he was imagining things, that she was excited to be back from her time abroad, and was merely curious about who he was and all that. So he forgot about it until now.

  "Okay, I'll let you get back to it, then." The commander gestured for Kevin to go. He then put the box into his briefcase without even wondering what was inside, in case he forgot to take it back.