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Bermuda Chapter 146
🕑 Added 2024-06-12 11:22:53 +0000 UTCChapter 146
"Oh, Commander!"
The voice that came from not far away shattered the tension that had been quite pleasant. As a result, the two people who had escaped from the strange atmosphere turned their heads in that direction at the same time.
In the distance, beyond the undergrowth, about twenty members of the 1st Battalion were approaching. One of them at the very front waved his hand vigorously as if to indicate their location, saying it was this way. It seemed that they had been waiting for the Commander to return before joining the base camp, and when he didn't come even after a long time, they had been searching for him directly.
Leonardo thought that they looked like they had been in distress themselves, with their eyes sunken and their appearances disheveled in just a few days of not seeing them. However, he didn't feel any emotion like pity and just looked at them with disapproving eyes.
He realized something was wrong when their gazes, which had been directed at their faces, lowered slightly. Even without deliberately following those gazes, he felt the grip on his hand tighten a little, and Leonardo was suddenly reminded of what he had been doing with their Commander.
Before he could even recognize the embarrassment that came rushing in, his body moved first. Leonardo, who had hurriedly pulled his hand out of Hugo's, took awkward steps back and kept a slight distance as if nothing had happened.
Having done that, he felt a little sorry for suddenly abandoning him, so he rubbed the back of his hand, where the sensation still lingered, and glanced up at Hugo.
Hugo, who had likewise been staring at the members, briefly looked at his own hand that had become empty due to the warmth that had coldly escaped, then raised his head. He had thought something serious had happened because he had flinched and quickly pulled his hand out, but now it seemed there was another reason.
Hugo's gaze, with one eyebrow slightly raised, turned back to the members and then shifted to Leonardo again. As he silently stared at the eyes that glanced up at him as if gauging his reaction, a small laugh unknowingly escaped. He thought that when he was acting shamelessly, he didn't care about the members' eyes.
Other than the small laugh, there was no particular change in his expression, but that laugh seemed to be in disbelief, making Leonardo feel strangely embarrassed.
Because of that, he was standing still with a somewhat displeased expression, and Hugo approached him with a big step and gently wrapped his right arm around his back and shoulder. Then, with a face that had a faint smile, he said,
"Let's go together. Those guys have been waiting for you too."
"...What?"
This time, the words telling him not to lie nearly burst out vocally.
Leonardo began to move his feet as if being pushed by Hugo, who was closely holding his shoulder and forearm. He looked up at him with a furrowed expression as if asking what he was doing all of a sudden, but he just gestured with his eyes to go, patting his shoulder.
The 8th Platoon Leader, who had been anxiously waiting for the Commander, relaxed her expression that had been stiff when she saw the two approaching from afar. Then, sighing, she also looked at Leonardo with a slightly displeased face.
She seemed to have no understanding of his actions of wandering around the surroundings earlier, even though he wasn't going to run far away.
Leonardo also showed a slight displeasure as he was forced to approach them. Even so, his eyes quickly scanned the faces of those who had been waiting and the surroundings.
Seeing that the number of heads roughly matched the total number of 1st Battalion members on the peninsula, he thought that they might have already achieved their goal and gathered. He was anxious, wondering if the two had been caught.
And as he feared, a familiar face was seen among the members, smiling awkwardly while holding a bundle. Upon discovering Kenis, Leonardo flinched for a moment and swallowed dryly. Then, his eyes moved a little more busily.
The only thing that could be considered fortunate was that Alec Siles was nowhere to be seen.
As if noticing Leonardo's anxious gaze, Kenis subtly sent an OK sign by touching the tips of his index and thumb under the bundle. Leonardo, who had been rolling his eyes back and forth, checked that sign and finally sighed a small sigh of relief in secret. It seemed they had succeeded in sending him away without getting caught.
"You were all gathered here."
"Commander, we've been searching for a long time."
Before they knew it, the 1st Battalion members crowded around Hugo and Leonardo, who had come close, and surrounded them. Amidst the voices of the members welcoming the Commander and the occasional glances brushing past him, Leonardo tried hard to appear confident. He maintained a brazen expression as if to say, "So what?"
Hugo, who had glanced at his appearance, lowered the arm that had been wrapping his shoulder and soon asked, carefully scanning the members,
"Where is Kenis Weber?"
The 8th Platoon Leader grabbed Kenis's forearm, who had been cleverly hiding among the platoon members, and brought him out. As a result, Kenis, who ended up standing right in front of the Commander, looked up at him with a very tense expression.
As he was shrinking back, worried that he might be scolded, Hugo simply patted his shoulder lightly without saying much, confirming his complexion that didn't look bad. At that touch that seemed to say, "Relax," Kenis, who had been stiffly frozen, was now smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
It was quite a heartwarming sight, but Leonardo, who had been watching from the side, couldn't shake off the feeling that his presence here was out of place for some reason. It felt like he was floating alone like oil in water.
As if to prove that, no one was openly staring at him, but the gazes with unknown meanings would touch him and move elsewhere when their eyes were about to meet. Because of the strange displeasure those actions gave, Leonardo chased away the gazes with a very unpleasant expression as if asking what they were looking at.
At that moment, when he was being very wary, suddenly, a voice calling his name was heard amidst the chaotic conversations.
"Mr. Blaine!"
At the sound of his name, which was particularly clear, Leonardo turned his head with a puzzled face.
Someone pushed through the members and abruptly appeared. The face that immediately approached and confronted him looked as if it had been eagerly waiting for this moment to meet again.
It was Flynn.
His face wasn't very bright, his expression was heavily furrowed, and his shoulders rose and fell intensely as if he had run in a hurry. He looked like he had a lot to say, as if he was going to confront him about something.
Wondering what he was trying to say by rushing out like this all of a sudden, Leonardo slightly furrowed his brows and quietly looked at him. Due to his sudden appearance, the conversations of the others were cut off, and now the attention was openly focused on this situation, which felt very uncomfortable and embarrassing.
Flynn, who had been catching his breath for a moment while facing Leonardo, took one more step closer and grabbed both of his hands. Looking at the golden eyes that were greatly startled by his action, he spoke to him while suppressing the various emotions that seemed to burst out,
"Welcome back."
Those words contained quite a lot.
Not only were they unexpected, but the voice that was heavily suppressed was slightly trembling, so Leonardo couldn't hide the dazed look in his eyes for a moment. In the clear eyes that blankly looked at him with both hands held, there was worry for him, not anger.
Not long after resolving to be brazen, Leonardo thought he had a pretty stupid expression on his face.
What he had prepared himself for when he directly made a contract with Alec Siles instead of immediately returning to the group was the cold treatment, restraint, disregard, and other unpleasant things that would be poured on him when he returned later. However, contrary to those thoughts, the emotion that reached him now was completely different from what he had expected.
"I'm glad you're safe."
Perhaps his nose bridge felt a sting after saying that, Flynn's brows twitched a little. Strength entered the hands that had grabbed him, conveying his feelings to Leonardo as they were. Thanks to that, he could realize that the person in front of him was speaking sincerely and that this moment, which felt dazed, was reality.
The wind that blew in time and shook his hair opened up his narrow field of vision, which had been heavily walled up as a defense mechanism. As a result, the gazes of the numerous people standing behind Flynn were strongly felt again.
This time, everyone was looking at him without a single person avoiding his eyes, and it wasn't as unpleasant as he thought. As if some change had occurred in his state of mind in that brief moment, the gazes looked a little different.
Rather than looks of wariness and rejection, it seemed like they also had something they wanted to say.
Leonardo, who had been looking around for a moment, turned his eyes back to Flynn.
...Somehow, he felt strange.
Looking at the clear eyes filled with heavy emotion, he found it absurd that he himself felt like he had "returned."
Comments
Jesse Gibson
I just… really like Flynn. He’s such a great guy.. look at him! He’s being so adorable right now
Mkslushi
Oh! Does this mean each side is opening up a bit more I hope?
