Quiet Hate

Sorry

I freeze. König looks towards Simon, confused.

"What?" he asks.

"Why is our intel girl alone in the training center at one in the morning?" Simon asks.

No.

König slows down. Up until that point, he was following behind Simon.

"Answer me, König," Simon says.

He doesn't.

I stand at the end of the hallway. My body lets me move it again.

"Just doing a light workout," I say. "It's quieter here than the gym, and there's some neat equipment." Yes, Flora, chalk it up to curiousity and vague incompetence. I start walking, making to move past them.

"Any idea why Flora is here?" Simon asks, ignoring me. König's eyes are on the back wall.

He's in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He probably got dragged out of his house. I feel kind of bad, but remember who it would be that I'm feeling bad for.

I look down at my phone and continue walking. Simon's hand reaches out and, while gently grasping, pulls me towards the conversation.

I feel small in between them. And a little nervous.

"I said," Simon says, leaning up towards König's hood, "Why is she here? Because I think you know."

"Simon," I say. "Really, it was just a workout. It's a nice place to do it in."

"What kind of workout?" he asks.

No. Don't make me do this.

My eyes plead with his, but he ignores that, too.

"Any thoughts on what kind of workout she was actually doing?" Simon asks König.

Silence.

Simon screams at that point, making me flinch. He's leaning over me. "Any idea?"

"Leave it," I say. "I was doing nothing."

Simon looks down at me. "I just want to see if König knows that."

"The colonel doesn't need to know what I'm doing on my time off," I say.

"I think he does," Simon says.

Suddenly, he pushes at König's chest. He doesn't react.

"Tell me," Simon says, voice dangerously low. "Or I beat your ass right now."

König doesn't retaliate.

"Say it," Simon says. "Why is she here?"

A pause. A moment of heavy silence.

"Because I told her she wasn't good enough for us," König says, his voice barely a whisper. "And that it wasn't her team."

I break, then. Hearing him confirm his words is too much for me. I abuptly walk down the hallway, trying to get to the exit. Simon cusses out König, up, down, and all around.

"She's fucking worthy of this team," he says. "She's earned the right to be here more than any of us have. We don't have to think, we just go in and do, because of people like her. We are so fucking lucky to have her designated to only us, to have her join our team, because she's fucking smart. And she's been here, every night, training to get better in ways she doesn't need to be, because some dumbfuck like you came and bloody messed with her head."

He's shouting at the end of it. I keep walking. Get to the Jeep. Get to the Jeep.

I hear a struggle of some sort. I don't let myself turn around, but I stop.

"How fucking dare you?" I hear Simon yell at him. "Someone good, and pure, and genuine like her deserves to be treated with respect." His adjectives are punctuated with what sounds like punches. "God, I can't even look at you."

I hear Simon storm off, slamming through another exit door a few moments later.

I don't turn around. I won't let myself.

I hear König get up off the floor and start walking in my direction. I start moving again, but I'm too far from the door. I feel the moment he rounds the corner.

He stops. I stop.

"I didn't tell him anything," I say, my voice so soft it's almost whispering.

"Flora," König says, and that's all.

I haven't turned around yet. I will not.

"Don't worry about it, sir," I say. "You were right in many ways." I walk towards the door, but his footsteps speed up until he's blocking it.

No.

I'm forced to look at him. Not in the eyes, but at him.

"I..." he says. He tries again. "What I said was cruel."

Cruel, but not untrue, is what he's saying.

"I shouldn't have even known about your first morning here," König says. "I saw Ghost pull up in his truck."

What he's not saying is that he was there before Ghost. He was there the whole time I was running.

"Why were you there?" I ask.

"Because I was not sure of you," he says, and doesn't expand on it.

I don't reply. I'll force him to fill the silence.

"You are a fast runner," König says. "And Ghost is right. You are very capable. I was... intimidated by your knowledge last week, and I wanted to hit you where it hurt."

"And the socks?" I whisper.

"They help regulate blood flow, and no matter how fit someone may be, their circulatory systems may fail them while running." He sighs. "I heard you talking with Ghost."

I don't have anything else to say to him.

König, slowly, bends down, almost at the waist, bringing his eyes to my eye level. I look down.

His large fingers slowly tip my chin up. I look to the side.

"Flora," he says. "Look at me."

I refuse. I close my eyes.

"I am sorry," he says. "We are on a team."

"We are nothing," I say, meeting his gaze and slapping his hand away. I'm angry. "Now get the fuck out of my way." I push him to the side, and he seems to move more out of surprise than my strength.

I hit him with the door on my way out.