Just the Start. (The Clovers series: Book 1)

Chapter 5

I entered the dining room to see all eyes on me. The room burst into conversations.

"The fourth is a girl?"

"She's the fourth one? She looks weak to me."

"I sure hope that she's worth the search."

"Oh please, who does she think she is? Letting everyone wait for her and strolling in looking so disheveled."

"Quiet!" Gladion's voice rang through the dinning hall. Everyone grew silent immediately. I remained three steps away from the door, feeling totally out of place. Maybe I should leave. I side-glanced at the door.

"Fortis, here." I turned my head to the direction of Gladion's voice and located him in the middle of the dining room. I made my way to Gladion's side quickly, overwhelmed by all the attention. He glanced at me from head to toe and I prepared myself for a look of disapproval but there was none. Either that, or he did not show his displeasure outright.

"This is Fortis, our final Four-leafed Clover. Together with William, Zander and Ducan, she will be our leader for the war. Let's welcome her as a part of our family and respect her as you would respect the other leaders. To celebrate our soon victory, there will be a celebration held tonight. "

Cheers and claps erupted. I took in the sea of people, feeling dizzy. Isn't the celebration a little too early? There are more than a hundred people in here and these are all the people that I'm going to disappoint...

"Fortis, take a seat," Gladion gestured at the seat which was beside a boy wearing an eye patch. I took the seat quickly, relieved that Gladion did not assign me the empty seat beside Zander.

Breakfast was served by women in aprons pushing out carts of food from the kitchen. I was expecting some alien food and was glad it was something familiar to me. Pancakes. I felt a pang. My mother would make pancakes for me every morning. There are only four others dinning at the same table as me. I sneaked a glance at Zander who was sitting across from me. He was pouring the gold honey onto his pancakes, expressionless. You are weak. His three words echoed in my mind like an annoying fly. Just because I couldn't bear to plunge the dagger into him, he had labelled me weak. If being strong means hurting someone without any form of hesitation, I would rather do without that title. When he met my gaze, I quickly looked away and ate my pancakes in awkwardness. The first half of the meal was in total silence. I gave my pancakes my utmost attention and I was glad that the others at the table did the same. About ten minutes into the meal, Gladion stood up and announced that he had to leave. I felt relieved that an intimidating figure like him is no longer at the table but he was the only person I recognized apart from Zander. A few other men left the dining room with him after some brief exchange of words that I couldn't quite catch clearly.

"Fortis right?"

"Yeah?"

My eyes flickered to the guy sitting next to Zander. He had jet black hair and chiseled features. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a tie design at the front. It looked terribly familiar. I recognized him as the one who was dressing up when I opened the door to his room early this morning. Oh crap. Is he going to bring it up now and point me out as a pervert? I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I removed my hands away from my face immediately.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can you uh remember me?"

"Do I know you? I'm sure I won't forget someone like you if I'd seen you before," he smiled amicably and I released an imaginary sigh of relief. He must not have seen me.

"No, I just find you familiar." I answered carefully and honestly. It's only polite that I asked for his name too right?
"You are?"

"Ducan," he introduced himself. The guy sitting beside me with the eye patch must be William then.