"Pretty far actually." Niles checked the distance on his phone. The army base was over fifty kilometers away.
Wesley had driven that far every time to see Blair after finishing his work, even though he could see her only in the middle of the night.
Niles hired a car and took Blair to the army base.
The place was heavily guarded. Niles asked her to wait in the car, and went to inquire about Wesley to a sentry at the entrance.
He told the guard that he was Senior Colonel Wesley Li's brother. The soldier sized him up and noticed the resemblance at once. "Senior Colonel Li is not here right now. Why don't you try contacting him personally?"
Niles refrained from rolling his eyes. "I did. But his phone is switched off. That's why I am here."
"I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do to help you. Sorry," the sentry told him. Security was obviously taken very seriously around here.
Niles returned to the car, filled with disappointment. They waited near the camp the whole morning, but didn't see Wesley anywhere near the place.
By noon, Niles was getting hungry. "Wait here, Blair. I'll go buy something to eat," he said.
"Okay," she replied.
No sooner had Niles left than some military trucks came from the opposite direction. To avoid drawing any attention, Blair hid behind a tree and observed if Wesley was in any one of those trucks.
Before long, the handsome man got out of the first truck and walked to the sentry whom Niles had spoken to earlier.
All of a sudden, both of them looked her way. Blair's heart leaped into her mouth. 'Crap! The guard must have told Wesley that his brother had come looking for him.'
She had only wanted to see him from afar without disturbing his work.
When Wesley headed towards her, her instinct told her to run.
And Wesley chased after her.
Worried that she might trip and fall, he deliberately slowed down to keep a fair distance between them.
A few soldiers got out of the trucks. One of them patted the soldier beside him and said, "Look! Our chief is running after someone. Is that a girl?"
"Yeah. Who is that?"
"A criminal or spy, maybe?"
"Probably. Chief seems to be losing her. Here, watch my things. I'll get her!"
"Hold your horse. Let's wait a minute." 'There's no way the chief would fail to catch up to a woman. That's crazy!'
But the other soldier was young and impulsive. He was already far gone before his companion could stop him. Two other young men followed him to find out what was going on.
While Wesley was running leisurely behind Blair, a figure cut him off. "Chief, leave it to me. She won't get away," the young soldier assured him with a hidden glee.
Shortly, he caught Blair and grabbed her by the arm. "Run again and I'll throw you over my shoulder."
"I'm not—" Blair realized that he had misunderstood the situation, so she struggled to explain.
"You're defying my orders! Stay still, woman!" The lad was about to throw her over his shoulder when Wesley dashed over. "Stop it!" he shouted. He pulled Blair into his arms and held her tight. Glowering at the young soldier who had been rough with her, he roared, "Do a five-kilometer-run! Now! And you will get another ten rounds if you don't finish it in seventeen minutes!"
The young soldier stared at his empty hands, dumbfounded. The other two soldiers who had followed him heard Wesley yelling.
They exchanged glances, turned around and ran away from there quickly.
"Ch-chief, isn't she a...a criminal?" the young soldier stammered.
"She is my wife!" Wesley bellowed.
Realizing that he had made a huge mistake, the kid saluted him and apologized to Blair before turning around to do the punishment run.
Blair nudged Wesley and tried to plead with him for the kid. "He didn't know. You were chasing me. It's your fault."
"Why did you run?" asked Wesley.
"Why did you chase me?"
"Because you were running."
Blair said nothing. She had panicked the instant she had seen him walking towards her. Also, she was worried that her being there would cause him trouble. She looked at the man staring down at her. The hickeys on his neck were too obvious. Blair blushed. "Seriously? Have you no shame at all? Couldn't you at least cover them with the concealer I had given you?"
She had left those marks on purpose to humiliate him in retaliation for him torturing her so much in bed.
However, Wesley didn't seem to think it humiliating.
His soldiers had seen the hickeys that morning and were even telling some dirty jokes about them in secret.
Wesley had stayed silent back then. Now, looking at Blair, he knew that he was nothing but a man madly in love. "I want more of these," he said with a warm smile.
"Wesley!" called Blair. She blushed easily. Her cheeks turned red again.
"Yes, ma'am?" Wesley responded with a grin.
She couldn't help smiling. Standing on tiptoe, she planted a gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth. "I'm leaving this afternoon. The train departs at four."
"I know." He gripped her hands tightly, still savoring the sweet kiss.
"When are you coming home?"
she asked, her eyes full of yearning. She lowered her eyes to look at his rough hands covered with scabs; a pain ran through her heart.
Her fingers stroked every scab. Earlier, Wesley and his soldiers had trained in the Gobi Desert, where the temperature touched as high as fifty degrees. His hands had blistered from the heat and still hadn't fully recovered yet.
"A bit longer," he replied. A new task had just been assigned to him. He couldn't go home yet.
Blair nodded in disappointment. After some contemplation, she remarked intentionally, "It's actually a good thing that you're not around. I can do whatever I want." 'Only, I'll miss you so much, ' she thought to herself.
Wesley tightened his embrace to pull her closer to him. "Believe me. The wait will be worthwhile."
She had been waiting for him for ten years. It was long enough. And Wesley was considering giving her a beautiful wedding.
Blair's eyes became moist. She choked and pushed him away. "Everything is fine now. Focus on your job and guard your country and the people. Don't think about me."
"What do you mean, don't think about you?" She was his first thought and would always be.
Wesley would give up his own life for her. Since they were married, he didn't want to keep her waiting any longer.
"Never mind. Think of the big picture." She didn't want him to sacrifice or give up anything for her sake. That would just hurt her more.
Wesley's eyes dimmed. "Blair, if we weren't married, would you still be thinking of running away from me?"
"No, I wouldn't be. If I really wanted to leave you, one little marriage certificate wouldn't be able to keep me from walking away."
Her love life had been a bumpy road so far, but she had no intention of getting out of this relationship at this point.
Their long distance relationship was kind of bittersweet. At least, she and Wesley could cool off and have time to think about their future.
Wesley's jaw hardened. He snarled, "Would it kill you to say something nice to me?"
Blair made a face. "You know me. I don't have a honeyed tongue, just like you."