Felix's arm immediately slipped off my shoulders as he too straightened.

I spun on my heel to find Jimin standing a couple feet away. His features were smooth but I didn't miss the dark storm hidden in the depths of his eyes. Several trainees paused and stared.

"S-sir..." Felix blinked, obviously unsure of how to proceed.

I, on the other hand, met Jimin's gaze evenly. "I was showing him how to properly fire a gun... sir." I added the 'sir' as an almost afterthought. There was no way I'd be able to call him by his name in front of everyone.

"I don't see how hugging each other has anything to do with properly firing a gun," he retorted curtly. "If you must flirt with each other, have the courtesy to do it outside the training class."

You had to be kidding me.

"Y-yes sir." Felix stepped back as if to further show his understanding.

I didn't move and continued staring at Jimin, even when the trainer wheeled around and strode off. What the hell was his problem? Felix had literally half-hugged me for less than ten seconds. How did one get so ruffled up about that??

The rest of the training class I was painfully aware of Jimin's sharp gaze piercing the back of my skull as well as Felix making sure to keep a solid six feet away from me— like they did back in the old days when the infamous coronavirus was everywhere and everyone was social distancing.

When the class had ended I released a breath of relief and scurried to find Krystal.

"Number 24!"

I winced at Jimin's voice. Oh boy....

I'd just spied Krystal up ahead and she paused long enough to shoot me a sympathetic grimace before she filed out of the training room with everyone else.

I crossed my arms tightly over my chest as Jimin shut the door after the last trainee left the room, leaned against it, and gazed cooly at me.

I pursed my lips. The silence between us tightened and tightened and tightened, until it snapped. I snapped. "Oh come on. It was just a hug! Not even!"

"You did more than just hug him," Jimin snapped. "From what I saw, your hands were all over him."

"Well get some glasses then because I clearly told you I was just helping him pass the test."

"Really?" I gulped as Jimin began to prowl towards me. There was something about his movements that was absolutely feral as he drew closer to me. "Because I didn't need glasses last night when I found you very close to kissing some other guy!"

I almost bleated in fear when he stopped with only centimeters of distance between us and grabbed my chin into his hand roughly. There was something hard and unyielding in his voice and eyes that I'd never experienced before, and I realized he was still in his trainer mode.

I also realized how more and more this iron side of him was coming out. The playful, towel-turning-banana-teasing boy was becoming more and more distant from me. Slowly disappearing as the the trainer-side of him was always in demand now.

I gently wrapped my own hands around his wrist holding my chin. "Look, I'm sorry. I admit, I should've thought more about my actions."

Guilt prickled through me, chasing away the defensiveness in me as I tried looking at our current predicament through Jimin's point of view. I'd stubbornly argued with him so that I could come to the Capital Base and become an official trainee. And within 24 hours of coming to the base, I'd already gotten drunk out of my own mind and had a close call with a boy.

I could see how I was coming off as irresponsible, and maybe even perfidious. I couldn't fully blame him for getting so ruffled when I'd gotten close to Felix, even if it was as harmless as helping the guy shoot right.

I took a deep breath. "But you also need to trust me more," I added softly. Because it did hurt a little to think he would so quickly jump to a judgement that I may be wavering from him.

Slowly the steel in his eyes began to melt and his hand loosened from my chin before falling away entirely. I caught his palm into mine and held on tightly as I watched the soldier side dissolve. My heart scrunched in on itself as the familiar warmth edged with vulnerability entered his eyes.

He turned his head slightly to the side. "I'm sorry too," he exhaled. "It's just... sometimes I feel like you might be getting tired of... us trying to stay together."

I blinked in shock at that. I'd never once considered the idea of ending what was going on between us. Not to mention I'd pretentiously assumed he'd never considered ending our relationship either.

"We've never had a normal relationship," Jimin continued, staring at our clasped hands. "First we were assigned roommates under Order 327, then we had only one day of being an almost normal couple, and then the Infinity Council headquarters blew up. From there it's just gone crazy downhill. Sometimes I just wonder, are you ever tired of it? Do you ever want to end what we have and try for a more normal relationship with someone else?"

"No," I immediately replied. "I'm happy when we're together, truly happy. Sometimes, normal just isn't in someone's vocabulary and that's entirely fine." I paused. "Do you?" I asked cautiously. "Do you wish to move on? Find somebody else?"

I knew there were plenty of girls more prettier than me, more talented, more skilled. Maybe more fitted to be with Jimin in general. The biggest one being that I was human and he was an Outworlder.

I'd learned in school that Outworlders often had an entirely different level of intimacy in their relationships— with their Marks and being able to morph together— that could never be shared between a human and Outworlder.

To take it one step further, in the rare event that an Outworlder and human wanted to get married and try and raise a family together, offspring was even rarer. The genetics of aliens and humans were quite different in many ways and often brought miscarriages or deformed, sickly children. Only few cross-species couples were able to bring a healthy hybrid child into the world.

I'd never considered these things much before until now. Partly because I'd never really thought much into the future. Perhaps part of me hadn't ever thought that things would go so far between us.

Now that I was looking at the bigger picture, I felt stupid for never once considering that Jimin was, in a way, better off with someone not me.

"No."

I blinked, his word cutting through my stifling thoughts cluttering my head.

He was smiling ever so softly down at me and my heart stirred. When was the last time he'd smiled so gently, so genuinely, like that?

He reached up to cradle my face. "No one else can understand me nor can make me feel as complete as you do," he murmured. "I don't want to find anyone else. I don't want to lose you. And maybe that's why I get so defensive and... jealous when I see you so freely having fun with another guy."

I gently brushed some strands of silver hair that had fallen in his eyes. "My heart belongs to you and only you."

He leaned down and kissed me, gently. He bit down lightly on my lip, tugging it, causing heat to flood through me. I parted my lips to him and let him in deep, loving strokes. I wrapped my arms around him, cradling the back of his neck as he pulled me closer against him.

Something deep within me flickered though. A shadow of a doubt. What would happen to us after this? What did our future hold if we continued down this path together? Was it possible for us to have a happy ending together?

Or was the space between us so great we were only dooming ourselves?

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