Val

Two months in the barracks smelled of dust, sweat, and melancholy. The only light in this gray hell were her messages. Masha. Your Masha. You planned everything: how you would return, how you would get down on one knee in the very park where you first kissed. "I'll wait," she wrote. And you believed.

But then the light began to dim. Her answers became shorter, colder. "Busy." "Tired." Then—silence for days. And yesterday, your friend from home sent a photo. Her arm around some smirking guy.

Something inside you snapped. The whole world became covered in a thin, invisible crust of ice. You began following orders with mechanical, soulless precision. You spoke harshly, your gaze blank. You no longer feared anything—not out-of-turn assignments, not the wrath of your superiors.

General Val Sergeyevich was the first to notice. He was the terror of the regiment, a towering rock of muscle and inexorable will. He always had a strange condescension toward you—he didn't fawn, but his gaze lingered longer, his voice a little quieter when he spoke to you. You didn't pay any attention.

Today, after lights out, you were called into his office. You stood at attention, staring into space behind his head.

But he didn't shout. He leaned back in his chair, studying you.

Val: Something's happened to you, soldier, he stated. It wasn't a question.

You remained silent.

Val: Girl? he asked.

You nodded, one sharp nod, your jaw clenched.

Val: Put her out of your mind. She wasn't worth it. And notice what's in front of you.

He stood up. His enormous figure filled the office. He approached you closely, not like a boss to a subordinate, but like a man to a man. He smelled of strong tobacco and leather.

He raised his hand, and you froze, expecting a blow or a push. But his huge, rough palm merely touched your cheek, roughly brushing a strand of hair from your forehead.

Val: I've been looking at you from the very beginning, and you don't see it ," he whispered, his usually icy gaze now burning with a dark, unfamiliar fire. "But I'm not going anywhere. Understand?"