The next morning Lelia woke up feeling extremely hungry, she glanced at the wall clock in the room.

It was just seven o'clock in the morning, so she got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom where she freshened up, after that she left the room.

Outside the room, she was greeted by a pleasant aroma of food that made her stomach to churn.

"Oh this smells delicious" she muttered and started walking towards the direction of the smell.

She reached the kitchen, opened the door and went in, "good morning babe, how was your night?" Jake greeted when she came into the kitchen.

"My night was great but I am super hungry" Lelia replied going closer to Jake who was cooking at the stove.

"Hmm, this look yummy, I can't wait to eat it" she commented peering into the pot.

"Last night food also looked yummy but you slept off before I could finish"  Jake replied, breaking an egg into a plate.

"You should have woke me up then, I just missed a delicious food" she pouted.

"Come here" Jake pulled her closer and hugged her tightly.

"You were sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't bear to disturb you in your peaceful sleep".

"Okay babe, I must be super tired from work which made me to sleep off".

"Yeah and that's why I want you to just go and wait for me in the dining room while I serve you a delicious breakfast" he said, turning her around so that she was now facing him.

"Okay babe, love you", Lelia tiptoed and pecked him on the cheek and then walked out of the kitchen.

She went to the dining room and sat down to wait for Jake to finish cooking.

The dining room has beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the walls were decorated with expensive paintings from her favourite artists.

Just as she was looking around, her eyes caught a sight in the fireplace.

"What the hell?" she stood up from her chair and walked to the fire place, she reached there, squatted down and reached her hands on the apron of the fireplace.

"This looks like someone touched it but who could it be?" she muttered as she continued examining it.

"I think I will check the CCTV later"

"What are you doing?" Jake has entered the dining room, carrying a tray of food.

"Oh, nothing, I am just wiping out dust" Lelia lied and stood up.

"Leave it babe, the cleaning lady will take care of it" Jake said going to the dining table to drop the food.

"But she is not coming till Saturday "Lelia walked to the dining and sat down.

"Today is Saturday, babe"

"Oh my goodness, it is?, I really overworked myself yesterday" she said.

"Well regain your strength with this delicious food", Jake placed the  one of the plate of food in front of her.

"Thanks babe, you are the best" Lelia took the spoon and started eating.

"You are welcome" Jake sat down and started eating too.

"By the way, do you have plans today?"

"No, I am totally free" she replied.

"Perfect, there is a place that I want us to go tomorrow" he remarked.

"Oh nice, where is that?"

"It is a secret, my cutie babe"

"Boomer" she pouted.

Jake chuckled softly stabbing his omelet as he took a spoonful and ate, "so after we have visited the place you wanted us to I want us to visit the amusement park" Lelia began.

"Why the amusement park?"

"Nothing, I just want to go there and after that, we will go to other fun places" she replied.

"That sound nice" Jake agreed.

Just then the house phone started ringing, "who could be that?" Lelia muttered, she stood up and walked to where the house phone was.

"Hello" she greeted when she answered the phone.

"Hello, ma, good morning" the caller greeted back.

"Ivy?, why are you calling me on my house phone?, hope everything is alright?" Lelia asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Everything is fine ma, you weren't picking your phone so I decided to call your dining room phone because I figured you might be having breakfast now" Ivy replied from the other side.

"Yeah I was, so why are you calling me?" Lelia asked.

"Nothing much, just wanted to remind you about your charity program you have by ten o'clock" Ivy replied.

"Fuck !, so it is today. I totally forgot, please go to the office and make sure that everything is ready I will join you soon" she instructed.

"Okay ma, I will do just as you said" Ivy replied.

"Thank you Ivy, I really appreciate", after saying that Lelia hang up the call.

She kept the phone back on the hook and turned to Jake, her face showing disappointment.

"What's going on?" Jake asked seeing her face.

Lelia came back to her seat and sighed, "turns out that I had a program today" she replied.

"Oh, but that's fine, we can do whatever we went another day"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes babe, just go and do what you need to do, and by the way what's the program?" he asked.

"It is a charity program I am doing for a special force of the army that just came back from a successful mission" she replied.

"That is really nice, this is a more reason why you should go, the soldiers really need our supports and encouragement. This is very nice of you to remember them, babe"

"Awn, you are making me blush, it is nothing much. Just doing what my Daddy taught me" Lelia said, smiling.

After eating she helped Jake to clear the dishes but he didn't  allowed her to join him in washing it.

"Let me just rinse it while you wash?"

"No, go and prepare for the program that you have" Jake said.

Lelia had no choice but to go and prepare as she was told by her boyfriend, she walked to the bedroom and started preparing.

Standing at the front of her wardrobe, she searched with her eyes for a perfect cloth to wear but she couldn't pick one.

Then an idea came to her head and she rushed to the small table beside the bed and took her phone.

She opened her contacts and was about to call someone when a call came to her phone, it was Ivy.

"Hello Ivy, how is everything going?" she asked once the line was connected.

"It is going great ma, ma I want to ask if we should also bring those items marked S?" Ivy asked.

"Yes, they are also part of the package" Lelia replied.

"Okay ma, see you soom, I 'm hanging up"

"No, wait Ivy "

"What is it ma?"

"Um, I am in situation here, I don't know which cloth to wear" she replied.

"Okay ma, wait let me call you on video call" Ivy then hung up and then called her on video call immediately.

With the video call Ivy helped Lelia to select an outfit with shoes and bag, after that Lelia thanked her and then ended the video call.

She then went to her dressing mirror and sat down on the stool there, she pulled out of the compartments of the cupboard there and brought out her makeup kit.

She used ten minutes to apply a simple make up on her face, after that she was good to go.

"Time to go and show kindness to people" she commented, took her bag and left the room.

"Whoa, you look stunning !, I think I 'm going to go blind. Your beauty is shining like the sun !" Jake exclaimed when Lelia walked into the living room.

"Of course I am, the only beautiful Lelia in this world" she said, twirling around.

Jake walked up to her and caught her waist, he held him and then leaned down capturing her lips in a quick kiss.

"You are so naughty" Lelia said after they broke the kiss.

"You made me this way ,babe. How about I steal another kiss?"

"Sure" Lelia tiptoed and kissed him on the lips, afterwards she hugged him while saying she needs to go.

"Okay babe, see you when you come back" Jake said.

"Yeah take care" after another hug, Lelia finally left the living room and went out of the house.

A car was already waiting for her outside, as she made her way to the car, the driver saw her coming and got out to open the door for her.

She slide into the car and the driver closed the door and went back to his seat, "so where are we going now, ma?" the driver asked once he has settled down.

"To the company Clark, turns out I was the only one that forgot about today, even you remembered and prepared" Lelia replied.

"Well ma Ivy made sure that we all got your programs for the weeks and the cars we should prepare" the driver said.

"Please start driving we don't want to keep ma Ivy waiting"

"Okay ma" the driver started the car and drove away.

"Dong, dong", Reid woke up with a start and stood up immediately, rubbing his eyes as he reached under his bed for the basket that he kept there but found it missing.

Strange, the basket has never gone missing since he started keeping it there.

"Maybe I should ask Luke if he saw it" he muttered as he started running his hands all over the bed.

Then his eyes caught an object just at the center of the bed, "phone?, what is it doing here?" he wondered then reached for the phone and took it.

"Dong dong" the sound came again and Reid almost dropped the phone he was holding. As he stared into the phone and saw that someone was calling him, the sleepiness cleared from his eyes.

"You son of a bitch !, I am going to kill you if I meet you !" he cursed when the phone rang through.

There was a series of laughter from the other side before a voice asked, "you were surprised right?, I know that you would be".

"You think it is funny right?, wait until I get you and strangle you" Reid threatened.

"Oh, I am so scared, mommy please save me from Reid" the caller said imitating a baby's voice.

"I am hanging up jerk" Reid said and proceeds to hang up but the person told him to wait.

"What do you want Luke?"

"Nothing, just wanted to remind you we were asked to come to the headquarters" he said.

"Is that all Luke?"

"Yeah but don't you wanna know why?"

"I don't care, bye Luke" he said and then  hung up the call.

Reid looked around the room, he was actually at his parent's house  and not the military base like he thought when he woke up.

The sound of his ringtone was similar to the sound of the bell used to wake them up every morning and talking about his ringtone, he never remembered changing it or else...

"I am really going to kill him" he muttered.

Glancing on the wall clock in the room, the time was thirty minutes past five in the morning.

And he didn't even remember to ask Luke the time they will be expected at the headquarter, he took the phone back to call him when a text message entered his phone.

It was from Luke, so he just clicked on it, the text says, "Tomorrow, Lelia Morin is coming to appreciate us  and we have to be there before 9:00 AM"

"Idiot, you could have just texted this instead of calling me"  he said and kept the phone back but not before sending a thank you message to him.

Reid went back to sleep and only woke up when his mother came to wake him up for breakfast.

"Wake and come downstairs for breakfast, Reid !" his mother called from outside.

He then woke up and went into the bathroom to freshen up, after that he wore some casual clothes and went downstairs.

When he got downstairs he could smell the aroma of is mom food wafting from the kitchen, "wow, that smells delicious" he muttered before heading to the dining room.

"I thought you won't be joining us for breakfast, Mr soldier?" his sister asked when he entered the dining room.

"There is no way that I am going to skip eating if it was mom cooking, I only skip if it is you cooking" Reid replied and sat down.

"So you are indiretly saying that I am a bad cook?, how dare you?"

"Didn't say that Mia, but now you have said it I realize that it is kinda  true" he smirked at her.

Angry, Mia took her glass of water and wanted to pour at Reid when their mother came in.

"Stop disturbing your brother, Mia" she said so Mia kept the glass back.

"He was insulting my food" she complained.

"Well at least you are a better cook than him" their mother replied.

"Mom"

"Eat up, both of you"

"Thank you mom" they chorused and started eating.

Just halfway through his food, his phone started ringing.

"Like seriously, you used that sound as your ringtone, you must really like this your job" Mia commented, her mouth hanging open

Reid had actually forgot to change it after Luke pulled that prank on him, "let me take this, I am coming" he excused himself out of the room.

When he was outside, he answered the call, "good morning colonel" he greeted when the line connected.

"Good morning Donovan, how are you doing?" the colonel asked.

"I am fine, Sir" Reid replied.

"Good, you heard about the charity program in the headquarter today?" he asked.

"Yes sir"

"Okay, come to my office after the program ends"

"Okay sir"

The line was disconnected so Reid went back into the living room and resumed eating, after he was done he helped his sister to clear away the dishes.

They were now in the kitchen washing the dishes, Mia was washing while Reid was rinsing, "where did Dad and Lucy go?" he asked Mia.

"I have no idea, they were gone before I woke up" she replied.

"Okay," he said.

Afterwards Reid went back to his room where he started preparing to go out, he wore his uniform and topped it with the cap.

He was all ready so he took his phone and dialed Luke's number, "hey what's up, Reid?" Luke asked when the phone rang through.

"Cool, I am already on my way" he said.

"Me too, see you soon" Luke replied.

Reid then hung up the call, stealing one last look at the mirror he left the room to the living room.

"Wow, you look dashing, brother" Mia commented.

"Thanks"

"Will you be coming back today son?" his mother asked approaching him.

"Yes mom, it is just a charity program that would just take a couple hours" he replied.

"Okay son,  take care" his mother said while adjusting his uniform.

"Thanks mom" he replied and then left the house.

He walked out of the yard and proceeds to walk to the bus stop when a car horned loudly behind him, he shifted immediately thinking that he was blocking the way.

But as he shifted and turned he saw that the car was parked, angry and flustered, he strolled to the car to asked the driver why he did that.

He reached the car and was about to knock at the window when it pulled down by itself revealing Luke.

"Oh it is you?. why am I not surprised?"

"Because I always unpredictable, hop in let's go" Luke said.

Reid entered the car and he drove off, "I thought you said you were already on your way to there?"

"Yeah I was but then I decided to come and pick you up, am I not a good friend?"

Reid ignored the question and just switched the radio on and relaxed to listen to the music playing.

"Don't you ever touch my radio again !" Luke snapped, glaring at him.

"You, don't touch my phone, I will talk with you later about that little stunt you pulled in the morning" he shot back.

At the mention of that Luke burst out laughing, he laughed so hard that he had to stop the car so that he would laugh comfortably.

"I bet you are feeling proud of what you did huh?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be proud?. it is the prank of the year"

Reid reached his hand towards him and pulled him hard on the collar while Luke tried to get his hands away from him.

"You motherfucking asshole , jerk, dumb-ass," they cursed among themselves.

After they were done with their little fight, Luke resumed driving while complaining that Reid had messed up his uniform.

"You asked for it dummy, this will teach you not to mess with me again" Reid replied.

"By the way, how are you planning for your vacation trip?" Luke asked, glancing at him.

I won't be going to any trip, Reid said in his mind.

"Well they just told us yesterday, I haven't thought about it yet" he replied.

"Okay, well you should and make sure that  you enjoy yourself while there"

"I have heard you" mom" now eyes on the road before you hit another car".

"You asshole !" Luke cursed and they started cursing at  each other.

After a thirty minute drive, they arrived at the headquarters and drove inside the premises.

"What again did you say they are doing today?" Reid asked as he got out of the car.

"A charity and appreciation program organized by the sweet and kind Leila Morin" Luke replied coming out too.

"Did you just say Moran?" Reid asked, his eyes widened in surprised, wasn't that the name of the family that has the mafia group he was asked to destroy.

"No, dummy Morin, M..O..R..I..N, which is Lelia's surname and M..O..R..A..N Moran is the name of the mafia group trying to take the country down it's feet" Luke explained thoroughly.

A deep sigh of relief escaped  Reid's lips at the explanation, his head almost exploded a while ago when he thought it was the same surname with the mafia group.

"Ivy, hope everything is in order? All the gifts were packed, right?" Lelia asked. They were inside one of the cars heading to the SSOAO headquarters.

"Yes ma, I made sure that I double-checked everything before we started the journey," Ivy replied from the passenger seat.

"Oh, thank you so much Ivy, you are the best," Lelia praised.

"It is my pleasure, ma."

They arrived at the headquarters thirty minutes later and were ushered in by Colonel Smith. Lelia was now walking with the colonel to his office to discuss some stuff before the special forces would gather.

"How are you doing, Miss Morin?" the colonel asked on their way to his office.

"I have been fine, thanks for asking," she replied.

"That's good. We are really grateful for the program that you are doing today, we appreciate it," he said.

"It is nothing sir, it is just what I ought to do as a citizen of this country," Lelia replied.

"We are here." They had arrived at the office, so the colonel opened the door and they went in.

"Please, have a seat," the colonel offered when they entered the office.

Lelia sat down on the chair facing the colonel's desk. He also came and sat down on his seat.

"So colonel," she began,

"What do you think about the offer?"

"Well, it is a good offer so there is no way I would reject it and it was offered by the kind and generous Lelia, the nation's daughter," he replied. A second passed before both of them burst out laughing.

"That's nice sir, I will talk to the people in charge so they will kick-start it," Lelia said after she had laughed to her satisfaction.

"Okay, that would be good," the colonel agreed.

"Oh, it is almost nine, Miss Morin, time to go!" he exclaimed, glancing at his wristwatch.

"Really? Then we will talk later on phone," Lelia said, getting up.

"Have a nice day, Miss."

"You too."

They both then left the office and the colonel led her to the conference room where the special forces were already waiting. The people that came with Lelia had already set everything up and were just waiting for her to come.

So she just walked up the stage facing the soldiers, "Good morning everyone, my name is Lelia Morin and I am here to encourage and thank you for all that you do to help our dear country," she began.

"We know the struggles and hardships you face while protecting us and we want to say, thank you so much," she finished.

There was a round of applause for her short speech. Afterwards, the names of soldiers that achieved an astounding feat in the mission were called one after the other to receive their gifts.

"Now for the last astounding feat achieved, we have Reid Donovan who bravely defended the camp base when the enemies attacked and managed to defeat them all alone," the host announced.

"Please come to the stage, Mr. Donovan," she added.

Lelia then took the gift meant for the person and turned to the soldier, waiting for the person to come to the stage and take his gifts.

As Reid came out of the crowd and walked up the stage, Lelia was lost in her own world, staring at his attractive features - pointed nose, sharp jawline, eyes that seemed to be staring into your soul.

A forest green eyes staring directly into...

"Are you okay, Miss?" a voice asked, drawing Lelia back from her dream world.

"Oh, I am so sorry, here is your gift Mr. Donovan. Keep up the good work," she said, handing the gifts to him.

"Thank you so much, Miss," Reid replied, taking the gifts from her and bowing down.

He left the stage and then every other person that went to the mission physically or assisted in any way was also called to collect their gifts.

"Now, it is time for the general gifts. I am sorry but my employee will take care of that, something came up in my company," she said to the soldiers.

"You have already done enough, Miss. Thank you so much," they chorused.

"Okay, bye."

Lelia left the stage and walked towards the door leading outside the conference room. She was almost at the door when she turned.

Her gaze locked with Colonel Smith. "I will call you later," she mouthed at him before exiting through the door.

She walked to the car she came with and entered the driver's seat. After fastening her seatbelt, her hand reached for the ignition when someone suddenly opened the passenger's door.

"Oh my! You scared me, Ivy," she exclaimed.

"Really? Sorry, I didn't mean to," Ivy replied and sat down on the car's seat.

"What is the stuff that came up with the company? I wanted to help you with it, that's why I came out," she asked.

"Nothing, I just wanted to go to the company and sleep, so go back inside and make sure that everything goes well."

"Okay ma, I will."

"See you soon." Ivy got out of the car and headed back into the headquarters.

Lelia, now alone in her car, took a deep breath, started the car, and drove away.

"Wow, I can't believe that I spent twenty minutes to reach here, nice," she muttered after she had reached her company and parked the car in the garage.

Yeah, it is nice. I could feel the adrenaline surging through my body, today would turn out great, she thought.

As she walked into the building and headed to the elevator, she prayed that she wouldn't see Clara, another of her closest employees, who is to her what Ivy is.

Clara might not be efficient and hardworking like Ivy, but she does her best in her job and she cares for Lelia so much.

Once she had entered the elevator, she breathed a sigh of relief.

There was also no one in the elevator, which was also good. When she reached her floor, she came out and raced to her office.

Her secretary almost fainted with shock because of the way she rushed in.

Entering her office, Lelia entered her private bedroom and jumped onto the bed, landing softly.

Back at the SSOAO headquarters, Reid was seen exiting the colonel's office, his expression serious and solemn.

Inside the colonel's office, he was told that he would be starting the secret mission next week Monday, and he was also given some documents he had to study for the mission.

Gosh, I was not even given a week break, he thought as he was walking away from the office.

"What's with the face?" Luke asked when he came out of the building.

"Nothing," Reid replied.

"Are you sure, Reid?"

"Yeah Luke, I am fine."

"Okay then, let's go and have some fun." He placed his hand on Reid's shoulder and led him out of the premises to where his car was parked.

As they reached the car, Reid peered inside the back seat and frowned. "Where are our gifts, Luke?"

"At the boot," Luke replied, removing his hand from Reid's shoulder and walking to the other side of the car.

Satisfied that their gifts were intact, Reid entered into the driver's seat and Luke entered too. He started the car and drove off.

As they had moved a few meters, Luke turned to Reid. "What did you go to the colonel's office to do earlier?" he asked.

"Nothing, he just wanted to know when my dad will resume his hamburger business," Reid replied.

"Oh, Colonel Smith always likes eating that hamburger. And by the way, when is your dad resuming it?"

"I don't know, he said that he is retiring but I don't know if he meant it," he said.

"Shoot! He shouldn't retire 'cause I am going to miss that hamburger so much. I think we should hit a restaurant before we go home - talking about food made me hungry."

"Sure," Reid replied, deep in thought.

"Let's go and eat!" Luke exclaimed as he took a right turn, heading to the nearest restaurant.

They arrived at the restaurant and entered the place. They were led to a table and they settled down.

"Here is the menu," the waiter said, handing it to them.

"Thanks, just give us the best meal you have," Luke said to the waiter.

"Okay sir," the waiter replied and took the menu back from them.

He came back five minutes later with their food and kept it on their table. "Enjoy your meals, sirs," he said and left.

Luke took his cutlery and started eating, but Reid wasn't eating, and he asked him why he wasn't.

"Nothing, I will start now," he said, his hand brushing the spoon before he took it and started eating.

"Are you okay, Reid? You seem lost."

"Yeah, I am fine," he lied.

Reid was busy thinking about how to go about the mission. A lot of secret agents, soldiers, and the police had taken the mission to take down the Morans family, but it wasn't fruitful.

Some ended up running away from the mission, while some even lost their lives in a gruesome way in the process.