Page 147 of Inside the Sun

But I hesitate. If Sun realizes I'm here for Summer… my cover will immediately fall apart.

I keep my distance, circling around far enough to avoid being seen. They sit there for a good hour. I can’t tell if they’re talking, and if they are, they’re whispering so quietly I can’t hear a thing.

And then, they get up and start walking deeper into the garden, taking the paths framed by blooming flowers, like they’re out for a stroll.

My heart leaps. I start moving with them, keeping pace from behind the hedges. I’m dying for Summer to see me… but it keeps troubling me—what would happen if Sun figures out we’re connected?

If Anzo tortures Sun for answers, he will have to tell what he knows.

It's a simple rule in the Army:Tell civilians as few details as possible.If you do, you'll endanger them even more.

I have to think this through. If Sun knows, he’ll have massive leverage. He could use it to cut a deal with Anzo. Then Summer and I would be killed in an instant. I’m a mole here, a spy… and the mafia doesn’t forgive these types of things.

I don’t want to believe Sun would do that under normal circumstances, but he’s trapped here, beaten and raped. And I wouldn’t even blame him for doing everything possible to make his situation better.

I feel like absolute shit about all of this, but nobody can really be trusted in a situation like this, no matter their morals.

There’s a tight, painful feeling in my chest as I observe them strolling. I remember the moment Sun held me and begged me to say I loved him. I want him to be saved, I want him to have a chance…

Lost in my thoughts, I make a mistake.

I step past the line of bushes and pause just behind them, pretending to check the leaves for disease.

Then I hear footsteps behind me, thesoldatiare approaching the entrance to the training hall in Sector H.

If they see me crouched here, behind the same bushes Sun and Summer are walking past, it’s going to look really bad.

Panicking, I try to slip in between the shrubs, hoping they’ll just walk past, but I overestimate how thick the shrubs are.

My back sticks out the other side, and that’s when I hear footsteps behind me and Sun’s voice calling out,

"Hey."

Jaw clenched, furious with myself for such a rookie mistake, I step out from the bushes and walk straight into them. I can’t just stand here like some creep.

Sun and Summer stop walking.

Summer looks at me, and our eyes meet.

His face goes pale, then flushes bright red. I can feel the surge of emotion hit him just as hard as it hits me.

I tip my cap in a polite nod, then keep walking calmly past them, pretending I was just heading the other way down the path. But I glance briefly at Sun. His cheeks are flushed, and he quickly looks away.

In my head, I’m cursing the whole time.

Fuck. I really ain’t cut out for this mole shit. I was good at charging NFH militants head-on, but I’m a joke of a spy.

Maybe gardening is my true calling, after all?

At least I managed to get rid of all the spider mites and armored scale bugs. Haven’t taken down a single Ferro, though.

SUN

Summer and I sit by the pool. Neither of us plans to swim. Stripping down in a place where Rocco’s soldiers, and he himself, could be watching?

Not happening. I’m staring at the water anyway.

The pool looks amazing. I’d love to get in, relax, float a little…

---