"Has anyone seen Feifei?" called Bo urgently, hunting around the training room where people were starting to gather for the enlistment ceremony. An excited buzz of chatter flew about the room.
"She's upstairs in the control room with Delphi, Bo," said Winter.
He nodded his thanks and took the stairs two at a time, in a hurry to find her.
"Sorry to interrupt Delphi," Bo said as he burst into the room, "it's important. Feifei, I need to talk to you." Bo took her by the hand and started to pull her towards the exit.
She looked at him in surprise. "What is it, Bo? Can it hold for five? Delphi's just showing me how to operate the internal doors remotely."
"I'm sorry, it can't wait. It won't take long."
Feifei caught the expression on his face and realised he was serious.
"Sorry Delph. I won't be a minute. Give me five?"
Delphi raised her eyebrows and smiled knowingly at her, making Feifei blush.
How did the Captain know about her and Bo already? Gosh, gossip travels fast, she thought with resignation.
She wasn't planning on keeping her relationship with Bo a secret, but she would have liked to tell Delphi herself before someone else went running to their Captain with the news.
Bo pulled her across to the exit and pushed the button to open the door. He dragged her through the vestibule, opening the outside door, then he clambered across the gap on the platform and started to climb down the ladder.
"Do we have to climb all the way down Bo?" she called after him. "Can't we just talk up here on the platform? Or in a private room in the silo?"
"No," he kept climbing downwards. "I need to talk to you outside. I have something to show you too."
She shook her head affectionately at the man and started the long descent after him.
"We could have just caught the elevator down you know," she said as she climbed.
"This is faster for where we're going."
"A man of mystery, huh?"
He didn't reply, and she started to worry that it wasn't anything good.
She jumped to the ground from the bottom rung of the ladder, but he caught her before she landed, placing her gently down.
He took her hand again and lead her down a nearby alleyway.
"Where are we going Bo?" she asked curiously. "I told Delphi I would only be five minutes. Enlistment's at oh-nine-hundred," she reminded him.
He took a right turn, and there, directly ahead of them, were two of the horses, packs on and ready to go.
"What's this Bo?" she asked uncertainly. "What's going on?"
He turned to face her, holding both of her hands in his.
"I can't stay here Feifei, I'm so sorry. I never intended to. But I want you to come back with me."
"No!"
"Just hear me out first before you say no...
My father died when I was thirteen, and I became the man of the house then," he spoke matter-of-factly.
"I've been looking after my mother and my sister ever since. I joined the military at the earliest possible opportunity so I could earn a wage and put food on the table. I send everything I earn straight home." He wasn't sorry for himself, it just was.
"My mother's not mobile. She has severe arthritis and she's confined to a wheelchair. My sister Meisha cares for her.
I'm telling you all this only so you know why I can't do exactly what my heart wants to, which is to join this fight and stay here with you, and with my friends. I can't just leave my mother and sister to fend for themselves. Or worse, for them to be jailed or hung for my involvement in the rebellion."
He looked deeply into her eyes, beseeching her to understand.
"But I met you and you're everything I ever hoped for and more. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I wanted you. You know I tried to resist you, because I thought it might all come to this, but I just couldn't hold myself back. And I don't regret it.
I've already fallen for you Feifei. And after last night together, I need to marry you. No. I want to marry you; if you'll have me..." he looked at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Come back with me. With me being the only guard that returns, the Emperor will reward me, and I'll ask for your hand in marriage."
"No, Bo," she said sadly, tears already starting to drip down her cheeks unchecked.
"There's no way I can come with you. This is what we've been working towards for years now. This," she gestured at the silo complex, "is the culmination of all of that hard work. I'm Delphi's Lieutenant. I have a critical role to play in the rebellion. There's just no way I could creep back home to the Island and be taken in front of the Emperor again. And I know him. He'd never give me to you. He's far too selfish for that."
Bo reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks tenderly.
"I understand why you need to go home, and I respect you all the more for it," she spoke sincerely. "I won't ask you to stay while you put your mother and sister in harm's way. I couldn't. I'm just a bit sad, that's all," she sobbed on her last words.
She knew this wouldn't last. She just knew it. Of course it was too good to be true! Of course, no one would truly love her in this life. She wasn't good enough, she wasn't pretty enough, she didn't stand out, she was too ordinary…
"I thought you'd say that," he rubbed at the spot between his brows. "But I just can't bear to leave you behind. There's no way this rebellion can succeed, and when it fails, like the many before it, you'll be killed with all the others, in some horribly gruesome way. And I just can't bear the thought of that. I'm sorry Feifei," he looked at her regretfully.
All of a sudden, Feifei started to feel woozy, and it was hard to stay steady on her feet. One of her knees gave way, and she stumbled.
Her eyes felt heavy, and it was rapidly becoming very tough to keep them open.
"Bo," she slurred, "what have you done? Did you give me something?"