We all returned to our room and freshened up.
Each room was given a glass of water shared among the four occupants. My roommates and I were still dressing up when we heard the announcement from the speakers.
"All trainees should march to the dining hall. You've got just two minutes!" The voice came, and we all adhered to its instructions.
All the trainees left their rooms and went straight to the dining hall, where the agents were already present. We all sat and peered at the agents at the front of the hall.
Three other agents were in the room besides the trainers, and they walked around the room, watching every trainee. On the table in the room was a bowl of rice soup. Our gazes snitched at it as we wondered what it was at first.
"The bowl you see before you are your breakfast, rice soup!" Agent Jake announced, and our eyes rounded to his words.
"Is this rice soup?" My inner voice cooed.
It was more water than rice. We could barely see grains of rice in them. White, hot streams reverted out of the bowls, signaling the hotness of the rice soup.
"You all have an allocated time to finish the bowl of soup in front of you, and during this allocated time, you have to finish the soup without leaving a single grain of rice. Your bowl must be clean with no grain of rice remaining," he barred.
"The large clock you can see on the wall will be your timer, and I guess you can all see the number written on it," he muttered. Our gazes shifted to the large clock in the room, and our faces hatched in surprise at the time written on it.
"Seven minutes!!"
"Are they joking?"
"How do they expect us to finish an entire bowl of hot rice soup in just seven minutes?" Questions struck our minds.
One of the female trainees raised her hand, signaling she had something to say, and she was permitted to speak.
"What happens if a trainee cannot finish his or her soup bowl within the given time?" She asked.
"Those trainees will take two laps around the field while carrying three kilograms of weight," Agent Jake replied, and our mouths erupted into exclamations.
"At the count of three, the timer will start, and each trainee will begin with his dish."
We all gleamed at our dishes, each trainee preparing the meal.
"Hey, you!" One of the agents called, and all the trainees' attention shifted to the male trainee who was being pointed at. My gaze also shifted to the trainee, and my eyes widened as I realized who it was.
The guy with a face mask.
"You just heard what was said. Are you planning on taking your meal through your nose because we can see the face mask on your face?" The agent burst out, and the trainees smiled.
"Why are you in a face mask?" Agent Jake asked.
"Do you have a scar on your face?" Agent Alec inquired.
"It doesn't matter; take off the mask now!" Agent Ruby purred, and the trainees' gaze intensified on him.
His eyes were revered around him, and they met with numerous gazes at him.
"It's okay if you're ugly. It will only mean none of the ladies here will look at you twice," one of the male trainees who sat beside him whispered.
"Take it off!" Agent Ruby bellowed.
His gaze scanned the trainees for the agent's words, and it fell on me. I blinked several times, wondering why he glanced at me. Our gaze interlocked for a moment before he looked away.
His hand stroked gently his face mask as he slowly stroked it off his ears. The trainees' and agents' gazes intensified as they awaited him to reveal the face he had been hiding.
He revered off the face mask and revealed his face.
The trainees' eyes went wide as they took in his beauty. His hazel eyes, pink lips, and chiseled cheekbones accentuated every heart, and I could hear mine skipping.
His gaze again switched to me, and I took in his extremely handsome features.
Our gaze interlocked once again, and none looked away. The female trainees' gazes were fixed on him in admiration and awe, while the males stood dumbstruck at his features.
"If he's this good-looking, why has he been hiding his face?" One of the agents didn't know when the words dropped from his mouth.
"Okay, let's get back to business!" Agent Jake's voice resounded in our ears.
"One," he began the countdown, and only then did our gaze, which had been interlocked all this while, break.
I looked away, and my hand flew to my chest. I could feel it pounding, and the racing sound of my heart sounded like drums in my ears.
"Two!" came Agent Jake's voice, and we all looked down at our dishes, preparing for the timer to go off. My heart still skipped as the memory of his stare replayed in my mind.
I took deep breaths as I calmed myself down. I had to be calm to fight through the time-bound test we were about to embark on.
"Three!!" Agent Jake's voice called for the last time, and the timer went off.
As time flew by, all the trainees began rushing into the soup. Some endured the burn as they took the bowl to their mouths, consuming the entire rice soup.
Two trainees choked, and their bowls fell to the table with the rice soup spilling out of their mouths and noses. The attention of the other trainees fell on them.
"Do not gaze at anyone! Mind your own business!" Agent Jake sputtered, and we all resumed with our dishes.
Four minutes had gone out of seven minutes, and I was still left with a half-filled bowl of soup with white-hot smoke still hovering out of it. Some trainees were already done with their soup. Seeing the time flying fast, I had to take in the soup all at once.
The trainees each swallowed the soup in different ways. Mimi took fast scoops with a spoon, which also caused her to choke. She instantly stopped as she spit out the rice in her mouth.
A male trainee sitting at the end table in the hall revered around the hall as he snitched at the others who were focused on their meal.
The agent's eyes were not meeting with him at all. Seeing this, he stylishly poured his soul onto the ground, claiming he was eating it.
He emptied the contents in his bowl gradually until it was completely emptied.
The trainee sat with a triumphant smile on his face. He had eaten only a little of the soup and had thrown the rest out to the ground outside the hall as he sat close to the window.
His face was creeping into a victory smile, believing no one had seen him.
He glanced out at the soup and smirked before his gaze shifted back to the hall, where it met Agent Ruby's. She had caught him throwing his soup out.
"Get up!" Her voice sounded stern, and her face frowned hard.
The male trainee's eyes went wide upon seeing her.
"I won't repeat my word!" She gnawed, and fear struck the trainee as he stood up slowly. Shivers ran down his spine as he felt Agent Ruby's intense, nerve-racking gaze on him.
The time went by, and the other trainees had their meal as they could until the timer stopped.
"Halt!!!" Agent Jake's voice thundered out, and each trainee instantly stopped eating.
"If you know you still have content in your bowl, stand up before you fished out," his voice sounded again.
I glanced down at my bowl in relief. I managed to finish the soup.
Mimi stood to her feet as she should not have emptied the bowl within the given time. A few other trainees also stood to their feet.
"You already know your punishments, so move out!" Agent Jake declared, and the trainees walked out of the hall.
"He has a different punishment to face because he dared to act smart and throw out his soup," Agent Ruby announced.
The faces of the trainees fell on the male trainee who had cheated.
"Take him to the disciplinary hall," Agent Jake ordered one of the junior agents into the room, and the trainee was dragged outside.
"We should make them see what will happen to trainees who try to act smart and play by their own rules," Agent Alec said, and Agent Jake's gaze fell on the remaining trainees sitting in the hall.
"Move out, everyone, and head to the disciplinary hall. You should all witness the punishment he is to face!"
With this, we all walked out of the dining hall and headed out to the disciplinary hall. As we walked out, our gaze met with the trainees on the field receiving their punishments.
They took lapses around the field with a bag containing three kilograms of weight. My gaze snitched, especially at Mimi; she was far behind the other trainees.
I could see the trainees' feelings in their eyes as they glanced down, except for him. He gazed at the trainees with no emotion in his eyes. He had returned his face mask to his face.
But who is he exactly?