The lone Lieutenant Colonel threw a pebble across the lake methodically and watched as it skipped across its surface. The night was illuminated by a full moon, a moon that was as lonely as Jongin himself. Breaks never boded well with Jongin, especially not when they were as long as such and Seulgi was not by his side to drink the night away with him.

Jongin was about to get up and leave before he heard the sounds of approaching horse hooves.

“Thought we might find you here,” Baekhyun shouted over as he jiggled the jars of wine in his hands proudly.

Behind him, was Kyungsoo who was carrying even more jars. Jongin grinned widely. Of course, he could always rely on his other brothers to alleviate his feelings of forlornness.

The three soldiers took turns playing drinking games and skipping stones on the surface, all the while reminiscing and to a certain extent, boasting about their achievements within the Elite Troop. Despite the fact that there were only three of them that night, Seulgi and Chanyeol were not left out of the conversation at any point in time.

“That rascal Chanyeol and our almighty Lieutenant Seulgi sure are missing out on our bro get-together times, aren’t they? You remember that time when Chanyeol almost pissed his pants when he saw the enemies’ numbers?” Baekhyun spoke as he imitated the face on Chanyeol’s face the day of the incident.

The usually quiet Kyungsoo chirped in as well, “Baekhyun, you were afraid too. You were checking and rechecking your company’s positions, almost missing the signal from Seulgi to fire.”

All of these talks made Jongin laugh, they always did. “Right, Baekhyun. Fortunately, Seulgi let you off. Then there was this other time you almost screwed up the logistics for the arrowheads.”

“Seulgi let Baekhyun off too,” Kyungsoo added with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Yea, Seulgi did,” Jongin guffawed as he finished another jar of wine.

Despite the smiles and laughter from Jongin, a part of him ached as he thought about the Colonel. Seulgi… was always so… magnanimous and effortlessly cool.

“Anyway, god damn the two of them, just left notes and disappeared in the wee hours of the day, didn’t they?” Baekhyun complained, then later added, “I am so going to grill them when they return.”

Jongin squared his jaw as he thought about where the two men had gone. The Lieutenant Colonel probably had some ideas but he did not want to think too much about it. What else could be more important than the country and brothers? The two probable answers that came back was either family or women, the latter of which appeared more likely. That could only mean that Seulgi was spending time with the Strategist. It should not be surprising to Jongin, after all, he knew that Seulgi had been infatuated with the Strategist from the very beginning and over the years, Jongin merely became more convinced of his suspicions that the Colonel and the Strategist were together.

Yet, on nights like these, Jongin could not help but be awash with bittersweet feelings, happy that his brother found love but sad that… Seulgi’s love was in another.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Jongin should learn to let go and cherish the brothers that were currently by his side.

“Hey, Baek and Kyung, will we still be fighting alongside each other in future?” Jongin asked contemplatively.

“That depends on how long into the future you are referring to,” Baekhyun replied with an easy shrug. “Let us just worry about surviving what will be thrown at us next, shall we?”

“True,” Jongin’s mouth curved into a thoughtful smile at those words. Let us survive the next adversity together, as brothers-in-arms.

**

Both the Colonel and Captain woke up with capes draped over them. In their hungover state, it took them awhile to realise that those were their own capes from their luggage and it could only be the ladies who had woken up during the night and went downstairs to place it over them. Smiling slightly, both of them pulled the capes off their own backs as they stretched their stiffened bodies.

Seulgi surveyed the brightness of their surroundings to gauge the time of the day and realise that it was only dawn but they had better get up to feed the horses. Slapping Chanyeol on the back, Seulgi goaded the man to follow suit.

Still groggy, the two headed out of the still-empty inn and to the horse stables. They paused amid their yawning when they saw that the ladies had beaten them to it. Seulgi heard her fellow soldier gulped before he bounded over to the Princess’s side like a loyal puppy. Seulgi frowned, conflicted by how she should be reacting towards the Strategist. Joohyun saved the Colonel all the trouble of thinking what to do when she walked over instead, with a smug expression on her face.  

“Bought the feed with your money, I believe you would not mind right, Colonel?” Joohyun held up the money pouch which should have been in her robes.

Panic rose and Seulgi’s eyes widened in shock as she patted for the pouch, refusing to believe that it had been taken by the Strategist from within her robes so easily. She remembered taking only sips of the alcohol but then again, she must have overdrank without realising.

“N-N-No, I don’t mind.” Seulgi stuttered and felt so embarrassed doing so in front of not only the Strategist but the Princess and Captain as well.

Seulgi’s face turned crimson when she heard the Princess and Captain laugh.

“See, I told you my Colonel is magnanimous and adorable.” Joohyun said and put down the bucket after she was done feeding the horse and walked over to Seulgi’s side.

“Will we be riding… the horses today?” The Strategist asked slyly.

Seulgi felt her face heating up again and she nodded quickly.

Skipping over to them and dragging Chanyeol along, the Princess asked naughtily, “Captain, shall we tag along with them?”

Seulgi’s heart sank as her plans to be alone with her Strategist’s evaporated at the Princess’s sugge