บท 30: The Training Grounds (3)

Adam just stood there, listening to her words quietly. He wanted to interrupt her in between, but decided against it since it would have most likely dissuaded her from talking about it. He kept his mouth shut while he listened to her every word with all of his attention.

Once Lillian was done, he stepped closer to her and gave the top of her head a light pat. He had only heard a little about her from Blake, but now hearing it from her own mouth, he could understand her situation much better.

"I can understand how you feel. Though I never went through what you did in my life, there is one thing which I learned the hard way too. Life is not always unicorns and rainbows." Adam muttered as he patted the top of her head once again.

Hearing the weird words of wisdom which the young man had just muttered before her, Lillian couldn't help but frown. Unicorns and Rainbows? What was he talking about? What did the weird analogy have to do with her situation?

As if reading her thoughts, Adam chuckled lightly, more to himself. He retracted his hand back and looked straight into her eyes. "You aren't wrong, but you aren't right either. You are right that you didn't have a choice how your life proceeded. I don't know what exactly conspired in your life, but I can tell one thing for sure. You didn't have any say in it."

He took a brief pause, letting her process his words. When he got a nod from her, he continued. "Whatever happened before this moment, it wasn't in your control. But whatever happens from now on, it will be in your control. It will be your choice."

"I-I… I still feel quite helpless even now. How can you say that it will be in my control, or my choice?" Lillian was still confused. It wasn't easy for her to comprehend his words.

"How is it not?" Adam replied back with a frown Seeing the puzzled look on the girl's face, he decided to explain his point to her once again. "You chose to stay here, right?" He asked her, knowing fully well that it was her choice to stay back here. Blake had filled him on it already.

"Yes." Lillian replied to him with a firm nod. She could tell that he already knew enough about her, so there was no use of lying before him.

"Then how can you say that you didn't have a choice when you clearly had one." Adam added with a smile.

"B-but…" She wanted to speak her mind out loud, but trailed off when she couldn't put her thoughts into words.

"Lillian, is it?" Adam spoke up seeing the dejection on her face.

"Yeah." She mumbled to herself, but he still caught on it.

"Look, Lillian! You are here because you wanted to be here. It may be because you think that Blake is the only one you know properly, right?" He asked her only to get a nod in return.

"Why don't you look around yourself for once?" He suggested her, smiling to himself.

As his words knocked on her ear drums, she looked up from the ground and let her eyes roam around the hall.

There was no one else in the hall except for them, making it eerily quiet. But the quietness was of the kind which would let your mind be at peace instead of irking it. The tall white walls looked like they had been just freshly painted, they were so clean. But she could tell that it wasn't the case since there was no smell of fresh paint lingering in the air.

The maroon carpeted floor felt soft under her shoes because of the heavy padding under the plain carpet. She shifted her weight from one feet to the other with nervousness as she could feel Adam's eyes on her while hers kept on moving from one thing to the other. There wasn't much to look at in the empty hall. Only the dark brown doors on the other end of it stood out more than anything else, including the maroon floor covers.

"I know there's nothing much to see here." Adam spoke up after a while seeing that she was not going to say anything or not. "But this room will become your favorite soon enough. This can be your home one day, but you have to make it your home."

"What do you mean by that? How can a place which is just for training can become my home?" Lillian asked him back. The way he talked in riddles, was starting to get on her nerves but she kept her mouth shut about it. It was obvious that he was just trying to help her.

"Most of the people here are either orphans, or those who were kicked out of their homes by their families. When they were brought over here, this place was nothing more than four walls for them. Now, the same four walls are their home, and the people they work with are a part of their family." He patiently explained to her.

"You mean that they made this place their home." Lillian added to see him nod his head.

"You are right. What happened in their pasts, they didn't let it affect their present or future. Yours much worse than them, but it's up to you what you do next!" Adam continued.

"What if I want to stay here but don't want to do this?" Lillian asked him meekly. Her head was hanging low again since she was too afraid to look into his eyes while asking it.

"You mean you don't want to be trained?" Adam was starting to understand her trouble. She didn't have any problem with staying here, but rather with the training.

"Yes." Lillian mumbled softly, bowing her head more low. Her eyes were fixed on her new shoes which she had found in the closet while looking for some footwear. She thought that it was only apt for her to wear them.

"Why is that?" Though Adam could understand why she was feeling like that, he still wanted to hear it from her.