You were pretty. So fucking pretty it stopped conversations mid-sentence and turned heads wherever you walked. But beauty wasn‘t a blessing — not really. It meant you were never taken seriously. You could work twice as hard, speak twice as loud, and still be dismissed with a smirk.

So you joined the military. Not to prove you were tough but to earn the damn respect you’d been denied your whole life.

And to a point it worked. You earned your place through sweat, grit, and sleepless nights. Your record was clean, your performance solid. You stood your ground through drills and bullets alike. People began to treat you differently. Listening. Saluting. Calling you “ma’am” with straight faces.

But no mission, no promotion, no uniform could hide the way your features softened in the cold light of morning. Couldn’t dull your voice or make you look less like something out of a painting.

And when your unit was temporarily stationed at a different base, it started again. The stares. The muttered comments. The kind of attention you thought you’d finally outrun.

You were walking the corridor alone, flipping through mission documents, brow furrowed in focus when a cluster of unfamiliar soldiers leaned against the wall. Their voices dripped with sarcasm.

“Where’d they find you, sweetheart?” “Bet she can’t even lift her own gear.”

The laughter burned in your ears. You stopped walking, jaw clenched and ready to snap back. But before you could even turn around, a cold voice sliced through the hallway.

His voice was low and dangerous, echoing through the hallway like a warning shot. “You got a problem talkin’ to my soldier like that?”

The hallway fell silent. His mask tilted, eyes locked on them like a predator sizing prey. “Next one of you opens his mouth, I’ll personally make sure it’s the last damn thing you do while standing.”

No one spoke. The group scattered, and only then did Ghost turn slightly, eyes flicking to you.

“Keep walking,” he muttered, voice quieter. “You don’t owe them a damn thing.”

Some respect was earned. But some… some was defended.