Chapter 66: Not Poisoned

After a while, Tara's arm went numb from the weight of Mina's head. She gently shifted her body and allowed Mina to rest on the pillow instead. Not knowing what she should do next, Tara covered Mina with a blanket.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tara saw that President Lee had returned to the room, but he did not enter. He stood at the doorway and silently gestured for her to come to him. Swallowing back her fear, she heeded his command. Once outside, President Lee gently shut the door to the room where Mina was being held in. He was holding a porcelain bowl filled with what looked like chicken soup. Steam rose from the bowl as it was still hot. Obviously, it was freshly made.

President Lee handed the bowl to Tara and told her to feed it to Mina. She was scared to say no, but she still hesitated.

"It's not poisoned," he said. Tara looked at the man's face, it was as if he could read her mind, because that is exactly what she was thinking. Tara took the bowl and went to head back to Mina's bedside. Before she could open the door, President Lee spoke again.

"Don't tell her it's from me. She may not accept it," he said. Turning around Tara asked her boss what she should say if Mina asked.

"Make something up," he replied and walked away.

Tara sighed and opened the door. She had only ever looked at her boss's face three times. Two of those times he looked so cold it was frightening, this was the first time he looked relatively human. Perhaps he had a sliver of a conscience after all.

----

Inside the room, Tara sat on the bed next to Mina. She did not mind her movements, as she was intentionally trying to wake Mina from sleep. When the woman opened her eyes, she was assaulted by the smell of boiling chicken and she wanted to cry. She had been having that dream again, but it had not turned into a nightmare yet. She must have really been going crazy because right now, she felt as if she could smell her mother's cooking. A single tear escaped Mina's eyes as she sat up to meet Tara's gaze. She noticed steam rising from the bowl in the girl's hands and curiosity got the best of her.

"Blu... I mean... Tara, what are you holding?" Tara smiled.

"It's soup." Mina inched closer to get a better look and Tara lifted a spoonful for Mina to taste.

Pulling her face away, Mina eyed the spoon suspiciously. The smile on Tara's face faltered. She thought that Mina was still trying to starve herself, but she remembered that she too questioned the substance at first. In response to Mina's reaction, Tara took a spoonful of the broth and sipped it. Her eyes lit up. It was delicious! Mina could no longer contain herself and she snatched the bowl from Tara. She greedily drank the broth, not caring how she looked. It was so, so good. Tara laughed and told Mina to slow down. Embarrassed, Mina obliged. Only after finishing the soup did she realize something was off.

"Tara, where did this soup come from?"

"It's leftovers from the kitchen." Tara lied.

"Don't take risks for me, okay?" Tara smiled again.

"Didn't I tell you that I'm responsible for you now?" Just consider me your older sister, she said. Mina laughed and although her voice was weak, it was still sweet.

It was then that Tara realized that she did not know any personal details about Mina, other than the fact that she was good at math. Casually, she struck up a conversation.

"Mina, how old are you?" she asked.

"I'll be 24 soon." Tara's eyes widened. She had thought Mina was eighteen or nineteen years old, but she was older than her! Mina returned the question and Tara laughed while saying she was twenty-six; Tara was only twenty-one. Mina was also surprised; she would not have guessed that Tara was more than twenty-two.

After a few more minutes of aimless chatter, Tara felt the urge to ask Mina how she ended up as a prisoner. Mina did not tell her the truth of the situation, but she told Tara that she trusted the wrong people. Understanding that Mina did not want to bring up this topic, Tara politely excused herself. She promised to bring Mina some more broth later. She collected the bowls from the room and left, leaving the doors open behind her. She did this in a momentary lapse in judgement, but even after she caught herself, she could not help but to try to give Mina an opportunity to flee.

----

At the same time, back in his study, Ian was on the phone with his sister. He explained the morning's events to Luna, and she was floored.

"If what you are telling me is true, then this girl might have used a form of psychological manipulation. She may be more complicated than we originally thought," Luna said. "I've already gone through her basic file and prepared my questions. We can do the polygraph tomorrow," she continued, but Ian cut her off. He had not fully gone through Mina's information and he wanted to do so tonight. Besides that, Ian reminded his sister that Mina was not just being starved but also poisoned. He wanted to give her at least another twenty-four hours to recover her strength. The siblings ended the call.

If Ian were being fully honest with himself, he just did not want to see Mina's hateful gaze. He was still filled with mixed emotions about her and he had previously acted in a fit of anger when he kept her meals for three days and then ordered his staff to 'keep her alive.' He honestly thought that the more cruelness he displayed toward her, the less he would think about her. However, the opposite happened.

Yes, his thoughts of Mina had become less frequent but when he thought about her it was seldom in a lustful way. He wanted to get to know her, he wanted to find out all about her. What was it about her that made people like her? In the short time he was gone, she had even made a woman fall in love with her.

Ian considered the possibility of her having used her body, but that was highly unlikely. If she were that type of person, she would have already tried it on him. He had experience with that type before. As he thought, a mental image of Lisa suggestively laying on his bed flashed in Ian's mind. He could not help but wonder where she learned to be so upfront. Shaking off the thought, Ian flipped open his laptop and opened the security cameras to watch the two women interact. Mina claimed to be only two years younger than him, but he thought she was lying to make herself seem more mature the same way Tara exaggerated her age by five whole years.

Absent-mindedly, Ian opened Mina's file and was not surprised to see she had inflated her age, but he was surprised that it was only by one year. He heard her tell Tara that she would be twenty-four, but she was actually nearing her twenty-third year. He wondered why she would lie about something so insignificant, but he could always find out later.

In the past, Mina's age had not concerned Ian. Whether she was an adult or a minor, would not have, and would not change the fact that he was going to kill her. In fact, he had deliberately avoided her age because it made him feel sick. He was a twenty-six-year-old man, and he should not have his eye out for an eighteen-year-old girl, right? This was a question he wanted to ask Zane later, but now he did not have to.