Chapter 289: Please Cylus?

After having witnessed one of her bosses being beaten for something she was unaware of and being dragged out of her place of employment by the aggressor, Mina was practically falling apart. She had heard Olivia's question regarding Peter, but she still did not know what had occurred.

"Please Cylus," Mina begged. "Just let her come with me. If you do not, how are you any better than him?" Mina asked. She knew Cylus would catch her meaning.

"The difference is that I am protecting her," Cylus said angrily.

"That is what he says too, but I only feel trapped. Like I cannot breathe, no matter how much air I take in." Hearing Mina's words, Olivia stopped crying. She had never met a person who could so accurately describe how she felt.

"Mina it's okay, I'm just a little angry," Olivia said. She had often thrown tantrums and Cylus had grown immune to them, but Mina seemed greatly affected.

"Cylus please. You cannot control a person's life. That is not how you show you care about someone. Caring about them is letting them live the way they want, and loving them even if you do not agree." Cylus liked Mina, but not enough to sacrifice his little cousin, who had become like a sister to him.

"She stays," Cylus said with finality and Mina dropped her arms to her sides in defeat.

"Cylus, never contact me again," Mina whispered. She approached Jessica who already had the car door open and ready for Mina to enter.

As Mina's leg entered the car, she heard a frustrated sigh come from the man she had just walked away from.

"Fine," Cylus said. Making Mina freeze. "But one bad photo, one rumor, hell even a stray mark on her body, and I will cut all contact between you two." Mina flew out of the car and wrapped her arms around Cylus' waist. She knew it must have been hard for him to let go, and she hoped that one day, President Lee would trust her enough to let her go as well.

"I will do a good job keeping her safe," Mina replied. She had already removed herself from Cylus, but the look of astonishment was stuck on his face. Even Olivia was stunned. Cylus never let her go anywhere alone. "Come on, let's go," Mina said to Olivia who looked dazed.

As Olivia passed her cousin, she also gave him a hug. Something she had not done in years. She knew that keeping her on a tight leash was how he thought to protect her image, but she was tired of living like a dog. In the end, people would draw whatever opinion they wanted, no matter how hard she tried to avoid it.

----

Mina sat in the backseat with Olivia, who told her what happened between herself and Peter. Mina was used to being asked lewd questions, but she had never experienced hurtful words coming from someone she was interested in.

The closest experiences Mina had was a time when she and her sister had a huge argument, and after that, it was President Lee's refusal to believe that she was not a spy.

"Don't misunderstand Cylus," Olivia stated. "He means well. It's just that the damage has been done from a long time ago. What he is doing now is damage control. I still have to get married," She joked.

"That is not an excuse to interfere in someone's life, and I think you and I learned the same lesson with Peter." Olivia nodded at Mina's statement. Had it not been for her insistence, Peter would still be ignorant of his fiancés cheating, and she would still think that he was the perfect man.

----

Back at her apartment, Mina slipped into something more comfortable while Jessica and Olivia shared in a conversation. Like Mina, Olivia was understanding of Jessica's sexual orientation. She tried to coax the woman into moving to The Four Cities, but Jessica made up an excuse about family ties. Mina knew it was her commitment to the Lee family.

Although Mina could hear the conversation being had by the women, when she returned, she did not join in with the twenty-one questions Olivia was throwing at Jessica.

"What happened to your arms?" Olivia asked and Mina looked down at the finger shaped bruises that were beginning to form.

"Umm," Mina started to think of a lie, but she had already noticed Jessica pulling out her device, likely notifying her boss of the marks.

"I know Cylus didn't do that, so that only leaves your relatives or Peter," Olivia offered. Mina stayed silent.

"They don't hurt," Mina stated, and that was all Olivia needed to weed out the culprit.

"It was Peter, wasn't it?" Mina looked at the woman sympathetically. She knew what it was like to place someone high on a pedestal, only to have them disappoint you in the end.

"Who is Peter?" Jessica asked. She needed the information for her report.

"Someone I had a crush on, but he only saw me as an easy target." Jessica nodded her head. "Why are you nodding?" Olivia asked abruptly, making Jessica regret letting her guard down.

"There are literally no women like you in Pan," Jessica stated, but Mina interjected.

"That's not true, my sister was like her, and I am like her too." Jessica found herself shaking her head to disagree.

"Mina, you are different too, but not Olivia's type of different."

"What's wrong with me?" Olivia asked and both Jessica and Mina answered her with a forceful 'nothing'. "Then why? Why do men think I am sleeping around?"

"Because it's easy to believe," Jessica said without a filter. "Just like with Mina, people think men like her because she does something to make them like her. Even though I also thought that was the case, I now know that it's not." Olivia considered Jessica's words seriously, but Mina looked Confused.

"I literally do nothing. Cylus lets me go out with people he trusts, but at my curfew a guard comes to get me, and I leave, no matter where I am or who I am with." Mina did not like how similar that sounded to her own experiences.

"It doesn't have to be real; all people need is an idea and they will run with it," Jessica said. "Take me for example, when I first enlisted, I looked just like any other woman, and some idiot spread a rumor that he had slept with me."

"What did you do?" Olivia asked.

"I kicked his ass of course, and suddenly, people changed their minds about who to believe."

"But who's ass do I kick when I don't know who is spreading the rumors?" Mina had to laugh a little, the question was asked seriously, but it sounded funny coming from the mouth of a woman as small as she was.

"Think about it. When the rumors started, had you turned anyone down?"

"I turn people down regularly." Olivia started to feel around her clothing, likely looking for her phone. "Did Peter give you back my phone?" She asked and Mina shook her head. Olivia's face turned pale.

"Naked pictures?" Jessica asked.

"What? No? I have photos of my family on that phone. I can't remember if I ever backed them up into a computer or if I just kept shuffling them from one new device to another."

"I will ask director Porter to retrieve the device tomorrow," Mina said. She received questioning looks from both women.

"You're going to go back?" Olivia asked.