Chapter 367: In Confidence

After her embarrassing experience while shopping, Mina began to cry and even though the moment had passed, she was still sniffling in Cylus' car. Mina could feel the man staring at her with a sorry expression on his face. He kept apologizing, but it still took awhile for him to get her to stop crying.

Even though Cylus had let the women who offended Mina off, she was still sniffling the entire car ride toward his familial home, and he hoped she was not crying for strangers. If she were, he was going to have a tough time doing anything authoritative around her, and the idea of a relationship between them once again drifted away from his thoughts.

In Cylus' line of work, he had to make tough decisions that often meant the end of a person's career. Many times, men and women would leave his office crying, begging even for another chance to prove they were talented or could improve. There were also those entertainers who directly went against their contracts, and with those people, Cylus was the most ruthless. If he used Mina's method of dealing with tears, he would have destroyed his mother's company long ago.

"Mina, want to tell me what that was about?" Cylus asked and Mina nodded. She did not want the man to think she was crazy, but the situation she found herself in was too much for her to bear. She hated to see people put on trial.

"Situations like that. They remind me of something that happened to me in the past. I do not like to recall that memory."

"What memory?" Mina was still wiping away tears, and sniffling as she spoke. She was about to explain further when her phone rang with a video call and like magic, Mina's tears dried up.

"Terrence? What is wrong? Are you okay?" Mina asked. Before Mina's device had been returned to her, Terrence was provided with his own phone. He often called her when he was having trouble with Doctor Rebecca, who Mina was sure enjoyed harassing the man. She was not cruel, but she was trying to befriend Terrence, who wanted to have nothing to do with her.

"Why is your face red? Are you sick again?" Terrence asked, and Mina was caught off guard by how normal his statement was, but then his facial expression morphed back to an expressionless one. "Was that good?" he asked.

"You are getting better, but you know I prefer you the way you are." Mina did not know why, but Terrence had become obsessed with Mimicking behaviors. She found it both dangerous and creepy. Terrence was not a stable man, and she was afraid someone would get hurt because of it. Without a parting line, the man ended the call, and that was when she realized that Cylus' car had stopped moving.

"You played me," Cylus said as soon as Mina's eyes met his. He was making that grumpy face again, and Mina resisted a smile. She tried to play dumb, but Cylus glared at her, and it made her laugh.

"I may have over exaggerated a bit," Mina admitted. "But you were trying to make me do something I did not want to do." Cylus did not start his car, instead he stared at Mina, wondering if she was lying about anything else.

"What else are you lying about?" he asked, it was not a vicious accusation, so it made Mina smile.

"Don't overreact," Mina shot back at Cylus. "You would not have listened to me if I did not let myself cry."

"Why did it matter? You could have just let me-" Mina cut the man off.

"Cylus, if I confide in you, it's for your ears only. Can you do that?" Mina asked, and the man answered her with a slight nod. Mina went into detail about an incident that happened to her and her sister when they were teens.

----

Sadie was excited, it was her birthday and her parents had given her money to buy something for herself. She dragged Mina along with her telling her sister that instead of buying a dress, she was going to buy a new swimsuit. She wanted to spend the afternoon at the lake, and she wanted Mina to go with her.

"I do not have a swimsuit," Mina said, and her sister hushed her. "You can have my old one," she replied.

The two girls got onto the bus and headed to the nearest shopping center. When they arrived, Mina checked the time and told her sister that they had an hour before the next bus came. In response, Sadie grabbed her hand and ran into one of her favorite stores. Inside, the girl picked out a swimsuit that was too revealing to be proper and as Mina expected, she fell in love with it.

"Let's go pay," she said. Not bothering to try the swimsuit on.

As the teens made their way to the register, they were distracted by the sounds of a commotion. Someone's purse had been picked, and she was demanding that the shop's manager allow her to review the security footage so she could weed out the thief. The man made up an excuse about not having access to it, and he gestured to have the doors of the store locked. He assured the woman that every patron would be searched.

Mina and Sadie did not bother to look on any further, they went to the register to make their purchase. The cashier was used to seeing the girls in the store, and she greeted them cheerfully. The swimsuit came to more money than Sadie had but Mina produced the money her sister was short from a small purse she carried.

Seeing Mina pull out what looked like a large sum of money, the woman who was making a fuss pointed her finger. Sadie protectively stood in front of her sister and unleashed a slew of foul words in the woman's direction. The manager of the store looked conflicted. He knew that Mina and her sister were some of the best-behaved girls that frequented his store. They often stopped by, and sometimes the older one would put items on hold and pay for them slowly over time.

The man knew from casual conversation with the girls that the younger one preferred to save her money and was happy with her sister's hand-me-down clothing. He had a soft spot for the girls, as they were both beautiful, and he had a son a few years older. He had hoped to introduce the girls to his son when they were old enough to court. The manager was originally on the fence about who to pick, but after hearing the older girl's sharp tongue, he did not think his son would survive in a marriage with a wife that daring.

"How dare you speak to me that way?" the woman said, and the manager tried to intervene on the girl's behalf.

"Miss, these young ladies are good girls, they would not have stolen from you." The woman held up her hand and using her cellphone she called the police. She stared directly into Mina's eyes as she did, mocking the girl as insignificant.