Chapter 429: 'Trust'

Cylus came rushing to check on his cousin, leaving Oric to keep watch over Connor, who kept making dirty jokes that flew over Mina's head. He had given up on trying to stop the man, because he was almost positive that Mina was going to hate him in the morning. He did not know why, but he had a feeling that she would remember every detail from the night.

Inside the room, Olivia did not look bad, she was quiet but otherwise okay, and when Cylus asked, she told him that she felt nothing. Cylus knew that she also meant that emotionally, but it worried him nonetheless. He tried to probe his cousin's memory, but she could only remember finding Mina on the ground, and Vanya saying she was going to get help. Everything after that was a blur to Olivia, but she vaguely remembered someone attacking her from behind.

"Mina thinks that Vanya set you both up," Cylus offered.

"I believe her," she said with a shrug. "Vanya may not have known what was going to happen to me, but she certainly knew what would happen if Mina were locked inside of a room."

"How can you just jump to that conclusion? Vanya is your friend."

"She is my friend because of you. When she was trying to date Oric she treated me coldly, and that only changed when you started sleeping with her." Cylus looked at his cousin with a perplexed expression. "You didn't know?" she asked. Cylus did know that Vanya was interested in Oric in the past, but he had not known that her behavior toward Olivia was anything other than friendly.

"You've known her longer than you've known Mina," he finally replied.

"And yet, I don't recall her ever trying to get to know me, or even feeling comfortable enough with her to ask for a favor." Cylus had never heard his cousin speak ill of Vanya, so he had assumed she liked the woman. "I like Vanya, but I know Mina. She wouldn't lie."

----

Mina was exhausted, but she could not sleep. Connor kept making her laugh and Oric was not helping. The two men kept asking her random questions that they assumed she would not be able to answer, but she was inebriated, not stupid. Eventually it turned into a game that only ended when Olivia and Willow interrupted them.

The first thing they noticed was that their friend was drunk, and Olivia smacked Connor on the side of the head knowing that he had something to do with it. Oric was busy fighting, and Cylus was with Vanya, so Connor was the most likely suspect. Willow only stopped glaring at the man when he told her that he had not expected Mina to drink anything he gave her, and in truth, Willow was surprised as well.

"What have you guys been doing?" Willow asked. She had heard Mina giggling in amusement and she wondered what was so funny.

"Did you know that Mina can memorize anything she reads three times?" Willow nodded.

"She can also remember everything a person says to her, so I hope the two of you didn't cross a line." Willow was smiling, but Connor's face fell. He looked at Oric who held up his hands defensively.

"I didn't know," he said, and Connor pushed him out of the room, finally deciding it was time to take the man to be checked by a doctor.

"Mina, who helped you bathe?" Willow asked, she could smell the citrus of Mina's soap and she was afraid that Connor used his medical training as an excuse to feel her friend up. Mina was drunk, but she became serious when she said that she had showered and dressed alone, which relieved both women.

Still not entirely comfortable with what was going on, Olivia decided to sleep with Willow and Mina again. The arrangement was tight, but doable, and there was safety in numbers. They talked for a bit, before Mina turned to Olivia with a tearful face.

"I'm sorry someone used me to hurt you." Olivia finally understood what Willow meant when she told her that Mina had her own struggles. It was the first time she realized that Mina always blamed herself.

"It wasn't you; it was Bastien," Olivia said, knowing she was throwing around words without proof.

"Want to set a trap for him?" Willow asked. The two women were talking over Mina who had fallen asleep after apologizing.

"How?"

----

The evening went by quickly, and as early as 7AM, Willow and Mina were already in a car heading back to their respective apartments. Mina had a splitting headache, and she was completely embarrassed by the information she had told Connor in the name of medicine. The man claimed to have needed her bra size to buy a sling for her arm, and she naively believed it.

Unfortunately, he had not come back to the cabin after taking Oric for treatment, so Mina was unable to kill him, but she planned to get even as soon as her arm was better. When the car stopped, Mina and Willow parted ways. They had left their bags to Cylus, who swore to have someone drop them as soon as possible, and they parted with a promise to call.

Mina entered her apartment and was startled by the sight. She was at first convinced someone had broken in, but President Lee was sitting on her sofa, with several empty bottles around him.

"You went through my things?" Mina asked, and the man chuckled, tossing the little black phone Mina had hidden at her feet with a resounding crack.

"I thought we were trying to trust one another?" He asked.

"Obviously we don't. Otherwise, you wouldn't have felt the need to trash my apartment, nor would you have blocked service to my phone."

"You figured it out?" he questioned, and Mina scoffed. There was a brief silence as Mina stared at the exhausted looking man.

"Why did you agree to Cylus?" Mina assumed President Lee meant the deal she had made, so she answered openly.

"He paid me." There was no reason to lie, because it was not illegal, and he would see the influx of funds into her account anyway. President Lee suddenly stood up and rushed her. Mina backed into the wall, unsure of what she had said wrong, but she was in no mood or condition to fight with the man; she just wanted to sleep.

"For money?" the man grilled. He suddenly reached up and pinched Mina's face forcing her to look at him. The way he was holding her reminded her so much of her past experiences, that tears began to fall without her permission.

"President Lee, you aren't thinking clearly. You have been drinking. You gave me two months to get things in order and I needed the money." Disgusted, the shattered man realized that he could not keep torturing himself over Mina. He had to put her aside before he dug himself into an early grave for her.

"I'm done," he growled into her face, and Mina's whole body trembled because she thought he meant that her time was up. She nodded her head in understanding and the man let her go, leaving her apartment with a loud bang.

Mina took a deep breath and went straight to her bedroom, which had been completely flipped upside down. She pushed the junk off the bed and curled up, smelling the strong sandalwood scent that she now associated with President Lee.

In the past, Mina would have cleaned her surroundings, but in her current state, she was able to ignore it all. She pulled a notebook and pen out of the side draw and began writing a goodbye to her parents. She had hoped to call them, wanting to hear their voices one last time, even if it were just to hear them scold her.