I am NOT boring!

Minty opened the door and found herself staring at John and Sasha as they were in mid-conversation sitting down by a table. Upon seeing the door open, John was in doubt to believe that someone who was supposed to be doing an important task was right in front of him right now.

The two of them stopped talking and were staring at Minty as she caught her breath silently by the door.

"K***," Minty said.

John turned his head back a little bit in surprise as he smiled and replied, "My real name? Isn't that a bit much when greeting a friend who doesn't use it anymore?"

"As if I haven't called you far worse," Minty replied in a cold and calm way. She wasn't exhausted or stressed anymore from looking for her sister. Right now, Minty was being her usual self. "I see you've been busy, with my sister." She answered as she turned her eyes to Sasha.

"Oh haha Minty, will you relax already? You are tensing up the atmosphere!" Sasha complained as she threw her hands up in the air.

"You are acting as though I am a stranger to her, despite us knowing each other for so long," John said as he grabbed Minty's attention.

"You are no stranger to us," Minty reluctantly but reassuringly admitted while crossing her hands. "But you did vouch for a stranger that one time in the past, which has now led us to work with her on a matter that we could have handled by ourselves," Minty responded as she took a few steps closer to sit down.

"If you would vouch for someone like that, then it makes me question your character," She added.

Now sitting down on the table, Minty had her gaze on John as though measuring him, but not with any ill intentions being involved in it. Sasha was looking at her sister and was half upset and pouting that Minty simply barged in and ruined her conversation with John as well as bringing up an issue of the past. John simply looked at Minty with a smile, he knew why she was acting this way and it was because she had never liked Ariel.

And he had the closest relationship with Ariel out of everyone in their organization.

"Alex was preoccupied with the assembly of potential candidates, as well as the election of the new representative, providing accommodation, food, and so on for the event that took place recently. He didn't have the time to investigate a mafia family that seems nearly non-existent in society and he decided it would be best to consult an expert," John replied.

"I merely did what any good servant would do and provided him with the best available solution when he comes down to such dealings. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to be caretaking of the representative back at the base, as well as training the candidates who will be joining us as new recruits soon enough?" He asked.

"That is being taken care of quite well," Minty answered without ever releasing her gaze on him. She wanted him to focus on her and not on her sister. "They have deeply improved, maybe even more so under my guidance than yours."

John raised his eyebrow, he knew she was just trying to tease him in her own unique way, so he decided to play along, "Oh Really? Because I believe that they were under my care first. I Laid Down The Foundation."

"Well did your foundation ever lead to them capturing bandits or putting out forest fires all on their own?" Minty proudly announced.

"Wait they did what!!!?" Sasha screamed. "Sister, all the details, NOW!" Sasha was so enthusiastic and had screamed out of nowhere in such excitement that any and all forms of tension that Minty had been building up had now left the room.

Minty was a little pained by this fact and was annoyed that all her hard work to try and seem intimidating or dominant over John had just been thrown out the window by none other than Sasha who was cheering like a little girl waiting to hear more details about it.

In the end, she ended up laughing to herself, their little charade just reminded her that after all those years, the three of them still acted exactly the same around each other regardless of what the situation was.

"Sure, I'll share, I'll share. So you can calm down now, I'm not going to run away," Minty said as Sasha held onto her tightly and rocked her back and forth, pressing her for answers.

John at the very least was relieved that Minty had let up on her interrogation towards him. This wasn't the first time she had done such a thing and it surely wouldn't be the last either. He remembered how she had pressured him in the past when he had first joined the organization, by then they were younger and he was easily shaken up.

Minty would have her way with him, being cold and saying things to poke at his pride without ever directly insulting him and Sasha would always have to comfort him after they were done arguing or after Minty had scolded him enough. They had grown up now but Minty still kept that habit of trying to show a sense of superiority whenever he was around Sasha. Otherwise, apart from that she respected him deeply and even saw him as her equal.

Thinking about all this right now and watching how happy she was when informing Sasha about the details of her stories on missions with the kids, he chuckled as he thought, 'I pity the amount of suffering that the man who wishes to marry her will have to go through someday.'

After Minty had finished retelling her story to both Sasha and John, the two of them were left in silence. They had been excited to hear the news about the forest fire and the bandits, but after they got past that part, they remembered something about Minty, something that she was so oblivious about that they felt bad to even mention it to her.

The two of them looked at each other, then looked at Minty, and then back at each other again.

"What? What's wrong?" Minty asked the two.

"It's nothing," Sasha said as she looked away from her, in fear that her facial expressions would give her away.

"Yeah, you are fine, Minty," John answered as he looked behind himself.

"I am not one to mind secrets, but when you keep them hidden right in front of me while they are obviously about me feels very rude," she said as her eyes went back and forth between the two.

"Like I said Minty, you.. are fine. Just the way you are," John answered still looking behind himself with his arm shaking.

Minty furrowed her eyebrows even more now as she demanded to Sasha, "Sasha, look at me."

Sasha refused to turn around, she shook her head and without speaking, she let out two soft sounds that indicated a no!

Minty grabbed her arm and said to her, "Look at me!" John who was seeing this said to Sasha, "Be strong, don't do it!"

Minty then once again demanded, "Sasha, look at me." At this instance, Sasha turned around and with her eyes closed and her hands on Minty's shoulders, she let it all out, "You are boring! You are so boring when it comes to being with kids! You expect all kids to handle things themselves and to like intricated things like checkers, or poker or chess!"

John who heard this said mostly to himself, "But checkers and chess aren't that hard?"

*Argh* Sasha continued brushing off what John had said, "The fact is, you can be so boring sometimes Minty, that's why we never let you go to the daycare alone! You are so responsible, better than all of us here, but you also aren't fun! I mean have kids ever complimented your sense of humor or ever called you funny? fun? fantastic?"

"Like trees!? I know it's our responsibility, but you made them plant trees for a whole day? That was your big schedule!!? That was what you had planned for a whole week? Even John took them to a zoo once! Better yet, he took them to Africa, and that's the biggest zoo you could ever find!"

"You could have taken them to the seven wonders of the world! You could have taken them mountain hiking, ocean diving, or even bike riding across a border! But trees!? You made them plant trees for your mission!?"

Sasha had now stopped. She was panting a little bit from going off like this, but after realizing what she had done, she took her hands off Minty and used them to cover her mouth instead. John slapped his forehead, he was worried about what Sasha had done.

Minty stood there in silence, staring at the floor.

"Is that it?" she asked quietly. "Am I boring? John?"

The fact that she was using his alias was proof enough to John that she was deeply hurt. He didn't want to say it, but he also didn't want to lie to her anymore. "Perhaps, just a little bit? Okay, yes," he gave in with a sigh.

Hearing this, Minty walked out of the room and closed the door.

"Minty wait!! Come back!!" Sasha yelled stretching her hand out but John stopped her.

"Let her go, she needs some time to heal. You were being brutally honest with her this time," he said.

"I know, I was just so tired of not saying anything until now," she said lowly. "I'm sorry."

"You can apologize to her and not to me the next time you see her, she will be back," he said hugging her. It was almost funny to him that this time he was the one comforting her.

****

Speed walking through the hallway Minty was repeating one thought inside her mind, "I am NOT boring!" She rushed into Alex's room and with a hurtful voice she asked him, "Alex am I boring? Do kids not like me?"

Alex who had been drinking his coffee spit a little of it out as he had just been asked a hard question that could very well break a person's confidence.

"I wouldn't say you are boring, more like you were forced to grow up too quickly, so that is why you see the world differently," he replied. "But different can be good."

Minty who took a sense of peace from his words then asked him, "Was my idea of planting trees too bland for a kid's taste? I hear that it wasn't exciting enough."

"Who told you that? Sasha?" Alex asked knowing that she has a history of being honest, "Well I for one thought that it was a wonderful idea," he told her, and to him, it honestly was a good idea, but that was because he liked trees a lot.

"But maybe kids of this day and age are a little different, especially with the world ending at any moment, perhaps you would like to do something more for them?" Alex now intertwined his hands together as he said, "You are a very smart and wise girl, I am sure that you can think of something fun that no one else here would think of doing for those kids and they will love it." He emphasized.

Minty cheered up hearing this and was no longer sad, her voice was even lightening up as she asked him, "Do you mean that?"

He reassuring said, "I do."

After standing still and thinking about it for a while, she had an epiphany, something that no one else had ever done before when training kids that would also be considered fun when you factor in the end of the world.

"Thank you Alex so much," she smiled brightly as she bowed before him and closed the door right after leaving.

"Wow, I dodged a bullet there," Alex panted as he grabbed his coffee. He now needed more than this to get him through the day.

"Still I wonder what idea she came u with? Well, I will be looking forward to that report," he smiled as he finished his coffee.

****

As Minty was moving through the hallway, there were so many servants who were curious about what was going on today. She went from stressed, to concerned, to happy all in the span of 30 minutes and down the same hallway.

Almost skipping across happily, Minty had already made up her mind on what the special mission was going to be once she got back to the kids. Factoring in that they were not normal kids and that this was basically the end of the world, she could only think of one thing that would be exciting enough for a new mission.

'We are going to hunt the Mafia," she confidently said in her mind with joy.